Suppressive Fire

[Ken White]

Two-part item in almost original format.

Thanks for posting it.

[Tukhachevskii]

Ok. Admittedly, I may have grasped the wrong end of the stick (it's a habit) but there's stuff I don't quite get. Perhaps it purely an editorial thing but the tables and the text are confusing me.

Using a gunner and assistant gunner for each LMG became a variant on the LMG FT. This variant allowed the LMG to be manned and enjoy the same benefits as a medium or heavy machinegun. Rather than merely carry extra ammunition and a spare barrel, the assistant would load, direct impacts, help move the gun, and observe for maneuver encroachment on the gun target line. (See Table 2.)

Billet Weapon

3d FT Leader M16A2
SAW M249
SAW M249
A-SAW M249
Table 2. LMG FT: Variant 2.

So, does the above mean that the assitant SAW/LMG gunner is also armed with a SAW/LMG?



Secondly,

The third platoon in each company consolidated their LMGs at the platoon level; i.e., the platoon organized itself into two rifle squads armed with test variant ARs, and the nine LMGs were placed into an LMG section.

Am I to undertand that in the LMG section/squad there are only four men not armed with SAWs/LMG (thre TL and a SL). If so who is helping to load and carry the extra ammo for this section/squad's SAWs/LMGs?

Overall I was quite impressed, it's almost a USMC version of Wigram tactical principles.