The following are military questions asked by members of the Gearbox Software forums and answered by Col. John Antal (US Army, Ret).

Q5: Asked by Raydude

When the "fire" element of a fire and maneuver team engages an enemy how do they stagger their firing times so that they don't all run out of ammo at the same time, or close to the same time?

Example: If the fire team has all springfields with an 8 round clip do they train to shoot off rounds so only 1-2 people are reloading at any given time? And if so, what was the general idea they followed?

Answer:

As the poster says, the M-1 does MY talking! The standard rifle of the paratroopers of the 101st Airborne, and the U.S. Army in WWII was the M1 Garand Rifle. The M1 Garand was the main U.S. combat rifle of World War II. It had a maximum range of 3,200 meters and maximum effective range of 400 meters. Fully loaded with an 8-round clip, the M1 weighed 11.4 lbs. The M1 was designed for semi-automatic fire using a spring steel clip containing eight .30-06 rifle cartridge rounds. This is where the term "clip" originated and all other rifles use either a stripper clips or detachable box magazines. For the U.S. soldier, this semiautomatic design of the M1 provided greater firepower over German soldiers mostly equipped with K-98 bolt-action rifles.

The M1903 Springfield was the standard rifle in WWI, and was used in WWII as well, but primarily as a sniper rifle. The M1903-A4 sniper rifle version of the standard Springfield with the 2.5X power scope was an accurate rifle with an effective range of about 600 yards (550m).

Fire discipline is one of the most important elements of squad tactics, Ray, so here is my answer: Leadership and Training. Leaders must keep track of their squad's ammo expenditure and make sure their soldiers don't run out of ammo. Paratroopers fired a lot during D-Day, and most were really excellent shots. All of the paratroopers of the 101st Airborne on D-Day carried as much ammo as they could - sometimes too much. In addition, after every action, whenever there is a lull, a good soldier picks up whatever ammunition he can find. You strip the dead, the wounded and the enemy of weapons and ammunition as needed.

Q6: Asked by Biggs

How good was the communication between tanks and foot soldiers...since BIA is using the tank as one of your Fire teams, I was wondering were the tank commanders in close communication with a squad leader on the ground or were tanks and foot soldiers not usually tied together as a team. if so, was the whole thing usually well coordinated?

Answer:

Biggs, your question is one of the most important combined-arms lessons learned of the war. The answer is that during the D-Day operation, it was very tough to communicate between dismounted infantry and tankers. Infantry leaders had to use hand and arms signals, pre arranged plans, or get close enough to shout to the tank commander to communicate. Because of the tank infantry cooperation problems learned in the fighting from 1941-1944, intercom field phones and better infantry-to-tank radios were installed in U.S. tanks. It was a hard lesson to learn, but one that was invaluable to making the combined arms tank-infantry team work.

Q7: Asked by jman71

Mohawks: Why did Airborne troops have them, about how many did it, was it based on squad, platoon, or company, or was it just a few guys doing it for fun. I think this is kind of funny, I can't imagine a G.I. with a Mohawk.

Answer

Mohawks! Super question!! The photo you may have seen of 101st Airborne paratroopers with Mohawk haircuts was a special group - and only a single 12 man squad of paratroopers from the 101st Airborne, who called themselves the Filthy 13 - and they answer why is attitude. This squad was notorious in the 101st Airborne for hard fighting and reckless courage. The spirit of the Filthy 13 was sparked by a paratrooper named Jake McNiece, a half Native American man from Oklahoma who was reportedly the toughest man in the squad. The squad were immortalized on D-Day by a Stars and Stripes photographer who filmed them placing war paint on their faces. The Filthy 13 fought all the way through until the end of the war, although with heavy casualties. A total of 30 soldiers passed through the squad to replace those killed or wounded in combat.

Q8: Asked by MP5A49MM

How effective was the MK.II frag grenade as I've heard somewhere that they hardly ever killed the enemy but wounded them!!

Answer

Grenades were very effective, but they would often wound rather than kill the enemy. This was usually good enough, as a dazed, wounded man is seldom as brave or capable as you often see in the movies! The standard U.S. fragmentation grenade in WWII was the Mark II. It weighed .6 kg (21 ounces) and had a 4-5 second fuse. The grenade is a very important weapon to the combat rifleman and is invaluable in close quarter fighting in hedgerows and villages that the paratroopers of the 101st Airborne found in Normandy on D-Day. A trained soldier could hurl a Mark II Fragmentation Grenade about 50 yards - half the length of a football field.

The End

Post more questions and Keep up the fire!!
- Colonel John Antal, U.S. Army (Ret.), Gearbox Software