2/7/2024 0 Comments Browning automatic rifle wwiiTank engines grew more powerful and more reliable, and the tank quickly became the centerpiece of the striking forces for all armies except the Japanese. The Sherman used a revolutionary hydroelectric gun stabilizing system and improved triangle sights. The American Sherman tank introduced cast armor to replace the old welded armor, the volute-spring bogie suspension, and rubber block treads that increased track life by 500 percent. It introduced the sloped armored glacis in front to deflect antitank rounds, and had a ground pressure of 10 pounds per square inch which, on its American-designed Christie suspension, allowed it to traverse terrain that most Allied or Axis tanks could not. Mounting an 85 millimeter gun with a new muzzle-brake to reduce recoil, the T-34 made 32 miles an hour with a range of 180 miles. The Russian T-34, originally produced in 1935, was possibly the best battle tank of the war. The tank saw a remarkable increase in its combat capability and, for the first time in almost 700 years, cavalry again played an important role on the battlefield. Dependable motorized transport, the Jeep, the "deuce and a half" truck, and the armored personnel carrier - fully tracked, half-tracked, or pneumatic tire vehicles - increased infantry mobility twenty-fold and enabled it to keep pace with the rapid armor advance. Infantry carried its own antitank weapons in the form of the American 3.5 inch Bazooka (named because of the sound it made when fired) rocket launcher or the German Panzerfaust. Infantry, armed in large numbers with the new all metal submachine gun, delivered firepower at rates five times greater than the infantryman of World War I. The destructive power of the combat arms - infantry, armor, and artillery - greatly increased in World War II. The integration of naval and air forces within a single combined combat arm was almost complete. The American carrier, Lexington, displaced 36,000 tons and carried 90 aircraft. The Japanese carrier, Kaga, carried 60 aircraft and displaced 39,000 tons. Torpedoes now typically carried warheads of 400 pounds of high explosives. A new torpedo, the Type 33 Lance, driven by oxygen and leaving no track appeared with a range of 25 miles at 36 knots. More sophisticated submarines could remain at sea for 60 days at a time. At sea the light and fast destroyer was built to protect the larger battleships. The long-range bomber capable of flying at altitudes over 40,000 feet at ranges of 5,000 miles was developed. Engines over 1,000 horsepower made speeds of over 350 miles per hour commonplace. It is generally adjudged the best artillery weapon in World War II.ĭevelopments in aircraft design - the stressed metal skin and the monoplane - made the introduction of fighter aircraft possible. A later German invention, the "eighty-eight," was originally developed as an antitank weapon but doubled as both an antiaircraft and direct fire gun. The German Gerlich gun, for example, fired a 28 millimeter round of tungsten carbide at 4,000 feet per second, and was capable of penetrating any known tank armor. The tank called into existence the first antitank guns. ![]() Instead of supporting the M1 riflemen in the attack, Marine tactical doctrine was focused around the BAR, with riflemen supporting and protecting the BAR gunner.Tank cannon grew larger to 90 millimeter guns, and new propellants and shot, the sabot round, made these cannon even more deadly. Marine Corps began to increase the number of BARs in its combat divisions, from 513 per division in 1943 to 867 per division in 1945. In the Pacific, the BAR was often employed at the point or tail of a patrol or infantry column, where its firepower could help break contact on a jungle trail in the event of ambush.Īfter combat experience showed the benefits of maximizing portable automatic firepower in squad-size formations, the U.S. One team would typically provide covering fire until a magazine was empty, whereupon the second team would open fire, thus allowing the first team to reload. Army combat divisions increasingly began to specify two BAR fire teams per squad, following the practice of the U.S. In an attempt to overcome the BAR's limited continuous-fire capability, U.S. In some cases, particularly in the attack, every fourth German infantryman was equipped with an automatic weapon, either a submachine gun or a full-power machine gun. ground forces encountered German troops well-armed with automatic weapons, including fast-firing, portable machine guns. This doctrine received a setback early in the war after U.S. Army tactical doctrine called for one M1918A2 per squad, using either one or two men to support and carry ammunition for the gun.
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