35172 US MILITARY POLICE & GI 'ARDENNES 1944' WW II WITH STOVE

The US Military Police (correctly named: Military Police Corps, abbreviation: MP) is part of the US military that was formally established in September 1941. However, the genesis of the US Military Police dates back to the 18th century, and more specifically the US Independence War (1775-1783), when the first units responsible for observing discipline and law enforcement among soldiers appeared in the American army. However, in 1783 they were dissolved. Similar services also appeared during the Civil War (1861-1865) and during World War I, but after each of these conflicts was over, they were resolved. The US Military Police, which also functioned in peacetime, was not established until September 1941. Its main tasks were to ensure the observance of discipline in the American armed forces, prosecution of common crimes, but also participation in broadly understood police actions or managing road traffic of military vehicles. During World War II, MP had several schools educating future gendarmes (including Camp Gordon and Fort Benjamin Harrison). Soldiers belonging to this formation were used on a large scale during operations in Italy (1943-1945), Normandy and North-West Europe (1944-1945), but also in the South Pacific (1942-1945).Already after the first experiences of fighting in North Africa at the turn of 1942-1943, the US Army changed the position of the American infantry division. From 1943 onwards, each infantry division had three full-time infantry regiments, in turn composed of three infantry battalions. In addition, the infantry regiment also included other units, for example: an anti-tank company, an artillery company or a staff company. In total, the US Army's infantry regiment numbered approximately 3,100 soldiers. It should also be remembered that the division also included a strong artillery component consisting of four artillery battalions - 3 light and 1 medium, most often armed with 105 and 155 mm howitzers. There was also, among others, an engineering battalion, a repair company, a reconnaissance unit and a Military Police platoon. In total, the US Infantry Division numbered approximately 14,200 people from 1943. It quite clearly dominated the artillery over the German division and had much better and - above all - fully motorized means of transport, which made it a highly mobile tactical formation. It also had much richer "individual" anti-tank weapons in the form of a large number of bazooka launchers, of which there were over 500 in the entire division.