Weapons Training

General WWII era German military discussion that doesn't fit someplace more specific.
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Hans
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Weapons Training

Post by Hans »

:? From my study (limited) of German soldiers personal records I find it amazing that the number of weapons trained on was so limited for an infantry soldier. The most I have found for a WWII German Grenadier/Schuetze is three ie. Rifle, light machine gun & pistol and that was after two years and 11 days national service (1936 - 1938). Most show two only. Seems incredible. They were also invariably trained in a secondary role as Infantry Pioneers. Am I correct or am I missing something? Is there any literature on pre WWII and WWII training?

I base my amazement on the fact that during my training in the Australian Army my unit was fully trained in a minimum of 9 weapons from pistols to 106mm anti tank guns and we were not training for or in a war situation. Thats apart from all the other training we received eg. signals, driving, first aid usw.

Any comments/information
charlie don't surf
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Post by charlie don't surf »

I guess it depends on your role. One must also ask how many different weapons the army had in use and if the soldier would ever be in contact with these. I think that they recieved more training in more weapons during the war, i.e. the panzerfaust.
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joscha
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Weapons training

Post by joscha »

When I went through my basic/advanced infantry training in 1940, we were trained in the 98k, the machine gun (the MG36, then), hand grenade throwing, the use of the bayonet (excluding the opening of food cans!), and we had a short course in a street form of "savat".

As a trainee in the transportation corps, I also received thorough training in riding motor cycles, driving cars, small and large trucks.

Remember, this was sixty years plus ago! Combat got much more complicated as the war progressed.

Anti-tank weapons were a province of the AT guys.

Hope this makes it a bit clearer. Joscha
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Tom Houlihan
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Post by Tom Houlihan »

Not to mention OJT (on-the-job-training)!!! I've seen several photos of German troops carrying non-issue weapons, and I'll almost guarantee they weren't taught them in basic training. Necessity is the mother of invention.
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Bruno
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Training

Post by Bruno »

My father's prewar infanterie basic training was much like Joscha's. Including Rifle, light machine pistole, heavy machine gun, mortars, a mortar like panzer-abwehr, handgrenades,and mines. On the job training: panzerfaust, tellermienen, magnetic mines, and Russian machine guns.
Late in the war, with the rush to get troops to the front, in think training was very much shortened. ( 2 months?) and more specific just one or two weapons.
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Feldwebel
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Post by Feldwebel »

My grandfather went thru training in spring 1938 and was taught the Luger p08, Kar98 adn MG-34. By wars end in 1945 he had troops that were trained on one weapon only.
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Hans
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Weapons Training

Post by Hans »

The responses vindicate my research and lead me to the conclusion that the users, including my father achieved a hell of a lot with very little. tHank you for the responses.
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The Chief
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Post by The Chief »

When my grandfathers went through Basic Training, they were trained in the M-1 Garand, hand grenades, and the .45 auto. Later on in the war one was trained in the use of the bazooka, and the light machine gun. So the US army didn't train in that many weapons.
In the US Army I've been trained on the M-16 rifle, the M-9 pistol, and hand grenades. Since Training, I've learned to us the MK-19 grenade launcher, AT-4 ATR, M-149 S.A.W., and the M-60 LMG. So On the job training was more weapon oriented, and less on just basic soldiering. I'm sure it was the same back then.
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Brian
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Opa

Post by Brian »

My Opa told me that when he was promoted to Unteroffizier Fahnrich he was trained to use every weapon available from a Pistol right up to an anti tank gun, his initial training was mainly with the 81mm mortar and after 6 months training he was sent to the front to lead a sqaud in a Heavy Company.
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panzerok
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Post by panzerok »

My friend went through infantry training in chinese army(PLA) in 1997,he only trained two weaponsof Rifle type 56 and submachine gun type 97(it is a new weapon copy by french), excluding the hand grenade throwing .He did't training in riding motor or trucks.

Hi joscha

Could you tell me whether you trained in driving halftrack( like Sdkfz 7 or Sdkz 9 )in the transportation corps?

Thank you!
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Volker Kozok
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Re: Weapons Training

Post by Volker Kozok »

Hello Hans,
here some informations about the training. The training of an infantry-man is ruled in the Heeresdienstvorschrift 130/1 - Ausbildungsvorschrift für die Infantrie (Army Field Manual 130/1- Training Manual for Infanty) from 08. August 1935. If you need more information about the Manual please contact me with eMail.
The normal infantry man starts his training in basic training:
Training and shooting with rifle and for some with pistol. All of them are trainied with hand-grenades.
Training and shooting with machine-gun takes onlyplace in the machine-gun company.
Training and shooting with anti-tank guns or infantry guns takes only place in the Infantry-Antitank Company.
In the years before WWII and in the first years of the war, a infantry-bataillon were organized in different types of companies, the soldier of a company has only lerned to use the weapons of his company. In the last years of the war, the companies were mixed up, the soldiers learned to use more weapons.
I hope this helps, best regards, Volker
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