Garandomatic Posted January 22, 2018 Share #1 Posted January 22, 2018 Reading a 38th Armored Infantry Battalion AAR for the month of December, 44, and it is specially mentioned that the 38th AIR did not have BARs, and after using them to fight the Germans in the Battles around St. Vith, the men demanded that they have BARs. It struck me kind of funny. I know Airborne (paratrooper) units didn't officially (or was it still unofficially) use BARs until later in the war, but I figured Armored Infantry units would have had them... Were they just given Browning .30s because they'd have halftracks to haul everything in or what? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firstflabn Posted January 23, 2018 Share #2 Posted January 23, 2018 Zero BARs in an Armored Infantry Battalion according to the Sep 43 T/O&E (which appears to have stayed in effect thru the end of the war). Instead they got 6 LMG and 10 HMG in each company, the latter mounted on halftracks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garandomatic Posted January 23, 2018 Author Share #3 Posted January 23, 2018 Well I'll be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baron3-6 Posted January 23, 2018 Share #4 Posted January 23, 2018 I learned something new here. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garandomatic Posted February 28, 2018 Author Share #5 Posted February 28, 2018 For what it's worth, I just discovered another reference to the BAR by an armored unit. Researching the 85th Cav/Recon of the 5th AD, and at the end of the October reports, it makes special mention of weapons... Including getting their hands on as many BARs as possible, and not having much luck at that. Maybe MOST interesting is that it reads that AUTOMATIC (underlined) carbines are effective as a substitute. Now... Were these early M2s or modified M1s? Given that almost every weapon a GI had access to was semi-automatic or fully-automatic, I am inclined to think that these carbines would be full-boogie, given the emphasis... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firstflabn Posted March 2, 2018 Share #6 Posted March 2, 2018 500 T4 Carbines were approved for procurement on 6 Sept 44, so no way any of those could have seen action in the ETO before the end of October. There is an undated mention in the ETO Ordnance history discussing 500 conversion kits going to the First U.S. Army. A Dec 44 ordnance loss report for the Third U.S. Army shows issuance of 501 auto carbines, M1. Presumably those were ETO conversions. The 85th Cav Recon Sqd might have made a mention of the auto carbines in their S-4 reports. Should be easy for NARA to find those for Oct 44. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now