Interesting to note that the Marine Corps rifle squad TO&E went through 3 or 4 changes over the same time frame: It started the war with 1 BAR per squad this evolved to 3 per squad.
While you refer to yourself as 'just a guy on the internet', you are, in my opinion, someone who is very well versed in the subject and delivers that information in a concise and trenchant manner; something not found very often in that pool of 'guys on the internet'. I offer congratulations on a job well done and will subscribe with the hope of seeing much more like this.
May I also add that you're someone who *cares* to do well. You did excellent research, and I too look forward to watching more of your videos in the future.
Thank you very much, Dusty. I really do appreciate it. But I AM just some guy on the internet, and I may read something tomorrow that completely changes my understanding of things, so I always encourage people to do their own research if they're so inclined. I hope my videos at least serve as a solid starting point.
Jeff, Thank you. I know my videos can be rather quote-heavy, but I hate learning something interesting only to see it isn't backed-up by any sources, or seeing that a cited source has been out of print since the war. I'd rather give my viewers the goods verbatim than have them think I'm just making stuff up.
That’s because he seems to love reading manuals. Something I do too but on the contrary I’m a slow reader. I think that he KNOWS there are many many manuals and accounts out there. And that it IS possible that he’d have to nuance things and so forth based on future insights. But hey, overall he laid out an amazing bit of info. And the core of the info will never change because he takes it straight out of official contemporary manuals.
Very good indeed! When I went through Airborne School in 1986 after Basic and Infantry School at Ft.Benning Georgia. A WWII veteran who was a Paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne during Normandy, Holland, and the Battle of the Bulge was a tour guide at the US Army National Infantry Museum. He said that Airborne units had a very strong leeway of weapons. All Paratroopers had qualified with all weapons within an infantry squad and platoon. Majority of all Paratroopers were also familiarized with mortars also because even before the Sicily Invasion of 1943 the Airborne Divisions were trained to the highest quality of training before combat. During the fight for Sicily Airborne units within the squads had M1A1 carbines, Thompsons, M1s, and M1903s for grenadiers. The machine guns like the 1919s were in weapons squads that had 2 machine guns and 2 Bazooka teams within the platoon. It was 2 to 3 rifle squads and 1 weapons squad. The company had a mortar squad which is in the HQ platoon with the company commander, XO, and First Sergeant. During combat in Sicily the 82nd Airborne found out that Paratroopers could take and would take additional weapons like pistols, BARs and grab Thompsons of casualties from their own or other units to gain additional firepower. So by 1944 before the Normandy Invasion the 82nd and the 101st had armed their Paratroopers to what ever weapon they felt like taking into combat minus BARs to include 1911A1 pistols were issued to troopers if they were lucky enough to get issued one was up for grabs. Firepower was the lesson of Sicily. So by the time Normandy had commenced both divisions armed their troopers with their weapons of choice to include side arms, machetes, and daggers. Paratroopers in the European Theatre and Pacific were better armed than the Ranger Battalions who had a slightly modified TOE to regular infantry. The idea of Paratroopers being armed to what they liked was so they can reek havoc into the enemy because they jumped behind enemy lines and used the weapons that they loved to kill the enemy with. In fact Airborne units were very unorthodox in their tactics that their orders were to kill the enemy in their way and take objectives at all cost for follow on forces that relieved them. That is why WWII Airborne units were elite because of their fighting ability in combat. Since the end of WWII the 82nd Airborne now as the only Airborne division to include 2 Airborne Brigade Combat Teams have followed a rigid TOE since Korea that all troopers are armed as a regular Light Infantry and Ranger Battalion squad. Streamlined to Army standards and no more weapons of choice but assigned weapons for every member within the squad. The platoon has 3 rifle squads with 9 to 10 men. The Squad leader is an E-6 or promotable E-5. Two fire teams Alpha and Bravo. Each commanded by an E-5 or E-4 Specialist/Hard Stripe Corporal promotable. Each fire team has a grenadier armed with an M4 with M203, M249 SAW, and 3 M4 carbines. The Team Leader can either be armed with an M4 carbine or carry the M4 with M203. This was Regular Army wide even during the Iraq and Afghanistan era from 2003 till present. For me when I went for my combat tour in Iraq from 2006-08 I was in a National Guard infantry company. I was fortunate to be armed with an M4 and an M9 pistol because my commander deemed it so. So every officer, NCO, and soldier was armed with a pistol if they qualified with it. When we arrived in Iraq Regular Army units in our FOB were jealous that we were armed with M9 pistols. Very good video my friend and interesting indeed.
Oh, thank you very much. It makes me think I'm doing something right. I don't know if it's from movies, or video games, or what, but it seems a lot of people are under the impression pistols are far more commonly issued than they really are. I recently read an old article that mentioned the unofficial propagation of pistols. (The Infantry Journal, maybe? I swear, I spend half my time just trying to remember where I read something.) Anyway, the author mentioned most of the guys in his unit had pistols, but they had almost all been weapons "liberated" from the enemy. It seemed to him everyone had a Walther, or Luger, or something, tucked somewhere.
G.I. History Handbook .. I worked at 2nd ID ..702 maintenance in small arms ( 1968 ) ..The CID boys had their 38 snub nose.. MPs with 45s.. of course we all had M14 in various configurations..Since we supported the whole 2nd ID pistols except for the M48 tank crew were not very common...
Call yourself "just some guy on the internet," but you are more well versed in this subject than any other documentarian I've heard. Quality material. Subscribed.
Excellent job. No Army can win the war without well-trained squads. Two BARs give better fire power. Today the LMG makes it even better, especially with the 40mm Grenade Launcher. The "two brothers" concept is still valid, just like in Band of Brothers. I liked the video a lot!
Thanks a lot. Yeah, the idea of two BARs per squad had been floated for decades, but even after practical experience with such a set up, the powers that be refused to make it official after WWII. They feared it would hinder the squads mobility, something they were obsessed with. It wasn't until the mid 1950's that they finally fully relented to what had already been happening in the field anyway. They never considered a belt-fed because it couldn't be used effectively in the assault as an automatic rifle which could keep up with the riflemen. (Not until the adoption of the M249.) Perversely, Rangers and Paratroopers, the lightest and most mobile forces, used LMGs (M1919s) in their squads during WWII because they lacked the heavier supporting weapons of the regular infantry.
Yep, they had to relearn that in Korea and then again in Vietnam. The USMC recently tried the idea out of replacing the SAW with the M27 IAR to encourage mobility in the attack. But from what I understand now, they are just gong to army all the Infantry with the M27 and keep the saw because it still provides more suppression.
Interesting video. Things changed by the time Vietnam came around, at least in the Marine Corps. A full "T.O." rifle squad in the Corps of the 1960's consisted of 14 men. The squadleader billet was ranked as a Sergeant, with a grenadier armed with the M79 grenade launcher serving as assistant squadleader (a corporal). The remaining men were divided into three four-man fireteams. Each team had a team leader (corporal or lance corporal), an automatic rifleman (lance corporal or PFC), his assistant ARman (a PFC or PVT), and the third member who would act as backup in case of loss due to casualties (a PFC or PVT). I was an AR man in Vietnam, carrying an M-14E2, select fire automatic rifle with an M2 bipod, and extra 20 round magazines beyond the normal ammo load for regular riflemen. Of course, in reality things never worked out as per the Table of Organization (T.O.), since we were almost always operating at half strength in the field. We normally had corporals as squadleaders, with descending ranks per job position. I ended up as a lance corporal squadleader because we just didn't have the available NCO's to fill the billets at the time.
Thanks. The Marine Corps settled on its familiar 13-man rifle squad structure in 1944. Before that, the squad was 12-strong like the US Army, but with two BARs as standard. By, say, Iwo Jima, a USMC rifle squad consisted of a squad leader and three four-man fire teams, like it still does today. (With the same rank structure as you were familiar with.) The automatic rifleman was armed with a BAR, naturally. The Squad Leader carried an M1 carbine, at least he was allotted one in the table at this time. BTW, what's your opinion on the M14E2/M14A1? I'm careful, of course, not to extrapolate any singular experience, but I'm always interested to hear from the guys who actually used them for extended periods of time in their intended role. (As opposed to typical "gun guy" lore, derived from firing one once at the range and then writing a book about it.)
I loved the M-14 rifle because of it's reliability and hitting power in combat. I was honored to be chosen to carry the fully automatic select fire version, which made me one of the primary sources of firepower at the squad level. I trusted my life, and that of my fellow Marines, to that fine battle rifle. I became an expert of the "two or three round burst" trigger control method. All that was necessary to sweep an area was to flip the rifle horizontally on it's right side, with the left bipod extended for handheld elevation control, then let the cyclic action move the muzzle across the target. To my chagrin, the second time I went to Nam, they took away our M-14's (had the semi-auto selector LOCK only that time) and gave us the M-16's. With four hours of familiarization with the new weapons, we were put out into the field. The new firearms were a haphazard platform for us. Many of them, mine included, had loading problems because of the direct gas impingement system, which dumped gas, and some unburned powder increments, into the rifle's chamber area, falling into the magazines and helping foul the follower springs. I hated the M-16, and will not own an "AR Platform" long gun to this very day. I do have an M1A (M-14 civilian version without capacity to be converted to full automatic).
Thanks for the timely and interesting response. Sometimes I read articles that make it sound like the adoption of the M14E2 was one of the worst tragedies to befall mankind. You'll see similar things written today about the BAR. (It wasn't universally loved, but many(most?) guys whose lives depended on it didn't seem to have a problem with the BAR other than the weight. It was universally considered a load to carry, but it generally went "bang" when it was supposed to.)
I had the opportunity to fire the B.A.R. for familiarization during advanced infantry training (after boot camp but before unit assignment). It was a very heavy piece, coming in at around 20 lbs., but rock steady with shot placement due to the extra weight. The B.A.R. also didn't have a tendency to climb toward the sky if fired continuously, as the M-14 E2 did if you dumped the entire magazine. Both weapons were battleworthy.
I am learning lots from your videos. Please keep making them. I especially appreciate your frequent references to US Army publications, memoirs and histories. A bibliography of those sources added to your brief description of each video would be welcome.
Real good video, please continue what you do, it's easy to understand and seems good researched. If I may wish for something, it would be the same video with the airborne's (if there is a difference) and the overall bigger picture. How are morters and mg's integrated and Co. Much love
Thanks for the feedback. It's gratifying to know the effort is appreciated. I plan to eventually cover the organization of specialized units, but for now the focus is on regular infantry. After a few more squad-focused videos I'll zoom-out and take a look at the platoon, and then the company. Though there were several differences in airborne units, most of these were found above squad-level apart from one significant change. While glider infantry squads looked the same as their "leg" infantry counterparts, paratroopers were not (initially) issued BARs and instead had an LMG (M1919A4/A6) in every squad.
Sure. It's not in the queue right now, but it's definitely a topic that's in my wheelhouse. I can certainly see it happening eventually, but there are other videos I wanted to get to first.
The TO&E in WWI was completely different. There was more emphasis on hand bombers, rifle grenadiers, and auto rifles. In addition, there was a whole lot more pistols issued out to individuals. There were no "field manuals" titled "FM-whatever" in WWI, but just drill manuals such as the 1917 Infantryman's Manual. Plus, as the war progressed, adoption of French and British tactics for attacking and clearing out fortified trenches began to be adopted and evolved. There was still the "buddy system" in use, but most squad level tactics didn't start to be developed until near the end of the war, utilizing the French "demi-platoon" approach.
Thank you for your video description. Now I understand the rifle squad, as it applies to my Dad's role as the BAR in WWII ETO. His buddy told me Dad got his "buck" Sgt promotion in the field from being a Corporal. My dad was inducted at Ft McClellan in '42 for basic, sent for technical training as a teletype operator to Jefferson Barracks, MO, then Infantry School at Ft. Benning, then to Bolling Field, and then N. Ireland. He was a clerk in the HQ VIII AF Composite Command. Then, he transferred to England not far from Windsor. How did he move from being a clerk to a BAR, attached to the 101st Airborne as a para/glider trooper, serving at Normandy, Market Garden, Bastogne, Rhine? (Prior to going overseas, he assured my uncle in a letter from Bolling Field that he would be safe and out of harms way!)
It's impossible to know the exact circumstances of his transfer, but it wasn't too unusual. Rifle units had far and away the most casualties and needed the most replacements...Replacements the Army had serious trouble finding when they needed them most. This became a crisis when, under pressure from Congress (under pressure from the public), the War Department decided in February 1944 not to send 18-year-olds with fewer than six months training overseas. In June 1944 they went so far as to ban ALL 18-year-olds from going overseas as infantry replacements. This settled the American public, but threw the entire replacement system into chaos. By 1944, most soldiers shipped overseas were infantry replacements, and half of all inductees into the Army Ground Forces were 18-years-old. The Army was forced sit on this huge manpower pool and find infantry replacements elsewhere. This involved stripping units of men who were were at least 19 and in the Army for more than six months. Many of these men came from not-yet-deployed infantry divisions, but not all. Some, for example, could have been clerks in the USAAF who got to keep their corporal stripes but were shunted into a rifle unit after infantry retraining. Army Service Forces, Air Forces, and even Ground Forces units (such as Anti-Aircraft Artillery), stationed both within the US and overseas, had to give up men for infantry conversion. The 18-year-old ban was rescinded in August 1944, but the damage was long-lasting. (The AGF had temporarily stopped sending 18-year-old inductees to infantry replacement training centers.)
Very good job! As mentioned by other comments, you have done an excellent job with your video- very much superior to other presenters on UA-cam. I've had a long time interest in military matters since my childhood back in the 50s and what you present is not new information but information more concise and explanatory. I'll be look for more videos you have made. Thank you and best wishes.
Thanks for the vid! :D I like how quickly you talk! Most creators talk very slowly and I need to speed the videos up. You delivered the info quickly but also clearly!
Thank you very much. I really do appreciate it. I'm knee-deep in production of the next video right now. (Tactics videos always take longer than planned...)
VERY informative! I tended to think of the WWII Army squad as a group of men, roles assigned on an as-needed basis. Being USMC-oriented, I'm really looking forward to your video on the Marine Corps WWII rifle squad!
I would like to address the reasoning behind m1903 Springfield preference in the rifle grenade role as to the M1 Garand. The reasoning as to why the 1903 was preferred is due to the fact that a blank cartridge can be loaded into the 1903 as needed and all that was left to do was to attach your rifle grenade. where as having the M1 you would either need a pre-loaded clip with a blank in it to continue firing after firing your rifle grenade which wasn't always convenient, or to unload said clip load a blank and then load your grenade to fire.
I guess you could top-off the weapon with a grenade launching cartridge with the en bloc still inside (partially ejected)… That’s doable, if not graceful. BUT, proper procedure according to FM 23-30 was to clear and lock the rifle before inserting a launcher cartridge into the chamber. The most common complaint is that use of the M7 blocked-off the gas system, which meant retracting the operating rod to manually cycle the rifle. (A problem fixed with the M7A1.) But I always figured an eight round straight-pull bolt action was no worse than a five round conventional bolt action.
A semi auto is recoil dependent to cycle the bolt. A 1903 is not the cycling is done by hand. Just my guess I suspect the M 1 wouldn't cycle correctly.
The last example from the Infantry Journal (1947) foreshadowed the future squad/fire team concept, and had been used to some degree early in the war by Marine Raiders.
A Ranger assault section was a bit different. Assault Squad: Sergeant, M1 Rifle, Squad Leader. Private First Class, M1 Rifle, Rifleman.(X4) Light Machine Gun Squad: Staff Sergeant, M1 Rifle, Squad Leader. Private first class, M1 Rifle, Ammunition Carrier.(X2) Private First Class, M1911, MG Gunner. (I assume the "Gun, machine, cal. .30, light, flexible" allocated to this squad belonged to this guy) Private First Class, M1911, MG Gunner Assistant. There was also a dude with a M1 Rifle that commanded the the section, he was a Staff Sergeant.
Honestly your video is more well researched than many a modern book. Printing books has become so easy and cheap post war that any man with some bit of wealth can have his book printed. It disturbs me most when videos or other books then refer to these books rather than to primary sources like you have.
It's my main issue with Wikipedia: the woozle effect. Information on that site doesn't need to be correct, it only needs to have been printed. Before long, everyone begins confidently quoting a circularly sourced "woozle."
My relatives who fought in WWII loved the B.A.R., while the Korean War vets hated it with an undying passion. My cousin, Jack, carried one at Chosin Reservoir and had his assistant carry one as well due to its unreliability in cold weather. Full disclosure, a majority of these men were Marines in the Pacific and Korea, the Army vets were in the E.T.O. All of them said that the T.O.& E. was a guideline, not gospel. Many handguns were carried that came from barter, personal property or otherwise "liberated." They all said they were most valuable at night in dug in positions. Jack asserted that he killed three for sure with his .38 Spl. revolver who had infiltrated the line at night. He believes there were three more, but bodies were never found. He slept with that revolver until he died a few years ago. Dad and I were the only ones he ever talked about combat with, for some reason, and he really opened up. Most agreed that the Army was more by the book and structured, especially if the officer was an Academy grad. The Marines were more concerned with results than method and afforded much more room for improvisation as needs required. Everybody loved the M1 rifle, but the M1 carbine was a source of debate for years. The bottom line is that one should never use the words "never, always, every, none" or like absolute terms when discussing tactics, organization or weapons in combat. In war the first casualty is the truth, the second is "the book."
Damn right. I hate flag officers and the constant fellatio society gives them. 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.
@@gotanon8958 Imagine being that wrong. They are politicians. Figureheads. People need a singular figure to credit, because they can't stand complex interpretations.
My grandpa was a replacement squad leader in the 475th Infantry Regiment, Mars Task Force (formerly Merrill's Marauders). Funny thing is, he started off as a Pvt., was promoted to Cpl., and by the end of the campaign was a T/3 squad leader. I've heard that in a pinch, T/3 would be the fill-in rank for "battlefield-promoted" squad leaders. I don't know how true that is though.
I was in the USMC from '62 until '66. During my time in the infantry, The squad began as a 13-man unit: 3 fire-teams and a squad leader. By it time I became a squad leader a M-79 grenadier was added to the squad. He served directly under the squad leader. Each fire-team had one M-14 with a fire selector switch (we called him the "AR man"), and 3 riflemen. The squads were not always T.O., often short a couple of men, sometimes an entire fire team.
No, I have never served in the military. I’m just some guy on the internet with an interest in history and a bunch of old books. My videos are purely a historical study.
The reference to FM-25, regarding the 3 team squads vs 2 team; Army regulations allow for unit commanders to ADD TO but never take away from regulations and units are encouraged to develop SOP's as their mission dictates. To my knowledge this goes back to the end of World War One, possibly even further depending on the regulation(s) in question. More often than not you see accounts of "OP's being pushed out" or "Scout teams being deployed forward" instead of "Charley team was pushed ahead" until, as you said, it became standard later in the war.
Great video. I'm a serious WWII historian and specialize in 101st operations. I can not find a thing to criticize in this video. Very good documentation and presentation.
Thank you. There are plenty of viewers who couldn't care less about all the citations, but it's the type of thing I like. As a viewer I'm always asking, "Really? Where did he read that?" It's a question I don't want my audience wondering.
Any squad grenade launcher is, by definition, a direct fire weapon. An indirect fire weapon is any weapon where a spotter is forward of the team loading; adjusting the mortar, howitzer, naval gun, etc base on what a spotter with eyes on the target tells the team he sees the rounds land near the target and the fire control officer tells the team to adjust by knowing his position, the observers position and the targets position on the ground and that is figured by the OT Factor. The team or guy pulling the trigger on the weapon cannot see the target ...hence the indirect fire monicre. A squad level and company 60mm mortar teams are direct fire weapons, though the 60mm mortar can be an indirect fire system. The squad level grenade launcher can be used to strike against enemy in low lying areas, behind cover or areas where lobbing a grenade might be needed as directly firing a bullet will not work. It's still a direct fire weapon
You bet. I mentioned in a response on my other video that I foresee a squad evolution video at some point which covers the major changes over the past century, from WWI to the present. Eventually…
That would be awesome. As an Infantryman in today's Army I'd like to see where we started to employ the 4 man fireteam, and 2 fireteam squads. I'm hooked on your videos.
You say there were no Corporals in a rifle squad, so how did promotion work? Were PFCs Promoted directly to Sargeant? I also have a completely unrelated question, were Marine rifle squads organized in the same ways as Army rifle squads? Anyway great videos I can't wait for more.
George A.,T/O&E 7-17 (26 February 1944) only allotted one spot for a corporal in the entire infantry rifle company: the company clerk. Old Uncle Frank's outfit may have been different, but as far as the US Army was concerned, there was officially no room for any corporals in a standard rifle platoon by D-Day. For a rifle squad, promotion meant surviving. It was common for privates first class who stayed on their feet to become an acting sergeant when an assistant squad leader position needed to be filled. If they survived long enough, they’d eventually get the full promotion, but by then they may have already been an acting squad leader...or the platoon sergeant...depending on how many casualties the unit had sustained. During WWII, a rifleman with his head on straight could climb the enlisted ladder rapidly. An acting assistant squad leader who took over a squad could see his actual rank in the company morning report go from private first class to staff sergeant in one day. Your other question has been addressed a few times in other replies on this video, but in short, the USMC added a second BAR to each rifle squad in 1943, and then a third in 1944 when they adopted a 13-man squad which was organized into a leader and three 4-man fire teams (each with a BAR). The Marines retained the early war rank structure; squad leaders remained sergeants and assistant squad leaders (later fire team leaders) were corporals.
Wow thanks for the response. I may be getting a little greedy, but I have another question. Your comment about Uncle Frank reminded me of my Uncle Jim who fought in Europe as an engineer. It was his job to destroy obstacles and mines. I was wondering if he would have been attached to an infantry outfit, or if Engineers were organized into their own units. I swear this will be my last question.
George A., Every infantry division had an engineer combat battalion. These engineers were organic to the division, and were the infantry's own construction/demolition crews. A platoon of engineers could be sent out to repair/destroy a bridge or lay/clear mines, but in certain limited circumstances they could be attached directly to a rifle unit to breach obstacles (like blowing holes in hedgerows) during an attack. But there were other types of "general" engineering units such as an armored division's armored engineer battalion, and non-divisional units like engineer construction battalions. There were aviation engineers who built runways and the amphibious engineer special brigades that spearheaded seaborne invasions. Various "special" engineer battalions specialized in several fields, from camouflage to boat maintenance. The US Army had everything from airborne engineer combat battalions to engineer topographic and forestry battalions. Engineers had myriad tasks to accomplish, from neutralizing tank traps and building heavy pontoon bridges, to keeping the water clean and railroads running.
Very good I learned a couple of new things. Looking forward to learning more. Just one thing, around the D-Day the assistant BAR position was officially eliminated and the BAR belt no longer issued.
jdg, thanks for watching. I'm currently working on a companion video about the rifle platoon (I thought it would be done by now...) which I hope you'll enjoy as well. About the assistant AR: While Change No. 1 (30 June 1944) to the 26 February 1944 T/O&E 7-17 eliminated the M1937 BAR magazine belt for the assistant it did not actually eliminate the position. The assistant automatic rifleman is still included in both Change No. 2 (30 January 1945) and the 1 June 1945 T/O&E 7-17. As mentioned in the video, the assistant automatic rifleman (No. 5 at the time) was a part of the 1945 Able/Baker/Charley squads, and was still a part of Baker when it made its debut in the 1 February 1946 edition of FM 22-5. When the squad was reduced to nine men in the 9 December 1947 T/O&E 7-17N, the scouts and ammo bearer were eliminated but the assistant automatic rifleman remained. The 3 October 1949 edition of FM 7-10 (Including Change No. 1 from 16 October 1950) states: "The rifle squad consists of the squad leader, No. 1; five riflemen, Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6; and automatic rifleman, No. 7; an assistant automatic rifleman, No. 8; and an assistant squad leader, No. 9. The automatic rifleman and his assistant, No. 7 and No. 8, are referred to as the AR team." The assistant was also there, at least officially, through Korea. In that era's T/O&E 7-17N, including all changes from 15 November 1950 through 13 April 1953, the rifle squad includes an assistant automatic rifleman. There were even two assistant automatic riflemen in T/O 7-17 ROCID (20 December 1956) which formally introduced the symmetrical "Alfa/Bravo" style fire teams.
Definitely agree you should a similar roll-out on the WW1 era of this information, but I would also say to keep going forward by major campaign. Another recommendation would be to also cover all of the earlier major conflicts (i.e. French and Indian Wars, American Revolution, 1812, CW, etc.).
Thanks. I create all of the images in these videos apart from the photographs (which are mainly from the US Army Signal Corps) and the period ink drawings (which are pulled from various training publications). All of the color illustrations are mine.
I'd bet your Uncle Frank called it a "guh-RAND" and not a "GAIR-und." Speaking about the weapon in a historical context it seems odd to use an anachronistic pronunciation. I understand the desire to properly credit the rifle's inventor, but the die was cast a long time ago. It probably SHOULD have been pronounced like that, but it simply was NOT (at least not by anyone who held one in service of the US military).
The first rifle I was trained on in high school ROTC was the M1. Although Garand is not part of the official nomenclature, everyone called it by the inventor's name, and we pronounced his name the same way you did, as did our instructors, who were all WWII and Korean war vets. The same pronunciation applied to every other WWII and Korean War vet I ever knew. I never heard it pronounced the "correct" way until a couple of years ago when a popular UA-camr noted how the inventor pronounced his own name. The M1 carbine is another firearm with two pronunciations. WWII training film narrators may have said "car-buyn", but they also said "Los Angle--es" instead of "Los An-gel-eez". I've heard a few noncombat veterans say "car-byn", but every every combat vet I ever knew said "car-bean". So stick to your guns (pun intended).
I love these videos. I was wondering if you'd consider making videos like this one the US forces in Vietnam, or preferably post vietnam in the 80s and 90s.
A bit of a nitpick: "Infantry Rifle" is redundant. A rifle squad *is* an infantry squad, and vice versa. "Rifle," in this case, is a metonym for the infantry, as the primary weapon of the infantry was the rifle (as indicated by the branch insignia, a pair of crossed muskets).
It may seem like something from the Department of Redundancy Department, but T/O&E 7-17 specifically lays out the organization for an "Infantry Rife Company." The "infantry" here serves to designate it as a standard infantry unit. I use the full name in these videos because future videos will feature units like the "Parachute Infantry Rifle Platoon." As late as March 2007, FM 7-8 (3-21.8) was titled "Infantry Rifle Platoon and Squad." While the "rifle" has since been dropped from the title of later ATPs, the latest version in my possession (the April 2016 edition with Change No. 1 from August 2016) still describes "Infantry Rifle" units within the text. For example, it details the organization of the "Stryker Infantry Rifle Squad."
I knew a vet from the 94th division 376th regiment and recall that he told me whenever they possibly could they would report the BAR as combat lost (when it was not) and secure additional BAR's ....he stated as time went on squads had far more BARs then official table would indicate. Current "experts" they say the BAR was obsolete, and not effective as an automatic weapon. But I clearly recall the old vet saying in combat they wanted more of them
In addition to its weight, most of the BAR's detractors cite its 20-round magazine, lack of a quick-change barrel, and lack of pistol grip. All things that may have been nice-haves, but weren't deal-breakers for the men actually using them. As you mentioned, the guys relying on them, by and large, found them effective...Just not SO effective that they didn't want more! (However, I did know a platoon sergeant who fought in The Bulge with the 83rd Division who said the BAR gave them the most trouble in the cold. They had an issue with the chamber icing-up when not in use, and had to thaw it out before going into action.) General Marshall's rationale for sticking with the BAR was that they were proven and plentiful, plus the replacements they were testing would have jammed production (not just with new weapons but with new magazines and new magazine belts/pouches to carry them) for only a marginal boost. If you look at the M14E2/M14A1 that replaced the BAR, it was lighter and had a pistol grip, but there was no increase in firepower as it still used 20-round magazines and a fixed (lighter) barrel. The automatic rifleman a generation later, before the adoption of the weighty M249, was only issued a bipod for his M16 and that was that...Didn't have a heavy barrel or anything. I don't think the US Army has been truly happy with its automatic rifle since WWI. We'll see how the XM250 fares...
I found your platoon video and came back to see this first. Military organization is a fascinating subject and I'm going to watch all your videos now because of it. Maybe even subscribe. Nah, not maybe. I will. Hope you're well and thank you for your hard work.
very good research ....i clearly remember speaking with a 94th div vet who stated they always tried to obtain more BARs stating "combat loss" ....and had 2 or even 3 in a squad at times.
In addition to obtaining replacements for "write-offs," they could also absorb other unit's genuine combat losses. You'll come across instances of guys finding abandoned BARs and just holding on to them. The real trick is requisitioning all the extra magazines.
8:40 This is what I would call an ideal load out for a squad of the time that could be within reason of a platoon's typical armament. Even better would be if one of the rifleman in the squad is equipped with the platoon's only m1903a4
Thanks a lot. I try to make the types of videos I wanted to see (had UA-cam existed) back when I was getting into this stuff. Some of the information out there can seem conflicting at first.
Good video, I think the prewar TO&E and the tactics may make some of the 43-44 stuff clear. The BARs were in their own squad as a weapons squad, later they were put in the rifle squad. The Scouts (Senior Scout and scout) were the squad "point section" under control of the squad leader. When contact was made, the squad leader could then bring up the Auto Rifle team (BAR) to provide heavy fire on the target. From right I have seen in vet's recollections, their was no special training for Scouts or BARs even though the official training plans talk about special training. M1903 vs M1 grenade launcher: the 03 would have been easier to load launcher blanks into a 03 then a M1. The first launcher for the M1 to my understanding restricted the garand to working the bolt when shooting ball. The later issued launcher fixed that problem. The 1/2 squads were used as screens under control of the platoon leader, or he could take all the scouts (6) as screens. I think the problem understanding the pre fire team Army, is people want to force the tactics of the fire teams on to these earlier formations.
Thanks. I felt discussion of things like the old “automatic rifle squad” or march security (the point of an advance guard) were topics that belonged in the context of other videos pertaining to higher echelons, rather than in any of the squad videos where I wanted to keep the focus tight. I’m trying to take it one step at a time without overloading viewers who may not know a German from a Sherman.
I'd interested in more information . My dad was promoted by Patton to a Sargent in charge of what I thought was a Gun squad to pierce enemy lines in pursuit of the rescue of the 101 st. He was promoted for being alive and was one of the battle weary .He was given a Thompson , but didn't like . He gave it to one of his men. He said it didn't shoot straight after the third round. He had a BAR in his squad but no sniper. His shooting skills didn't require one. He did pickup a 1911 off a dead soldier. His squad did take at least two SS squads. He was taken prisoner the afternoon December 24 after running ahead of his men to take two pinned down Germans . He was taking care of one he shot and was jumped by his buddy. The dying German plead for his life. Dad put 6 months in a German prison camp .
The Buddy system was picked up by the Rangers from training in the UK from the British Commandos. Any Brit serviceman will be familiar with it. It is especially helpful when you carry a lot of kit and need it checked. Also weapon drills. Great films these.
Thank you very much. I'm happy you're happy. I can't tell you when my next video will be up because I cobble these together in my spare time, and so far I've blown every deadline I've set for myself... But there are more videos in the works.
Excellent, well-presented research. During WWII, 12 million of 60 million men served in the military, with the majority in the Army. So they would have a grasp of squad tactics. Today, out of a population of 300 million, only a million or so serve in active-duty or reserve capacity. In the modern, tech-heavy military, fewer are involved in infantry tactics, and would understand squad tactics and organization.
Thank you. I'd hoped others would find this topic as interesting as I do. There are plenty media portrayals of WWII out there, but they tend not to focus on aspects of small unit organization and tactics all that much. It was probably on-screen portrayals of this stuff, both enlighteningly good and confusingly bad, that first got me interested in learning the "real deal" history.
So a BAR man or number 4 got an assistant with a Garand and a man to lug extra mags also with a Garand? Never knew that I thought only the machine gun teams had the extra help. EXCELLENT FILM.
Thanks. Yes, at least in a full-strength squad, a three-man BAR team was standard. As casualties mounted, the ammo bearer position was one of the first to be vacated, but the automatic rifleman usually had at least an assistant to keep those magazines coming. The assistant BAR man and the ammo bearer were actually issued an M1923 cartridge belt in addition to the M1937 BAR magazine belt. The idea was they would wear the cartridge belt in garrison and the BAR belt in the field, but I've seen a few photos of some guys wearing both at the same time! The extra magazine belts were deleted from the T/O&E starting on 30 June 1944 and replaced by extra ammo bags. (M1 Ammo bags were cheaper to produce and had many more uses, but they where hardly the ideal way to distribute the weight of all those extra mags.)
Some people I talk with make a clear distinction between a sniper and a marksman. A sniper does all the things we think a sniper does, acts as a separate element in their own little two- or three-man teams, infiltrates areas, scouts etc. A marksman is an infantryman that has some training with and carries a marksman rifle but otherwise doesn't do the fancy stuff.
In Combat!, Buck Sgt. Saunders only commanded a half squad of men(6 men). Saunders has a Thompson submachine and a 1911 pistol. He was never promoted beyond Sargent the entire war. Only 2nd lieutenant Hannaly carried a M1 carbine. Hannaly was given a battle field commission from master sargent to 2nd lieutenant. After that, he stay a 2nd lieutenant the entire war. Kirby, the B.A.R. guy was never made a corporal. Private first class was the second in command of Saunder’s half squad, named Cage.
Thank you for making and posting these informative videos. This information will be put to good use playing Combat Mission games. Please keep up the excellent work and thanks again. Subscribed and look forward to more.
Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment. It's very much appreciated. While it's slow going, I can assure you I've begun work on the next video in this series.
When I first watched this almost 4 years ago, I thought it would be just another video I watched while eating lunch. No doubt about it, this got me hooked on to military TOEs, its just so damn interesting!
No it's Charlie (the third letter of the phonetic alphabet) although there were people unsure of the spelling who used the spelling Charley in error. Able, Baker, and Charlie branches of a rifle company are pre WWII for the record and is documented in US Army training manual addendum a or i depending on the date of issue because in the prewar years the US Army switched from using Roman Numerals in lower case letters rather than the typical upper case letters to using the alphabet in lower case unless they cycled through the alphabet in which case they would use upper case letters
Have you ever noticed while looking back through your old 1960s vintage army comic books that they printed the sounds of Japanese, German, & American machine guns as "Takka- Takka" for Japanese, "Rat - A- Tat- Tat" for German, & "Budda-Burst" for American ones? Isn't that amazing. I'm afraid to die. I heard a rumor that if I die down dead, I'll never be able to live again, forever & ever. I wanna live throughout all eternity until 4 hours & 6 minutes after the end of time. I don't want any little, metal rods called bullets to be pushed out through metal tubes called gun barrels to fly through the air & bump into my soft, warm, tender, skinny skin. They would bruise my skin & punch holes in it, causing my fire engine red hydraulic fluid called blood to leak out & make a mess everywhere. I would then shout "OUCH" in a loud voice.
Excellent. I'm so glad you said that. My intention in creating this channel was to provide a primer that could enhance viewers appreciation of other material. Books and documentaries will often use terms of art without getting bogged down in their details or historical context. I'd hoped these videos would be of interest to people reading a memoir and wondering what the heck a platoon guide did, or what an echelon formation looked like, or even just how many men were supposed to be in a WWII-era rifle squad or platoon.
interestingly enough, despite being universally issued to the army, the Marine Corps had quite a few difficulties acquiring the garand during the pacific theater and had to make do with the Springfield or even borrowed rifles from their allies or captured weapons from the enemy. I think the issues cleared up once U.S naval logistics became more secure, but its still interesting that that happened.
thats pretty good...........wish you put out more videos..........covering more timelines and even other nations...........even modern............gods bless
Interesting. I was in a rifle squad in Vietnam (173rd ABN). I've sometimes wondered about configurations of the infantry in WWII and Korea. I'm curious about learning more US Army actions in the Pacific during WWII. I've both read and heard negative comments about US Army Infantry operations compared to the Marine Corp. I noticed in one popular movie, "The Pacific," a battalion commander eludes to the "Army" and the marines groan, "I know, I know" replied the colonel. Just thinking out loud here. Good video anyway.
Thanks. The popular narrative would have Marines thinking the Army was too cautious, and the Army thinking Marines were too reckless. The stereotype is that the Army would rather take it slow, and save blood by relying on heavy weapons to dig out the Japanese, while Marines would rather go in right away and get it over with, saving blood by ending the battle as early as possible. Given the force structure of the two, it's easy to understand both views. Marines were a more agile force with a lighter footprint. The Army had more armor, artillery, and air support. Marines needed to get in there and knock out those pillboxes yesterday. The Army would rather wait for engineers to build a road through the jungle so they could drive up assault guns. At least that's the stereotype. They each thought the other needed a better balance between the seizing the initiative and utilizing overwhelming firepower.
A thoroughly interesting video, keep it up! I do have one question, how does the organisation and equipment of airborne squads differ from this, and will you ever touch upon this in a future video? Cheers.
Thank you. By "airborne" I assume you're asking about paratroopers. (Glider infantry was the same as regular infantry at the squad level.) Parachute infantry rifle squads were also a dozen men at full strength, but the squad's base of fire was provided by an M1919A4/A6. So instead of an automatic rifleman and assistant automatic rifleman, a squad of paratroopers had a machine gunner and assistant machine gunner. I definitely want to make a video covering this.
Interesting. It seems the Germans insisted on having the MG34/42 light machinegun as the primary point of each squad. With engaging these machineguns, the US military just issued more B.A.R.s instead. I'm assuming that the semi-automatic firing of the Garand and emphasis on individual marksmanship implied every soldier be an independently effective combatant rather than bolt-action riflemen acting as support for machineguns.
@@reidparker1848 Does your unnecessarily hostile and pompous comment on a minor detail and making some kind of assumption serve a purpose? . A "did you mean 34"? would have sufficed. You'd probably laugh at someone trying to mock you for a spelling error just the same. . On that note, _"muh military and doctrine"_ doesn't have any logical, factual, or distinctive traits that indicate any sensible response in opposition to what statement I was making.
My great grandfather was apart of E company, 116th infantry regiment. I am trying to find some more information on him. I know he was in this battle and operation queen. He was wounded the 23 Nov 1944 during OQ.
Does a similar video exist for WWII Field Artillery Battalion? (my father, Battery "A", 32nd Field Artillery Battalion, 18th RCT, 1st ID... Sicily, Normandy...to the end)
That was a great video! I'm very interested in the 2nd Infantry Division, could you please provide a reference(like document) that they brought more sub machine guns from the beach?
It is in the book Nineteen Days in June 1944 (published 1984, page 179) written by Maj. Henry G. Spencer, the commander of 1st Battalion. He recalls trading 87 carbines for TSMGs, leaving some soldiers in his battalion without a weapon for approximately six hours on 16 June 1944!
3:15 to 3:18 "Semi-automatic, of course, means rounds can be fired as fast as the trigger can be squeezed." Actually, many people -- likely most, don't know that; they equate semi-automatic = automatic.
This video is absolutely amazing, extremely detailed and informative, thank you for spending the time man. I learned a lot here and I appreciate you sharing the knowledge.
You're actually the first person to inquire about this. As you may know, FM 21-30 contained the symbols authorized by the War Department, but no wartime edition (through 28 February 1945) contained symbols for each individual infantryman. That manual does, however, state that: "Symbols other than those shown herein may be used provided they do not conflict with any authorized symbols and are explained in a legend." So, symbols denoting individuals within a rifle squad varied from publication to publication. (For example, a rifleman's symbol could be an empty box, but sometimes it contained an "R," while other times it contained his number.) I selected the symbols that were either most common or that I felt were easiest for viewers to follow. The symbols used in this video were found, at one time or another, in the pages of FM 22-5 (and its updates through Change 3, 16 September 1943) with one exception. The "AAR" used for the assistant automatic rifleman was pulled from the 2 June 1942 edition of FM 7-10. (I chose it over just an "A" because I wanted to convey they were different from the yet to be discussed assistant gunners found in the weapons platoon; individuals that were often identified with the same symbol, but had a different MOS.) With several variations in use, I'm not sure all of these symbols ever appeared together on the same page, but they are all period appropriate.
Sure. What I was getting at was there was only one automatic rifleman in the standard WWII US squad, meaning the team's roles were more clearly defined. The BAR team was always the default base of fire team. If you could help it, that's the team you wanted covering the assault. But in a standard modern US squad, when both Alpha and Bravo have an AR, either team can do the job of the other. That flexibility was missing in the "classic" squad organization that only had one team with an automatic weapon (on paper).
Corporals disappeared from the platoons? I would imagine the automatic rifleman and at least one of the riflemen would be a corporal to help maintain some form of hierarchy within the squad.
The issue was corporals needed to be paid more than privates and that gets expensive when an army is WWII-sized. But, I mentioned some lobbied to make the automatic rifleman a corporal, and their lobbying DID pay-off...Sort of. In the final wartime T/O&E, authorized after VE-Day (for units that would have invaded the Japanese home islands), the automatic rifleman WAS made a corporal. But VJ-Day came three months later (and the rifle platoon reorganized after the war) so that particular table never saw use in combat.
Excellent. While I obviously find the topic compelling, I'm always mindful that battles are rarely determined by a squad's organization or types of weapons. They're not unimportant elements, but rarely the decisive factors when taking into account the multiple echelons of support, the asymmetric nature of attack against defense, plus the variability of terrain and peculiarities of morale. That's why I'm not a big fan of "vs" videos. (Entertaining as they may be.) You just don't often see two full-strength yet completely unsupported squads fighting a meeting engagement from positions of neutral advantage.
G.I. History Handbook Just because you are of the opinion that weapons designs don't matter, doesn't mean that the OP is obligated to agree with you. ("Now I see how differently-armed opposing forces were. Important and interesting to understand how much that affected combat!" "Yeah, but I've decided that all firearms are interchangeable, and YOU need to realize that too, silly person!") Also, I am amused when "scientists" over-intellectualize basic concepts, and/or invent nonsensical formulas in order to "understand" abstract concepts. Rather than understand morale in its proper abstract sense, you create some sily mathematical models in order to "make it rational".
@Neurofied Yamato I can't stand this guy, or Military History Visualized, or Battle Order. "Well according to our mindset/doctrine, an armed guy is an armed guy, so I don't care about any differences in weapons design. Want to hear about the Queen's Own 42nd Rifle Regiment, or the 68th Light Mountain Infantry Division? That's what fascinates us! What, you want to hear about actual combat (from the company-down)? Nah."
I've heard stories (not from WWII, but directly from a participant) of how front-line troops could "convince" POGs to give up the good gear... by holding said POG down and standing on his chest until he agrees that whatever choice piece of gear (carbine, SMG, body armor, LBE, etc.) should go where it's most needed.
Thank you kindly. The WWII US Army rifle platoon had three rifle squads, plus a small platoon headquarters element. Shortly after WWII, a weapons squad was added (giving the platoon its own organic AT rocket and machine gun support) and this continues to be the basic structure of the US Army infantry platoon. (The composition of the constituent squads has gone through several revisions over the years, but has been remarkably stable for the past several decades. The current infantry squad consists of nine soldiers divided into a leader and two fire teams.) The USMC rifle platoon was, and still is, also composed of three rifle squads and a platoon headquarters. Marine rifle squad organization (thirteen marines divided into a leader and three fire teams) has not changed since 1944.
Outside of the rifle infantry it varies from unit to unit depending on what MOS specialties are typical within that platoon. It can also depend on how large the platoon is. Without going into numbers let’s call them small medium large and extra large. We will start with large and extra polite from there Large platoon: 4 squads with squads 2-4 able to sub dived into two equal teams or maybe three teams of different sizes. 1st squad would be be the headquarters squads with the platoon leaders ship plus and highly specialized individuals. Those specialized individuals would either take commands directly from the platoon leader or have there own leader or be divided up equally between squads 2-4 And extra large platoon would still have four platoons but each platoon would have a couple of people who are either highly specialized who could be detached and formed into their own group for tasks. Or each platoon might have a couple of very green inexperienced members who are not yet up to speed and need to be taken away and assigned tasks of lower skill and responsibility until they have acclimated somewhat. A medium platoon would have three squads that can each be divided up into two equal groups. This platoon is essentially a large platoon without the headquarters and special skills group. Third squad would be lead by the least experienced NCO and would regularly be broken in half and assigned to first and second squads which would be under the leadership of the platoon leader and most experienced NCO The Small platoon with the third squad being smaller than the other two. Thirds squad can be 1 a specialized squad capable of working directly for the squad leader 2 simply a half platoon that allows the platoon to be broken into 5 half squads with this last squad working directly with the platoon leader 3 simply being the least experienced soldiers get broken up and absorbed into the other two squads and only are together for Lowe priority tasks
@jonathanbair523 The carbine is mentioned in the platoon organization video. There was only one M1 Carbine in the platoon's T/O&E and it was allotted to the platoon leader. There were many more carbines in the company as a whole, and they could find their way into the rifle squads, but "by the book" the Lt was the only man in a rifle platoon officially armed with one.
TOE on paper rarely matched cold reality on the ground. Example, Circa 1970 Marine Squads were 13 men on paper, yet in actual fact the squad was lucky to be 6 Marines, Squads were run with Sgt but it was not unusual to have one run by a Cpl. I imagine WW2 was much the same with higher loss ratios. Able and Baker are a section, two sections per Squad. Marines call them Port and Starboard sections.
Having to deal with chronic understrength in combat was one of the reasons the majority of conferees at the 1946 Infantry Conference at Fort Benning felt that fire and maneuver within the rifle squad was so difficult. They said a squad needed to be able to routinely operate 25% below authorized strength, and didn't see how a unit that small could effectively fire and maneuver while sustaining additional casualties. A major difference between WWII and 1970 is there was no "tour of duty" in the earlier conflict. Even with the high turnover, rifle companies could be kept afloat by flooding them with replacements without the need to rotate anyone out. (The upside was they didn't lose any old timers to the calendar. The downside was they broke a lot of old timers.)
Interesting to note that the Marine Corps rifle squad TO&E went through 3 or 4 changes over the same time frame: It started the war with 1 BAR per squad this evolved to 3 per squad.
While you refer to yourself as 'just a guy on the internet', you are, in my opinion, someone who is very well versed in the subject and delivers that information in a concise and trenchant manner; something not found very often in that pool of 'guys on the internet'. I offer congratulations on a job well done and will subscribe with the hope of seeing much more like this.
May I also add that you're someone who *cares* to do well. You did excellent research, and I too look forward to watching more of your videos in the future.
Thank you very much, Dusty. I really do appreciate it.
But I AM just some guy on the internet, and I may read something tomorrow that completely changes my understanding of things, so I always encourage people to do their own research if they're so inclined. I hope my videos at least serve as a solid starting point.
Jeff, Thank you.
I know my videos can be rather quote-heavy, but I hate learning something interesting only to see it isn't backed-up by any sources, or seeing that a cited source has been out of print since the war. I'd rather give my viewers the goods verbatim than have them think I'm just making stuff up.
That’s because he seems to love reading manuals. Something I do too but on the contrary I’m a slow reader.
I think that he KNOWS there are many many manuals and accounts out there. And that it IS possible that he’d have to nuance things and so forth based on future insights.
But hey, overall he laid out an amazing bit of info. And the core of the info will never change because he takes it straight out of official contemporary manuals.
I tend to trust people who say they're just some guy from the Internet. More than the astronaut racecar driver brain surgeon anyways
Very good indeed! When I went through Airborne School in 1986 after Basic and Infantry School at Ft.Benning Georgia. A WWII veteran who was a Paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne during Normandy, Holland, and the Battle of the Bulge was a tour guide at the US Army National Infantry Museum. He said that Airborne units had a very strong leeway of weapons. All Paratroopers had qualified with all weapons within an infantry squad and platoon. Majority of all Paratroopers were also familiarized with mortars also because even before the Sicily Invasion of 1943 the Airborne Divisions were trained to the highest quality of training before combat. During the fight for Sicily Airborne units within the squads had M1A1 carbines, Thompsons, M1s, and M1903s for grenadiers. The machine guns like the 1919s were in weapons squads that had 2 machine guns and 2 Bazooka teams within the platoon. It was 2 to 3 rifle squads and 1 weapons squad. The company had a mortar squad which is in the HQ platoon with the company commander, XO, and First Sergeant. During combat in Sicily the 82nd Airborne found out that Paratroopers could take and would take additional weapons like pistols, BARs and grab Thompsons of casualties from their own or other units to gain additional firepower. So by 1944 before the Normandy Invasion the 82nd and the 101st had armed their Paratroopers to what ever weapon they felt like taking into combat minus BARs to include 1911A1 pistols were issued to troopers if they were lucky enough to get issued one was up for grabs. Firepower was the lesson of Sicily. So by the time Normandy had commenced both divisions armed their troopers with their weapons of choice to include side arms, machetes, and daggers. Paratroopers in the European Theatre and Pacific were better armed than the Ranger Battalions who had a slightly modified TOE to regular infantry. The idea of Paratroopers being armed to what they liked was so they can reek havoc into the enemy because they jumped behind enemy lines and used the weapons that they loved to kill the enemy with. In fact Airborne units were very unorthodox in their tactics that their orders were to kill the enemy in their way and take objectives at all cost for follow on forces that relieved them. That is why WWII Airborne units were elite because of their fighting ability in combat. Since the end of WWII the 82nd Airborne now as the only Airborne division to include 2 Airborne Brigade Combat Teams have followed a rigid TOE since Korea that all troopers are armed as a regular Light Infantry and Ranger Battalion squad. Streamlined to Army standards and no more weapons of choice but assigned weapons for every member within the squad. The platoon has 3 rifle squads with 9 to 10 men. The Squad leader is an E-6 or promotable E-5. Two fire teams Alpha and Bravo. Each commanded by an E-5 or E-4 Specialist/Hard Stripe Corporal promotable. Each fire team has a grenadier armed with an M4 with M203, M249 SAW, and 3 M4 carbines. The Team Leader can either be armed with an M4 carbine or carry the M4 with M203. This was Regular Army wide even during the Iraq and Afghanistan era from 2003 till present. For me when I went for my combat tour in Iraq from 2006-08 I was in a National Guard infantry company. I was fortunate to be armed with an M4 and an M9 pistol because my commander deemed it so. So every officer, NCO, and soldier was armed with a pistol if they qualified with it. When we arrived in Iraq Regular Army units in our FOB were jealous that we were armed with M9 pistols. Very good video my friend and interesting indeed.
Oh, thank you very much. It makes me think I'm doing something right.
I don't know if it's from movies, or video games, or what, but it seems a lot of people are under the impression pistols are far more commonly issued than they really are. I recently read an old article that mentioned the unofficial propagation of pistols. (The Infantry Journal, maybe? I swear, I spend half my time just trying to remember where I read something.) Anyway, the author mentioned most of the guys in his unit had pistols, but they had almost all been weapons "liberated" from the enemy. It seemed to him everyone had a Walther, or Luger, or something, tucked somewhere.
G.I. History Handbook .. I worked at 2nd ID ..702 maintenance in small arms ( 1968 ) ..The CID boys had their 38 snub nose.. MPs with 45s.. of course we all had M14 in various configurations..Since we supported the whole 2nd ID pistols except for the M48 tank crew were not very common...
Call yourself "just some guy on the internet," but you are more well versed in this subject than any other documentarian I've heard. Quality material. Subscribed.
Thank you. Not sure I'm worthy of the praise, but it would be foolish to reject such kind words. I appreciate it.
Are you familiar with Britishmuzzleloaders channel? Not US history, but the videos are the last work in detail. The U.S. needs a historian like BML.
This video is informative with no bullshit. Just what I like, you've earned a sub.
Thanks. I try to give people their money's worth.
Excellent job. No Army can win the war without well-trained squads. Two BARs give better fire power. Today the LMG makes it even better, especially with the 40mm Grenade Launcher. The "two brothers" concept is still valid, just like in Band of Brothers. I liked the video a lot!
Thanks a lot.
Yeah, the idea of two BARs per squad had been floated for decades, but even after practical experience with such a set up, the powers that be refused to make it official after WWII. They feared it would hinder the squads mobility, something they were obsessed with. It wasn't until the mid 1950's that they finally fully relented to what had already been happening in the field anyway. They never considered a belt-fed because it couldn't be used effectively in the assault as an automatic rifle which could keep up with the riflemen. (Not until the adoption of the M249.) Perversely, Rangers and Paratroopers, the lightest and most mobile forces, used LMGs (M1919s) in their squads during WWII because they lacked the heavier supporting weapons of the regular infantry.
Yep, they had to relearn that in Korea and then again in Vietnam. The USMC recently tried the idea out of replacing the SAW with the M27 IAR to encourage mobility in the attack. But from what I understand now, they are just gong to army all the Infantry with the M27 and keep the saw because it still provides more suppression.
I wished Dad was still with us, so I could ask him about his infantry squad on the Return to the Philippians
Interesting video. Things changed by the time Vietnam came around, at least in the Marine Corps. A full "T.O." rifle squad in the Corps of the 1960's consisted of 14 men. The squadleader billet was ranked as a Sergeant, with a grenadier armed with the M79 grenade launcher serving as assistant squadleader (a corporal). The remaining men were divided into three four-man fireteams. Each team had a team leader (corporal or lance corporal), an automatic rifleman (lance corporal or PFC), his assistant ARman (a PFC or PVT), and the third member who would act as backup in case of loss due to casualties (a PFC or PVT). I was an AR man in Vietnam, carrying an M-14E2, select fire automatic rifle with an M2 bipod, and extra 20 round magazines beyond the normal ammo load for regular riflemen.
Of course, in reality things never worked out as per the Table of Organization (T.O.), since we were almost always operating at half strength in the field. We normally had corporals as squadleaders, with descending ranks per job position. I ended up as a lance corporal squadleader because we just didn't have the available NCO's to fill the billets at the time.
Thanks.
The Marine Corps settled on its familiar 13-man rifle squad structure in 1944. Before that, the squad was 12-strong like the US Army, but with two BARs as standard. By, say, Iwo Jima, a USMC rifle squad consisted of a squad leader and three four-man fire teams, like it still does today. (With the same rank structure as you were familiar with.) The automatic rifleman was armed with a BAR, naturally. The Squad Leader carried an M1 carbine, at least he was allotted one in the table at this time.
BTW, what's your opinion on the M14E2/M14A1? I'm careful, of course, not to extrapolate any singular experience, but I'm always interested to hear from the guys who actually used them for extended periods of time in their intended role. (As opposed to typical "gun guy" lore, derived from firing one once at the range and then writing a book about it.)
I loved the M-14 rifle because of it's reliability and hitting power in combat. I was honored to be chosen to carry the fully automatic select fire version, which made me one of the primary sources of firepower at the squad level. I trusted my life, and that of my fellow Marines, to that fine battle rifle. I became an expert of the "two or three round burst" trigger control method. All that was necessary to sweep an area was to flip the rifle horizontally on it's right side, with the left bipod extended for handheld elevation control, then let the cyclic action move the muzzle across the target.
To my chagrin, the second time I went to Nam, they took away our M-14's (had the semi-auto selector LOCK only that time) and gave us the M-16's. With four hours of familiarization with the new weapons, we were put out into the field. The new firearms were a haphazard platform for us. Many of them, mine included, had loading problems because of the direct gas impingement system, which dumped gas, and some unburned powder increments, into the rifle's chamber area, falling into the magazines and helping foul the follower springs. I hated the M-16, and will not own an "AR Platform" long gun to this very day. I do have an M1A (M-14 civilian version without capacity to be converted to full automatic).
Thanks for the timely and interesting response. Sometimes I read articles that make it sound like the adoption of the M14E2 was one of the worst tragedies to befall mankind. You'll see similar things written today about the BAR. (It wasn't universally loved, but many(most?) guys whose lives depended on it didn't seem to have a problem with the BAR other than the weight. It was universally considered a load to carry, but it generally went "bang" when it was supposed to.)
I had the opportunity to fire the B.A.R. for familiarization during advanced infantry training (after boot camp but before unit assignment). It was a very heavy piece, coming in at around 20 lbs., but rock steady with shot placement due to the extra weight. The B.A.R. also didn't have a tendency to climb toward the sky if fired continuously, as the M-14 E2 did if you dumped the entire magazine. Both weapons were battleworthy.
@@partriarch in all fairness the penny pinchers probably gave you out of spec ammo for your M-16, ordnance REALLY hated the M-16.
I am learning lots from your videos. Please keep making them. I especially appreciate your frequent references to US Army publications, memoirs and histories. A bibliography of those sources added to your brief description of each video would be welcome.
Real good video, please continue what you do, it's easy to understand and seems good researched.
If I may wish for something, it would be the same video with the airborne's (if there is a difference) and the overall bigger picture. How are morters and mg's integrated and Co.
Much love
Thanks for the feedback. It's gratifying to know the effort is appreciated. I plan to eventually cover the organization of specialized units, but for now the focus is on regular infantry. After a few more squad-focused videos I'll zoom-out and take a look at the platoon, and then the company.
Though there were several differences in airborne units, most of these were found above squad-level apart from one significant change. While glider infantry squads looked the same as their "leg" infantry counterparts, paratroopers were not (initially) issued BARs and instead had an LMG (M1919A4/A6) in every squad.
Any chance of moving on to US Marine Corps WW2 squad organization.
Sure. It's not in the queue right now, but it's definitely a topic that's in my wheelhouse. I can certainly see it happening eventually,
but there are other videos I wanted to get to first.
Can't wait to see those platoon and company videos man! Keep it up!
medics are a company level asset. normally you have one per platoon.
You Should do another one of these but for the US infantry in ww1
The TO&E in WWI was completely different. There was more emphasis on hand bombers, rifle grenadiers, and auto rifles. In addition, there was a whole lot more pistols issued out to individuals.
There were no "field manuals" titled "FM-whatever" in WWI, but just drill manuals such as the 1917 Infantryman's Manual. Plus, as the war progressed, adoption of French and British tactics for attacking and clearing out fortified trenches began to be adopted and evolved. There was still the "buddy system" in use, but most squad level tactics didn't start to be developed until near the end of the war, utilizing the French "demi-platoon" approach.
I can do that for you already: rifle, rifle, rifle, rifle, rifle, rifle, rifle, rifle, rifle, rifle
Battle order made a video about it.
@@Webstertheology actually very different. I would watch battle order’s vid about ww1 us organization.
Thank you for your video description. Now I understand the rifle squad, as it applies to my Dad's role as the BAR in WWII ETO. His buddy told me Dad got his "buck" Sgt promotion in the field from being a Corporal.
My dad was inducted at Ft McClellan in '42 for basic, sent for technical training as a teletype operator to Jefferson Barracks, MO, then Infantry School at Ft. Benning, then to Bolling Field, and then N. Ireland. He was a clerk in the HQ VIII AF Composite Command. Then, he transferred to England not far from Windsor. How did he move from being a clerk to a BAR, attached to the 101st Airborne as a para/glider trooper, serving at Normandy, Market Garden, Bastogne, Rhine? (Prior to going overseas, he assured my uncle in a letter from Bolling Field that he would be safe and out of harms way!)
It's impossible to know the exact circumstances of his transfer, but it wasn't too unusual. Rifle units had far and away the most casualties and needed the most replacements...Replacements the Army had serious trouble finding when they needed them most.
This became a crisis when, under pressure from Congress (under pressure from the public), the War Department decided in February 1944 not to send 18-year-olds with fewer than six months training overseas. In June 1944 they went so far as to ban ALL 18-year-olds from going overseas as infantry replacements. This settled the American public, but threw the entire replacement system into chaos.
By 1944, most soldiers shipped overseas were infantry replacements, and half of all inductees into the Army Ground Forces were 18-years-old. The Army was forced sit on this huge manpower pool and find infantry replacements elsewhere. This involved stripping units of men who were were at least 19 and in the Army for more than six months. Many of these men came from not-yet-deployed infantry divisions, but not all. Some, for example, could have been clerks in the USAAF who got to keep their corporal stripes but were shunted into a rifle unit after infantry retraining.
Army Service Forces, Air Forces, and even Ground Forces units (such as Anti-Aircraft Artillery), stationed both within the US and overseas, had to give up men for infantry conversion. The 18-year-old ban was rescinded in August 1944, but the damage was long-lasting. (The AGF had temporarily stopped sending 18-year-old inductees to infantry replacement training centers.)
Very good job! As mentioned by other comments, you have done an excellent job with your video- very much superior to other presenters on UA-cam. I've had a long time interest in military matters since my childhood back in the 50s and what you present is not new information but information more concise and explanatory. I'll be look for more videos you have made. Thank you and best wishes.
Thank you very much for the kind words. I know I keep replying that "I appreciate it," but I really do.
Thanks for the vid! :D
I like how quickly you talk! Most creators talk very slowly and I need to speed the videos up. You delivered the info quickly but also clearly!
Brilliant, no bs.
Thank you. It's good to hear. (And that's no bs.)
You have a real knack for video development. I sincerely hope you keep it up. Great work!
Thank you very much. I really do appreciate it. I'm knee-deep in production of the next video right now. (Tactics videos always take longer than planned...)
THANK YOU for the emphasis on pronunciations. I remember these notions being hammered into me when I was a heavier reader of actual books.
VERY informative! I tended to think of the WWII Army squad as a group of men, roles assigned on an as-needed basis. Being USMC-oriented, I'm really looking forward to your video on the Marine Corps WWII rifle squad!
Thank you very much!
I wish I had the knowledge & skills to do these videos for British & Commonwealth forces. Fantastic work.
Thank you. I too wish I have that knowledge and skill!
I would like to address the reasoning behind m1903 Springfield preference in the rifle grenade role as to the M1 Garand. The reasoning as to why the 1903 was preferred is due to the fact that a blank cartridge can be loaded into the 1903 as needed and all that was left to do was to attach your rifle grenade. where as having the M1 you would either need a pre-loaded clip with a blank in it to continue firing after firing your rifle grenade which wasn't always convenient, or to unload said clip load a blank and then load your grenade to fire.
I guess you could top-off the weapon with a grenade launching cartridge with the en bloc still inside (partially ejected)… That’s doable, if not graceful. BUT, proper procedure according to FM 23-30 was to clear and lock the rifle before inserting a launcher cartridge into the chamber.
The most common complaint is that use of the M7 blocked-off the gas system, which meant retracting the operating rod to manually cycle the rifle. (A problem fixed with the M7A1.) But I always figured an eight round straight-pull bolt action was no worse than a five round conventional bolt action.
A semi auto is recoil dependent to cycle the bolt. A 1903 is not the cycling is done by hand. Just my guess I suspect the M 1 wouldn't cycle correctly.
The last example from the Infantry Journal (1947) foreshadowed the future squad/fire team concept, and had been used to some degree early in the war by Marine Raiders.
A Ranger assault section was a bit different.
Assault Squad:
Sergeant, M1 Rifle, Squad Leader.
Private First Class, M1 Rifle, Rifleman.(X4)
Light Machine Gun Squad:
Staff Sergeant, M1 Rifle, Squad Leader.
Private first class, M1 Rifle, Ammunition Carrier.(X2)
Private First Class, M1911, MG Gunner. (I assume the "Gun, machine, cal. .30, light, flexible" allocated to this squad belonged to this guy)
Private First Class, M1911, MG Gunner Assistant.
There was also a dude with a M1 Rifle that commanded the the section, he was a Staff Sergeant.
I'm just going to save this comment to my computer.
Honestly your video is more well researched than many a modern book.
Printing books has become so easy and cheap post war that any man with some bit of wealth can have his book printed.
It disturbs me most when videos or other books then refer to these books rather than to primary sources like you have.
It's my main issue with Wikipedia: the woozle effect. Information on that site doesn't need to be correct, it only needs to have been printed. Before long, everyone begins confidently quoting a circularly sourced "woozle."
My relatives who fought in WWII loved the B.A.R., while the Korean War vets hated it with an undying passion. My cousin, Jack, carried one at Chosin Reservoir and had his assistant carry one as well due to its unreliability in cold weather. Full disclosure, a majority of these men were Marines in the Pacific and Korea, the Army vets were in the E.T.O. All of them said that the T.O.& E. was a guideline, not gospel. Many handguns were carried that came from barter, personal property or otherwise "liberated." They all said they were most valuable at night in dug in positions. Jack asserted that he killed three for sure with his .38 Spl. revolver who had infiltrated the line at night. He believes there were three more, but bodies were never found. He slept with that revolver until he died a few years ago. Dad and I were the only ones he ever talked about combat with, for some reason, and he really opened up. Most agreed that the Army was more by the book and structured, especially if the officer was an Academy grad. The Marines were more concerned with results than method and afforded much more room for improvisation as needs required. Everybody loved the M1 rifle, but the M1 carbine was a source of debate for years. The bottom line is that one should never use the words "never, always, every, none" or like absolute terms when discussing tactics, organization or weapons in combat. In war the first casualty is the truth, the second is "the book."
Hah, that definitely sounds like "Marines make do".
Damn right. I hate flag officers and the constant fellatio society gives them.
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.
Uhhh youre wrong generals do win wars the character of a general is the character of the division/corps/army
@@reidparker1848 my country had most generals who were commondos and already has 3 to four kill count.
@@gotanon8958
Imagine being that wrong.
They are politicians. Figureheads. People need a singular figure to credit, because they can't stand complex interpretations.
My grandpa was a replacement squad leader in the 475th Infantry Regiment, Mars Task Force (formerly Merrill's Marauders). Funny thing is, he started off as a Pvt., was promoted to Cpl., and by the end of the campaign was a T/3 squad leader. I've heard that in a pinch, T/3 would be the fill-in rank for "battlefield-promoted" squad leaders. I don't know how true that is though.
Was he in Burma with the Nationalist Chinese Forces ?
I was in the USMC from '62 until '66. During my time in the infantry, The squad began as a 13-man unit: 3 fire-teams and a squad leader. By it time I became a squad leader a M-79 grenadier was added to the squad. He served directly under the squad leader. Each fire-team had one M-14 with a fire selector switch (we called him the "AR man"), and 3 riflemen. The squads were not always T.O., often short a couple of men, sometimes an entire fire team.
Great vid mate. As a current infanteer section commander in the Australian Army. I found this to be interesting and educational.
Thanks a lot. I appreciate the feedback. It’s slow going, but I’m working on a squad tactics video now that I hope you’ll also find interesting.
G.I. History Handbook are you in the military?
No, I have never served in the military. I’m just some guy on the internet with an interest in history and a bunch of old books. My videos are purely a historical study.
G.I. History Handbook ok cool. Keep up the good work
"infanteer"..!! "A baby crying" as my platoon Sgt used to say! (ex Oz army)
The reference to FM-25, regarding the 3 team squads vs 2 team; Army regulations allow for unit commanders to ADD TO but never take away from regulations and units are encouraged to develop SOP's as their mission dictates. To my knowledge this goes back to the end of World War One, possibly even further depending on the regulation(s) in question. More often than not you see accounts of "OP's being pushed out" or "Scout teams being deployed forward" instead of "Charley team was pushed ahead" until, as you said, it became standard later in the war.
Great video. I'm a serious WWII historian and specialize in 101st operations. I can not find a thing to criticize in this video. Very good documentation and presentation.
Thank you. There are plenty of viewers who couldn't care less about all the citations, but it's the type of thing I like. As a viewer I'm always asking, "Really? Where did he read that?" It's a question I don't want my audience wondering.
G.I. History Handbook hey, I appreciate that! Keep up the good work.
Any squad grenade launcher is, by definition, a direct fire weapon. An indirect fire weapon is any weapon where a spotter is forward of the team loading; adjusting the mortar, howitzer, naval gun, etc base on what a spotter with eyes on the target tells the team he sees the rounds land near the target and the fire control officer tells the team to adjust by knowing his position, the observers position and the targets position on the ground and that is figured by the OT Factor.
The team or guy pulling the trigger on the weapon cannot see the target ...hence the indirect fire monicre. A squad level and company 60mm mortar teams are direct fire weapons, though the 60mm mortar can be an indirect fire system.
The squad level grenade launcher can be used to strike against enemy in low lying areas, behind cover or areas where lobbing a grenade might be needed as directly firing a bullet will not work. It's still a direct fire weapon
Would you consider making a video covering the changes made to the squad in the post war years and Korean war?
You bet. I mentioned in a response on my other video that I foresee a squad evolution video at some point which covers the major changes over the past century, from WWI to the present. Eventually…
That would be awesome. As an Infantryman in today's Army I'd like to see where we started to employ the 4 man fireteam, and 2 fireteam squads. I'm hooked on your videos.
That seems like a great idea.
This is very educational, interesting and handy to know. Thank you for sharing
Thank you very much for watching, and letting me know. I appreciate it.
You say there were no Corporals in a rifle squad, so how did promotion work? Were PFCs Promoted directly to Sargeant? I also have a completely unrelated question, were Marine rifle squads organized in the same ways as Army rifle squads? Anyway great videos I can't wait for more.
George A.,T/O&E 7-17 (26 February 1944) only allotted one spot for a corporal in the entire infantry rifle company: the company clerk. Old Uncle Frank's outfit may have been different, but as far as the US Army was concerned, there was officially no room for any corporals in a standard rifle platoon by D-Day.
For a rifle squad, promotion meant surviving. It was common for privates first class who stayed on their feet to become an acting sergeant when an assistant squad leader position needed to be filled. If they survived long enough, they’d eventually get the full promotion, but by then they may have already been an acting squad leader...or the platoon sergeant...depending on how many casualties the unit had sustained. During WWII, a rifleman with his head on straight could climb the enlisted ladder rapidly. An acting assistant squad leader who took over a squad could see his actual rank in the company morning report go from private first class to staff sergeant in one day.
Your other question has been addressed a few times in other replies on this video, but in short, the USMC added a second BAR to each rifle squad in 1943, and then a third in 1944 when they adopted a 13-man squad which was organized into a leader and three 4-man fire teams (each with a BAR). The Marines retained the early war rank structure; squad leaders remained sergeants and assistant squad leaders (later fire team leaders) were corporals.
Wow thanks for the response. I may be getting a little greedy, but I have another question. Your comment about Uncle Frank reminded me of my Uncle Jim who fought in Europe as an engineer. It was his job to destroy obstacles and mines. I was wondering if he would have been attached to an infantry outfit, or if Engineers were organized into their own units. I swear this will be my last question.
George A.,
Every infantry division had an engineer combat battalion. These engineers were organic to the division, and were the infantry's own construction/demolition crews. A platoon of engineers could be sent out to repair/destroy a bridge or lay/clear mines, but in certain limited circumstances they could be attached directly to a rifle unit to breach obstacles (like blowing holes in hedgerows) during an attack.
But there were other types of "general" engineering units such as an armored division's armored engineer battalion, and non-divisional units like engineer construction battalions. There were aviation engineers who built runways and the amphibious engineer special brigades that spearheaded seaborne invasions. Various "special" engineer battalions specialized in several fields, from camouflage to boat maintenance. The US Army had everything from airborne engineer combat battalions to engineer topographic and forestry battalions. Engineers had myriad tasks to accomplish, from neutralizing tank traps and building heavy pontoon bridges, to keeping the water clean and railroads running.
Alright thank you for the answers.
George A. Rank is also a pay grade, Higher pay than PFC due to time in grade made you a Corporal.
Very good I learned a couple of new things. Looking forward to learning more. Just one thing, around the D-Day the assistant BAR position was officially eliminated and the BAR belt no longer issued.
jdg, thanks for watching. I'm currently working on a companion video about the rifle platoon (I thought it would be done by now...) which I hope you'll enjoy as well.
About the assistant AR: While Change No. 1 (30 June 1944) to the 26 February 1944 T/O&E 7-17 eliminated the M1937 BAR magazine belt for the assistant it did not actually eliminate the position. The assistant automatic rifleman is still included in both Change No. 2 (30 January 1945) and the 1 June 1945 T/O&E 7-17. As mentioned in the video, the assistant automatic rifleman (No. 5 at the time) was a part of the 1945 Able/Baker/Charley squads, and was still a part of Baker when it made its debut in the 1 February 1946 edition of FM 22-5. When the squad was reduced to nine men in the 9 December 1947 T/O&E 7-17N, the scouts and ammo bearer were eliminated but the assistant automatic rifleman remained. The 3 October 1949 edition of FM 7-10 (Including Change No. 1 from 16 October 1950) states:
"The rifle squad consists of the squad leader, No. 1; five riflemen, Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6; and automatic rifleman, No. 7; an assistant automatic rifleman, No. 8; and an assistant squad leader, No. 9. The automatic rifleman and his assistant, No. 7 and No. 8, are referred to as the AR team."
The assistant was also there, at least officially, through Korea. In that era's T/O&E 7-17N, including all changes from 15 November 1950 through 13 April 1953, the rifle squad includes an assistant automatic rifleman. There were even two assistant automatic riflemen in T/O 7-17 ROCID (20 December 1956) which formally introduced the symmetrical "Alfa/Bravo" style fire teams.
Definitely agree you should a similar roll-out on the WW1 era of this information, but I would also say to keep going forward by major campaign. Another recommendation would be to also cover all of the earlier major conflicts (i.e. French and Indian Wars, American Revolution, 1812, CW, etc.).
Really good, you've earned a subscribe. Where did you get the pictures from? Did you do them yourself?
Thanks.
I create all of the images in these videos apart from the photographs (which are mainly from the US Army Signal Corps) and the period ink drawings (which are pulled from various training publications). All of the color illustrations are mine.
G.I. History Handbook Great keep up the good work!
Kudos for calling shenanigans on the fancy new pronunciation of Garand. I did have an Uncle Frank who was a rifleman.
I'd bet your Uncle Frank called it a "guh-RAND" and not a "GAIR-und." Speaking about the weapon in a historical context it seems odd to use an anachronistic pronunciation. I understand the desire to properly credit the rifle's inventor, but the die was cast a long time ago. It probably SHOULD have been pronounced like that, but it simply was NOT (at least not by anyone who held one in service of the US military).
Love from Down Under, keep up the good work mate!
Love from...Up Over(?).
Love is love
The first rifle I was trained on in high school ROTC was the M1. Although Garand is not part of the official nomenclature, everyone called it by the inventor's name, and we pronounced his name the same way you did, as did our instructors, who were all WWII and Korean war vets. The same pronunciation applied to every other WWII and Korean War vet I ever knew. I never heard it pronounced the "correct" way until a couple of years ago when a popular UA-camr noted how the inventor pronounced his own name. The M1 carbine is another firearm with two pronunciations. WWII training film narrators may have said "car-buyn", but they also said "Los Angle--es" instead of "Los An-gel-eez". I've heard a few noncombat veterans say "car-byn", but every every combat vet I ever knew said "car-bean". So stick to your guns (pun intended).
I love these videos. I was wondering if you'd consider making videos like this one the US forces in Vietnam, or preferably post vietnam in the 80s and 90s.
A bit of a nitpick: "Infantry Rifle" is redundant. A rifle squad *is* an infantry squad, and vice versa. "Rifle," in this case, is a metonym for the infantry, as the primary weapon of the infantry was the rifle (as indicated by the branch insignia, a pair of crossed muskets).
It may seem like something from the Department of Redundancy Department, but T/O&E 7-17 specifically lays out the organization for an "Infantry Rife Company." The "infantry" here serves to designate it as a standard infantry unit. I use the full name in these videos because future videos will feature units like the "Parachute Infantry Rifle Platoon."
As late as March 2007, FM 7-8 (3-21.8) was titled "Infantry Rifle Platoon and Squad." While the "rifle" has since been dropped from the title of later ATPs, the latest version in my possession (the April 2016 edition with Change No. 1 from August 2016) still describes "Infantry Rifle" units within the text. For example, it details the organization of the "Stryker Infantry Rifle Squad."
Interesting. Leave it to the military to be redundant.
awesome vid and yes the Battle Buddy system was in effect back then just like it is today
Thanks for the feedback.
I knew a vet from the 94th division 376th regiment and recall that he told me whenever they possibly could they would report the BAR as combat lost (when it was not) and secure additional BAR's ....he stated as time went on squads had far more BARs then official table would indicate. Current "experts" they say the BAR was obsolete, and not effective as an automatic weapon. But I clearly recall the old vet saying in combat they wanted more of them
In addition to its weight, most of the BAR's detractors cite its 20-round magazine, lack of a quick-change barrel, and lack of pistol grip. All things that may have been nice-haves, but weren't deal-breakers for the men actually using them. As you mentioned, the guys relying on them, by and large, found them effective...Just not SO effective that they didn't want more!
(However, I did know a platoon sergeant who fought in The Bulge with the 83rd Division who said the BAR gave them the most trouble in the cold. They had an issue with the chamber icing-up when not in use, and had to thaw it out before going into action.)
General Marshall's rationale for sticking with the BAR was that they were proven and plentiful, plus the replacements they were testing would have jammed production (not just with new weapons but with new magazines and new magazine belts/pouches to carry them) for only a marginal boost.
If you look at the M14E2/M14A1 that replaced the BAR, it was lighter and had a pistol grip, but there was no increase in firepower as it still used 20-round magazines and a fixed (lighter) barrel. The automatic rifleman a generation later, before the adoption of the weighty M249, was only issued a bipod for his M16 and that was that...Didn't have a heavy barrel or anything. I don't think the US Army has been truly happy with its automatic rifle since WWI. We'll see how the XM250 fares...
I found your platoon video and came back to see this first. Military organization is a fascinating subject and I'm going to watch all your videos now because of it. Maybe even subscribe.
Nah, not maybe. I will.
Hope you're well and thank you for your hard work.
very good research ....i clearly remember speaking with a 94th div vet who stated they always tried to obtain more BARs stating "combat loss" ....and had 2 or even 3 in a squad at times.
In addition to obtaining replacements for "write-offs," they could also absorb other unit's genuine combat losses. You'll come across instances of guys finding abandoned BARs and just holding on to them. The real trick is requisitioning all the extra magazines.
Excellent video - Well Done! (and I was an infantryman myself about 40 years ago).
Hey, thanks a lot. I appreciate it.
8:40 This is what I would call an ideal load out for a squad of the time that could be within reason of a platoon's typical armament. Even better would be if one of the rifleman in the squad is equipped with the platoon's only m1903a4
Very nice video. Explains what I have been researching. I love the graphics and order of things stated.
Thanks a lot. I try to make the types of videos I wanted to see (had UA-cam existed) back when I was getting into this stuff. Some of the information out there can seem conflicting at first.
seriously impressed with the details and knowledge.you have me as a serious subscriber.love detail military history.former army 11 bravo 87-93 .thanks
Good video, I think the prewar TO&E and the tactics may make some of the 43-44 stuff clear. The BARs were in their own squad as a weapons squad, later they were put in the rifle squad. The Scouts (Senior Scout and scout) were the squad "point section" under control of the squad leader. When contact was made, the squad leader could then bring up the Auto Rifle team (BAR) to provide heavy fire on the target. From right I have seen in vet's recollections, their was no special training for Scouts or BARs even though the official training plans talk about special training. M1903 vs M1 grenade launcher: the 03 would have been easier to load launcher blanks into a 03 then a M1. The first launcher for the M1 to my understanding restricted the garand to working the bolt when shooting ball. The later issued launcher fixed that problem. The 1/2 squads were used as screens under control of the platoon leader, or he could take all the scouts (6) as screens. I think the problem understanding the pre fire team Army, is people want to force the tactics of the fire teams on to these earlier formations.
Thanks. I felt discussion of things like the old “automatic rifle squad” or march security (the point of an advance guard) were topics that belonged in the context of other videos pertaining to higher echelons, rather than in any of the squad videos where I wanted to keep the focus tight. I’m trying to take it one step at a time without overloading viewers who may not know a German from a Sherman.
I'd interested in more information . My dad was promoted by Patton to a Sargent in charge of what I thought was a Gun squad to pierce enemy lines in pursuit of the rescue of the 101 st. He was promoted for being alive and was one of the battle weary .He was given a Thompson , but didn't like . He gave it to one of his men. He said it didn't shoot straight after the third round. He had a BAR in his squad but no sniper. His shooting skills didn't require one. He did pickup a 1911 off a dead soldier. His squad did take at least two SS squads. He was taken prisoner the afternoon December 24 after running ahead of his men to take two pinned down Germans . He was taking care of one he shot and was jumped by his buddy. The dying German plead for his life. Dad put 6 months in a German prison camp .
The Buddy system was picked up by the Rangers from training in the UK from the British Commandos. Any Brit serviceman will be familiar with it. It is especially helpful when you carry a lot of kit and need it checked. Also weapon drills. Great films these.
We call them Oppos.
My uncle Frank was in the 66th infantry division
My aunt's father was also in the "Black Panther Division." His name wasn't Frank though…
G.I. History Handbook A vet of the 66th had a great website and sent me a pic of my uncle from the divisions yearbook.
What company?
@@reidparker1848 HQ co, need to check which regiment.
@@TheBalls55
I'm fuzzy here, do the platoons of HQ Cos. typically see very little combat? You'd figure.
Great channel!
No fluff just excellent information!
This is some really good shit. Please make more videos like this. I just came across your channel today and am very, very happy.
Thank you very much. I'm happy you're happy.
I can't tell you when my next video will be up because I cobble these together in my spare time, and so far I've blown every deadline I've set for myself... But there are more videos in the works.
Excellent, well-presented research. During WWII, 12 million of 60 million men served in the military, with the majority in the Army. So they would have a grasp of squad tactics. Today, out of a population of 300 million, only a million or so serve in active-duty or reserve capacity. In the modern, tech-heavy military, fewer are involved in infantry tactics, and would understand squad tactics and organization.
Thank you.
I'd hoped others would find this topic as interesting as I do. There are plenty media portrayals of WWII out there, but they tend not to focus on aspects of small unit organization and tactics all that much. It was probably on-screen portrayals of this stuff, both enlighteningly good and confusingly bad, that first got me interested in learning the "real deal" history.
Your work is incredible! thank you!
Thank you! It's gratifying to hear the work is appreciated. (It means more videos in the future.)
So a BAR man or number 4 got an assistant with a Garand and a man to lug extra mags also with a Garand? Never knew that I thought only the machine gun teams had the extra help. EXCELLENT FILM.
Thanks. Yes, at least in a full-strength squad, a three-man BAR team was standard. As casualties mounted, the ammo bearer position was one of the first to be vacated, but the automatic rifleman usually had at least an assistant to keep those magazines coming.
The assistant BAR man and the ammo bearer were actually issued an M1923 cartridge belt in addition to the M1937 BAR magazine belt. The idea was they would wear the cartridge belt in garrison and the BAR belt in the field, but I've seen a few photos of some guys wearing both at the same time! The extra magazine belts were deleted from the T/O&E starting on 30 June 1944 and replaced by extra ammo bags. (M1 Ammo bags were cheaper to produce and had many more uses, but they where hardly the ideal way to distribute the weight of all those extra mags.)
great video, just what i needed. Well done
Thank you very much.
Very well done. Looking forward to your other videos.
Thank you very much. I'll have another up as soon as it's completed. (It keeps growing...)
Superbly done. Good point about the pronunciation of "Garland."
Thank you very much.
It's been a while since I watched the video (when I'm done I'm DONE), but I don't recall talking about decorating. :D
Have you made a video on the Marine Infantry Rifle squad or any sort of equivalent?
Not yet. I've committed to it, but I don't know when exactly it will happen.
Just discovered your vids, love them! Keep up the good work.
Thanks a lot. (That's in a genuine non-sarcastic way! Text can make that distinction difficult to convey sometimes…)
Some people I talk with make a clear distinction between a sniper and a marksman. A sniper does all the things we think a sniper does, acts as a separate element in their own little two- or three-man teams, infiltrates areas, scouts etc. A marksman is an infantryman that has some training with and carries a marksman rifle but otherwise doesn't do the fancy stuff.
A good informative video,thanks for taking the time in doing such a good professional job :)
I appreciate that a lot.
In Combat!, Buck Sgt. Saunders only commanded a half squad of men(6 men). Saunders has a Thompson submachine and a 1911 pistol. He was never promoted beyond Sargent the entire war. Only 2nd lieutenant Hannaly carried a M1 carbine. Hannaly was given a battle field commission from master sargent to 2nd lieutenant. After that, he stay a 2nd lieutenant the entire war. Kirby, the B.A.R. guy was never made a corporal. Private first class was the second in command of Saunder’s half squad, named Cage.
Outstanding job, this is top notch content! Would you consider covering German unit structure and strategy? You've got yourself a new subscriber.
Thank you! I appreciate every subscription. German stuff is out of my comfort zone, but "never say never."
Thank you for making and posting these informative videos. This information will be put to good use playing Combat Mission games. Please keep up the excellent work and thanks again. Subscribed and look forward to more.
Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment. It's very much appreciated. While it's slow going, I can assure you I've begun work on the next video in this series.
When I first watched this almost 4 years ago, I thought it would be just another video I watched while eating lunch. No doubt about it, this got me hooked on to military TOEs, its just so damn interesting!
The Close Combat series of PC games has both rifle and BAR squads. They really did their homework.
No it's Charlie (the third letter of the phonetic alphabet) although there were people unsure of the spelling who used the spelling Charley in error. Able, Baker, and Charlie branches of a rifle company are pre WWII for the record and is documented in US Army training manual addendum a or i depending on the date of issue because in the prewar years the US Army switched from using Roman Numerals in lower case letters rather than the typical upper case letters to using the alphabet in lower case unless they cycled through the alphabet in which case they would use upper case letters
Have you ever noticed while looking back through your old 1960s vintage army comic books that they printed the sounds of Japanese, German, & American machine guns as "Takka- Takka" for Japanese, "Rat - A- Tat- Tat" for German, & "Budda-Burst" for American ones? Isn't that amazing. I'm afraid to die. I heard a rumor that if I die down dead, I'll never be able to live again, forever & ever. I wanna live throughout all eternity until 4 hours & 6 minutes after the end of time. I don't want any little, metal rods called bullets to be pushed out through metal tubes called gun barrels to fly through the air & bump into my soft, warm, tender, skinny skin. They would bruise my skin & punch holes in it, causing my fire engine red hydraulic fluid called blood to leak out & make a mess everywhere. I would then shout "OUCH" in a loud voice.
Wow. This is a really good guide. Thank you for making and sharing it. Really helping me make sense of the books I've started reading.
Excellent. I'm so glad you said that. My intention in creating this channel was to provide a primer that could enhance viewers appreciation of other material. Books and documentaries will often use terms of art without getting bogged down in their details or historical context. I'd hoped these videos would be of interest to people reading a memoir and wondering what the heck a platoon guide did, or what an echelon formation looked like, or even just how many men were supposed to be in a WWII-era rifle squad or platoon.
interestingly enough, despite being universally issued to the army, the Marine Corps had quite a few difficulties acquiring the garand during the pacific theater and had to make do with the Springfield or even borrowed rifles from their allies or captured weapons from the enemy. I think the issues cleared up once U.S naval logistics became more secure, but its still interesting that that happened.
thats pretty good...........wish you put out more videos..........covering more timelines and even other nations...........even modern............gods bless
Interesting. I was in a rifle squad in Vietnam (173rd ABN). I've sometimes wondered about configurations of the infantry in WWII and Korea.
I'm curious about learning more US Army actions in the Pacific during WWII. I've both read and heard negative comments about US Army Infantry operations compared to the Marine Corp. I noticed in one popular movie, "The Pacific," a battalion commander eludes to the "Army" and the marines groan, "I know, I know" replied the colonel. Just thinking out loud here. Good video anyway.
Thanks.
The popular narrative would have Marines thinking the Army was too cautious, and the Army thinking Marines were too reckless. The stereotype is that the Army would rather take it slow, and save blood by relying on heavy weapons to dig out the Japanese, while Marines would rather go in right away and get it over with, saving blood by ending the battle as early as possible. Given the force structure of the two, it's easy to understand both views. Marines were a more agile force with a lighter footprint. The Army had more armor, artillery, and air support. Marines needed to get in there and knock out those pillboxes yesterday. The Army would rather wait for engineers to build a road through the jungle so they could drive up assault guns. At least that's the stereotype. They each thought the other needed a better balance between the seizing the initiative and utilizing overwhelming firepower.
A thoroughly interesting video, keep it up! I do have one question, how does the organisation and equipment of airborne squads differ from this, and will you ever touch upon this in a future video? Cheers.
Thank you.
By "airborne" I assume you're asking about paratroopers. (Glider infantry was the same as regular infantry at the squad level.) Parachute infantry rifle squads were also a dozen men at full strength, but the squad's base of fire was provided by an M1919A4/A6. So instead of an automatic rifleman and assistant automatic rifleman, a squad of paratroopers had a machine gunner and assistant machine gunner. I definitely want to make a video covering this.
Thank you man!! I appreciate it!
That company organizational video has been a long time coming.
Interesting. It seems the Germans insisted on having the MG34/42 light machinegun as the primary point of each squad. With engaging these machineguns, the US military just issued more B.A.R.s instead. I'm assuming that the semi-automatic firing of the Garand and emphasis on individual marksmanship implied every soldier be an independently effective combatant rather than bolt-action riflemen acting as support for machineguns.
There is no such thing as an "M41 machine gun". Inform yourself. Or are weapons not as important as "muh military bureaucracy and "doctrine"?
@@reidparker1848 Does your unnecessarily hostile and pompous comment on a minor detail and making some kind of assumption serve a purpose?
.
A "did you mean 34"? would have sufficed. You'd probably laugh at someone trying to mock you for a spelling error just the same.
.
On that note, _"muh military and doctrine"_ doesn't have any logical, factual, or distinctive traits that indicate any sensible response in opposition to what statement I was making.
My great grandfather was apart of E company, 116th infantry regiment. I am trying to find some more information on him. I know he was in this battle and operation queen. He was wounded the 23 Nov 1944 during OQ.
5:07 No mention of the Marines outfitted with 03's early in the Pacific War?
Does a similar video exist for WWII Field Artillery Battalion? (my father, Battery "A", 32nd Field Artillery Battalion, 18th RCT, 1st ID... Sicily, Normandy...to the end)
That was a great video! I'm very interested in the 2nd Infantry Division, could you please provide a reference(like document) that they brought more sub machine guns from the beach?
It is in the book Nineteen Days in June 1944 (published 1984, page 179) written by Maj. Henry G. Spencer, the commander of 1st Battalion. He recalls trading 87 carbines for TSMGs, leaving some soldiers in his battalion without a weapon for approximately six hours on 16 June 1944!
@@G.I.HistoryHandbook thx!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3:15 to 3:18
"Semi-automatic, of course, means rounds can be fired as fast as the trigger can be squeezed."
Actually, many people -- likely most, don't know that; they equate semi-automatic = automatic.
Outstanding video. History buff and ex Cold War MP here.
Thank you.
This video is absolutely amazing, extremely detailed and informative, thank you for spending the time man. I learned a lot here and I appreciate you sharing the knowledge.
Thank you so much. Hearing that makes it worth the effort.
Very informative. Many thanks and keep it up!
Many thanks for watching!
What was the reference for the map symbols for the individual man?
You're actually the first person to inquire about this. As you may know, FM 21-30 contained the symbols authorized by the War Department, but no wartime edition (through 28 February 1945) contained symbols for each individual infantryman. That manual does, however, state that: "Symbols other than those shown herein may be used provided they do not conflict with any authorized symbols and are explained in a legend."
So, symbols denoting individuals within a rifle squad varied from publication to publication. (For example, a rifleman's symbol could be an empty box, but sometimes it contained an "R," while other times it contained his number.) I selected the symbols that were either most common or that I felt were easiest for viewers to follow. The symbols used in this video were found, at one time or another, in the pages of FM 22-5 (and its updates through Change 3, 16 September 1943) with one exception.
The "AAR" used for the assistant automatic rifleman was pulled from the 2 June 1942 edition of FM 7-10. (I chose it over just an "A" because I wanted to convey they were different from the yet to be discussed assistant gunners found in the weapons platoon; individuals that were often identified with the same symbol, but had a different MOS.)
With several variations in use, I'm not sure all of these symbols ever appeared together on the same page, but they are all period appropriate.
10:00 even modern teams aren't always symmetrical, it's highly dependent upon the mission at the time. Source: 8 years in the US Army
Sure. What I was getting at was there was only one automatic rifleman in the standard WWII US squad, meaning the team's roles were more clearly defined. The BAR team was always the default base of fire team. If you could help it, that's the team you wanted covering the assault. But in a standard modern US squad, when both Alpha and Bravo have an AR, either team can do the job of the other. That flexibility was missing in the "classic" squad organization that only had one team with an automatic weapon (on paper).
Rule 1.1 The Gods of War never read the manual. Rule 1.2 No TO&E survives contact with 90-day wonders or the enemy (same difference.)
Corporals disappeared from the platoons? I would imagine the automatic rifleman and at least one of the riflemen would be a corporal to help maintain some form of hierarchy within the squad.
The issue was corporals needed to be paid more than privates and that gets expensive when an army is WWII-sized. But, I mentioned some lobbied to make the automatic rifleman a corporal, and their lobbying DID pay-off...Sort of. In the final wartime T/O&E, authorized after VE-Day (for units that would have invaded the Japanese home islands), the automatic rifleman WAS made a corporal. But VJ-Day came three months later (and the rifle platoon reorganized after the war) so that particular table never saw use in combat.
Not sure if it's been suggested but a video on employment of company/battalion weapons (60 and 81mm mortars, bazookas, 1919s, and etc) would be cool.
great video. Now I know both German and US squad composition of the day :D
Excellent.
While I obviously find the topic compelling, I'm always mindful that battles are rarely determined by a squad's organization or types of weapons. They're not unimportant elements, but rarely the decisive factors when taking into account the multiple echelons of support, the asymmetric nature of attack against defense, plus the variability of terrain and peculiarities of morale. That's why I'm not a big fan of "vs" videos. (Entertaining as they may be.) You just don't often see two full-strength yet completely unsupported squads fighting a meeting engagement from positions of neutral advantage.
G.I. History Handbook
Just because you are of the opinion that weapons designs don't matter, doesn't mean that the OP is obligated to agree with you. ("Now I see how differently-armed opposing forces were. Important and interesting to understand how much that affected combat!" "Yeah, but I've decided that all firearms are interchangeable, and YOU need to realize that too, silly person!")
Also, I am amused when "scientists" over-intellectualize basic concepts, and/or invent nonsensical formulas in order to "understand" abstract concepts. Rather than understand morale in its proper abstract sense, you create some sily mathematical models in order to "make it rational".
@Neurofied Yamato
I can't stand this guy, or Military History Visualized, or Battle Order.
"Well according to our mindset/doctrine, an armed guy is an armed guy, so I don't care about any differences in weapons design. Want to hear about the Queen's Own 42nd Rifle Regiment, or the 68th Light Mountain Infantry Division? That's what fascinates us! What, you want to hear about actual combat (from the company-down)? Nah."
I've heard stories (not from WWII, but directly from a participant) of how front-line troops could "convince" POGs to give up the good gear... by holding said POG down and standing on his chest until he agrees that whatever choice piece of gear (carbine, SMG, body armor, LBE, etc.) should go where it's most needed.
immikeurnot: So as usual theft, extortion, and robbery are justifiable if you're the good guy.
Excellent video.
How many squads to a platoon?
Is this the same for marines?
Thank you kindly.
The WWII US Army rifle platoon had three rifle squads, plus a small platoon headquarters element. Shortly after WWII, a weapons squad was added (giving the platoon its own organic AT rocket and machine gun support) and this continues to be the basic structure of the US Army infantry platoon. (The composition of the constituent squads has gone through several revisions over the years, but has been remarkably stable for the past several decades. The current infantry squad consists of nine soldiers divided into a leader and two fire teams.)
The USMC rifle platoon was, and still is, also composed of three rifle squads and a platoon headquarters. Marine rifle squad organization (thirteen marines divided into a leader and three fire teams) has not changed since 1944.
Outside of the rifle infantry it varies from unit to unit depending on what MOS specialties are typical within that platoon. It can also depend on how large the platoon is. Without going into numbers let’s call them small medium large and extra large. We will start with large and extra polite from there
Large platoon: 4 squads with squads 2-4 able to sub dived into two equal teams or maybe three teams of different sizes. 1st squad would be be the headquarters squads with the platoon leaders ship plus and highly specialized individuals. Those specialized individuals would either take commands directly from the platoon leader or have there own leader or be divided up equally between squads 2-4
And extra large platoon would still have four platoons but each platoon would have a couple of people who are either highly specialized who could be detached and formed into their own group for tasks. Or each platoon might have a couple of very green inexperienced members who are not yet up to speed and need to be taken away and assigned tasks of lower skill and responsibility until they have acclimated somewhat.
A medium platoon would have three squads that can each be divided up into two equal groups. This platoon is essentially a large platoon without the headquarters and special skills group. Third squad would be lead by the least experienced NCO and would regularly be broken in half and assigned to first and second squads which would be under the leadership of the platoon leader and most experienced NCO
The Small platoon with the third squad being smaller than the other two. Thirds squad can be
1 a specialized squad capable of working directly for the squad leader
2 simply a half platoon that allows the platoon to be broken into 5 half squads with this last squad working directly with the platoon leader
3 simply being the least experienced soldiers get broken up and absorbed into the other two squads and only are together for Lowe priority tasks
You did not mention the Carbing rifle... From what I seen in shows it was mostly for LT and drivers, or was that Hollywood getting it wrong?
@jonathanbair523 The carbine is mentioned in the platoon organization video. There was only one M1 Carbine in the platoon's T/O&E and it was allotted to the platoon leader. There were many more carbines in the company as a whole, and they could find their way into the rifle squads, but "by the book" the Lt was the only man in a rifle platoon officially armed with one.
This video was very helpful.
TOE on paper rarely matched cold reality on the ground. Example, Circa 1970 Marine Squads were 13 men on paper, yet in actual fact the squad was lucky to be 6 Marines, Squads were run with Sgt but it was not unusual to have one run by a Cpl. I imagine WW2 was much the same with higher loss ratios.
Able and Baker are a section, two sections per Squad. Marines call them Port and Starboard sections.
Having to deal with chronic understrength in combat was one of the reasons the majority of conferees at the 1946 Infantry Conference at Fort Benning felt that fire and maneuver within the rifle squad was so difficult. They said a squad needed to be able to routinely operate 25% below authorized strength, and didn't see how a unit that small could effectively fire and maneuver while sustaining additional casualties.
A major difference between WWII and 1970 is there was no "tour of duty" in the earlier conflict. Even with the high turnover, rifle companies could be kept afloat by flooding them with replacements without the need to rotate anyone out. (The upside was they didn't lose any old timers to the calendar. The downside was they broke a lot of old timers.)
Please upload more I love your video!!!
Thanks! I'm working on it...