Dear Smith and Wesson Fourm, The anniversary of D-Day is coming up and I have a question for my fellow forum members if you could have been one of those brave soldiers who participated in the invasion what weapons would you have carried? i would have carried an m1 Garand plenty of medical gear & water and maybe a few handgrenades if i have any extra room.

My father approached Juno beach with his Lee Enfield No. 4 Mk I but almost immediately "inherited" the carrier's Bren Gun on his Sergeant's orders. He fought the rest of the war using the Bren Gun. When he returned to Canada in 1946 he turned in the Bren Gun and his Lee Enfield, which he had faithfully packed around Europe in the Bren Carrier. He told me once that he never fired his Lee Enfield in Europe outside of a practice range in England, but had used the Bren many times. Canadian gun control was less strict, obviously, in his little area of the war.

At a "D-Day" party of friends around 1988 or so, we were showing "The Longest Day" and having a few drinks with dad. By "we" I mean some gunclub guys and interested friends. One of the non-gunclub friends asked my dad; "Were the Germans shooting at you when you landed?"

My Dad's jaw dropped, and the room went silent. Then my Dad blurted out "They sure as H--- were!" He told us that he discovered quickly that the Bren's lack of a Bolt-hold-open device was a bit of a problem because he couldn't be SURE when he was dry, or almost dry. All his squad carried four Bren mags (two in each chest pouch) along with their rifle or Stengun ammo, and by the second day he had everyone in his group load the last five rounds in each mag with pure tracer. That way, when he saw the trace going out, he knew it was time to reload.

He told us that he fired short two, three or four round bursts and that it gave him time to reload between bursts without the Germans realizing he was reloading. He showed us once his "Bren reload" and like a Garand reload, it was much quicker than one might think. You'd have no time to jump up on him, believe me.

"Unlike the German gunners," he said. "They often fired long, ripping bursts from their fast-firing machine guns." Either the MG-34 or the 42 fired much faster than the Bren, although the 42 was faster than them all. "That really scared the BeJesus out of us." He told us.

Sir.
Not to make fun of your concept.
You have 3 weapons and 3 distinct calibers of ammo. None of which is interchangeable. You are just carrying weight and no fighting capability.
You would be much better off with one rifle, BAR or M1 Garand, your ammo is shared by every other infantry man and the machine gunners. There is an immediate source of supply. None of the dead guys need their ammo any more, you can use it.
All three of your weapons have a tremendous lack of range and killing power. Rifles are for fighting, you have 2 handguns and a hand gun caliber rifle. You are not going plinking. You are trying to kill people.
More medical kits and morphine would be a big improvement over a pistol, half the people around you are bleeding and dieing. They need your help.
Throw your other pistol away and and hook on a couple extra canteens. Water is hard to find every day. Everyone will want it.
Hand grenades are a brilliant idea, they have a real legitimate use. Get more of them. They are a very nice thing to have and use.
A Thompson 45 SMG is also a very good choice, but, not many other folks carrying your caliber of ammo in quantity, SMG's use lots of ammo. Re-supply becomes an issue.
Infantry walks and fights, don't load your self down with useless weight.
Bill@Yuma

A battleship!

Sir.
Well said.
The difference between a sailor and a Marine is made obvious.
Semper Fi
Bill@Yuma

You sticking it to me?!?

Just remember, without us squids, y'all would be swimming to the beach.

An Garand and an small mortier with plenty of ammo.

I would imagine that you would take what you were issued and that would depend on what your duty was at the time. If you were in an infantry squad you would likely have an M-1 unless you were an auto-rifleman. If you were in armor you would likely have a 1911 and possibly a carbine or sub-machine gun available in the tank.

I served with the 3rd Battalion (Airborne), 506th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam. Paratroopers tend to carry lots of weapons. I have met lots of the old WWII Paratroops at Reunions and they tell they jumped with everything they could as they new it would be a long time before resupply.

If I had been on the Normandy Jump, I would have taken along a Grand, a 1911A1 and a K frame Smith two inch .38spl.....Knives, all Paratroopes carry knives, big and small.

I carried six M26 Grenades in a canteen pouch in Vietnam.
I also carried lots of water, unless I was in an AO were I could replenish it easy. So that should tell you what I valued.

I and every one I worked with carried a can of Albumin and Normal Saline, taped to the top of their H Suspenders, no Medic with us. And everybody could start an IV.

Ammo? I carried lots of ammo, all that my little ol' back could carry. Running out of ammo in a firefight or battle is just so gauche.

I would have also carried as much C and K rations as possible, at least the better parts of them. We had LRRP Rations that were light, but you had to be in an AO with blue lines to carry them as they took lots of water.

Rule 303

I always thought I was a knock around type of guy. I did 20 years on the NYPD, mainly during the crack wars. I was unfortunately in one shooting incident. I saw a lot.

I think if I was in WWII or Viet Nam, I would have carried lot's of "Depends".

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Fidelis Ad Mortem

My great uncle Ed was there, at Omaha beach. He survived, but was later wounded in the break out at St. Lo. The sound of the MG42s stuck in his head until the day he died a few years ago.

Anyway, people did strange things back then and some still do today. At the time it was a citizen Army, lots of draftees and recent volunteers. It was a different creature from today's professional all volunteer force. There was a TO&E that regulated who would have what weapon in theory, but it could be a little loose. There were still plenty of officers with their own weapons, substitute standard weapons, etc. Discipline was different since people weren't worried about damaging their career so much as survival. Thus when a "punishment" could entail a nice warm jail cell instead of some time on the front line, the sorts of things that commanders would ignore were different.

Later in the war, my father - who was a combat engineer with the Third Army - said that his people (he was an officer) carried M1 rifles with 48 rounds of ammo in a bandolier. They apparently didn't use the rifleman's belt system, or at least didn't use it to carry ammo. It was a bit uncomfortable and soldiers tended to carry things like fish hooks or cigarettes in the pockets instead of ammunition.

On D-Day itself, one of the problems was that assault troops did in fact go in overloaded and weighed down. They had M1 rifles, four to six grenades, and around 128 rounds of M1 ammo. Handguns and some SMGs along with carbines (and even some 1903 Springfields) were scattered about along with crew served weapons. The men also were loaded down with rations, water, explosives, etc.

As in the rest of the amphibious operations of the war this proved to be a mistake. It caused men to flounder in the surf, be delayed going up the beach, etc. Later in the war "assault" infantry tended to carry as little as possible when actually making an assault. The Marines, for their part, eventually suggested that under fire, a man carry no more than 1/3 body weight in weapons and gear. Given the size of the average man at the time, that would have been around 50 pounds tops, yet on DDay many men were carrying 100 pounds or more of gear. (This problem persists today in someways, perhaps more so since modern body armor is heavy.)

The men of the 82nd and 101st did indeed festoon themselves with weapons - pistols, knives - usually several, rifles, carbines, SMGs, brass knuckles and anything else that was handy.

In other units, it could go either way. Some people took solace in securing extra weapons. Other people discarded as much as possible and carried as little as possible. Even in elite units you'd find both types (google MACV SOG and "mad dog" for a later example, there was a guy that used to carry multiple Smith and Wesson .38s.)

For the purposes of this hypothetical, I'll pick a Colt 38 Super 1911 auto, a UD-42 9mm SMG (made by Marlin) and a Colt 1903 pocket Model 32 and parachute in with the OSS some days before. (And all those guns were in fact purchased by and issued by the OSS...)

Going up the beach? I wouldn't carry a handgun, at least not exposed. At the time it was felt that this marked one as an officer or someone important and drew sniper's fire. I'd tape the spoons down on my grenades (like a smart NCO made all the soldiers do in order to prevent them blowing themselves up accidentally), then I'd obtain an M1 rifle, two 48 rd bandoliers of black tip AP ammo and a utility pocket knife (with can and bottle openers and a corkscrew if possible). I'd throw everthing else away save for some water, a field dressing, zippo, smokes, and some cherry picked goodies from rations. I'd throw out the D ration chocolates since those were tooth breakers, wouldn't carry the period C rations since they were heavy and ungainly, and try to pick only the most edible parts out of a K ration or two and pocket these. I'd also have a 1910 E tool (shovel) or a folding German E tool if I could have gotten one from a vet of N. Africa. Sharpen an edge and it is a good weapon, but more importantly at the time, you could dig holes with it.

Thus M1 rifle, pocket knife, shovel....

Granted that you might not fire a lot of .38 Super ammo, how'd you plan to replace it? An air drop might not have it or might land in enemy hands. The .38 Super also had frequent accuracy problems until fairly recent years, when manufacturers started cutting the chambers so that a round would headspace on the case mouth, as with most auto pistol ammo. When they relied on the semi-rimmed case headspacing on the case rim, accuracy sucked. The .32 auto seems to fare better, and may not headspace on the rim. Does anyone here know?

I once owned a prewar Colt .38 Super in Match Grade, and it wasn't even half as accurate as most .45 autos that I've owned.

That said, my choice would be a .45 auto, a real Colt made before 1942, when there was less chance of tool marks on the gun. I'd want the wide spur hammer, too, and Colt used that for most of the war. Might add a Colt .32 auto, certainly a utility pocketknife, like a Case brand Scout model. The sheath knife would probably be a Remington RH-36 with six-inch blade.

And I'd want to carry these items in the cockpit of a P-47 or P-51 fighter, well over that bloody battlefield.

But I'd keep the same guns if on the ground,and add a M-1 rifle. Even if an officer with some serious rank, I'd probably want that rifle and a bandolier of ammo. It kills better than a .30 carbine and makes the bearer less obviously an officer, should a German sniper wonder.

When I was a teen, we had a plumber in for some repairs and the guy was a WW II vet. I got him to talking and he told me that he was a tanker in the Third Army. Besides their .45's, most tankers he knew tried to get a German pistol, which they wore in a shoulder holster, to keep from being shot if captured. They figured that if the Jerries saw a Luger or P-38 or them, they might be immediately shot, or become a sniper's victim. And a concealed pistol might help them to survive if they could escape. Besides, it made a great souvenir. Of course, they had Tommy guns and carbines in the tanks. Late in the war, some M-3 SMG's were no doubt used, but most preferred the Thompson if they coud retain one.

An Acme "Instant Hole."

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John 3:16 .

My Father was assigned to the 1st. Infantry Division in England in February 1944. On D-Day he was in the second wave to Omaha. He would not talk of the horror that he witnessed. I asked him how badly the second wave got hit. He said "Oh, the guys in the first wave really took the pounding - we did Ok. Which I later found out was not true. He would talk of the funny events like the night of June 6th. when a bomb dropped between him and buddy in another fox hole / crater and did not go off. His buddy said "Ken, I think I crapped my pants". My dad said "no that was me and this is not how I pictured my first night in France would be". He did say after the Malmady massacre no one took SS prisoners.He passed on in 1989 and before he died admitted feeling guilty that he should have never made it off the beach that morning and the real heros are still there. One of Greatest Generation.

67 years today since soldiers broke into fortress Europe. God Speed, an God Bless them all!!!

Simply put I wouldn't rely on resupply or even fire the Colt hopefully.

I don't know why the OSS ordered these at the time. Someone thought they were a good idea. From what I understand they had a certain panache attached to them at the time and they were somewhat sought after. Maybe it was the reputation held over from the gangster years of being able to penetrate crude armor and barriers, or maybe it was the slightly greater capacity. It'd make a nice accessory with one of the rare full camo OSS jumpsuits though.

(A more practical choice would have been a Canadian Ingliss Hi-Power in 9mm I suppose, but then we wouldn't be delving into the realms of the uncommon and obscure... solemn nod.)

I actually have two WW2 vintage 1911s. One is a Circa 1943 Colt, the other is a crossbreed of a 1918 Colt frame with a later Remington Rand slide (done at some depot for maintenance long, long ago.) It'd be some years before Jeff Cooper and others fully popularized the 1911. While there were some men - like my grandfather who obtained one from a dead officer in the Pacific at the earliest possible point - that found that old slabslides made them feel safe at night in their hole... there were still others that opted for a Victory model if possible, or opted for a carbine, etc.

High ranking general officers actually got Colt Pocket autos in either .32 or .380 as standard issue. During the period of the Battle of the Bulge when German infiltrators were feared, there are photos of Eisenhower walking around his HQ with one in a leather holster in his back pocket. Even Patton had one (in addition to his more flamboyant sidearms.)

At the time, the avoid being seen as an officer thing went two ways. Many "average" units lived by it as a maxim, yet other commands hated it when officers would hide their insignia or otherwise try to look like privates and would forbid the practice - Patton particularly hated it. Other officers felt that to do their job they had to remain visible and looked on the guys who made a PFC carry their binoculars as cowards. Unit culture was varied on this topic since in still other units someone who didn't wear a private's uniform at the front was considered to be foolish or crazy.

I jumped on Ste Marie Eglise, France on the 59th annv in 2003. I was the Primary Jumpmaster for my unit jumping then (1/10th SFGA) and got multiple hip fractures on landing (I hate T10 parachutes). Anyway as a former Airborne Combat Engineer, I would have liked a M1 Carbine, M3 trench knife and lots of TNT.

CD

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De Oppresso Liber

My Father passed away on Jan.22nd, 2008. He landed on Normandy on June 6th, 1944...one day after his 20th birthday. If I recall correctly, I believe he landed sometime around 8 AM to maybe noon.

He was a motor messenger, a jeep driver. He drove off the landing craft, and directly into deep water. They had snorkels installed, to enable the jeep to run in water...but the water was too deep. His assistant driver was cupping his hands around the top of the snorkel trying to keep the water out, but to no avail. The jeep stalled, and they were stuck. Luckily, a bulldozer driver on the beach noticed them and towed them onto the beach, then helped them get the thing running again. The whole time they were being shelled...and my Dad and his assistant kept "flinching" every time a shell went over. But, in the 4 hours or so that he'd been on the beach, the bulldozer driver had become accustomed to the sound of the shells, and kept telling them when it was okay, that the shell was passing over, and when to take cover. After he'd finished helping them, he went off with his bulldozer to find someone else that needed help.

My Father was issued a Thompson submachine gun, and his assistant driver had a M-1 carbine. He said the Thompson was so sought after, that he didn't dare leave it sitting unattended for one moment, because someone would steal it. He later acquired a P-38 and a Radom, one of which he carried on him as a back-up (I don't recall him saying which one he carried.) He also had a revolver at one point (I have no idea which one, he didn't remember), but he was hoping to find something smaller, to carry as a "back-up to his back-up". He heard of someone (a pilot, if I recall correctly) that was looking to trade a small pistol for a revolver...so he traded his revolver for a .25 ACP Astra. I believe he carried that Astra in his pocket.

I currently have all 3 in my safe. I sure wish he'd tried to hang onto his Thompson!

Tim

my uncle went in a few days after the first landings.he drove a supply truck for pattons red ball express. he had a carbine and later he picked up a german 32 auto. he did shoot a guy in paris.it was a frenchman who was trying to steal his socks from a clothes line. he shot him in the leg.he said the army made him give the guy a carton of smokes and pay $1 for the bullet he used. he was helping a friend out who was late for his convoy and my uncle filled in for him. later down the road the guy caught up to him in a jeep and swaped out with him.as my uncle was driving away in the jeep a german plane attacked the convoy and the truck he got out of was destroyed.he crossed the remagen pontoon bridge 4 days after the battle and said they only let 6 trucks at a time go over.the weight of the trucks made the bridge sink.he said the water would run in under the doors.after D-Day he did get a photo of him standing by Rommels armoured car that he got injured in. uncle robert is pasted on now. but we always talked about the war alot................ as for me if I was at D-day I would get the best weapon to carry a MG34 and a P38 for my bayonette.8mm belts would be all over.

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God save the SOUTH