Conte Omaha Beach figure trivia game (1 Viewer)

[OzDigger]

Hi Chuck, The Vietnam jungle war must have been one scary experience not knowing who was going to have a go at you next. My Grandfather found some Turkish made Mauser rifles in an abandoned snipers nest on Gallipoli. He reckoned they were far more accurate than the .303 that they were issued with.

 

[Chuck Harris]

Hi Chuck, The Vietnam jungle war must have been one scary experience not knowing who was going to have a go at you next. My Grandfather found some Turkish made Mauser rifles in an abandoned snipers nest on Gallipoli. He reckoned they were far more accurate than the .303 that they were issued with.

OzDigger
I spent a lot of time in Southeast Asia Vietnam Area 1964 to mid 1971 about 38 months in combat zones not all at one time. I did not work in the South in the Delta in the mud. I was way up in the NE in Indian Country.
We tried hard not to have anyone having a go at us. We preferred to have a go at them. Now this was not alway the case. We worked out of what were called Lima sites each had a number and there were about 400+ of them.
I can't say it was a scary experience not for me. Did I get scared yes many times, fear is what keeps one sharp and on your toes. The trick is not to let it rule you. The best way to explain why one keeps going back for more. IT'S LIKE SLIDING DOWN A RAZOR BLADE AND NOT GETTING CUT Getting hit sucks.
The NVA were very good soldiers and I had a great deal of respect for them, they were not to be taken of as slackers. The VC did not have this discipline and were very brutal to everyone and everything. There was a lot of bad blood & problems between the NVA & VC. I did my best to take advantage of this when I could make it work for me. This is when an AK47 worked well for me. Start a firefight between themselves.
Your Grandfather getting out of Gallipoli alive was a great thing. This was not one the British Great Moments in Time

 

[DMNamiot]

Hi Guys,

This is some of the info out there for the Thompson, they were issued to a lot of different units and I know that Tank and Armoured Reconnisance Troops in the 2nd Armored Division carried it in Normandy and elsewhere. I am not too sure about the level it was issued down to but I suspect it was issued mainly to Section Sergeants or maybe down to squad leaders. I also know that as it evolved the weapon became a lot less complicated so it would not have as many issues in the field. However it was over shadowded by the M3 Grease Gun which was cheaper to make and is very troop friendly in the field. We still used them (M-3) in the late 1980s on our tanks and mechanics APCs since it was easier to stow. We had a lot of fun on the range with those babies. I will see if any of my books have reference to the level this was issued too. I do know that my best friends father carried one in the pacific and swore it was the only reason he came home. He was a Forward Air and Naval Gun Fire Controller so he went ashore with the first wave on several islands and got a lot of practical experience with this weapon. I was not able to pry too many stories out of him before he died but the ones he did impart were very interesting. Anyway I hope this info helps.

Dave


The Thompson submachine gun, with a delayed blowback operation, was designed by General John T. Thompson in 1921. The M-1928A1 "Tommy Gun" was issued to armored and reconnaissance units. It was selective for semi- or fully-automatic fire. It fired the .45 cal. ACP cartridge in 20- or 30-round magazines, or a 50-round drum. It had a leaf with aperture notch battle sight. It's rate of fire was 600-725 spm.

The M-1928A1 had a removable buttstock. Most had a horizontal fore grip, but some had a vertical fore grip. The M-1928A1 was relatively heavy, and expensive in use of materials, machine time, and machine tools.

The M-1/M-1A1 was also a blowback submachine gun, selective for semi- or fully-automatic fire. It fired the same .45 cal. cartridge in 20- or 30-round magazines with a rate of fire of 700 cpm in full automatic mode. The gun was reliable, and continued to operate when similar weapons would have failed due to exposure to battle-field conditions. Production was 354,000 weapons.


The M-1 Thompson was a redesign of the model M-1928A1 to simplify production. The M-1 had a permanently attached buttstock and a spring-loaded firing pin like the M1928A1. The M-1 would not accept the M-1928A1 drum type magazine. The M-1 had a simple fixed aperture rear sight.

The M-1A1 differed from the M-1 only in having the firing pin machined into the face of the bolt. The M-1 and M-1A1 models of the Thompson were devised by Savage Arms.

The loading lever is in a horizontal position on the right side. The butt is fixed in place by two screws. The Thompson is 32 inches long and weighs 10 ¾ pounds. It has a muzzle velocity 920 fps (feet per second). The .45 cal ACP round gives the Thompson tremendous stopping power.

Paratroopers commonly used a 20-round magazine. By the time the M-1A1 was in production, the 30-round magazine was common. Manufactures of this weapon were Thompson, Colt and Savage. The USAF had a holster assembly for the Thompson.

 

[binder001]

re: Thompson SMGs in regular infantry units. You are right about expense, but don't forget that the US Army was a very conservative organization. They weren't into massive change unless it was forced on them. Some of their reasons for not having a wider issuance of SMGs;
1) range - the SMG of WW2 fired a pistol cartridge. Accuracy and lethality drop off rapidly.
2) part of the above - the Army brass had "grown up" in the rifle era. US .30 caliber M2 ball ammo would penetrate an enemy helmet at 500yds and kill at longer distances. The US has always looked with pride at their sharpshooter tradition and aimed, precise rifle fire was valued. In WW2 the US Army had to "un-teach" many infantrymen to use general suppresive fire. They had always been taught only to engage visible targets with aimed rifle fire.
3) fire discipline - there was worry up to and including the acceptance of the M14 that giving the average soldier an automatic or selective fire weapon would lead to him firing off all his ammo in a hurry.

The above are some of the reasons (beside initial expense) that of the 14,000+ men in an infantry division there were very few "official" allocations of SMGs.

Paratroops and Rangers received a higher allocation of SMGs because they had fewer support weapons (i.e. paratrooper units didn't "officially" have BARs until after Normandy).

Gary

 

[ucla1967]

The M-14s we were issued in Germany in 1963 could only fire semi-automatically. There were heavier barrel versions with bi-pods that replaced the BAR that were issued to combat units, but they were not heavy enough and tended to "climb" when on automatic fire mode.