"Ranks of my US army models?" Topic

I am currently painting up my 7th Armoured Rifle company and am working on the Armoured Rifle Platoon. I have done most of it I just need to now paint the 7th Army Insignia on 1 shoulder and the rank patch on the other.

But im confused as to which rank each model is?

I assume most of them will be the Private First Class but beyond that im not too certain.

If it helps, this is how I am assembling them:

link

Even if you can put colour to rank that would be awesome. It is also to my understanding that some officers had the Rank on their helmet too, or is that far higher up in the chain than at the company level?

Cheers

This is from bayonet strength.com and describes ranks from Corporal and above in the unit.
link

The Armored Rifle Company – the Company retained a similar format, with a HQ, three Rifle Platoons, and now an Antitank Platoon. Company HQ continued to include both maintenance and service support elements.

Each Rifle Platoon was transported in five M3A1 halftracks, one per Squad, each vehicle mounting a machine gun and carrying a Bazooka. Platoon HQ functioned as a third Rifle Squad, and included a Lieutenant, Platoon Sergeant, Squad Sergeant and nine men. The two Rifle Squads each had a leader, assistant and ten men. Squads were commanded by a Sergeant and Corporal until early 1944, when they were promoted to Staff Sergeant and Sergeant respectively. One man in each squad was a driver, and carried a .45-cal submachine gun. With the exception of the Lieutenant and Platoon Sergeant with carbines, and one man with the M1903A4 Springfield scoped rifle, all other men in the HQ and Rifle Squads carried the M1 Garand. The HQ halftrack mounted a .50-cal machine gun, the Rifle Squads each having a .30-cal heavy machine gun.

The Mortar Squad served a single 60-mm weapon, its halftrack mounting a .30-cal machine gun, while the Machine Gun Squad had two M1919A4 or later A6 Browning light machine guns for dismounted use, and a halftrack mounted .50-cal weapon.

The Company's integral Antitank Platoon was similar to that in the Infantry Battalion, manning three towed 57-mm guns. Its three halftracks mounted one .30-cal and two .50-cal machine guns between them, Platoon HQ having a Jeep. Interestingly, some units in Europe were sufficiently unimpressed with the 57-mm that they reorganised the Platoon as a rifle unit. It would be impossible to describe the armament of these ad hoc groups, but it seems they fielded three Squads of twelve plus a HQ. It is a perfect example of the 'official' organisation being amended in action.

Company HQ was a purely command unit, with a halftrack and .50-cal HMG and Bazooka, plus a Jeep. The Maintenance Section added the same, and Supply Section a further Bazooka.

Summary

Not sure if your asking this part but on the plastic sprue basically it looks like just one officer pose with a pistol. the gray guys with Thompson SMGs are your NCOs and all the the riflemen and special weapons guys are pvt or pfc. Front line officers often took off their rank to inconvenience snipers

Ok, so it looks like the Armoured rifle Platoon box contains:

1 Lieutenant at the top, (Side Arm)
5 Sergeants (1 per Half track – SMGs)
5 Corporals (1 per Half track – Random Rifleman)

According to the page you linked the Armoured Rifle Platoon box is not quiet historical, with SMGs being on every Officer below Lieutenant, lacking the Scoped Rifle and neglecting the Carbine. This annoys me a bit, but I am sure there are always exceptions to the rule.

Thanks heaps for the info, I also understand that it was very quickly that rank markings etc got removed to reduce the officer casualty rate but im going for a fresh out of the factory look.

Very similar to bayonet strength but in graphic format.
PDF link

Cheers for that link.

It still bugs me that they put Thompson SMGs in the kit though. I'm not hugely knowledgeable on the subject but I thought they much proffered the M3 grease gun SMG due to it's price and replaced the Thompsons. But regardless the fact they don't include the Carbine in the kit is odd.

Is there a reason they did this?

The M3 was popular with the bean counters but unpopular with the troops, if they could beg borrow or steal a Tommy gun they would. Officers should have carbines as well as a fair amount of NCOs but and it's a big but, there is a real difference between the official TO&E and what a unit might actually carry. A fair number of officers carried M1s because they didn't want a sniper to pick them out as officers. As a Lieutenant my Father should have carried a carbine but for a while he carried a BAR. He loved the BAR. Not wanting to stand out to snipers also was a reason a lot of officers got rid of the rank on their helmets and also it wasn't uncommon for Sergeants to not wear their stripes.

True, but then I think it would have been better to provide a motly bunch of weapons rather than simply the same one if they decided not to go the on paper route.

Oh well, 99% of people probably won't even notice it.

I decided to go factory fresh with this army so all the vehicles have their markings etc and the gear has yet to be painted over with and so on. Same goes for the men in there. For me it just makes it easier to paint and keep track of things, playing the armoured rifle company seems really messy gameplay wise.

Thanks for the help guys,
Great as usual.