Question about 30 round clips and bayonet lugs on Carbines in WW2

[frankderrico]

I magged up the Bourke-White (Italy) photo again. Yes that is a bayonet on the carbine (you can see the magazine). The first G.I. with his back to us and the carbine over his right sholder sure looks like an adjustable sight to me, also looks like a low wood stock. That's what I see.....Frank

Jim, I wonder if the pic is miss labled. Does any other equipment in the photo look like Korean era to you?

[Bill Hollinger]

I originally thought Korea also but it can't be because the 88th was not in Korea. Look at the helmet with the 88th insignia on it. The distinctive 88th Division marking on one soldier's helmet confirms that it's ETO... I suppose we could further speculate that the M-4 bayonet, confirmed to have been issued to at least the 17th Abn Div. preparing to cross the Rhine (March, 1945), may have been attached to this soldier's carbine with cloth electrical tape, right?

[browningautorifle]

Frank, I don't know enough about US field equipment to give a good reason for thinking it's Korea exept the terrain and the snow. If Margret Bourke -White hand labeled the pic then I guess that's it.

[USGI]

I agree that the carbine on the soldier's back in the lower right of the picture appears to have a low wood stock and has an adjustable rear sight on it. What kind of rifle is the soldier on the left taking aim with? It appears to have a large box magazine. The rifle that has the bayonet appears to have some sort of rear sight that is located right above the man's left hand and ahead of the magazine - that magazine looks big too, but it might be just because it's partially hidden from view. Anyway, the rear sight seems to be located in front of the magazine, and not where it should be on a carbine.

- Bob

[frankderrico]

Bob, I think that you are seeing his fingers of his left hand coming up on the right side of the stock.
There certainly is a mix of infantry weapons in the picture for sure.....Frank

[imarangemaster]

I agree it is WWII. Of the six carbines in the picture, only one has bayonet and lug, and one other has adjustable rear sight. If it was Korea, chances are most, if not all, would have been upgraded after the war. The Korea pics I pulled up had upgraded carbines.

[frankderrico]

Good point RM.
Bill you might be right about the taped on bayonet. G.I.'s certainly adapted things.....Frank

[firstflabn]

Italy was removed from ETO in February 1943. A new command, the North Africa Theater of Operations (NATO), was created to allow ETO to concentrate on Overlord. NATO became the Meditteranean Theater of Operations (MTO) in November 1944, a few months before the photo was published.

[Harlan (Deceased)]

I zoomed with photoshop and tried to get close enough to see some of the details -

It looks to me like there is a bayonet lug holding the bayonet, and an adjustable sight on the carbine that's slung behind the soldier's back in the foreground (?)
You can also see a 'stock pouch' in the first photo.

[browningautorifle]

I agree completely. Maybe he came from the states the day before and was issued the carbine a month ago. First of the new ones.