U.S. WW II German infantry weapon training film

[John Kettler]

Grogs and modders rejoice! Color film made to teach American infantrymen the basics of the core German infantry weapons. Never seen it myself, and thought you'd get a kick out of it.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=sLhe34AmvVw

Speaking of kicks, my dad was in his teens during the war, and his older brother operated LCMs for Patton as part of the Navy's Boat Two. He sent home a Luger and ammo during the war, but was most unhappy to discover my future father had shot it all away in his absence!

Regards,

John Kettler

[Chelt]

There is something very strange about the narration on that piece.

The speaker sounds like an American affecting a British accent, sometimes going Scottish, sometimes sounding more like a Mainer. He halts in awkward places, giving the impression that he has rarely read from a script. He lacks have the controlled tone that characterizes narration of the period.

Last, the recording of his voice retains detail that I'd expect of a condenser microphone, not the then-common dynamic mics.

What was Boat Two?

[John Kettler]

Chelt,

Boat Two was a special Navy unit which served with Patton in the campaign across Europe. If you've ever seen stills or footage of M-26 tank retrievers carrying LCMs, then you've seen Boat Two. There are even models available of this odd couple. Boat Two made possible Patton's famous/notorious "rock soup" river crossing method based on "armed reconnaissance" by unloading the M boats into the river, loading men and tanks into them, then running them across to establish an ever growing de facto bridgehead, thus forcing HQ to move the rest over in support. Uncle George was a Motorman Machinist's Mate 3rd class, arriving on the Continent via administrative landing on D+1 at Normandy and spent his initial period cleaning up wrecked landing craft and presumably retrieving bodies, too. I know for a fact that he went through the Siegfried Line, for I've seen the Kodak Brownie pics he took of the dragons' teeth. As for the narration, I don't know what to tell you. Was far too busy simply indulging my inner grog. The film actually covers every weapon shown at the beginning, but I went with the shorter version simply because it was a very clear one. BTW, I've fired a Kar98K. We found a WW II model for my brother while he was out of the country, a nice one with matching serial numbers. When he got back from that Army tour, we went shooting, and it's a very accurate weapon. Never shot a Luger, but I have put a magazine through a Walther P38, the principal successor pistol. Fun!

Regards,

John Kettler