Army in Europe in 1944 and for decades both before and after was the M1911. 38s were carried, the standard handgun of the U.S. Browning, while a few revolvers such as the M1917 and Victory-series. Invented to help end the stalemate in the trenches in World War I, the hefty 23-pound automatic rifle was employed by a single man rather than a crew– a facet that made it hated by those on both sides of the muzzle, although for different reasons. 30-06 rounds at 500-600 rounds-per-minute, the BAR could drain a 20-round detachable box magazine in just two seconds when wide open. Army)įilling the gap between rifles and crew-served machine guns such as the M1919 was John Browning’s M1918 BAR. Note the M3 Grease Gun to the right and M1 Carbine to the left. Army infantrymen of the 290th Regiment, 75th Infantry Division, fight in fresh snowfall near Amonines, Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge, Jan. Vith to the week-long Siege of Bastogne, it was a white hell of exploding trees and an onslaught from 1,000 German panzers that those who survived never forgot. However, for the men trapped inside the 75-mile “bulged” salient from St. Patton Jr.’s Third Army–were rushed to the scene and counterattacked. While the German offensive gained ground at first, eventually reinforcements– including Lt. Some 75 years ago this week, Hitler launched the last great German offensive through the densely forested Ardennes region near the intersection of the eastern borders of Belgium, France, and Luxembourg.Ĭodenamed “Operation Watch on the Rhine” over 200,000 Germans, including some of the most crack troops still available to Berlin at the time, crashed upon 80,000 American troops, including many units such as the 101st Airborne, who were under strength following heavy losses and looking forward to some time in a “quiet area” to regroup. Note the M1 Garand, M1 Carbine and M9 Bazookas, along with a liberal sprinkling of grenades and spare ammo. American engineers emerge from the woods and move out of defensive positions after fighting in the vicinity of Bastogne, Belgium, in December 1944.
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