World War II is one of the most recognized battles in the history of the world. The battle originated with Germany’s invasion of Poland. This sparked the beginning of the war, though the United States was not yet involved. The U.S. came into the picture after the attack on Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941. Though Japan was the more “direct opponent”, the United States Army Rangers, Marine Corps., and every other branch of military took on Japan and Germany.
Fighting on the Frontlines
One of the more famous battles in the war was the Invasion of Normandy, France by the Allied forces, also known as “Operation Overlord”. The arriving troops came ashore to heavy gun fire that wiped out a good portion of the soldiers that arrived by sea before they made it to the beach. They encountered heavy fire from soldiers using Heavy .50 Caliber machine guns. Once the soldiers reached the shores, the battle was in full swing.
Struggling with the Japanese
As the battle went on in France with Germany, the Japanese tried to gain vantage points against U.S. Soldiers. Heavy Fire from the Nambu Type 100 Sub-Machine Gun battered U.S. Infantry. This weapon was very awkward to handle, as the magazine (also used as the fore-grip) was located on the left side of the muzzle. This gun was the weapon of choice when it came to close combat for the Japanese Imperial Army.
Different Fronts, Different Weapons, Same Resistance
Among the Type 100 was a vast arsenal of weapons from the Japanese. Among these was the Type 99 Light-Machine Gun. Off the tripod, this gun was very hard and awkward to handle. The sights were located on the left side of the gun, and unlike pretty much any other gun of the time, the magazine was located at the ...
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...panese were home-made yet effective. American soldiers on the other hand had a bit of help from Germany for their design of the mines they used. The S-Mine 35 was popular for its detonation sequence. It was a pressure activated proximity mine that would propel a small grenade-like object about 3 feet above ground to explode. This characteristic earned them the nickname “Bouncing Betty.”
The Last Blast
Of all the weapons that were fired in WWII, one was loud enough for an entire country to hear: The Atomic Bomb. During early tests, it was referred too as “The Manhattan Project” and kept under extreme secrecy, above Top-Secret. The United States developed it in conjunction with Canada and the United Kingdom. The image depicted here is the replica of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. The blast sent a mushroom cloud over 11 miles into the sky.
Army. Unfortunately fratricide was a reoccurring issue during this battle as well. Due to the lack of training and knowledge of aircraft identification, American AAA gunners and infantryman shot down several friendly planes in the heat of this battle, including several easily identifiable P-38 fighter planes. Those mistakes could have easily been avoided had the soldiers of that time been instructed of proper identification of both friendly and enemy targets. The primary focus of the battle of Kasserine was that of a technical aspect, and in no form tactical. Aside from poor aircraft identification, there was also minimal training in combining air support with maneuvering ground troops on the battle field. This supreme poverty of training in turn led to yet more fratricide and loss of friendly life. A positive lesson learned was that the most effective means of Air Defense during the battle was the use of mounting two and four .50-caliber M2 machine guns on half-tracks. One aspect that proved to be ineffective was the 37mm guns, which failed to stop or destroy the German tanks. Aware of this fact, the U.S. Army began the development of armor piercing shells and anti-tank guns. The U.S. Army was mindful of the shortcomings during the battle of Kasserine Pass and only weeks after refined and revamped its tactics and strategies in air support, amour fighting, and artillery. Due to weapon
In 1942, World War II had been raging for three years. The United States of America have declared war upon the Axis powers following the devastating Japanese attack upon Pearl Harbor. At this point in the war the Allies are in a grave situation. German forces have pushed the British off mainland Europe, and the Japanese have conquered much of the Pacific region, coming increasingly nearer to the American mainland. In order to combat this rising threat, the American military headship began to search for viable alternatives to replace widely used established tactics. The motive for this search for irregular methods the fact that the Allied forces were not strong enough to meet the Axis powers on a conventional
Meyerson, Joel D. “Machine Gun.” World Book Advanced. World Book, 2014 Web. 3 Feb. 2014.
After the fall of Saipan, Imperial Japanese Army and Naval forces were deployed to the island of Iwo Jima; a very small island, approxim...
It all started on December 7th, 1941. America had entered their Second World War following the Pearl Harbor attacks. America started its Pacific Campaign against the Imperial Japanese Army. After three years, America joined with fellow allied nations and invaded Nazi- Occupied France codename Operation Overlord. This was the biggest amphibious invasion ever recorded. From Pearl Harbor to the fall of Berlin in the spring of 1945, the American bomber plane helped defeat the Nazi regime, end the war in the Pacific, and revolutionize modern warfare.
bullet shoot out. Low accuracy made it difficult to fight battles with muskets this is why the bayonet came in handy. Since it took so long for the soldiers to load the flintlock musket the enemy used this to their advantage. The bayonet gave the soldiers an extra weapon in case the enemy got to close. The flintlock was not very accurate, that why soldiers had to rely on swords.
...onfederate War Department. It was a breech loading rapid-fire gun and was cranked operated. The gun was a very light artillery piece that shot a one-pound 1.57 caliber projectile with a range of 2,000 yards and could shot up to 65 rounds per minute. It was used in the Battle of Seven Pines and worked effectively that the Confederate War Department ordered 42 of them#. Even though this gun was so effective it had two major problems. The gun overheated very quickly and breech jammed because of the heat expansion.
5. Popenker, Max R. "Modern Firearms - MachineGuns." Max R. Popenker, 1999-2010. Web. 10 May 2012. .
Having been spread out over more land and involved more people than any other war in history, many believe World War II is also the most historic war in as well. There has never been a war of such immense importance and such a gigantic magnitude. The United States served an absolutely vital role in the outcome of this war. The U.S. was faced with the duty of taking on two different wars at the same time in two different places in the world. Something that many countries would have backed away from. The European front was without hesitation the more evident of the two considering the unquestionable mayhem and evils that were being committed by Adolf Hitler. United States involvement on the European front was unavoidable and, generally much easier for U.S. forces to get to. Having fought in Europe less than thirty years prior, the U.S. was familiar with the territory and proper strategy. The Pacific Campaign of World War II offered an incomparable test for the United States Armed Forces. U.S. Armed Forces had never fought in the South Pacific or even on terrain that resembled the conditions in which they would be faced with in the Pacific Islands. With the Army deeply involved in Europe, in December of 1941 the United States found it self stuck in a war that it was not ready for and had no idea how to fight. However, the United States Marine Corps were the ideal company for the kind of combat they would be faced with in the Pacific. Marines had adequate training for land to sea combat. The Marine Corps fighting in the Pacific gave the U.S. its only chance of being successful against the Japanese military.
At 5:30 AM July 16th 1945, the nuclear age had started. The world’s first atomic bomb was detonated. On August 6th 1942 at 8:15 AM, an American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, dropped a perfected atomic bomb created by the Americans, over the city of Hiroshima hoping to end the war. Thousands of people died in the two cities in Japan. They were Hiroshima and Nagasaki “the Manhattan Project”. The research and development project that produced these atomic bombs during this time was known as “the Manhattan Project”.
These kinds of weapons were impractical for military use, but attracted many people to the arms race for weapons that could sweep the battlefield. “They had limitations in practice, among them slow re...
History of U.S. Army Weapons | Military.com. (n.d.). History of U.S. Army Weapons | Military.com. Retrieved April 12, 2014, from http://www.military.com/army-birthday/history-of-us-army-weapons.html
The nuclear bomb was the most devastating weapon ever created by man. It was developed between 1942 and 1945 during the second World War. The project to build the worlds first atomic weapon was called The Manhattan Project. The nuclear bomb was based on the idea of splitting an atom to create energy, this is called fission. Three bombs were created, “Trinity”, “Little Boy”, and “Fat Man”. “Trinity” was dropped on a test site in New Mexico on July 16, 1945, proving the theories, engineering and mathematics of the bomb to be correct. Shortly after that, not more than 2 months, the U.S. performed the first actual nuclear attack in the history of war. The bomb “Little Boy” was dropped on the town of Hiroshima, instantly killing thousands. “Fat Man” was dropped shortly after on the town of Nagasaki. After the bombing almost all scientist involved with the creation of the bomb regretted its construction and spoke out against the abolishment of nuclear weapons.
Although the frontline of the battle is more well-known, the home front during World War 2 was what kept the men at was going strong. It all started on the home front, leading the United States into World War 2 when Japan attacked the Pearl Harbor Naval Base in Hawaii on December 7, 1941. It was a sunny Sunday morning on the quiet twenty-two acre naval base when the unsuspected Japanese navy and air force targeted United States battleships, aircraft carriers, and the ninety-two vessels on base. The surprise attack took place at 7:55 a.m. when three hundred sixty Japanese war planes and thirty-three naval ships destroyed one hundred seventy American aircrafts, eighteen
The invention and innovation of small firearms spans throughout the world and throughout multiple centuries. The main inventions during the early phases of small arms development quickly gave way to the next innovation, although they were slow to be adapted to military use due to the cost of their production. As time went on these innovations became more and more stagnant to the point of there being no major innovations in the field for close to two hundred years. However, after this stagnant period, there began another period of advanced innovation in the area of small arms technology. The goal of this essay is to understand and dissect the innovations that occurred during these two periods of advanced innovation and the cultural and historical factors that lead to them.