Infantry

Infantry Weapons of World War II.

Mosin-Nagant Carbine Model 1944G
Russian infantry rifle Model 1930G, carbine 1938G and 1944G. History, development, service, specifications, pictures and 3D model. Mosin-Nagant Model 1930G Read more
StG-44
German assault rifle Sturmgewehr 44 (StuG44, StG-44, MP43 or MP44) History, development, service, specifications, statistics, pictures, video and 3D model. Read more
US mountain troops with bazooka
Anti-tank rocket launcher 2.36 inch M1 'Bazooka' of World War II. History, development, specifications, statistics, pictures and 3D model. 2.36 Read more
Ariska rifle Meiji 38
Japanese infantry rifle Type 38 Ariska from 1897 to World War II. History, development, service, specifications and pictures. Ariska rifle Read more
German mountain troops MG42 gunner
German machine gun MG42, the deadliest infantry weapon of WW2. History, development, service, specifications, statistics, pictures, video and 3D model. Read more
GI Thompson sub-machine gun
US sub-machine guns Thompson M1A1, M1, M1928. History, development, service, specifications, statistics, pictures and 3D model. Thompson M1A1, M1, M1928. Read more
3d model of Panzerschreck
88 mm Raketen Panzerbuchse 54 anti-tank rocket launcher Panzerschreck or Ofenrohr. History, development, service, specifications, statistics, pictures and 3D-model. 88 Read more
Browning model 1919A4
Browning M1917 and Browning M1919 machine guns. History, development, service, specifications, pictures and 3d-model of Colt-Browning M1895, Browning M1917, M1917A1, Read more
British Enfied rifle No.4 in action
British infantry rifle Lee-Enfield No.4 Mark 1 of WW2. History, development, service, specifications, pictures and 3D model. Lee-Enfield rifle 303 Read more
Browning Automatic Rifle BAR M1918A2
BAR
BAR - Browning Automatic Rifle, US light machine gun or assault rifle from both World Wars. History, development, service, specifications, Read more
Browning HP-35
Browning Automatic Pistol Model 1900, 1903, 1910 and Browning HP. History, development, specifications, statistics and pictures. The Belgian Fabrique Nationale Read more
Mannlicher-Carcano
Italian infantry rifle Mannlicher-Carcano M1891. History, development, service, specifications and pictures of Mannlicher-Parravicino-Carcano Modello 91. Mannlicher-Parravicino-Carcano Modello 91 Type: Italian Read more
Vickers Gun
British Vickers machine-gun from both World Wars. History, development, service, specifications and pictures of the heavy Vickers gun. Vickers Gun Read more
Webley Revolver 1WK en
British revolvers of both World Wars: Webley .455in, Fosbery, Webley .38in Mk 4, Enfield No.2. History, development, specifications, statistics and Read more
Colt M1911 model
Colt M1911 and M1911A1, automatic pistol of the US Army from 1911 to 1985. History, development, specifications, statistics, pictures and Read more
British trench raid equipment
Hand grenades of the British Army. History, development, specifications, statistics and pictures of grenades no. 36M, no. 69, no. 70 Read more
GI Garand
US semi-automatic infantry rifle cal .30 M1 Garand of World War II. History, development, service, specifications, pictures and 3D model. Read more
members of the French Legion on the Eastern front
German submachine guns MP40, MP38 - the German Army's trademark. History, development, service, specifications, pictures, video and 3D model. MP40, Read more
M3 Grease Gun
US sub-machine gun M3 Grease Gun designed for mass production in WW2. History, development, specifications, statistics, pictures and 3D model. Read more
WWII Era Gun
7 Important Things You Should Know Before Buying a WWII-Era Gun. Are you an avid gun collector looking to add Read more

British infantry in action
British soldiers in action in France.
In whatever military services the fresh recruit is constantly been trained in making use of a single essential type of service rifle, no matter what his final job could be. In the course of WW2 it was as a fact as it is today, however the rifle with which the unique recruit might be trained wide-ranging quite a lot. According to the specific army, the recruit could have been equipped with a venerable old-fashioned while in other armies he could have equipped with a polished cutting edge design embodying all the sophisticated, for the guns vise in WW2 different drastically.

On one side of the level there were the ancient bolt-action firearms which had been being used since well before World War One ; as well as the opposite were the modern self-loading or automatic weapons that finally resulted in the earliest of just what are currently called assault rifles. There were not one of the second operating when the WW2 began in 1939, but as World War 2 continued the initial functional types of such firearms arrived on the scene operating.

These types of weapons offered the infantryman a significantly improved firepower ability, however it wasn’t prior to the real assault rifles appeared from around 1943 onwards that the complete massive step coming from the steady but very slow single shots of the bolt-action firearm to the full automatic fire of the assault rifle was completely recognized. The bolt-action guns were generally good and reputable firearms, however they were missing the shock effect of an assault gun fired in the fully automatic mode.

Thus, WW2 was a war of adaptation for the common infantryman. When WW2 began, typically all he had available was a bolt-action firearm of a well-tried however usually aged design. The moment the war was over each individual soldier had no less than a foretaste of what the future had in look available as the assault rifle. There were several strange digressions on the way, like the under powered US Carbine M1 as well as the brilliant but complicated German FG 42. Some armies, for example The United Kingdom, didn’t make the changeover and depended upon the Lee-Enfield bolt-action rifles all the way through, however the progress towards the self-loading or assault rifle continued to be there.


Organization and Equipment of a German Infantry Division

German heavy machine-gun
German heavy machine-gun in the Western Desert.

The most important formation in the German Army was the division which could be one of five basic types: infantry division, motorized infantry division, panzer (armored) division, light division and mountain division.

Infantry divisions had been raised in Wellen (waves) and the divisions of each wave varied to some extent in size, organization and equip­ment carried, depending upon their purpose and the availability of men and materials. The 35 divisions formed as part of the original ‘wave’ had a total strength of nearly 18,000 men each while those of the next wave were about 15,000 men strong. Divisions formed in the third and fourth waves had considerably less artillery support than the earlier formations.

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The division comprised three infantry regiments (each of approximately 3,000 men) and one artillery regiment plus supporting divisional units. Contrary to the practice in most armies, the engineer battalion and the reconnaissance Abteilung where combat units, and, being equipped with flamethrowers and anti-tank guns, often led assaults on enemy positions. The Abteilung was a unit of varying size, between the regiment and the company, battery or squadron. It approximated to the British battalion, artillery regiment or tank regiment.

Another feature of the German Army was the decentralization of heavy weapons within the division so that each regiment had its own anti-tank and infantry gun company.
The regiment possessed its own headquarters with a staff company and signals, bicycle and engineer platoon. In the battalion there were three rifle companies (about 180 men with an anti-tank rifle squad); a machine-gun company with three machine-gun platoons (12 men and two heavy machine guns each), and a heavy mortar platoon of three sections each with 19 men and two 8.1 cm mortars. The division of the battalion into one machine-gun and three rifle companies was the pattern in the first wave divisions while in later waves there were four ‘mixed’ rifle companies.

German WW2 steel helmets
German WW2 steel helmets: left a tropical helmet (Afrika Korps), right the well known standard steel helmet Model 1940.

The firepower of a regiment was as follows: 26 heavy machine guns, 85 light machine guns, 18 x 8.1 cm mortars, 27 x 5 cm mortars, 12 x 3.7 cm anti-tank guns, 6 x 7.5 cm inf guns, 2 x 15 cm inf howitzers.


The artillery regiment was divided into three field artillery Abteilungen each with three four-gun batteries of 10.5 cm gun-howitzers. The medium artillery Abteilung was originally a non-divisional unit attached to the artillery regiment, but later became an integral part of first wave divisions.

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