Aaaaah. Thank you!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by emmagee1917
Aaaaah. Thank you!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by emmagee1917
AB, thinking about it, I would probably instead ask for the After Action Report - 2nd Battalion if available, or 23rd Regiment if that's the lowest level for that report. The reason I suggested the daily log was that I wasn't sure whether AARs were done at battalion level. Here's a link to another ETO unit's AAR to give you an idea of level of detail. Quality is going to vary pretty widely, so hope your unit had a good writer and the time to do a good job.
83rd Infantry Division Documents - 331st Infantry Regiment
Briefly, a WWII US Army infantry battalion was composed of three rifle companies, a heavy weapons company, and an HQ element. Total of around 800-900 officers and men.
Thank you for this!!!! I googled battalion yesterday and saw that. Yeah, E company, 2nd battalion. A-D is 1st, E-H 2nd, and I,K,L,M 3rd. No J for some reason and D,H,and M being the heavy weapons company. What does "heavy Weapons" mean? Artillery? Because every company had machine gun and mortar squads already, correct?
BTW, after looking at the picture real close again in WWII History, the one I was talking about earlier with the 03 and a bunch of Carbines with men on D-Day in the "Bedford Boys" article. If you look close, there is I THINK, an 03A3 further up toward the front slung over a soldiers shoulder. I think it's an 03A3 because the barrel band looks solid on top. There doesn't seem to be a cut out like the 03's had on top. I'm pretty sure it's an A3 that one particular guy has. If anyone gets that magazine.
Heavy changes over time and circumstances , but would usually include 81MM mortars , 30 cal M1917A1 water cooled , 2.36 bazookas , and sometimes .50 cal M2HBs , 57MM and 75MM recoilless rifles and flamethrowers. Usually 37MM M6s or 75MM packs were attached by other units being added on a need - to - have basis , but could go through quite a long period attached. Same for heavier arty and tank and transport units.
Chris
Gotcha. Yeah, I was wondering about the 81mm. The Companies must've had the smaller ones at that level. Eh? Did the Army use the water cooled in France? I was assuming it was the air cooled by then, but I don't really know.Quote:
Originally Posted by emmagee1917
The M1919A4 and 60MM mortar was Company level . Remember though that loose weapons were everywhere , and if someone latched onto something and added it to the pile , nothing was usually said. That is how squads that were to have a single BAR sometimes had two or three . Same for pistols , Thompsons , etc.
There is a book that really lays it out you might get. i'll have to get the title and author if I can find it in all my stuff , I havn't seen it for awhile.
Chris
The 1944 T/O&E for the heavy weapons company had only one .50 cal. MG, 6 bazookas (two fewer than the regimental service company), and zero antitank guns (those were at division level in the antitank company). Bazookas were held as unassigned weapons in every company level formation of the infantry division. The recoilless rifles were essentially an experimental item tried out in the closing days of ETO combat.
The D-Day unit in the photo with that mix of small arms was likely a service unit of some sort - at that early stage maybe an ammunition supply company from ordnance (just a guess). I don't have any signal corps T/O&Es, but that might also be a possibility. The two U.S. assault divisions had 2500 man overstrenghts (replacements) attached that had '03s and carbines, but I know nothing of their landing place/time. Too bad nobody in the landing craft turned sideways to let us catch a glimpse of their shoulder patch.
Yeah, I'm interested in the book! Thank you.Quote:
Originally Posted by emmagee1917
Firstflabn: Did you see that picture I'm talking about? Anyways, you're right, I didn't see any patches shown. I think they had assault vests though, hold on, let me look....... Nope, my bad, doesn't look like any assault vests. I don't know what that means. Actually, now that I think about it, I don't know if that was something that was ubiquitous on that day. I've read about them and seen them in SPR, but I don't know if I see a whole lot of them in actual pictures. Sorry, that was sort of an aside.
Request for OMPF sent today!! I'm going to send the request for IDPF, because it's a different place. But I'll tell them I sent the request for OMPF to the NARA, so they don't double their efforts. Now it's a waiting game I guess........