1903a3's at Guadalcanal ?

[Kirk]

I seem to recall seeing pictures posted of troops using 1903A3s in the Nov 1942 Operation Torh - the invasion of North Africa.

[Rick the Librarian]

I have been thinking I have seen a lot of pics of MPs, engineers, and service troops in Europe. As far as I can remember they always seemed to have 03s slung on they're backs. Except for free french that we armed do you think any a3s made it into combat theaters

Yes, M1903A3s made it overseas. Although pictures of "regular" M1903s show up much more frequently, I have seen quite a few pictures of troops with M1903A3s supposedly taken in the combat theatres.

[warning5]

My Dad was there and there were some 03 and 03a3 and some m1 rifles.Books are not always true to military history!

[Calif-Steve]

I have the movie "This Is The Army"- Ronald Reagan was the lead actor. One scene has US troops stateside armed with M1917's. Simply due to the timeframe no '03-A3's were in combat at the Canal. Memory or otherwise, timeframe doesn't work out. Exactly why the Army would rush bolt action rifles to the Pacific is beyond me, plenty of Garands were ready for combat. Are people claiming the Marines rushed the '03-A3 to the Pacific? Didn't happen.

[Jim Tarleton]

The Marines had requisitioned M1's as early as 1939 (3000/month if my memory serves me correctly), as they had already seen the handwriting on the wall - and it didn't say A3! If the Marines could have acquired enough M1's in a timely manner, there would have been very few 03's at Guadalcanal! Marines were/are tough, but not stupid.

No A3's were at Guadalcanal. There were A3's in the Pacific, in a later time frame, in the hands of grenadiers.

Jim

[Tom Jackson]

The Marines used M1903s on Guadalcanal; I don't think Marine combat units EVER used M1903-A3 rifles. In general, the technical aspects of THE PACIFIC look very good. The Marines have bolt-action Springfield rifles, water-cooled, machineguns, and Thompsons with 50-round drums. Their helmets do not have the covers issued in 1943. The images look RIGHT. I would rather see M1903s than M1903A3s but that is a MINOR detail. Although not nearly so minor as lock bar sights on M1s. The production appears to have tried to be as accurate as possible; I can't get too excited about 1903s v. 1903-A3s. I am just happy that someone finally decided to do a production about the U.S. Marines in the Pacific Theater during WWII. All most Americans know about WWII was what they saw on BAND OF BROTHERS.

[Mike D]

I went on HBO's website, and found that you can watch the first show, free, online. I had to register, email and password I think, and I didn't mind. I have a middle grade, high speed connection, and had to pause the show and take a brake a couple of times, because the show couldn't load faster than I could watch. Not a big deal to me, it was free.

I did not pause or rewind looking for A3 parts, and I think once I seen a A3 rear sight and maybe a A3 upper band a time or two. Still, you have to look. It wasn't as bad as I thought.

I completely agree with Tom. Everything "looks" OK. Good show! Now I just have to figure out how I'm going to watch the rest of the series!

[bodydenny]

This is unforgiveable on HBO's part. I know people are going to say:"Lighten up Denny;It's just a show." Here's my problem:I did not see ONE standard '03 for sure. A mix of '03s and o3A3s you could chalk up to a numbers/supply problem. They made it look like the 03A3 was the standard rifle for the USMC because they must not have known the difference.
You can't tell me they couldn't have gotten one '03 to use for at least the close shots-if they knew. What's next? Grease guns on Tulagi? m60's on Iwo? LAW rockets on Okinawa?

[Harlan (Deceased)]

I went on HBO's website, and found that you can watch the first show, free, online. I had to register, email and password I think, and I didn't mind.

Thanks Mike!

(You do need to fill out a simple registration to watch videos)

I just registered and watched the first few minutes.

The home page is HBO

On the right side of the home there's a link to watch the first episode.

~ Harlan

[Sunray]

"...when they went to front line service..." They didn't. '03A3's went to REMF's and support types(until they were issued or could acquire carbines.)