NP-B045 WW2 US MACHINE GUNNER IN BATTLE OF THE BULGE

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.The American infantry, in its activities and tactics, especially during the fighting in the Mediterranean (1942-1945) and during the fighting in North-Western Europe (1944-1945), attached a relatively large role to machine guns. In the American squad from 1943, which numbered 12 soldiers, there was one soldier armed with a BAR manual machine gun. On the other hand, at the company level, the so-called weapons platoon armed inter and others, one 12.7mm M2 and three 7.62mm M1919s. At the infantry battalion level, there was also an organic unit with machine guns - the so-called weapons company with a total of 11 machine guns. Machine guns - from squad to company level - were also seen as the primary and necessary support in an attack by US infantry. It was also an important element in the conduct of defensive operations, and its role in these actions in the American infantry tactics was even greater. However, it is often assumed that the tactic of using machine weapons in defense by the American troops was inferior to that used by the German army during World War II.