U.S. Marine Corps Weapons: 1940s and Today

During World War II, previous weapons were used along with new types of weaponry. Rifles, machine guns, flamethrowers, aircraft, and tanks were all still commonly used throughout WWII. However, there was an introduction to new types of weaponry that will forever have impacted

With The Old Breed is an amazing narrative about the triumphs and defeats of the Kilo Company, Third Battalion, Fifth Marines in which Private First Class (PFC) Eugene B. Sledge is apart of while on the islands of Peleliu and Okinawa during World War II. Both of these battles were known for their bloody and brutal fights. Sledge gives incredible descriptions of his personal experiences dealing with the climate and conditions of which he and his unit dealt with along with describing in great detail the actions of the Marines as they fought the Japanese.

the Pacific war’s rare bayonet charges. The Marines swept forward with a yell to kill

Elgin Pistol: The Elgin Pistol was first developed by the United States Navy in 1838. This gun was a .54 caliber, single-shot smoothbore, and was equipped with an 11.5-inch Bowie knife blade and was the first percussion cap gun to be used in the navy. Sadly only 150 Elgin Pistols were produced. Because of this, only a few were still in use during the US Civil War. Soon after, the Navy replaced them with the M1860 Cutlass, which remained in service until the mid 1900s.

During World War 1, there was many different weapons use to lead to successful battles. Many people after the war played down the bayonet but it was an important weapon of the war. The flamethrower was highly effective because it would either drive away the enemies or kill them. Machine guns were one of the most lethal weapons in the war. The benefit from the mortar was its security . The tank was most affected versus machine guns because it could withstand the fire from it. All of the weapons played a big part in the war. The Germans developed more types of bayonets then all the other armies combined.

There were a lot of weapons in WW1. With all of these weapons there were lots of flaws that came with them. Some of the ones that i think had the most changes done to them was the tank,plane or jet, and the submarine. The tank had major speed and armor upgrades. The plane had speed and armor upgrades. The submarine was upgraded in speed,size,armor, and had a deeper dive distance.

Mounted on the tank was a 90mm tank gun. Over 600 of these were used by the u.s forces in the vietnam war. The tank weight about 49.8 tons. It had a four man crew a commander, gunner, loader, and a driver. The tanks engine was a v12 gasoline engine,tank held 200 gallons of fuel and could go up to 30 mph. Which could only take them less than 500

Before the M-203, infantry used a weapon called the M-79 grenade launcher. Which largely resembled a sawn off shotgun. The M-79 was designed to take up the gap between maximum hand grenade distance, and minimum mortar fire distance. It could fire an array of projectiles which included darts, buck shots, smoke, gas and flares. The M-79 was ideal in Vietnam terrain.

The primary howitzer during this era was the M101, 105mm howitzer. The M101 had a range of 11.5KM without rocket assist and 15.1KM with rocket assist projectile. The max rate of fire for the piece was 10 rounds per minute with 3 rounds per minute sustained (Olive-Drab, 2012). Although there was not much to the construction of the M101, it played a huge part in the Vietnam War. The howitzer was capable of firing rounds quickly and accurately to not only kill and suppress the enemy, but it also helped the infantry move closer to their objective. Some of the rounds that the M101 shot consisted of HE, smoke, and chemical. Each of these ammunitions played a precise times (Olive-Drab, 2012). During the battle of Ia Drang, helicopters would transport these howitzers from one place to another, which influenced future air assault and airborne missions (Leonard,

Later on, it would be designed to be used with a bayonet. The British pistol, actually

This book discusses the weapons and vehicles of all the countries that fought in World War II. It offers an excellent overview of the diverse weaponry used by both the Axis Powers and the Allies and which weapons were most effective. I will use this information to provide insight on how these weapons had an effect on the outcome of the war. “Assault Rifles - these forced a complete redesign of the modern infantry tactics, as well as the logistics to support them”. (Ludeke 2010 : 78)

British and Commonwealth troops relied on the Vickers and the Bren machine guns, which had been used in the Second World War, but were also introduced to the new American Super Bazooka, which was more effective at penetrating heavy tank armour. New Centurion tanks were used alongside

Infantrymen carried rifles that were lethal at 500 yards and used large magazines. Machine guns

Some of which are still in use, while others were banned by the Geneva Convention. The most common weapons used were the infantry rifles. The US used the M1 Garrand, the M1903, as well as the M1 and M2 Carbines. Australian soldiers used 7.62mm L1A1 Self-loading rifle as well as the occasional US M16. Vietnam soldiers used explosive weapons for anti-personnel, like the K-50M (a copy of the PPSh-41) and home-made versions of RPG-2. The US Army had many types of weapons. They had 40 rifle/carbine types, 22 machine gun types, 17 types of mortars, 20 recoilless rifles or rocket launchers, 9 types of anti-tank weapons, and 14 anti-aircraft artillery. The US Army also used

The MG 42 was invented by the German firm Grossfuss Johannes and used by German soldiers being the fastest machine gun of it's time. It was capable of firing at around one thousand eight hundred rounds per minute, roughly twenty five rounds per second. At Omaha beach there were five MG 42 heavy machine gun bunkers. This concludes that if all five MG 42’s were firing at one landing craft door, they would be hitting the landing craft with one hundred and twenty five rounds per each second. This caused most soldiers to jump out of the sides of the landing craft, which they were told to never to do. Since carrying one hundred pounds of gear, the soldiers would sink to the bottom and some would drown. However, the water actually became an advantage