Re: FIRE TEAMS IN SG II

Don,
> 
> David,
> >
> > Separate groups of Bren guns and rifles were pretty standard in
> > British WW2 practice, and remained so with the GPMG, and quite
> > possibly remain so today. The Bren gunner and assistant were
> > supposed to neutralise the target from a flank or rear position
> > while the riflemen went in with grenades and bayonets.
> >
> Isn't more of an attachment to the standard squad?

No, each section (= US squad) had a machinegun. (The platoon had a
AT rifle and (still has) a two inch mortar.)
  
> > German doctrine (according to wargames sources) relied on
> > obliterating the target with close-range machinegun fire to the
> > exclusion of any other close quarters fighting (excluding
> > specialised SMG squads). Every German squad was supposed to have a
> > tripod for the machinegun, the machinegun was a three man team,
> > four including the squad leader who directed it out of a nominal
> > ten men (but in practice six to eight). Panzergrenadiers commonly
> > dismounted a second MG from their half-track, so could hardly have
> > had any "riflemen" at all.
> 
> Tripods (as today) are only used on sustained defensive fire mode,
> in maneuver you would normally use the bipod with an assistant
> gunner.

According to my sources, the Germans allocated three men, two with
the machinegun (and pistols, and perhaps the tripod) one with a
rifle carrying additional ammo.

> So even with the extra MG from the halftrack you'd
>  have plenty of rifles.

With two men per MG and their fire directed by the squad leader,
you might have as many as three, if lucky. I'd think one of these
would be a senior private directing the second MG and the rest
carry ammo.

To return to the point, my (limited) understanding is that almost
all WW2 armies used a squad with it's own machinegun or automatic
rifle, which could operate as a small independent group covering
advancing rifles and vice versa. The British operated that way on
the attack when the riflemen went into close combat. The Germans
so emphasised machineguns that the riflemen perhaps didn't operate
alone very much. The Americans eventually beefed up their infantry
with a second (or third) automatic rifle and perhaps started to
operate in "fireteams" at that time. 

-- 
David Brewer

"It is foolishness and endless trouble to cast a stone at every