Marine Platoon organization 1941-45

[otto]

9 could be nice. It would keep the Marine platoon in the 9 column of the assault table; which is pheraps what we want.

Ottavio

[warstudent]

The D formation Marines did in fact have an extra BAR squad (with 2 BAR), so there were at least 5 BAR in the D formation of the Guadalcanal marines.

The ONLY way I can see the Guadal 6-3 marines going upto Saipan 10-3 is that the Guadal Marines didn't yet have the M1 garand and the value is calculated as
Guadalcanal marines mostly having Springfield Rifles & 5 BAR (possibly a 6th with platoon HQ)
Saipan marines 9 BAR & all the Springfields replaced by M1 garand.

[JayTownsend]

The D formation Marines did in fact have an extra BAR squad (with 2 BAR), so there were at least 5 BAR in the D formation of the Guadalcanal marines.

The ONLY way I can see the Guadal 6-3 marines going upto Saipan 10-3 is that the Guadal Marines didn't yet have the M1 garand and the value is calculated as
Guadalcanal marines mostly having Springfield Rifles & 5 BAR (possibly a 6th with platoon HQ)
Saipan marines 9 BAR & all the Springfields replaced by M1 garand.

Yeah most of the Marines that started on Guadalcanal with the M1903 Springfield.

[warstudent]

Yeah most of the Marines that started on Guadalcanal with the M1903 Springfield.

The marines did try to get the Johnson semi-auto rifle into regular production but the Army killed it.The Para marines did end up using the ones that were made.
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/onlin...ganization

[larry marak]

The question remains, did the Marines attacking Saipan, Guam and Tinian have the M1 as their assigned rifle? And did the IJA soldiers, who were prepared as well as possible to fight a defensive battle, have improved personel weapons over what they used in 1942? Hopefully (Jay) we will be getting articles with line diagrams and tables of equipment for the contending forces in the Guam Tinian expansion book.

[larry marak]

In the meantime, try the smaller Saipan scenarios (thanks for the plethora Jay) with Marine counters from Guadalcanal. Calls for different tactics.

[JayTownsend]

USMC Infantry Company (1942-43)
Headquarters

3 Infantry Platoons

Headquarters

3 Squads
1 x BAR
8 x Bolt-action rifles or M1 Garand Rifles (1943)

USMC Infantry Company (1944-45)
Headquarters

3 Platoons

Headquarters

3 Squads
3 x BAR
10 x Semi-auto Rifle

[warstudent]

Keep in mind that as the war progressed, US manufacturing went into full production. That full production meant more planes to degrade Japan's industrial base, and more subs to sink needed raw materials.

Japanese weapons equals if not surpasses weapons made by other participants of World War II," explains advanced Japanese militaria collector Jareth Holub. "It wasn’t until the very last two years, due to U.S. air strikes, that factories started producing sub par products." - See more at: http://www.armchairgeneral.com/weapons-f...xwqws.dpuf

[plloyd1010]

Japanese weapons equals if not surpasses weapons made by other participants

An interesting statement when you consider that everyone else seems to think Japanese rifles are crap, LMGs not much better, and pistols rather mediocre. Well, it is an ACG article quoting someone who sells that stuff.

On the other hand, the Springfield is still a credible gun among enthusiasts and everyone loves the M1 Garand. I've never heard anyone say anything bad about durability of them, or the British & German equivalents.

Don't forget that the Japanese had the "Bushido Spirit" doctrine for a reason, and went war with the U.S. because they didn't learn from experience or listen to those who knew better.

[plloyd1010]

For those of you who may be interested, I started some 9-3 F-series counters today. My guys won't look like our loveable jar-heads from Semper Fi and Saipan because I don't have any of the pdf proofs or other scalable images of them. Fortunately I am not entirely without artistic talent. Since my copy of Saipan still has not arrived, how many should I make?