Poor overloaded infantry

[voyrep]

The average infantry man in WW2 must have been a true athlete!

He carried his personal weapon+ammo, he carried his combat kit(water bottle, helmet, gasmask, bayonet or knife, probably some extra clothes, maybe a shovel, etc), some grenades, extra ammo for the squad machine gun.
And on top of that the squad has to collectively carry around
an inflatble raft !

Now I now know why the german infantry had problems to keep upp with the panzers...
Had they only thrown away their rafts I bet they could have taken Moscow before the winter.


Voyrep

[troopie]

What a modern infantryman carries. Rifle, ammunition for the rifle (eight to ten clips), rucksack, sleeper or blanket, spare clothing, water bottle, basic medikit, two hand grenades, share of the section LMG ammunition, share of the Carl Gustav or RPG ammo, rations for one day, shovel and/or machete, bayonet/utility knife, share of the fire teams tent, ground cloth, dixies, soap, personal items like cards, bible or other books, water purification tablets, mosquito netting (in malarial areas), gas mask and protection suit if chemical attack is predicted. RTO man will carry section radio instead of LMG ammunition. Squad leader will carry grenade launcher and grenades instead of AT and LMG munitions.
Machete will be replaced by extra water bottles in desert conditions.

The load of the footie has not decreased since WW2, if anything it has increased.

troopie

[Preuss]

While in the US Marine artillery I had many opportunities to see these poor souls trudging back from a forced march with not only their personal weapons...the m-16...but also with full packs, gasmasks and all the other items. Added to that was their 81 mm mortar equipment. The barrell weighed 80-some odd pounds...the tripod 76 pounds, and a hefty baseplate. Then there was the ammo with three rounds per crate.

All one can say is: "Those poor bastards"

Party with arty....and...if you can't truck it...**** it

Best Wishes,

Gary

[Paul Vebber]

Fatigue rules in CL will address these issues - the pros and cons of "light infantry" can be portrayed much better than in SP.

[Belisarius]

Yes, soldiers today have a much heavier equipment than their WWII counterparts. Assault engineers may be an exception, tho'...

I've been thinking that our SP:WAW infantry are tough hombres who can speed along at any rate no matter how much they've been running/shooting/screaming for mom so far in the battle...

One more reason to wait for CL

I think there are games simulating fatigue out there.. is it Combat Mission? (then again, what did they leave out in that one?) Eh.. if there is anyone out there playing other games? I wouldn't know

Hey, voyrep - can I steal your avatar? Yours is so much better than mine..

[voyrep]

Originally posted by Belisarius

Hey, voyrep - can I steal your avatar? Yours is so much better than mine..

Sure thing Belisarius, I don't mind.
To tell you the truth, the reason I deceided to get an avatar in the first place was beacause I saw your fine Avatar and thought:
-That sure looks nice!:D

Regarding my original post I think the irony got lost somewhere,
it was not about the things carried by all soldiers: weapon, ammo and stuff, it was about the fact that every squad in addition to their normal load is humping around an inflateble raft which is not only heavy it's cumbersome as well!
I would be very surprised to see an ordinary rifle squad carry one around the battlefield unless of course it's river crossing time.

Voyrep