Pat Ripley  | 22 Sep 2016 6:22 p.m. PST |
Did US Paras in WWII have snipers?. I've seen pictures of regular US army and Brit snipers but can't find any reference to US paratroopers. |
| GreyONE | 23 Sep 2016 1:19 a.m. PST |
Sniper rifles are not listed among the weapons carried by US Para troops in WWII. link |
| Martin Rapier | 23 Sep 2016 2:22 a.m. PST |
I guess this guy didn't get the memo: link |
ScottWashburn  | 23 Sep 2016 3:52 a.m. PST |
Actually, in WWII there were no 'official' snipers in the US Army. No sniper school, no special training. Sniper rifles were part of the TO&E of rifle companies and they were handed out to whoever the CO thought would make the best use of them. |
| Starfury Rider | 23 Sep 2016 5:44 a.m. PST |
They show up on the Aug44 and Dec44 T/Os for Para and Glider Inf Bns on the usual scale of one per Rifle Pl, identified as the M1C. I'd be very surprised if the M1903A4 wasn't available before that time. Gary |
| andysyk | 23 Sep 2016 12:45 p.m. PST |
The M1C saw little use in WW2, the M1903A4 I'm pretty sure were in use at platoon level from Overlord. The AUG44 T/O being an write up of pre DDAY build up. |
| Lion in the Stars | 23 Sep 2016 1:38 p.m. PST |
Scoped M1903s were available pretty much from 1941. The problem was that there wasn't a Sniper school, so you didn't have the specialized training in infiltration. |
| Hornswoggler | 23 Sep 2016 10:09 p.m. PST |
IIRC there was a "sharpshooter" armed with a Springfield attached to the platoon leader's halftrack in AIB Rifle Companies. |
| Pat Ripley | 25 Sep 2016 4:29 a.m. PST |
ah that make sense. so UK, soviets and germany at least had specialist snipers but the US just had a rifle available for a marksman. |
| Steve Wilcox | 25 Sep 2016 1:24 p.m. PST |
Forgotten Weapons has had a few US sniper rifle videos lately that might be enjoyable for y'all: US World War One Sniper Rifles
link US World War Two Sniper Springfields
link M1C Sniper Garand
link MC-1952 Marine Corps Sniper Garand
link M1D Sniper Garand
link USMC Winchester Model 70 Sniper
link |
