Tactics of the WWII U.S. Army Infantry Rifle Squad - Attack
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- Опубліковано 20 тра 2024
- This video covers some of the fundamental tactics, techniques, and procedures of the rifle squad in offensive combat. It presents the conduct of a squad attack, including the approach march, fire fight, fire and movement, assault, consolidation and reorganization.
Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
00:50 The Approach March
3:01 Actions on Contact
5:04 The Fire Fight
10:46 Advancing the Attack (Fire and Movement)
17:45 Assault
26:53 Withdrawal
27:13 Consolidation and Reorganization
As an airborne infantry combat veteran, I appreciate your research, attention to detail, and thoroughness. Lacking Bradleys or vehicles like mechanized soldiers, we had to be professionals at small unit tactics, especially at the squad and fire team level. Violence of action, situational awareness, and noise and light discipline all become second nature.
TrashPanda - thanks for your service Sgt
But-but nothing you did actually matters in warfare! It's all about the flag officers, haven't you ever read a history book!?!? Would General So-and-So beat General Smith? Now THAT'S a real question.
I used to be into military history until I realized that it was mostly flag officer-worshipping crap, as though they determine the outcome of battles/wars to the exclusion of absolutely everything else. Good weapons, good equipment, good tactics, the leadership/aptitude of junior officers, and frequent training in/with them wins wars, not some general pushing division markers around a map from his chatau command post. "Operational" success is nothing more than the aggregate success of "small", "insignificant" units.
@@reidparker1848 Just like the Platoon or company leader may seem distant and ineffectual at times, so can a flag officer, when looking at the small scale. But by providing logistical support, maintaining organization and striking the enemy where he is most vulnerable a pencil pusher can influence the type of enemy the small units will encounter and what support they'll have available. The only problem is that due to the massive size of armies; the individual leaders, weapon systems, equipment and tactics will inevitably be underappreciated in favor of high commanders, often unjustly, like you said. But it's not just one or the other that's important. Tactics without strategy is climbing the wrong mountain. Strategy without tactics is writing a novel about how you'll climb the mountain 5 miles away from it.
@@vaclavjebavy5118 thank you for turning his questionable comment into a lesson to learn from
“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” - Sun Tzu
Huge nut for amateur historians on youtube, and this is one of the best produced video's I've ever seen. Fantastic work brother.
That means a lot. Thank you very much.
I served in WW2 and this is not accurate at all bro.
excuse me I served in cod wwii I served in the 420th Infantry division and landed in normady beaches, I ran through the whole beach without smoke or any cover and shot all those MG42 guys xd. I have a lot of kills and stuff so don't mess with me. my rank is staff colonel sergeant major sergeant colonel lt colonel captain first class super lieutenant major sergeant most importantist sergeant of the army of them all.
@@hotelmoscow7805 brooo i served in ww2 minecraft roblox. i killed 5000 minecrafters. i was a bloxxerminermaster! Applaud my superiority!
You really think so huh that's pretty cool your probably right
I am going to use this for my next paintball maneuver especially the bayonet charge.
Soft rubber or foam knives with paint or lipstick smeared on the tips and edges makes for a good simulation... ;)
Attach paintbrushes
Military tactics don’t work for paintball, just be aggressive
@@eat000yourself that's kind of the gist of fire and maneuver lol
LOL. Should be a hoot.
Hey. Let me echo the other commenters. This is a throughly good video.
I’m sure these take forever to research and produce. And, with a limited audience because of a niche topic, you’re not going to support yourself on these. So it’s important that you know they are worth your passion and time. You tell a story no one else is. Please keep at it.
Bravo.
UA-cam's monetization is paltry. It's all about passion and helping people in niche subjects.
Hear! Hear!
We always joked that distance was the only cover without concealment.
@L Train45 yeah just because you can hear them doesn’t mean you don’t know where they are exactly. You need line of sight.
@L Train45 that’s kind of impossible. Especially at night. Like in the movies everyone is sneaky and quiet. Even with Tubes and training you make shit tons of noise.
Never heard that...but true.
I've been interested in this kind of thing ever since I was a kid (i.e. books, games, play) but have never seen small group tactics explained so well. This is a top notch video. Great job all around. Wouldn't change a thing.
Thank you so much. It really means a lot. When I started making these videos I wasn't sure anyone would be interested, so I always appreciate the feedback.
We’re slowly moving back to the old “big war” form of doctrine and it’s interesting how it all pieced together.
Nowadays every nation is focusing again on peer to peer instead of insurgent operations
I have waited so long for a channel like this. Thank you for posting.
This is an excellent video. I've been looking for this sort of treatment of squad tactics for a long time. Thanks for your work.
Thank you for this video.
Thank you for that comment.
My grandfather was a Staff Sgt with the 29inf first wave Omaha Beach DDay. I grew up reading his collection of training documents and maps... He had a nice collection of Nazi officer sabers, helmets and Lugers.
These are awesome, by far the most descriptive I've ever seen, and very easy to follow. user-friendly at it's upmost
Thanks. Hearing that makes the work worth it. There was a point halfway through putting it together where I wasn't sure anyone was going to be into it.
G.I. History Handbook I think you should do one on ambush and egress tactics
@@G.I.HistoryHandbook fantastic, love the graphics and easy to follow narration.
Great vid mate!
In the Australian Army we have four stages.
Preparation- Section Commander considers such things as the Enemy's- Size, activities, locations, uniforms, timings , equipment, habits, intentions and moral. Also, the section commander is fighting for information from his soldiers. For instance, things like- What's the terrain look like to my left and right flanks?, eg: high ground, creek lines, dead ground, good fields of fire, withdrawal routes? What types of weapon systems are the enemy employing? What is the size of the enemy team/squad /platoon?The Section Commander will then issue a warning order and then snap orders: Situation, Mission, Execution, Admin and logistics, command and signals.
Assault- Bounding by fire teams and pairs. C2 by Section Commander up until the "BREAK IN" C2 then is then generally then taken up by group commanders as the boys are on their guts and communication is limited. In a flanker, I prefer to have my 2IC armed with M203 in order to mark targets and to initiate HE pre H-hour fire, Both MG's and the marksman in the Support by fire (SPF) position, with the remainder of the section with myself in the assault.
Exploitation- Once break in has been achieved and the last pit of the enemy position has been taken. The section will dry fire and move if no effective fire is being received to a distance designated by the section commander. This will depend on ground and fields of fire. After all, you may of only just hit a standing patrol.
Reorganization- The section will go into all round defence. Usually in the 10, 2, and 6 positions. With the MG's positioned in the enemy's most likely approach. As you covered. Tasks such as Ammo distribution, consolidation and care for casualties, PW searching/handling, reports and returns etc are conducted.
Thank You!
Whenever I get around to making a platoon video on the same subject (which may not be for a while because this video burned me out) I'll cover some of the things I didn't have time for such as pre-battle preparations and troop leading procedures. This video was bloated enough without a discussion of "five paragraph field orders."
Pretty cool dude.
American here, so that's what I'm familiar with (though from a civilian perspective in my case). It's neat to see how other countries do it.
No bayonet charge during the last phase of the assault? I thought that was still practiced in Commonwealth armies.
That'a fantastic visualization of rifle squad tactics, dude. You must have done quite a bit of research to be able to find this amount of information. I really appreciate the efforts. Hope to see more videos like this in the future.
Thank you very much. I really do appreciate it.
There will definitely be more. (But you're right; it does indeed take some time to dig up the right kind of information to round out the presentation. Field manuals can be amazingly detailed in certain aspects, then frustratingly vague in others.)
Very good work
Brilliant video, really informative and well put together, love the extracts from the actual manuals alongside the pictures. Great work, keep it up.
Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
I know the quote-heavy parts may turn some casual viewers off, so it's always good to hear when they're appreciated.
I appreciate the well done video. Thank you for taking the time.
Brilliantly produced videos. I look forward to seeing more to come.
Thank you very much. It's appreciated.
Great information, your team is well informed and I really appreciated this.
Pretty well done, I like the inserts from the manual!
I've just finished watching the three videos, they were all really good
great work ive been looking for a channel with this kind of content and im so happy i finally found u
Nice vid. Simple, straight forward and easy enough for the infantry to understand! :)
Very well done. I’m hoping to see Platoon, Company level organization and tactics.
I’d like be to see both attacks, as well as defense.
Also, to your hand signal point, yes, hand signals existed, but the army had roughly 26-28 hand signals, whereas during Vietnam it had expanded to over 200 signals. Saving Private Ryan, and to a smaller degree, Band of Brothers, utilized hand signal, not yet in existence in WWII.
Thanks. All those videos are on the table. The tactics videos require so many illustrations/slides I'm not looking forward to jumping into the next one. I've got to figure out a way to streamline the processes because this video took much longer just to put together than it had any right to. I was so sick of it by the end!
I can think of at least 50 infantry arm and hand signals in use by the end of the war. By 1945 signals such as "teams forward," "pincers," "cover the advance/withdrawal," and "consolidate" had been added. (I did not include them in the video.) Additionally, there were a slew of signals unique to vehicle operation and direction, both daytime and nighttime (with flashlight).
Some signals changed or fell out of favor quickly after the war, such as "able," "baker," and "charley" which were altered significantly between February of 1945 and February of 1946. (They went from purely arm and hand signals to signals that involved the rifle, before being dropped all together by 1947.) Some common-sense ones like "I do not understand" didn’t seem to exist yet. I think the most significant addition to the army's Vietnam era visual signal repertoire was the standardization of patrol signals. That's when some now-ubiquitous signals that SEEM like they should have been around forever ("freeze!") were officially adopted. (Even then, "Freeze!" was initially open-handed instead of with the familiar clenched-fist.)
ColdWarShot it's interesting isn't it?
ColdWarShot a lot of hand signals are developed at the squad/platoon level. There isn't always a SOP for the entire unit
Platoon is the most realistic of war in Vietnam
Veteran here. Subscribing and liking because this was a well thought out presentation of how it is/was without smart ass, smug remarks and editorializing. Thank you. I'm looking forward to watching more of your clips.
Mate, your videos are amazing. thank you.
Wow. So much wisdom in here. What an underrated video.
Wow. This is a really well made video. Very detailed, well narrated and interesting. Thanks!
Excellent, sir! I love this and all of your videos that I have seen so far!
Very good job. Your references were well researched and explanations were clear and understandable. Keep up the good work.
Thank you very much. It's appreciated. Video #5 is coming this week!
Well done and good historical context! I also like the after action reports.
Outstanding video....thank you!
"You have finally made it to the end" The best close on UA-cam!! Thanks for another very interesting video!
Thanks again! I hope to have more videos up eventually. I don't beg for subscribers, but if you like my content it's not a bad idea to receive notifications. By the time I'm ready to post another video even I've forgotten about my previous one.
Oh, I'm subscribed. Like I said elsewhere, I'm looking forward to your breakdown of the USMC squad. I am also sharing your videos.
Excellent set of videos! Looking forward to more.
Thanks a lot!
Thanks for the videos
Thank you for your work. Well put together, nice and clean visuals, clear narration. I will put this into practice in Post Scriptum
Amazing work.
Excellent video thank you
Excellent video, thanks and subscribed!!
You might think that this is just a simple video but it isnt. Its a piece of history that deserve to be played in museum, you are honoring the soldier that fought ww2 by showing how they train and fought. Its incredible and amazing to see.
Tracer emphasis was not used when I was an officer in the army during the cold war when deploying scouts. Excellent idea.
With increased radio communication I suppose it may have served less of a purpose, especially as tracers work both ways! Thanks for your service :)
dont know if this is relevant, but as an M60a3 crewman, we used tracers on all tanks, with both coax (5.56), and the ma duece 50 cal. during cold war training 89-92.
@@Gizziiusa it's still used on MGs,, but the idea of giving scouts tracers (and the idea of scouts, as a whole, sadly) has fell out of favour.
This was way more interesting than it should have been. You've got a sub for what it's worth.
Thanks, I appreciate that...And I'm always grateful for each and every sub.
Amazing job dude, very well done
This is really cool. I never knew how any of this worked. Thanks for the video!
Nice. I've always understood special forces fireteam type bounding cover stuff very well but always had a hard time understanding how larger battles especially those during WWII were fought. This helped me understand some of the simpler parts that are normally just glossed over but never explicitly said and is quite helpful. I definitely subscribed and I hope you have more planned but pace yourself, I can tell these videos take a lot of effort.
Thank you for the kind words (and understanding). I definitely plan to continue the series.
I just can't wait for the next video, keep it up.
Thanks a lot.
New videos may not get made as quickly as I'd like, but I've got plans for many more.
great video, well made and super informative! i love this stuff! nvr served but i have such a great respect and feeling of gratitude for all those who did so ive always wondered exactly how they could engage in firefights without being in a state of absolute disorganized kaos from the first shot fired...now i have a better idea! thanks for the video
Thank you. I've always been upfront about the fact that I've never served. All I can do is study the history, examine doctrine from that era, read what the WWII veterans wrote about their experience, and try to collate it into a semi-coherent video. Regarding disorganized chaos, people often retort that "no plan survives contact with the enemy". But in those moments, its training, the constantly drilled techniques and procedures that are left. Everyone from assistant squad leaders to platoon leaders still had specific jobs to do, and this is how they were taught to try and do them. Things obviously didn't always work out like a Fort Benning field problem, but it was what they were working toward.
I read and have military stories, saving this sharp vid for research!
Excellent video. Really enjoyed it.
Great stuff my friend. Awesome work, truly!
I appreciate that!
Love this channel 👌 these animations are on point
Hey man this is a great video, you speak very clearly and eloquently.
Thank you very much.
Fantastic video my dude
What you should do next is a vid about how the German Rifle Squad attack just to show the big difference in tactics
That's a great idea! I'd love to see difference and similarities in tactics.
@Armin Wessler we didn't smoke it we had it in chocolate like gentlemen
@@lamolambda8349 it wasnt in chocolate, it was in pills. It was called “PANZERSCHOKOLADE“ which translates to “tank-chocolate“ but it doesnt have anything to do witch chocolate. And btw it was 1000times weaker than todays meth. It was more like a strong, long lasting coffee
@@FreDDioh natürlich versteht der Deutsche den Witz wieder nicht und muss sofort wieder nen besserwisserischen Vortrag halten nach dem keiner gefragt hat.
ua-cam.com/video/GDZMJXaADQI/v-deo.html
Thoroughly enjoy your videos.
Wonderful stuff! Thanks mein and keep it up!
Good content. Keep it coming please.
Yo these videos are incredible.. keep them up please!
Thank you. It's slow-going, but I do intend to keep them up.
Excellent video mate. To think how complex a firefight can be!
A very interesting and knowledgeable video. Thank you for your hard work.
Excellent work.
Informative and interesting. Great graphics!
Thank you so much! Creating the graphics is my least favorite part of the process, so I always appreciate it when they are appreciated.
Fantastic video
Excellent series!
Thank you very much! It's excellent to hear that.
Excellent video
Really good job with this thankyou! My Dad was in WW2. Pattons 3rd Army, 26th ID, 104th regiment 2nd Battalion, Fox company. He was 1st scout in his squad and made good use of tracer rounds to direct fire, as noted in your video. He figured out how to make the rifle full auto (kept a spare modified trigger group filed sear?). He would load up tracers and shoot to a target to direct the squads fire. He said he went through a few rifles but, it paid off in 2 ways, the direction of fire was easier to see and it distracted the Germans for a few seconds!
Thank you for watching!
Your dad sure earned his combat pay. No job in the rifle squad was particularly low-stress, but lead scout seems pretty nerve-racking.
Thank you friend 😊🙂
Outstanding.
Your videos are excellent. I certainly hope you keep up the good work.
Thank you. I'll certainly keep up the work. I can't say how good it will be...
these are some of the most well informed ww2 tactics videos I've found on yt, looking forward to whatever else you upload, maybe brittish or German squad tactics?
Thanks a lot Ben, I really appreciate it.
While I'd love to see similar videos featuring the other combatant countries, I'm pretty sure I'm not the right fit to make them. As
with anyone interested in the topic, I'd like think I have a basic, if superficial, understanding of the small unit organizations and tactics of the major Allied and Axis militaries, but I wouldn't even know where to look for the type of information I'd need to drill down into. I'd want to comb through as many primary sources as I could get my hands on, and the only ones I have on hand at the moment are about the US military. (This is the G.I. History Handbook after all.)
Matthew Fogarty thanks 👍
Good stuff man!
I Lowkey love these videos
Wow. Great video and a lot of work to make👍
using it for my next book! these videos are great for getting your mind set right.
Really, just an excellent video. Well done mate.
Thanks a lot. I really appreciate it.
NIce presentation and work. Subbed.
This is video is really great :D Keep up with the great work :)
Thank you very much.
You should do a video on modern tactics.
I really enjoy the format you use.
I don't think I've found anything like this on modern militaries
Crazy it took til now to blow up.
Modern tactics? Sure.
1. Launch the drone.
2. Acquire the target.
3. Annihilate it.
4. Have a beer.
Anthony Vigil lol +1
Future tactics...
Take off and nuke the sight from orbit.
It's the only way to be sure... ;)
The modern strats are to hole up and wait on the air support
There's probably some tactician in the military writing some handbooks about what to do in equal force engagements.
Great job!
Outstanding!
Thank you kindly!
Defence phase would great to see. Your work is great.
Awesome Video, this is exactly what I was looking for. Good visuals, well articulated, and very comprehensive. I also really liked the extra bit of quotes from the manual(s). Cool channel can't wait to see more. Just a request but can we get one about Infantry tactics working with tanks.
Thanks a lot. The mechanics of infantry operating with tank support will absolutely be covered at some point in the future. I have some informative primary sources covering the subject so I can hopefully provide more of those good period quotes.
This is my new favorite youtube channel
Thanks. That's great to hear.
yes i too thank you, cheers man!
Thanks for watching!
incredibly good, this coul be used as actual training material. Very very good production and information!!!
If your ever opening a patreon or something, I will definitely support
I'm in the US Marine corps an 0311 and are main bread and butter is BUDDY RUSHING!!!!!!! "IM UP, HE SEES ME, IM DOWN"
Excellent job
Thanks!
Fascinating and informative! I would be very interested in seeing something similar on house-to-house fighting. I've read books on Fallujah, Hue and "Market-Garden" that discuss these type actions at some level but I would like to see how it is taught, and how those tactics hold up in actual combat. Great work, Keep It Up!
Thank you very much. I've had a house-to-house fighting video in the works for some time. There a couple videos I need to get out first (Platoon Tactics and Weapons Platoon Organization) because they'll form a necessary foundation.
Things haven’t changed much. Excellent video.
Nice work!
Damn... good work
Those notes were cool, i love seeing how the wrote stuff back then.
25:58 - "Bayonets will be fixed for the final assault - yes. But when we think of killing, we must think of bullets fired at point-blank range.The bayonet is the final threat and last reserve".
That's an excellent and balanced summary of the use of the bayonet in modern warfare, with a hint on its psychological effect on the enemy. A weapon that may be used and instill the soldier for offense, but not actually the main player at close-range anymore.
This is great, my dude.
Thanks a lot.
These are terrific videos. They really fill in the gaps of my knowledge and curiosity about WWII. I hope you make a lot more. I'm a bit curious whether these sorts of tactics would mostly come naturally to any reasonably intelligence group of people, or if many of us gained knowledge from watching movies? Perhaps future videos could compare how the other major WWII players trained their soldiers and how partisan/guerilla groups operated.
There's also the Canadian First Nations soldiers in WWI, they seemed to be able to operate as though trenches and no man's land wasn't a big deal.
Cover but not concealment? A pillbox.
Stand behind it
NikovK, yeah, I see what you're saying. Although a soldier inside a pillbox is pretty well hidden from direct observation himself, if the pillbox itself is unconcealed then its occupant's location is obvious.
Cover, but not concealment is achieved with the Humvee and MRAP today. Just drive around, and react to contact.
If you stand under the pill box, no one will find you...
What about a battleship, is that cover with no concealment. Or what if your in front of a giant mirror?
Thanks!
Great work!
Thank you!
very very helpful thank you
Good to hear. Thanks for watching.
The one thing that has made the American Rifleman superior to other contemporaries is the ability of not having to be told what to do. The initiative is taught from the beginning and reinforced more in some units then others such as Airborne.
The american squad was the most tactically weak in all ww2 powers. At least in firepower
I feel like the one thing that made the American rifleman superior to other contemporaries was probably the M1 Garand
@@pootisengage6672 I wonder if you'd still feel that way after being under the fire of 10-11 semi-automatic rifles + 1-2 automatic rifles. It was the only army in the world to be universally issued with semi-automatic rifles. The American squad had an absolutely ludicrous amount of firepower by the standards of the time (waaaay more firepower than most armies).
Overall I think the German infantry squad, with its MG42, and the American infantry squad, with its M1 Garands, had a pretty similar amount of firepower. But since the American firepower was evenly distributed across the riflemen it was much more flexible and much less brittle than the German firepower, which was all concentrated in the machinegun. If the German machinegun is in a bad position, the effectiveness of the entire squad is compromised. When the German machinegun needs to move, the entire squad is effectively out of action until it reaches its new position. If the machinegunner gets hit, the entire squad is rendered combat ineffective unless/until someone can retrieve the machinegun. If any of the American riflemen are in a bad position, or need to move, or get hit, the rest of the squad can still maintain the deluge of semi-automatic rifle fire with only a relatively minor loss in overall firepower.
@@user-gk1mw9od1i imagine you have guys that have a careless hopeless attitude, no matter what we do, half of us die-how you deal with that?
@@theobvious1958 If your guys are that careless then they're probably not fit to be going into combat in the first place. That's why the Allies placed such a high emphasis on moral. And if half of your men are KIA then it's likely that 100% of your men are casualties (keep in mind that there will usually be two or three men wounded for every one killed). At that point there's probably nothing much you can do. Your unit is completely combat ineffective at that point. You're just desperately hoping for some other unit to come to your rescue at that point. But normally casualty rates aren't going to get that high (for one thing the unit will be combat ineffective long before it actually hits 100% casualties). A 5%-10% casualty rate would be far more common, and a 15%-25% casualty rate would represent an especially bad day of fighting.
Nice video, we still practice this pretty much step by step.