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Great Reising WW2 Original Color Photo


chadaz34
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Very interesting. The M1917s took me by surprise; I didn't think the Marines hung on to any after WWI ended. Were they restricted to training and other Stateside usage or did any make it overseas?

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Lots of peculiarities in that pix.

The M1917s would say Army but the Reisings have to be USMC

The collar insignia appear to be Army style discs rather than the EGA

The leggings would indicate USMC

The blue cord on the bugle says Army infantry

The insignias on the guidons in the large photo are not legible but appear to be crossed rifles meaning Army infantry

 

Look at the insignia barely visible on the hat of the soldier/Marine in the foreground. Airborne?

Edited by StrangeRanger
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Great photo! Right, everything about it says US Army but those Reisings. Confusing! The research I've done says that the Reising was rejected by the US Army, which did not take delivery of any.

 

The Army used M1917 rifles for stateside training early in WWII until production caught up with demand and there were enough M1s to go around. Before that time, M1s went to units immediately before overseas deployment, as did M1 helmets, which were also initially in short supply..

 

My father volunteered for the US Army immediately after Pearl Harbor, and was proud of his regular army service number. He completed basic training at Camp Maxie, TX, where he was issued an M1917 rifle in cosmoline. He shot expert with it. Then, it was off to Norman, Oklahoma where he attended college under the ASTP program. When the program was abolished, he went to Ft. Leonard Wood, MO, where he joined the new 147th Combat Engineer Battalion, which became part became part to the 6th Engineer Special Brigade. He was the only member of his beach classification team not killed on Omaha beach. He went on to earn two awards of the Croix d'Guerre and five campaign stars, ending the war in Czechoslovakia.

 

M1917 rifles were not deployed overseas in WWII. Support units (MPs, etc.) with a need for rifles in combat theaters were issued M1903 & '03A3 rifles.

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Or possibly one of the "home guard" type units some states organized to replace the National Guard after it was folded into the Army for the duration? That would help explain the dated rifles and the presence of non-standard weapons (the Reisings.) Does anyone know if NY organized this type of a unit?

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chadaz34, Great photos!

 

I particularly like the one with all of the slung binocular cases. Everybody has a set. They must have just been issued.

Edited by TSMGguy
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Or possibly one of the "home guard" type units some states organized to replace the National Guard after it was folded into the Army for the duration? That would help explain the dated rifles and the presence of non-standard weapons (the Reisings.) Does anyone know if NY organized this type of a unit?

 

It appears that they did.

 

https://dmna.ny.gov/historic/articles/NYG_WW2_Stenzel.pdf

 

That article describes the uniforms pictured, as well as 1917's and Reisings.

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M1917 rifles were not deployed overseas in WWII.

 

TSMGguy,

 

Yes they were. However, the context of your statement was likely intended as U.S. troop use overseas in WWII combat. M1917's were deployed in large numbers for training of Chinese Nationalist troops by U.S. instructors in the CBI theatre, and the Chinese certainly used them in combat against the Japanese.

 

I wrote an article in 2014 that has not yet been published, but has now been scheduled to be published. It covers the M1917 in WWII CBI theatre training, and focuses on a previously undocumented U.S. small arms variation.

 

David Albert

dalbert@sturmgewehr.com

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