World War 2 In Review: Ground Power Album #1: United States

In an early amphibious experiment, Marines unload a 75mm gun from a "Beetle boat" at Culebra, Puerto Rico, in 1923.

U.S. Marines, wearing neckties and accompanied by their mascot, stage a mock amphibious landing in 1937.

Marine Sergeant at New Orleans, Louisiana.

Marine Corps Major in summer uniform.

Marine Corps Major in winter uniform.

Marine Corps Major in dress white uniform.

Infantryman firing his BAR.

Infantryman with BAR, Okinawa, May 1945.

Officer of airborne forces. Note his armament, an M1 rifle, a .45-caliber automatic pistol, and grenades, with two ammunition bandoliers.

Complete regulation dress for airborne troops. Note slanting breast pockets in jacket, reinforced trouser knees, and high-laced boots. The paratroop dress was in light olive drab and washed out to a give a grayish neutral color. This NCO is a technical sergeant and is armed with the Airborne version of the M1 Carbine with wire folding stock.

Marine with BAR fires at a group of Japanese changing positions.

Browning Automatic Rifle Model 1918A2. The BAR was invented in 1917 by John Browning to meet the U.S. requirement for a World War I automatic rifle. The Model 1918 was a gas-operated selective-fire weapon with a cyclic rate of fire of 550 rounds per minute, a muzzle velocity of 2,805 feet per second, an overall length of 47 inches, a barrel length of 24 inches, and a weight of 16 pounds. It utilized a 20-round detachable box magazine. It had no bipod. The Model 1918A1 was adopted in 1937. It had the same characteristics as the 1918 but was equipped with a bipod and a shoulder-support plate that hinged up from the butt plate. Shortly before World War II, the 1918A2 was adopted. It featured changes in the bipod, the forearm, and the butt stock, plus other minor changes. The model 1918A2 weighed 19.4 pounds and was the standard squad automatic weapon used in World War II. BARs have a maximum range of about 3,500 yards.

86th Infantry Division sniper training in the Philippines, 1945.

Pvt. Morton Frenberg, with M1 rifle, American 8th Infantry Division, 24 February 1945, Germany, waits out a German shelling.

Elements of the 379th Regiment, 95th Division, fire from a riverside cafe in Uerdingen, Germany, 5 March 1945.

An early version of the 2.36 inch rocket launcher ("bazooka").

Rocket, HEAT, 2.36-inch, M6A1.

In training maneuvers GI Joes display two kinds of bazookas. Armed with bazookas, they stand their ground against tank assaults and even go forward to attack tanks. Pictured here is the old style, one-piece bazooka (right) and the more easily carried “folding” model, a two-piece unit which can be assembled in a few seconds to form a 61-inch launcher for firing.

Flame thrower in use against Japanese holding out in a cave along Iwo Jima's northern coastal cliffs, 8 April 1945.

American Marine fighting on Guam uses flamethrowers against Japanese positions on Adelup Point.

American flamethrower operator of Co. E, 2nd Bn., 9th Marines, runs under fire on Iwo Jima, February 1945. The flame gun can be seen in this Marine's right hand. It had two pistol grips. The rear grip had a lever that released the fuel from the tanks. The front grip had the trigger that ignited the fuel.

American Flamethrower, Portable, M2-2. Empty weight: 43 pounds. Filled weight: 68 pounds. Fuel capacity: 4 gallons. Range: 20-40 yards. Fuel type: Gasoline. Propellant: Nitrogen. Burn time: 10-20 seconds.

A U.S. Marine Corps Historical Co. flamethrower team operates the M2-2 flamethrower at a public demonstration of World War II tactics.

Into the mouth of hell. A USMC-HC flamethrower team in action at a public event.

American flamethrower operators move back up the line after refilling their tanks with fuel. Iwo Jima, 1945.

American flamethrower team in action on Iwo Jima. Riflemen provide security for the flamethrower operator while he engages a target.

Poster: “Leave flamethrowing to US—YOU be careful with Fire!”

U.S. soldier firing an M1 flamethrower.

U.S. soldier demonstrates an M1 flamethrower.

U.S. soldier firing an M1 flamethrower into an enemy position.

Americans of the 7th Division using flame throwers to smoke out Japanese from a block house on Kwajalein Island, while others wait with rifles ready in case Japanese come out. 4 February 1944.

Flamethrowers continued to work hard, and at considerable peril, throughout the Battle for Iwo Jima. The fighting continues and continues. For weary flamethrower operators Pvt Richard Klatt, left, and PFC Wilfred Voegeli the campaign is just one cave after another.

Marine with flamethrower, 1st Marine Division.

Flamethrowers at the Army War Show, 27 November 1942. Raising money for the Army Emergency Relief Fund, the Army War Show toured eighteen U.S. cities. The shows were seen by sellout crowds, even in enormous stadiums.

A soldier of the U.S. Army Chemical Warfare Service with his M1 flame gun somewhere in France. His shirt and trousers are of the 1942 pattern for parachutists, but in the very rare and non-standardized summer camouflage version of HBT cloth. Only one example of this uniform is known to exist today. The M1C paratrooper's helmet bears the semi-standard British contract helmet netting but is festooned with native foliage—a practice common in other armies but generally scorned in American forces. The use of camouflage face paint is also unusual for the period. Although identified as a combat photograph by the Army Signal Corps, this shot was probably taken in the rear areas of France, summer 1944.

A demonstration of an M1 flame gun against a bunker. If the occupants were not caught in the flames, they were overcome when the oxygen inside the emplacement was exhausted. Allied flamethrowers, unlike German weapons, could project unignited fuel through a bunker embrasure, and then follow it with a burst of flame.

155mm Mortar T25, Mount T16E2, in action in the Pacific.

M1 81mm mortar, Pacific.

4.2-inch mortars, Pacific.

Crews from the 129th Infantry Regiment of the 37th Infantry Division set up their 4.2-inch mortars on the outskirts of Manila.

Infantrymen firing a mortar, located on one side of a bitterly contested hill, at Japanese positions on the other side of the hill, 8 March 1944 on Bougainville. The mortar is a 60mm M2 on Mount M2.