35109 US JEEP RIDERS

Long before the start of World War II, the United States had a well-developed automotive industry, which in the 1920s and 1930s clearly dominated its European competitors. Considering the complete security of this industrial base in 1939-1945, it is not surprising that it was quickly converted to armaments production and, thanks to its enormous capabilities, made the US Army fighting in Europe or the Far East properly fully motorized and to a very high degree. mechanized. The saturation with motor vehicles was then much higher in the US Army than in the Soviet or German armies. In the case of infantry and artillery units, on the one hand, this translated into a very high mobility of these units, but on the other hand, it also allowed for a huge acceleration of actions. Among the several types of trucks used at that time (1941-1945) in the US Army, it is worth mentioning the GMC CCKW or the Studebaker US-6. The Willys Jeep light all-terrain vehicle also seemed to be ubiquitous. The degree of saturation with trucks and off-road vehicles of US Army units can be proved by the time of the "light" armored division from 1943, which assumed the possession of, among others, 460 trucks with a capacity of 2.5 tons and 449 Willys vehicles! Also, American infantry divisions were de facto motorized divisions, as they often used motor vehicles to cover longer distances.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.