SMALL ARMS 1914-45, by Michael E. Haskew. Published by Amber Books Ltd., Dept. TGM., Bradley’s Close, 74-77 White Lion Street, London N1 9PF, U.K. Price: $34.95 Available from Amazon, Dept. TGM, and other bookstores.
Billed as The Essential Weapons Identification Guide, this 192-page hard-bound volume could be exactly that, or at least it’s close. Following an explanatory introduction, this gem features six chapters, in addition to a short glossary, a brief further reading list and an excellent index.
The first two chapters are devoted to World War I arms, covering the Western Front and the Dardanelles first, and the Eastern Front, including Italy and the Balkans second. The third chapter is devoted to the relatively peaceful period between WWI and WWII.
The second half of this volume covers World War II, with Chapter 4 devoted to Poland and the Western Theatre, and Chapters 5 and 6 covering the Eastern Front and the Pacific Theatre, respectively. (The Brits use theatre, rather than theater, but it’s the same word and meaning. Think of such words, and there are many others, as being British English and American English, or it’s the same, only different.)
This volume features scores of illustrations, both combat photos, which are black and white, and the many small arms which are in full color. The photos are captioned, as are the small arms illustrations with the latter accompanied by specification tables. There are also some miscellaneous tables and illustrations, including some sectioned views of various models to show the mechanisms.
One unusual feature, but a worthwhile and interesting one is presentation of the arms and makeup of rifle squads. As an example, in May 1944 the U.S. Marine rifle squad consisted of 13 men—a leader and a dozen rifleman divided into three ‘fire teams’ composed of four men each. The leader usually carried a M1 carbine, although he might carry a Thompson or M3A1submachine gun. The fire teams each featured three marines armed with Garand M1 rifles while the fourth carried a BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle).
When WWII started the basic German infantry rifle squad also consisted of 13 men, but the armament was different. The squad leader carried a MP-38 or MP-40 submachine gun, with nine of the soldiers were armed with M98k bolt action Mauser rifles. The remaining three soldiers constituted the machine gun section; the gunner carried the MG-34 machine gun, plus a P’08 (Luger) or P-38 pistol, while of his two loaders, one carried a M98k rifle and the other a pistol, P-38 or P’08. (The squad arms are illustrated with smaller-scale photographs.)
Every country is a bit different. The Australian rifle squad usually consisted of ten men divided into a rifle group (six SMLE bolt action rifles and one Thompson SMG) and a gun group of three men—two armed with SMLE rifles and the third (gunner) carrying a Bren light machine gun. All no doubt had to carry extra ammunition or loaded magazines for the Bren.
The Soviet rifle squad in 1941, as part of a rifle platoon, consisted of eleven soldiers, eight armed with M1891 Mosin-Nagant bolt action rifles, two with PPD-1934/38 submachine guns, and one with a Deglyaryov DP-28 light machine gun and Tokarev TT-30 pistol.
This is an excellent reference volume worthy of space on any gunner’s bookshelf, especially for those interested in the armament of various nations in the first half of the twentieth century. A few typographical errors were noted, but nothing major, and the method of presentation may be a bit different in some instances, but the basic information is sound. It is lavishly illustrated, with more than 250 photographs, the majority in color—even the endpapers are illustrated.
