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US Army Handbook 1939-1945 PDF

238 Pages·1999·65.82 MB·English
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Preview US Army Handbook 1939-1945

US ARMY A DBOOK 1939-1945 'Old Glory' is raised once again on Corregidor, three years after theJapanese tore it down, while paratroopers of503rd Para InfRegt salute. Gen MacArthur (arrowed) said: 'Hoistthe StarsandStripesandletnoenemyeverhaulthemdown.' USARMY HANDBOOK 1939-1945 GEORGE FORTY SUTTONPUBLISHING FirstpublishedbyIanAllanin 1979 Firstpublishedinthis editioninthe UnitedIZingdomin 1995 by Alan SuttonPublishingLimited, an imprintofSuttonPublishingLimited PhoenixMill· Thrupp .Stroud· Gloucestershire This paperbackeditionfirstpublishedin 1998bySuttonPublishingLimited Copyright© George Forty, 1995 All rights reserved. No part ofthis publicationmaybe reproduced, storedin a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means; electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission ofthe publishers and copyrightholder. BritishLibrary CataloguinginPublicationData A catalogue record for this bookis available from the BritishLibrary. ISBN 0 7509 2050 5 Cover illustration: Front) top: US Army assault troops wade ashore; bottom: cleaningpersonalweapons (Real ~rPhotosA284). Endpapers: front: the start ofthe loading drill of an AA gun; back: a Truck amphibious 2~ton 6 X 6 DUIZW. ~TM ALAN SUTTON™ and SUTTON™ are the trade marks ofSutton PublishingLimited Typesetin 10/12 PlantinLight. Typesettingand originationby SuttonPublishingLimited. Printedandboundin GreatBritainby Butlerand Tanner, Frome, Somerset. CONTENTS Introduction Vll Introductionto SecondEdition IX Glossary X 1 HistoricalBackground 1 2 Mobilisation and Training 8 3 Higher Organisation 17 4 Non DivisionalUnits, Headquarters andthe Staff 27 5 The CombatArms 36 6 The Services 48 7 Divisional Organisations 67 8 The Soldier 98 9 Weapons, Vehicles and Equipment 124 10 Tactics 173 11 VehicleMarkings and Camouflage 180 12 Women's Army Corps 186 Appendices Abbreviations 193 2 Military Symbols 200 3 General OrderFormfor a CompleteWrittenField Order 204 Vl US ARMY HANDBOOK 1939-1945 4 CompleteAdministrative Order 206 5 Numbers ofEngineers 208 6 Compositionofthe Third Army, 10November 1943 210 7 Ground Radios 212 8 Divisional ShoulderPatches 214 Bibliography 220 Introduction The building ofthe American Army in World War II from a tiny, outdated and ill equipped force, into one of the mightiest armies in the world, was rightly described by the late Sir Winston Churchill as being a 'prodigy of organisation'. Its value to the Allied cause was immeasurable and it had a fine fighting record all over the world. It was a marvellously well equipped army, thanks to American inventiveness, 'know-how' and technical prowess. And of course America generously supplied billions and billions of dollars worth of military equipment and supplies to the other Allied nations throughoutthe war. The catalogue ofsuperlatives could go on and on, so perhaps it is a good thing that this book is written by an Englishman, or the reader might well considerthatthis was notanunbiased study! However, one cannotfail butbe impressed by the things which were achieved and the speed in which they were all done. It is difficult not to become overawed by the sheer size ofboth the problems faced andthe solutions found to them. As onemightexpect, the recording of these achievements was a monumental task in itself and the resultinghistoryoftheUnited StatesArmyinWorldWarIIis averylarge and detailedwork, runninginto some 80volumes andwrittenbythemosteminent Americanmilitaryhistorians. Forme to compress all theirworkinto this small book has meant leaving out an enormous amount of material. I have, for example, had to concentrate upon the Army Ground Forces and to virtually ignoretheArmy ServiceForces andArmyAirForces. EventhenIhavehadto focus upon the divisional level and below, mentioning only briefly the all importantnon divisionaltroops, whichmadeup overhalfthe tacticalforces of the US Army. This has been inevitable, butI do hope that anyone who wants to delvemore deeplywillfind the selectbibliographyofvalue. It may be of interest if I explain how I, a retired British Army officer, came to write a handbook on the US Army in World War II. The simple answer is because one did not exist, so even my puny efforts are better than nothing at all. Although there are many excellent books which cover specialised segments- such as insignia, dress, weapons and vehicles, there is no compact handbook which draws them all together with organisations, tactics etc. on sale in the UK. I found this particularly frustrating when I was researching for my book Patton's ThirdArmy at Ular (Ian Allan, 1978), so I decided that I would write one at the earliest opportunity. I hope that the result will be ofuse to all wargamers, modellers and all those who, like me, find a special fascination in the 'nitty gritty' about the forces of any nation.

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The building of the American Army during WWII, from a tiny, outdated and ill-equipped force, into one of the mightiest armies in the world was rightly described by Sir Winston Churchill as being a "prodigy of organization." Its value to the Allied cause was immeasurable and it had a fine fighting re
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