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German Weapons One infantry regimental commander has given a good detailed description of the defensive organization: "We found that the enemy employed very few troops with an extremely large number of automatic weapons. All personnel and automatic weapons were well dug in along the hedgerows in excellent firing positions. In most cases the approaches to these positions were covered by mortar fire. Also additional fire support was provided by artillery field pieces of 75-mm, 88-mm, and 240-mm caliber firing both time and percussion fire. Numerous snipers located in trees, houses, and towers were used.
Fallschirmjäger-Division - circa late 1944
A Division had three Fallschirmjaeger regiments, an artillery Regiment, a machine-gun Battalion (this was later removed), an anti-tank Battalion, and supporting units. total strength was 15,976 men. With nine rifle battalions and strong supporting elements, a 1944 Fallschirmjaeger Division at full strength was much stronger than a 1944 Army Infantry Division (six rifle battalions, 12,352 men) and had a much higher percentage of automatic weapons. (43) this is one reason why the Fallschirmjaeger divisions were so good at defense late in the war.
Just found this
looks like an excellent site although it does class the BAR in the same category (Light Machine Guns) as the Bren. There's other weapons comparisons on the page too and a Site Map link at the bottom although I haven't tried that yet
Infantry Weapons of World War Two
For clarification, which automatic weapons were deployed at squad level by the different combatants?
UK: Bren
US: BAR (at what level was the M1919 issued at?)
Germany: MG-34/MG42?
Hello Parsifal,
I assume you were talking about the MG-42 right ? Just a small correction: According to all the data I have the actual RoF of the MG42 was 1,500 rpm, the modern MG-3 shoots at 1,200 rpm. Not that it makes any difference.
Amsel,
To add to what you've already posted:
German Soldiers
Indeed, the Fallschirmj�ger were perhaps the best-armed infantrymen in the world in 1944. The 3rd FJ had 930 light machine guns, eleven times as many as its chief opponent, the U.S. 29th Division. Rifle companies in the FJ had twenty MG 42s and 43 submachine guns; rifle companies in the 29th had two machine guns and nine BARs. At the squad level, the GIs had a single BAR; the German parachute squad had two MG 42s and three submachine guns. The Germans had three times as many mortars as the Americans, and heavier ones. So in any encounter between equal numbers of Americans and Fallschirmj�ger, the Germans had from six to twenty times as much firepower.
And these German soldiers were ready to fight. A battalion commander in the 29th remarked to an unbelieving counterpart from another regiment, "Those Germans are the best soldiers I ever saw. They're smart and they don't know what the word 'fear' means. They come in and they keep coming until they get their job done or you kill'em."
The 18 men of the I&R platoon had inflicted between 400 and 500 casualties, decimating an entire battalion of the German 3d Parachute Division. The platoon had halted the mission of the paratroopers to rapidly break through the American front and allow armored units of the German main effort the Sixth Panzer Army immediate access to open roads toward the Meuse River On the night of 16 December, the 9th Parachute Regiment in Lanzerath failed to continue to the west. They feared heavy resistance from American defenses such as they had encountered from the I&R platoon.
Not really an assault rifle in any way, since rather than an "intermediate" cartridge like the 7.92x33mm, it fired the full power .30-06 rifle and machinegun round. The BAR was a "machine rifle" in concept.The BAR was not really an LMG - more of a proto-asault rifle in many ways, and perhaps influenced by the US Army's employment of the French Chauchat automatic weapon during WWI.
Browning's son Val went to France to test and demonstrate the guns.They actually had the BAR ready in time for the last year of WW1. But the Army decided not to issue it to the troops in large numbers because, and I am not making this up, they didn't want the Germans to capture it and see how it worked. So, that means the US troops don't get it either.
Talk about bad reasoning.
Anyway, it was issued in small groups to test and went over very well. But not widespread.
Hehe, this was about the weapons not about how some defenders crushed an ill concieved attack
The FJR3 was amongst the most feared German units on the western front, and on almost every occasion they gave a lot better than they got.
Btw, only 60 German paratroopers died at Lanzerath, the US unit however succeeded in holding off a 500 man strong German unit, which is a grandous task considering the weapons they had.
The real demonstrations of superior weapons and their employment routinely occurred in the Pacific theater.I guess the Intelligence unit didn't get the memo about FJR.3 being the most feared when they inflicted so many casaulties upon them. A crushing blow for an elite unit brought on by automatic weapon fire from BAR's, and two .30 Brownings, as well as a Ma Duece. I know it doesn't say much about the weapons as it does the employment of them. I only brought up the FJR.3 as a side note though.
The BAR Ma Deuce weren't the reason for the success of the I&R platoon's success, it was their tactics which won the day. They could inflicted even worse casualties had they had a couple of MG-42's or MG-34's around instead. As light as the BAR, belt fed and possessing a higher RoF they would've greatly improven the firepower.
Thats the great thing about the MG-42 MG-34, they were just as mobile as the BAR Bren, yet the MG-42 MG-34 possessed everything the BAR Bren did and much more.
It was good that the US possessed a rifle as good as the Garand, cause their MG's certainly left a lot to be desired. And the British had it even worse.
Anyway we're straying off topic yet again. Guess we just can't help it
IMO one can't say the BAR was better than the Bren and vice versa, both had their good bad sides.