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Infantry, Fort Benning, Ga
Date taken: February 2, 1950
Photographer: Ralph Morse
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https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...80_large-1.jpg
Infantry, Fort Benning, Ga
Date taken: February 2, 1950
Photographer: Ralph Morse
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...fb_large-1.jpg
3rd div, Audie Murphy's crew...
Pay attention, in six months it might save your life.
Looks like a M18 57mm Recoilless Rifle in the foreground.
I was once Range OIC on a 106mm RR range, the 57's big brother mounted on a Jeep... wow, what a weapon! You could make a guy off the street a gunner in about 15 minutes it was so easy to use. 50 cal. spotting rifle with explosive ammo and a round central trigger... sight on the target, pull the trigger out to fire the spotter, adjust your aim until it hit, mash the trigger in to fire the 106. Boom, a dead tank. Wow!
Our anti-tank capability in the Engineers were the M67 90mm Recoilless Rifle. What a beast! Normally we would use the subcaliber device first to get everyone use to the gun crew drills of loading and unloading. Then use the full bore 90mm rounds. I remember ours had the mount for the AN/PVS-2 starlight scope. I can't imagine shooting that thing at night it would light up the area like a Christmas tree. The other thing I remember the 90mm rounds were highly corrosive and the gun had to be cleaned several times after use and we had to maintain a log on the number of rounds used.
While in Alaska I had fired the 90 with sub-cal devices several times for orientation. Then there came a time when we were allowed to fire surplus live rounds and I had a chance to fire one. I laid next to the gun with my body at a 45-degree angle as I had with the sub-cals. When I touched off the trigger I found myself lying in front of the gun with a totally numb right leg. Lesson learned!
BEAR