IIRC, the army had fully switched over to the M1 Garand in 1936, however the auxiliaries were still running 1911s. The Springfield usage was limited to just the Marine Corps. As for the Carbine, it was in circulation, but was not widely used IIRC.
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Muh immersion.
Darkflow pl0z remove.
That pre order looks pretty dope.
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A lot of the forces in the Philippines were still using Springfields, the army, and production of the M1 ground had not completely supplanted of the Springfield in US Army use by the time the war started, so while combat troops were equipped with them again with the noted exception of the Philippines at least university support troops were still equipped in many cases with Springfields. that might be a bit confusing There were M1 grands in use in the Philippines but not all of the army forces that were equipped with them, my understanding is that the Filipinos are largely equipped with Springfields
I’m fairly certain by 1940, every member of the US Army proper had a Garand as standard issue, but it was in all the other forces that Springfields were still being used, such as the Marine Corps and the Colonial military force in the Philippines.
I did a bit of research on this for a game I was working on years ago, and the Garand was not universally available to the US army in 41/42, the combat elements were as I understand it largely equipped with it.
What I recall was that as the US army was largely underfunded and actually very small in late 30’s compared to many nations army’s they could not give everyone a M1 Garand.
Service troops for example even mid war were often issued a 45 pistole as their weapon, it was not until the M1 Carbine came on the scene in large numbers that the 45’s were replaced by them.
According to Bruce Canfield’s U.S. Infantry Weapons of WW II , final variants of the M1903 (the A3 and A4) were delivered in February 1944.[23] By then, most American combat troops had been re-equipped with the M1 Garand. However, some front-line infantry units in both the U.S. Army and Marine Corps retained M1903s as infantry rifles beyond that date and continued to use them alongside the M1 Garand until the end of the war in 1945.
Yes like I said earlier, auxiliary were given 1911s while combat troops were given Garand in the Army. The Carbine eventually replaced the 1911, but the Garand remained the standard issue front line weapon for the US army from the start to the end of the war.
As for the A3 and A4 variant of the Springfield, those were issued to Snipers only IIRC.
According to Bruce Canfield’s U.S. Infantry Weapons of WW II , final variants of the M1903 (the A3 and A4) were delivered in February 1944.[23] By then, most American combat troops had been re-equipped with the M1 Garand. However, some front-line infantry units in both the U.S. Army and Marine Corps retained M1903s as infantry rifles beyond that date and continued to use them alongside the M1 Garand until the end of the war in 1945.
" The M1903 Springfield was officially adopted by the United States on June 19, 1903, and saw significant use in World War I. It was officially replaced as the standard infantry rifle by the semi-automatic M1 Garand in 1937. However, the M1903 Springfield remained in service as a standard issue infantry rifle during World War II, since the U.S. entered the war without sufficient M1 rifles to arm all troops."
I don’t wat to over sell that, from a modeling perspective the Garand would be the best choice to be representative, but I think a lot of folks assume the US was never out of supply and always had plenty of guns to go around and that was often irl, not the case
I have never seen anyone claim it used as a front line service infantry rifle in the Army outside of Wikipedia, and I think that they meant that it was only the Marines, but phrased it poorly.
Yes the US did have some level of supply issues of its own, but the Army took an incredible amount of priority over the Marines and coast guard, so the army rarely suffered from that and it was the Marines who had to make doo.
I can dig out the material I was referencing, but there were Springfields in use in secondary roles for some time early in the war by the US Army, and of course the Marines still had them early on as their primary weapon, they last quote was not from Wikipedia above, and as I noted before the Forces in the Philippines in part were equipped with the Springfield, especially the Philipino forces
I did say the Filipino forces were as underequipped as they were colonial forces and not US army proper, however I have always maintained all front line US army personnel had an M1 Garand, and that the auxiliaries had pistols.
Many of America’s earliest battles of World War II were fought primarily with M1903s, as not enough M1 Garands had then been produced to arm units in the Philippines. The US Marine Corps retained the M1903 longer than the Army and the Marines were armed with it when they landed on Guadalcanal in August 1942. However, as M1 Garand production increased, the last M1903A3s were produced in 1944 (the Smith Corona and Remington contracts were canceled in February that year). Even after the Garand entered service, Army and Marine units retained M1903s and M1903A4s for launching grenades until a grenade-launcher became available for the M1 Garand.
Thompson, Leroy. The M1903 Springfield Rifle (Weapon) . Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition.
…
Army and Marine units retained M1903s and M1903A4s for launching grenades until a grenade-launcher became available for the M1 Garand. (Though the M7 grenade-launcher for the Garand was standardized in February 1943, it didn’t really reach the front-line troops in significant numbers until a year later.)
Thompson, Leroy. The M1903 Springfield Rifle (Weapon) . Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition.
…
Due to a lack of M1 Garands, some Army personnel were armed with the M1903 instead. A number of support troops were issued the M1903 throughout the war.
Thompson, Leroy. The M1903 Springfield Rifle (Weapon) . Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition.
…
As late as 1943, there was still a shortage of Garands. Sam Shaw, who went through infantry basic training at Camp McClellan, AL, then served with the 253rd Infantry Regiment (63rd Infantry Division), recalled the issuance of M1903s in 1943 due to shortages of M1 Garands: In basic, we were issued the M1903 Springfield rifle. The M1s were being sent elsewhere at the time. I never did shoot the 03. We did our rifle training towards the end of our basic training. When we went to the rifle range to qualify, they had enough M1s where they could take us in small groups to qualify with it. Then they would swap the rifles from one group to another. A sergeant would take us off to the side and show us how to operate it, load it, and how to get the clip out. He also showed us how to mash our thumbs real good with the bolt if we didn’t get it out of there fast enough. Once I qualified with the M1, they gave me my Springfield back. (Goodwin 2005: 30)
Thompson, Leroy. The M1903 Springfield Rifle (Weapon) . Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition.
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