question about world war 2 combat engineers

[mg357]

Dear Smith and Wesson forum i have a question about world war 2 army combat engineers what weapons would the combat engineers have been issued to them by the army? any and all help in answering this question would be greatly appreciated sincerely and respectfully mg357 a proud member of the Smith and Wesson forum

 

[OKFC05]

My uncle carried a Thompson sub-gun in the Pacific Island campaigns, mostly building runways on the newly-captured islands.

 

[GatorFarmer]

My father was an amored engineer officer. You'd think that they'd have had a bunch of M1 carbines, but apparently they mostly had M1 rifles instead, with 48rds per man. They also had a jeep trailer full of captured German weapons that they toted along. My father's sergeant almost shot him with one of them when trying to clear it. 1911s were present as well.

Later in the war, some units seem to have received M3 grease guns based on period photos.

 

[mod29fan]

My Uncle carried an M1 carbine, 1911, and a captured Walther PP in a shoulder holster. He spoke of Thompsons and a BAR as well.

 

[safearm]

My father was a Sergeant in a Combat Engineer Battalion (Bridge) assigned to Third Army during WWII. He carried a M1 rifle and M1911A1 pistol.

 

[usmc1369]

im not real certain but i believe they were equipt like a infantry unit sans mortars

 

[MPSGT]

My Dad was a Combat Engineer in WWII and carried pretty much the same personal weapons as any infantryman. ie: .45, M1, M1 Carbine, etc . . .

 

[vrichard]

Thompson sub
M1-Garand
M1-Carbin
45 Auto
Luger
P38
9mm Browning Auto

Dick

 

[walnutred]

In a lot of period photos Engineers are not carrying anything except maybe a sidearm. Many are wearing the Garand ammo belt so I assume there was an M1 near by. Obviously they were all armed somehow but remember their primary function was construction or destruction. Past on 1st person accounts and photos Commanders with common sense seemed to let soldiers carry whatever they felt comfortable with in a combat zone.

 

[m657]

My uncle was on some islands knocking the coral bumps down into runways with cable-bladed cats. He spoke of leaving his M1 carbine behind a couple times, and a 1911 in a shoulder holster. He was a field mechanic mostly and wasn't in direct combat per se....although a few left over snipers were dispatched by the Marines.

 

[Bat Guano]

My father was in the ETO, 5th Army, combat Engineers. He told me about qualifying with the M1 carbine and rifle, and I have a picture of his jeep with an M1 in the rack.

 

[goldenlight]

My father was in the 846th EAB:

846th Engineer Aviation Battalion (EAB)

'Landing in Normandy on July 16th, this unit had completed A-13 by July 26th, a fighter-bomber base with two PSP runways. The 846th has completed three ALGs, two S and Es, one fighter-bomber strip, and has rehabilitated 20 airfields. Operations carried them from Normandy, through France, Belgium, Holland, and into Germany where V-E Day found them working on Bremen Airfield.'

He was issued an M1 carbine; I have seen a photo of him with it.

And, I managed to find the photo.

He helped build landing strips after D-day, bringing supplies in, and carrying the wounded back to the hospital.

He had worked for a company that made asphalt road paving equipment (and other heavy machinery) so because of his valuable skills, he was not in combat, although snipers tried to get him more than once, as he was sent into an area as soon as it was 'secure', to provide a landing strip.

Often, German snipers were still in these areas.

I heard very very few WWII stories from him.

Like many vets, he didn't like to talk about the war, at all.

Here he is, running a ditching machine.

Sorry, I messed up and added the same pic twice; I can't figure out how to remove the duplicate.

 

[Texas Star]

My father is a Petroleum Engineer, and was working on the B-29 production line at Boeing when drafted.

He was an Army engineer. He reached Okinawa after the Japs were defeated on that island, and used his M-1 rifle only to shoot some mongooses.

He has owned firearms all of his adult life, but has only a casual interest in them. I hope to inherit his S&W M-28 (six-inch barrel) and Winchester M-12, but his second wife's kids will probably get them. He did give me his Winchester M-77 .22 some years ago.

We now return you to the original topic...

T-Star

 

[NE450No2]

I read a story about some SeaBees that were building runways etc in the Pacific Islands and they had S&W 1917's in 45 ACP with 1/2 moon clips.

 

[Harrison]

If you mean Combat Engineer, they were armed like the infantry.
Combat engineers, are considered a combat arm, are part of a division, and in WWII were an infantry supplement. They are not the same as Army engineer troops, and do not have much of the heavy equipment of a regular engineer unit.

There is a difference. The army had engineer units and combat engineers. The engineer units were corps or army assests and did the heavier contstruction and bridgeing. Combat Engineers were a division asset and often attached to infantry units down to the company level.

 

[JBoss]

Amphibious Engineer

My father was an Amphibious engineer and was involved with landings in New Guinea and the Philippines. He an expert shot and hunter and was authorized by the provost marshal to hunt local game to augment the food supply. His collection of boar tusks was aboard a ship carrying the units baggage that was sunk during an attack. He carried an M1-Garand and a model 1911 45 automatic.

 

[rayb]

IIRC, the Combat Engineer units' mission statements in the Table of Organization and Equipment ("TO&E") included a secondary mission to fight as infantry. That continued up through the 1990's. I don't know what they say now.

None of the post WWII Combat Engineer units I was assigned to or was an advisor to had mortars, unless they were "borrowed". They all had the secondary infantry mission, but in theory were to be augmented by additional equipment when ordered to act as infantry.

All had whatever the standard issue weapon was at the time. This included M-14's and later M-16's. In Vietnam there was a wonderful profusion of stuff available through unofficial sources. This included at least one beautiful Colt revolver with the blue finish.

I believe that the M-1 would have been the standard issue weapon for a WWII divisional or non divisional combat engineer unit, i.e. the M-1.

And then anything else they could get their hands on by whatever means.

rayb

 

[bennettfam]

My father-in-law was a WWII SeeBee. He swore the CBs went in ahead of the Marines to "prepare the beaches for them." I warned my kids not to believe everything grandpa told them. I think he was armed with a bulldozer.

 

[Big Cholla]

An Uncle of mine was in the 7th Division, 13th Battalion, Army Combat Engineers on Dec. 7th, 1941. He was the NCO of the Day at the Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. There were no Officers on duty that morning. His troops had O3A1 Springfield Rifles and no ammo. When it became apparent that they were under attack by Japanese, he had the armory broken into to obtain ammo for their rifles. He and his troops then stood around the area and fired at Japanese airplanes as they bombed and strafed. One of his men was credited with shooting down a Zero. Afterward, he was threatened to be court martialed because he was not authorized to issue ammo to the troops. Cooler heads prevailed, he and his whole group went back to the states for about 9 months of A.I.T and explosives training. When they returned to Hawaii the ranking NCOs had Colt 1911s and M-1 Carbines. The men were still carrying O3-A1s. On the way to their first major island invasion, they were issued M-1 Garands. Most of the men got to fire their new Garands off the rear of the ship, but not all of them. Some never fired their Garand until actually in combat. His group was (among other things) underwater demolition experts and made five! first wave invasions with the U.S. Marines as Frogmen! When the war ended he had 366 days on record of actual combat. .......... Big Cholla

 

[pilgrim6a]

My father-in-law was a WWII SeeBee. He swore the CBs went in ahead of the Marines to "prepare the beaches for them." I warned my kids not to believe everything grandpa told them. I think he was armed with a bulldozer.

What kind of holster did he use to carry the bulldozer?