What were the classes of World War 2 soldiers and what weapons did they carry?

Answer 1

Do you mean US Army rankings?

Private

Private First class (1 stripe)

Corporal (2 stripes)

T/5 = Technician 5th grade (2 stripes)

Sergeant (3 stripes)

T/4 = Technician 4th grade (3 stripes)

Staff Sergeant (4 stripes)

T/3 Technician 3rd grade (4 stripes)

Tech/Sergeant (5 stripes)

Master Sergeant (6 stripes)

1/Sgt = First Sergeant (6 stripes with diamond insert)

WOJG = Warrant officer junior grade

CWO = Chief warrant officer

then it goes on to officers

2nd Lieutenant

1st Lieutenant etc.

there were no "classes" of soldiers. there were different assignments. a infantry company would have 186 riflemen carrying m1 garands. nco's carrying tommyguns or m1 carbines. riflemen carrying bar's (browning automatic rifles) or aircooled browning light machineguns. each company would have a weapons platoon attached to it. they would have watercooled heavy machineguns and 61mm mortars.plus they could have flamethrowers and bazookas from headquarters company assigned to them as needed.out in the field there was personal choice as well.some guys liked the boltaction m1903 springfield. some guys liked the m1 carbine instead of the garand or the tommygun if you could find one. as far as genades went i think the standard issue was 2 frags and a smoke genade but you could carry as many as you wished but they are heavy. i hope this ed your queston by the way officers carried m1 carbines or whatever their personal choice was in the field. colt .45's were always in short suppliy in the frontlines.

By "Class" I assume your mean MOS, or Military Occupation Specialty. An American infantry squad had 12 men. Rifleman MOS would be issued an M1 Garand with 10 x8 round clips. a Grenadier early in the war would be issued an M1903 Springfield with a rifle grenade adapter, blanks for firing rifle grenades and sight that attached to the side of the rifle for long range launching along with some rifle grenades (number varied). The Automatic Rifleman was issued a M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle, (sometimes known as the BAR,pronounced as the letters) and 12 20 round magazines along with a 1911 pistol. Usually one member of the squad assisted in carrying the BAR ammo. The Sergeant was authorized to carry an SMG, though the M1 Garand or M1 carbine was just as likely, and they were issued a 1911 pistol. If you watch Band of Brothers (an excellent and accurate documentary), Sgt. "Bull" Randleman and Lt. Winters both carry the M1 Garand.

In reality a lot of guys, especially paratroopers ended up carrying M1 carbines or submachineguns such as the M1 Thompson or the M3 Greasegun later in the war. Up until later 1942 a lot of soldiers were issued M1903 Springfield rifles as they could not manufacture M1 Garands fast enough to issue to the new troops.

Support troops were typically issued M1 carbines and/or M1911 pistols. Paratroopers carried a higher proportion of SMGs and carbines, as they were light, compact, and could lay out a lot of lead in a hurry.

Grenades and rifle grenades were an "as needed" issue treated just like ammunition, so there was no standard number to be issued, though two to three would be typical for hand grenades.

Medics were issue a 1911 pistol along with anyone who operated a heavy weapon such as the Bazooka or the M1919A4 or M191A6 machinegun.

Tank crews would have a mix of pistols, carbines, and occaisonally SMGs. Airmen would be issued a sidearm, which could be either a 1911 or more commonly a 1917 or "victory" model revolver.

Hope this helps!

Sven J.

a few corrections for sven j there is no MOS for a bar man. he was a rifleman who got picked by his platoon sgt. medics were not issued weapons although some did carry them (see Geneva conv.) tank crews were issued tommyguns and later greaseguns not a mix.m1919 machineguns are not heavy weapons the m1917 watercooled machinegun is a "heavy weapon".grenades were issued as mr brown stated in his . colt .45's were supposed to be issued to weapons crews but seldom were. at least in the south pacific were i was at. we were given m1 carbines in place of pistols which we had to lug along with our 90 lb's of m1917 machinegun with tripod,watercan. what you read and what really happened are two different things.