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.30 cal in the ww2 US army - when was it deployed and how?


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The other thread about the german squads being more effective than the allied ones brings me to a question about firepower. The BAR was standard in AMi squads... should we call 10-15 man sections squads?

Anyway, the .30 cal browning on bipod or tripod.

Was this deployed in the support company element and brought up for specific missions? Was it ever deployed to squads for offensives?

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A quick look at the game, things are more 'interesting' than one might expect! :)

Regular infantry has a seperate weapons company handling the MGs and mortars while the squads have their B.A.R.s. An armored infantry company, on the other hand, has no B.A.R.s at all, and both mortar and .30 cal mg are integral to the platoon. And don't forget those HT-mounted HMGs too. Paratroopers are different than either, relying on the M1919A6 mg for its squad weapon, no B.A.R. to be seen and have an integral platoon mortar. Paratroopers apparently also have access to the tripod .50 cal Browning too, though its not strictly in the TO&E. In this timeframe reference to a regular foot infantry "HMG" would refer to the water-cooled .30 cal M1917.

Clarified or confused? ;)

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You'd have thought the BAR would have been a natural for the Airborne, but perhaps it's too long to jump with or sumfink? I know they were issued to the Glider Infantry.

It's possible that the Airborne deliberately decided against the BAR in favor of the M1919A6. I have no historical evidence to back this up, but I've already made a CM:BN campaign (to be put on the Repository when the game launches) about 1/508 PIR on D-Day, so I've played a LOT with Airborne forces and as a commander I much prefer the M1919A6 to the BAR. Don't know how much fun it would be to carry, though! :D

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The BAR used the same cartridge as the M1, which would seem a plus for airborne troops. And while heavy, it's definitely lighter than the M1919 and a lot easier to fire on the move (although MG gunner Sergeant Lopez seems to have done all right with his -- killing 100 Germans).

On the other hand, in spite of the high cyclic ROF, its 20 round box meant it really couldn't deliver the sustained fire volume of a squad LMG -- needed to create beaten zones, fire lanes, etc. In spite of that, US squads did regularly use it to create a squad "base of fire" and the BAR was generally assigned to one of the most reliable fighters in the squad. There are many anecdotes of BAR gunners single-handedly holding off enemy attacks for as long as their ammo held out.

SLA Marshall hypothesized that its disproportionate contribution to US squad firepower was also due to its distinctive sound; if the gunner failed to fire, everyone knew it. But I don't know that I buy that reasoning.

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I took a quick look at glider infantry. Very much closer to regular infantry in makeup including the integral BAR teams and weapons squads. I was too lazy to look very close at them though :) About BAR teams, I heard from somewhere that it was common practice for the two BAR teams in a squad to act a 'tag teams', one fires while the other reloads, switching back and forth.

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The BAR used the same cartridge as the M1, which would seem a plus for airborne troops. And while heavy, it's definitely lighter than the M1919 and a lot easier to fire on the move (although MG gunner Sergeant Lopez seems to have done all right with his -- killing 100 Germans).

On the other hand, in spite of the high cyclic ROF, its 20 round box meant it really couldn't deliver the sustained fire volume of a squad LMG -- needed to create beaten zones, fire lanes, etc. In spite of that, US squads did regularly use it to create a squad "base of fire" and the BAR was generally assigned to one of the most reliable fighters in the squad. There are many anecdotes of BAR gunners single-handedly holding off enemy attacks for as long as their ammo held out.

SLA Marshall hypothesized that its disproportionate contribution to US squad firepower was also due to its distinctive sound; if the gunner failed to fire, everyone knew it. But I don't know that I buy that reasoning.

If I remember correctly the M1919 was chosen because it was belt fed (and sustained firepower was deemed important for air landings) and was easier to break down and assemble than the BAR (meaning that the weight could be distributed between the jumpers, thus lighter weight).

That was during Normandy, for Market Garden the paras were issued BARs if I'm not mistaken. Why I have no idea.

Now I'm no expert regarding the arms of the US airborne but it's at least what I've read.

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A quick look at the game, things are more 'interesting' than one might expect! :)

Regular infantry has a seperate weapons company handling the MGs and mortars while the squads have their B.A.R.s.

Actually, didn't the regular infantry have a heavy weapons platoon within the rifle company also? If I recall, the heavy weapons platoon has three 60mm mortars, two .30 cals, one .50, and three bazookas. Seems like most company commanders dished these out where they were needed as opposed to keeping the platoon as a single fighting force. The mortars however were typically grouped because their combined fire was more effective than singularly placing them with a squad.

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