"Need opinions on Weapons and Tactics book" Topic

What is the general consensus on a 1966 book: Weapons and Tactics from Hastings to Berlin by Jac Weller? I'm particularly interested in knowing how well he covers World War II and the Vietnam era. Is this still good, or are there better treatments of the subject?

Thanks!

Thor

Go with Fire and Movement by the same author. It provides excellent coverage of allied squad and platoon structure and also weapons and tactics. Its a big disappointment when it comes to the NVA and VC with barely any coverage but its still a very worthwhile read.

For U.S. information you might also consult Fleet Marine Force manuals or Army field manuals for the appropriate organizations and time period. These used to be available at any government documents depository (this was in the early '70s); it was interesting that at the time the current army manuals were "restricted" while the FMF manuals were available for inspection by any student.

"Fire And Movement" goes into great detail on small unit organization and weapons of armies in Asia circa 1966. Weller was a "hands on" type of guy and fired many of the weapons he describes. The Japanese were so impressed with the large numbers of BARs US troops brought against them that their 7.62mm rifles were full auto and every squad had a MG. Hard to believe but the Type 64 rifle could be fired full auto and stay on target. Weller did it and so did a Japanese officer. (I have a photo of a German paratrooper firing the MG42 from the shoulder while standing. He appears to be anything but a He-Man.)

The Lone Sentry site has several WWII related field manuals you may wish to look at.
lonesentry.com

Germans:
link

Japanese:
link

USA:
Tank/Infantry Combat: link
Fighting In Normandy: link

Plus a ton more. Fun site to lose yourself in for a little while.

Another source is the Nafziger Collection.
link

For US tactics in Vietnam, you can do worse than Small Unit Action in Vietnam Summer 1966 by Capt. Francis J. West, Jr., USMCR.

There is a plain text version here:

link

but you should be able to find it in pdf or hard copy somewhere.

hocklermp5
(I have a photo of a German paratrooper firing the MG42 from the shoulder while standing. He appears to be anything but a He-Man.)

Now that would be something to see.
As to the BAR. I've always found it interesting that a weapon originally designed for (late) but WW I, proved to have a 'very' long military life, well into Korea IIRC (not bad for a weapon 'born' in 1918).

"Now that would be something to see.
As to the BAR. I've always found it interesting that a weapon originally designed for (late) but WW I, proved to have a 'very' long military life, well into Korea IIRC (not bad for a weapon 'born' in 1918)."

How about the M1911 .45 cal. pistol? And I bet there aren't too many pictures of that being fired from the shoulder.

As to the BAR. I've always found it interesting that a weapon originally designed for (late) but WW I, proved to have a 'very' long military life, well into Korea IIRC (not bad for a weapon 'born' in 1918)."

A lot of WW1 weapons survived in service for a very long time. Vickers MG, SMLE, Maxim etc. The designs were good and the weapons well made.

I found a copy of Small Unit actions at archive.org. Here is the link – you can download it in several formats.

link

Cool find. I can only imagine paging though something as cool as this in a US Government documents depository in the '70s! Researching for a game of Body Count or Recon! Or your own system because they didn't come out until the '80s??

Speaking of good weapons. Isn't the Browning M2 .50 cal about 100 years old this year?