US Airborne snipers?

Why is in in a North African desert with a life jacket?

In case of quick sand?

Or jump-off for Sicily. Judging by the reports of the quality of the pilots....he needed it!

Freak Oasis's?

the text at the bottom says the pic was taken in africa, but who knows.

Yeah the Sicily jump didn't go too well to begin with, the US Navy engaged the C47s en route to the drop zone

and the US pilots released the gliders *miles* too early causing most to crash into the sea.

The original Garand launcher attachment put a pin into the end of the gas cylinder, causing it to vent, disabling the reload mechanism - That, I assume, was to prevent you accidentally trying to shoot through the launcher, or to make it easier for you to load another grenade cartridge rather than having to remove a normal round first. I believe later launcher attachments allowed shoot-through.

Sorry to be a swot - I've been collecting GI gear for far too long to be healthy. If it helps anyone You're all right!
The grenade (anti-tank or anti-personnel) is a hefty lump of metal to fire off a rifle and achieve a real range with. Consequently, special blanks were issued with the rifle grenade rounds to enable the soldiers do this. The downside of a boosted cartridge was the increased recoil.

Although the M1 rifle was standard for the Army by 1939/40, the gas fed recoil mechanism of the M1 was too delicate to handle the job of being a grenade launcher. Consequently, while the M7 launching attachment (and sprung gas port) was being designed and created for the M1, the army persisted with the '03 to fire grenades. In some units prior to D-Day (e.g. A/175th), M1s were actually replaced with '03s to make the unit's T/O&E (table of organisation & equipment) correct for when it landed - regardless of the fact that many men had never fired an '03 or one with a launcher attachment before!
The production of the M7 launching attachment meant that the recoil gas port on the M1 rifle was held slightly open, to dissipate the force. (I used to re-enact and in the 1980s saw someone accidentally use a grenade launder blank instead of a normal blank in a resticted barrel M1 at a public show. Fortunately it only blew the reciever and stock apart - not the owners face! ) Anyhow, with the launcher attachment holding the gas port slightly open meant that the rifle couldn't fire ball ammunition semi-auto anymore. Therefore, the M7 attachment had to be removed to work properly. (And yes, the losses of M7s were appauling. The 1st Div alone lost 487 in the first 25 days of landing on D-Day).

The problem is, even now, people still get caught up with regurgitated literary b*ll*cks from British authors (like Ian V Hogg, John Weeks, Terry Gander, etc.,) who have the old British military mental block about accuracy being important. Sure, the '03 may have been a bit more accurate than the M1, but these self congratulatory "old boy's school" authors assumed (from each other's works usually ) that the '03s were given to each squad for "sniping" - completely missing the facts. (Similar b*ll*cks can be seen with the stories of the M1 clip ping getting the owner shot. But don't get me going on that...I've been here too long already)

Now....Yes, there were sniping '03 rifles, with scopes too. There was one in each platoon according to the T/O&E, which were given to the best shots. But, in reality, this usage was few and far between. Generally, the rifle would be brought up from the rear if there was a static period on the line, or it was needed. The nature of the hedgerow fighting for the Americans was about volumes of suppressing fire (and achieving it!) at squad and platoon level than plinking at individuals. That's not to say it didn't happen, and pictures do show them - but as a previous writer said, the pose potential is enormous and the photos you see are usually posed or in a non combat situation. Sniping really took off in Korea, reaching a science in Vietnam - but that ain't WWII in the way Saving Private Ryan ain't reality!

That's all folks!

Of course it would get the owner killed if he was on his own, dependant on whether he got rushed/was a slow reloader, but most of the time there was always someone shooting whilst people running dry reloaded

Look, the chances of the enemy being close enough to hear the "ping" of an empty clip in a combat zone is pretty unlikely in the first place. Assuming it is, with the background noise of battle, the probability of being able to identify that sound, knowing the unloaded soldier is alone, that it isn't a trick (of him dropping an empty clip) and can be rushed in the time it'll take to reload a new clip is, quite honestly, fantasy.

I've been collecting GI gear and books since the early 80s and have amassed a large library of first hand accounts. (I have over 1000 books and FMs - and read the majority of them too). I've read some very good accounts (and some very poor ones too). GIs will bitch about everything, rations, ammo, flooding holes, the "GI's", being caught with German items, the percieved inferiority of their own equipment, but I have never heard a single GI expressing concern about being caught out, or telling of someone they've heard of, being killed or captured because of the sound of a falling clip. The US Army aren't idiots and, if it was a problem would have done something about it.
I still can't understand why this myth continues

I know where it comes from.... ex Brit military authors from the 70's, who carved themselves a little niche of authority (John Weeks, Ian Hogg, Quarries, etc. etc.,) Guys who have something to say about weapons that they've certainly never used in combat, and may not even have used on the firing range.
It gets put in one of their books, becomes used as a reference source by another author, and "bingo" becomes "lore by rote" - hence we're having this conversation.

I did say "if" and not "when"

Someone isnt likely to write about it if they'd got shot doing it (ie dead or captured) and if someone is around (in a squad) to observe that said person didnt get rushed,....then they're not on their own! I was under the impression that doctrine at the time was to never have a period of time where fire wasnt being put down, people fire whilst people reload,... keep the enemy heads down as you move up. An isolated squad member firing an M1 has only get 8 rounds before a reload which can take anywhere between 4-10 seconds (depending on how good they were) in which time a lot of ground could be covered by an opponent. Thus perhaps catching the rifleman with his chamber un-loaded in certain circumstances. The act of reloading catching them out, rather than the actual report of the gun emptying.

Everyone can't reload a garand as quickly as they do on games like COD, rifles like the Garand and BAR are said to take longer to reload than it takes to drop the mag in them.

Now the ping,... technically it isnt a ping, it's a clank, so not neccessarily the sound which catches people out, but the action of reloading... much like in airsoft you charge at someone when you heard the gun report going from firing to dry-firing.

I think it would be a bit naieve to say that all exchanges of rifle fire was at such a range where the report of someone's gun emptying, or the lack of return fire would not be heard, afterall thats what bayonets are for!

I think your'e right Webby.

Sure, I get your point on dead GIs, but captured GIs do write books and are probably in a better position to comment on why they were captured (and not one of those have said the sound of ejecting clips was the cause). Being left behind, surrounded, being snatched by an enemy patrol while they slept - yes.

Wounded GIs also write books too (there's no such thing as an unwounded infantryman I'm often reminded). Where these guys differ is they tend to include rumours and combat troops are synonymous, often confused and spread like wildfire.
For instance, because the cook (bringing up food) told his buddies that a friend of a friend of his, had seen a GI hanged by his ankles and stabbed through his heart with his own trench knife - just for being a paratrooper got Co.A/175th so mad they didn't taking prisoners for a while. In the 94th Div the rumour of a stripped GI corpse with a cross cut into his chest with a "captured" luger placed in the bloody wound for instance was enough to get GI's in several units dropping their captured blankets, esbit cookers and captured insignia - without the deed having actually seen by anyone. Guys in the 75th began keeping eighteen rounds in a BAR mag to stop jams. Just a few examples of wild rumours that caused fear but had no strength in reality. Being rushed/killed/bayonetted because of clips should be in there right? ...no.

To recap, I can honestly, hand on heart say I've never read or spoken to a veteran (and I go to the 29th Division conventions) heard them say it was a problem. In Stouffer's work on the psychology of the fighting man - the clip noise from an M1 rifle doesn't figure on "what did you find most frightening" question. SLA Marshall in "Weapons usage in Korea" makes no reference to it (and he pans most weapons the American use). Finally (and I know it's weak), but in countless hours of re-enacting with functional M1s - it's never happened to me or my buddies, and we fought at shouting range - not the average 300 yards that combat is generally held at. (SLA Marshall: Men against fire for that figure)

I'm not sure I get your last point. Sure, some combat can happen at close range - hence trench knives too. What I'm saying is, in real combat (not soft air or re-enacting, somewhere you might end up bloated maggot bait if you make the wrong decision when attempting bravado) you are going to have to be Johhny Uberdude if, amongst the adrenalyne, bangs, booms, ballistic cracks, falling debris, smoke etc., you hear a clip ejecting or falling. The having the courage to risking getting up in a fire fight to run across and capture/kill your opponent. Not to challenge your physical prowess at running). You're also going to be a heck of a guy to stay fighting on his own without running away or surrendering - but that's what I suppose Medals of Honor are for.

Okay, if it helps keep the peace, I'm happy to concede in a mano a mano / "Dealdliest Warriors" scenario there is a slim, very microscopic chance that it might have happened. But, its redolent of the kind of situation my nephew might seriously think about - somewhere above "could a soldier shoot into the sky and hit an arial bomb before it fell on him", "would you be able to shoot down a Focke Wulf with a bazooka", and below "could you shoot a bullet down the barrel of a tank and explode the shell".

Okay, if it helps keep the peace, I'm happy to concede in a mano a mano / "Dealdliest Warriors" scenario there is a slim, very microscopic chance that it might have happened. But, its redolent of the kind of situation my nephew might seriously think about - somewhere above "could a soldier shoot into the sky and hit an arial bomb before it fell on him", "would you be able to shoot down a Focke Wulf with a bazooka", and below "could you shoot a bullet down the barrel of a tank and explode the shell".

WWII U.S. GI Vs Yorkshire Ludite! Who's the Greatest Warrior?*

I saw bits of that on Charlie Brooker, what an hilariously ridiculous programme.

*The Ludite won by hearing the ping and hitting the GI with a hammer.

I see your point and agree wholeheartedly about the "ping" sound, I was referring more to reloading than the sound of the gun giving them away, and from a isolated soldier, which in airsoft,... is a lot more commonplace than in a real conflict! You're totally right, only someone with utter contempt for their life would charge across open ground to seize ground whilst a person was reloading... but in airsoft, it's sometimes what has to be done to get things moving!

As for the CMH, I dont think there would be an act you could re-enact in airsoft which would justify being awarded a replica one! hehe

You could blow up a FW190 with a bazooka, but only if you're an SASninjaparacommandoranger! lol

having the courage to risking getting up in a fire fight to run across and capture/kill your opponent.

You haven't seen Webby run!

an SASninjaparacommandoranger

My next loadout!