1920-1950: Alternative 'little' arms and ammo (2 Viewers)

[tomo pauk]

A 1980s YU company had much more firepower in total than a 1938-40 company in just about any army.
The support platoon/s could take over the long-range fire mission for the company/battalion.

Making decisions in peace time should take a lot of factors into account. In war time things can be over-looked,

No surprises there.

If there are fewer belt-fed MGs of tripods, no recoilless rifles and no 82mm mortars at company level what takes their place, however poorly?

Historically - instead of RLRs, infatry guns were used in most of the armies. The other two crew-served weapons were a known quantity even in ww1, so it was up to the armies of the 1930s to mix and match their gear.

What was the scale of issue of radios in YU infantry companies to call for artillery support for targets 1000-2000 meters away?
What was the transport situation? how many trucks or even tractors pulling trailers per company?

Incomparably better than what a big & typical 1930s army will have.

Germans also had training issues and not just with rifle training. They were running out of NCOs and junior officers that could plan offensive and defensive actions using different weapons in small groups. Just having a variety of weapons does not mean that commanders can use them in an integrated fashion.

It is not that I'm applauding the Germans and their decision that StG is for everyone, just to denote that sometimes the over-simplification might occur.
For the best number of armies/militaries, they will want a good mix of infantry weapons, just like they wanted the best mix of mortars, artillery, trucks, tanks and aircraft. 'Horses for courses' and all that.

The US Army has been rather schizophrenic over the last 80-90 years about small arms.

Might use that as a sig

Post WW II logistics are much better and that is at all levels. Even in the 1930s intermediate cartridges may have made sense but the doctrine needed to accommodate them.
If you are going to issue 400 meter rifles instead of 800 meter rifles what else are you going to give the platoon, company and battalion commanders to fight with in the 400-800meter range band? Even if it is just radios to call in regimental (4.2in/120mm) mortar fire. Such mortars could be 1000-2000 meters (more?) from the company commanders positions.

Mortars, infantry guns, full-power MGs, LMGs, snipers - all the usual suspects, and stuff known to work before 1920.