WEAPONS OF THE INFANTRY DIVISION

foreign Soldier should be familiar with the weapons of the Infantry Division you should be able to recognize them and name them when he sees them he should know in a general way their capabilities and their characteristics and finally he should be able to recognize each of these weapons by the sound of its firing in this film you will see the various weapons of the Infantry Division and you will hear them fire you will see some of the effects of their fire and you will learn their more important characteristics in particular you will hear the various sounds of these weapons when you are on the receiving end of their fire thank you the weapons of the Infantry Division can be divided roughly into two general classes those that have a flat or only slightly curved trajectory and those that have a highly curved trajectory typical flat trajectory weapons are the rifle the machine gun the 37 millimeter anti-tank gun and the 75 millimeter gun the path of the projectile fired by these weapons is generally flat or only slightly curved they are not able for instance to reach targets that are on the reverse slopes of hills mortars and howitzers are classed as curb trajectory weapons because of their high angle of Fire this high angle of fire enables these weapons to lob their projectiles over Hills and Destroy targets that are located on reverse slopes the curved trajectory weapons in the infantry division are the 60 millimeter mortar the 81 millimeter mortar the 105 millimeter howitzer and the 155 millimeter howitzer the hand grenade may also be considered a curved trajectory weapon since it can be lobbed into trenches and over small rises in the ground that cannot be reached by flat trajectory weapon first let us consider the flat trajectory weapon a man under Fire of a flat trajectory weapon such as a rifle here's three distinct sounds when the piece is fire the first thing he hears is the sound of the bullet in flight foreign as it strikes the ground third he hears the actual report of discharge of the piece he hears the sound of the bullet in flight and the sound of the bullet striking before he hears the report of discharge because the bullet travels faster than the sound of the explosion for instance a bullet from a rifle travels about 2 700 feet per second while the sound made by the discharge of the rifle travels only 1100 feet per second therefore we hear the bullet in flight and the strike of the bullet before we hear the report of the piece it is important that every Soldier know this and be able to recognize the report of discharge for it is by this means that he determines the direction and location of the enemy piece in listening to the fire of the various weapons shown in this picture you should try to fix the characteristic sound of each weapon in your mind and also learn to distinguish between the sound of the projectile in flight and the report of discharge now let us take another look at some of the flat trajectory weapons watch them and hear them fire see their effect and finally listen to them on the receiving end of the fire here is a squad firing the caliber 30 rifle model 19-3 known in the service as the Springfield with this rifle the trained Rifleman can fire 10 to 15 aimed shots a minute thank you foreign foreign now let us move down to the receiving end and hear what a single rifle sounds like there first we hear the sound of the bullet in flight next we hear the strike of the bullet and finally we hear the report of discharge of the rifle foreign [Music] now listen to 12 Springfields as the soldier Under Fire hears them [Music] [Music] foreign here is the area where their fire is falling [Music] foreign [Music] this squad is firing the U.S rifle caliber 30 M1 which is a semi-automatic self-loading shoulder weapon a trained Rifleman can fire 16 to 24 aim shots a minute with the M1 listen to the fire being delivered by this squad and compare it to the fire you just heard with the Springfields foreign [Music] [Music] Now we move down to the receiving end listen for the crack of the bullets passing overhead and for the reports of discharge [Music] here is the strike notice how much greater this volume is with the M1 than with the Springfield [Music] [Music] [Music] now listen to the complete sound of these 12 m1s as the soldier Under Fire hears them [Music] thank you this is the Browning automatic rifle it is capable of firing 40 to 60 rounds per minute for prolonged periods it may fire at a much faster rate for short periods foreign [Applause] [Applause] foreign [Applause] foreign [Applause] moving back to our position where we are under Fire we can hear the crack of the bullets as they pass overhead and the reports of discharge [Music] foreign [Music] here is the area that is being hammered by these two automatics [Music] thank you [Music] foreign this is the light machine gun section it is equipped with two browning light machine guns model 1919 A4 these weapons are belt fed recoil operated and air cooled ordinarily they operate in pair listen to this pair fiery the light machine gun can be fired at a rate of 60 rounds per minute for prolonged periods its maximum usable rate is 150 rounds per minute but the weapon can only fire at this rate for very brief periods without overheating a spare Barrel is carried for each gun foreign [Applause] thank you foreign here is the way these two guns sound to the man who is under Fire [Music] foreign notice the volume of fire these guns are laying down on this area [Music] okay [Music] [Music] thank you here is a heavy machine gun section firing its two guns the heavy machine gun is water cooled it is capable of firing 125 rounds per minute for prolonged periods it can fire at a much greater rate than this but only for short periods like the light machine gun the Heavies are also usually employed in pair listen to them for a minute foreign foreign [Applause] foreign to them on the receiving end of the fire listen for the Flight of the bullets and the report of discharge of the guns identify each sound positively [Music] [Music] foreign note how much more fire is delivered by the Heavies than the lights [Music] foreign [Music] is firing the caliber 50 Browning machine gun like the light machine gun the caliber 50 is belt fed recoil operated and air cooled its normal rate of fire is about 40 rounds per minute at 500 yards the caliber 50 is able to penetrate 5 8 of an inch of armor this gun is being fired at the rate of 40 rounds per minute listen to its distinctive sound [Applause] foreign [Applause] foreign [Applause] hears it [Applause] [Music] foreign [Applause] foreign [Music] another flat trajectory weapon the 37 millimeter anti-tank gun as its name implies it is a tank destroyer in the hands of an expert crew it can throw as many as 25 rounds a minute but the normal rate of fire is considered to be between 15 and 20 rounds a minute now listen to the distinctive sound of this gun foreign foreign this is the way it sounds to the soldier Under Fire first the Flight of the round overhead listen [Music] then the strike of the projectile last the report of discharge now listen to the complete sound as the soldier Under Fire hears it [Music] foreign