[dalo]

Hi in the bloody omaha mod there is three diffrent units of mg42, the schweres mg42, the mg42 and the lemg42. i know the schweres was for more sustained fire because the unit carrys 2500 rounds. the mg42 unit carrys 1250 and finnaly this lemg42 unit only carrys 250 round!. so what was this unit used for, was it quick manouvere around the battlefield because they carry less ammo or was it a completely diffrent version of the weapon. again im sorry for these questions but im just interested.

[mooxe]

I think you are right about the quick maneuvering around the battlefield. The section mg42s that come in GJS and reg CC5 also have 250 rounds.

[slems]

i don't think the number of rounds is really important, but the "support" type of the machinegun is : whether it is a tripod or bipod, the rate of fire and velocity make the difference between a high, medium or light mg... they are surely some guys here who could give us technical explaination

[Senior_Drill]

The US military and possibly NATO considers a LMG as being less than 7.62mm, a MMG as 7.62 to 10mm and HMG as above 10mm. I can't say for sure that that was the range of classifications during WWII or what the Germans used as their criteria. I seem to remember reading a few years ago that an MG42 in bipod mode was a MMG and when on the tripod was considered a HMG, but I can't be certain of that. A US M249 SAW is a light MG, a M240 is a medium and a M2HB is a heavy.

The MG34 and MG42 teams actually represent the 8th, 9th and 10th man of a German Infantry squad. Germany was the first country to equip their 10 man infantry squads with a machine gun. That explains the smaller ammo load out for the MG team, although I would think that 300 rounds would be the normal load, with another 300 carried by the riflemen of the squad. Let me assure you that while they understand the necessity for and the security provided by carrying an extra can of MG ammo, no infantryman enjoys having to pack the extra 12 pounds.

I don't know the reasoning behind Atomic's decision to seperate the LMG team from the rifle squad, but I am glad they did. It allows for a much greater flexibilty on fire and manuever.

[mooxe]

I read alot of WW2 books about the American Military...... They mention "Heavy weapons companies" quite often... I cant quote it but it went something like "we got a detatchment of hmgs from the heavy weapons coy" ..... I'v seen it quite often in the books I'v read. Were .30cal mgs part of heavy weapons coys?

[Senior_Drill]

I think so Mooxe. The .30 cal Brownings were considered Medium MG's, although they were certainly heavy to have to carry. I run into the same confusion reading personal accounts of WWII, some of them written 30 years after the war. Some guys don't remember the actual unit designation and some time the units transitioned during the war. Machine Gun Company's were in the OOB at the start of WWII, but were phased out or renamed by the end of the war.

I belive that a Heavy Weapons Company of a Rifle Regiment or Battalion had a MMG platoon, a HMG platoon and a Mortar platoon. There was a quickly abandoned attempt at forming AT platoons. It was realized quickly that it was better to issue the bazookas straight to Rifle platoons and some Colonel's pipe dream was quashed.