US Navy with Thompsons

[rpbcps]

In the last week, we have had a post with the pictures of the British Royal Navy and the Norwegian Navys Woman Corps, so thought I'd post a few pictures of the US Navy.

 

Any more pictures? If so, add them here

Edited January 28, 2023 by rpbcps

[allweaponsww2]

 

Fort Sam Houston, September 1942 

 

Death Island: Guadalcanal, 1943

 

Soldiers of the 172nd Infantry Regiment returning to the infirmary in July 1943 on New Georgia

 

Marines during the invasion of Tarawa, November 1943

 

The crew of the USMC M3 "Stuart" light tank posing with their M1911 and M1928A1 Thompson pistols at Bougainville 1944

 

Marine patrol, Cape Gloucester, January 1944

 

Naval raider with a Thompson M1928A1 and a 50-round drum on Bougainville, December 1943. Notice the modified front handle

 

A Marine covers a Bazooka on Okinawa, May 4, 1945

 

Soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Division of the United States during the attack on the city of Shuri. A Marine covers his comrade with a Thompson submachine gun is Davis Hargreaves (b. 1925), on the right is Gabriel Chavarria (b. 1926), he is armed with a BAR automatic rifle. Okinawa, May, 1945

[SP Sarge]

Great photos! Kind of caught my eye for all the comments you see about drums not being used much in combat, many of these phots depict drums in use.

[Got Uzi]

Love those pics. Often wonder how many of the men in those pics survived the war. 

[peter kohler]

what were they using for slings that would be that long?    i know the brits used the bren slings and moved the sling swivel to the top of the buttstock.    i also didnt realize they were using the drums..    thats pretty cool

[rpbcps]

And an improvised vertical foregrip....

"Naval raider with a Thompson M1928A1" 

[Got Uzi]

When WWII started all they had were 20 rd sticks and drums. The 30 round magazine didn’t really come about until the M1 project got rolling. That and guys used what they had. If they had a drum and it still worked, then odds are they used it. A Thompson with an L drum on a fixed position would be a welcome addition

Edited January 29, 2023 by Got Uzi

[rpbcps]

10 minutes ago, Got Uzi said:

When WWII started all they had were 20 rd sticks and drums. The 30 round magazine didn’t really come about until the M1 project got rolling. That and guys used what they had. If they had a drum and it still worked, then odds are they used it. A Thompson with an L drum on a fixed position would be a welcome addition

I guess guys in armoured vehicles favoured drums too, no issues for weight or noise for them.

'USMC M3 "Stuart" light tank' photo above for example.

[reconbob]

In the original post, the second photo (guy with pith helmet) any info of when and where that photo was taken?

 

Bob

[Ivan]

Great pics ! First photo, Two Thompsons, a BAR, a Lewis Gun and a 12 bore riot gun. Sounds like a fun day at the range !

 

[JJX]

4 hours ago, Got Uzi said:

When WWII started all they had were 20 rd sticks and drums. The 30 round magazine didn’t really come about until the M1 project got rolling. That and guys used what they had. If they had a drum and it still worked, then odds are they used it. A Thompson with an L drum on a fixed position would be a welcome addition

 

3 hours ago, rpbcps said:

I guess guys in armoured vehicles favoured drums too, no issues for weight or noise for them.

'USMC M3 "Stuart" light tank' photo above for example.

All true and I think the often repeated idea that US troops disliked L drums is overgeneralized and exaggerated.  Heavy, bulky, sometimes noisy, sure but we have photos showing them used in combat throughout the war.  (They also look good for staged photo ops.)

 My first hand knowledge is limited to my discussions with one retired Marine so I am not saying this was common.  He described beginning an assault with an L drum.  Once empty he would discard it as he did not want to screw with reloading it in the field. After that he would use stick mags. 

Sometimes you have to be very quiet and other times it just doesn’t matter. The issued sling can make more noise than a loaded drum. 

[rpbcps]

1 hour ago, reconbob said:

In the original post, the second photo (guy with pith helmet) any info of when and where that photo was taken?

 

Bob

The caption on the photo said "Carol Ogden USN Niguragua 1930-33".

There is a 2nd photo with the caption "Carol Ogden USN 1930-33 Campo del Marta Nicaragua"

[rpbcps]

7 minutes ago, JJX said:

 

All true and I think the often repeated idea that US troops disliked L drums is overgeneralized and exaggerated.  Heavy, bulky, sometimes noisy, sure but we have photos showing them used in combat throughout the war.  (They also look good for staged photo ops.)

 My first hand knowledge is limited to my discussions with one retired Marine so I am not saying this was common.  He described beginning an assault with an L drum.  Once empty he would discard it as he did not want to screw with reloading it in the field. After that he would use stick mags. 

Sometimes you have to be very quiet and other times it just doesn’t matter. The issued sling can make more noise than a loaded drum. 

That would make sense to me, having served in some combat situations over the years; the 50 rdn L drum would provide some firepower to keep the enemys heads down, but it would be counter productive, trying to refill the drums in a combat situation. 👌

[rpbcps]

13 minutes ago, Ivan said:

Great pics ! First photo, Two Thompsons, a BAR, a Lewis Gun and a 12 bore riot gun. Sounds like a fun day at the range !

 

Yangtze River Patrol in 1932

[chipsaunders]

I believe the photo of the two Marines on Okinawa has been "colorized". It was B/W on the National Archives website. It is a great picture where you can even see an empty case in the air. Definitely an action shot (pun intended).

[Bridgeport28A1]

Posted 17 hours ago

 

Fort Sam Houston, September 1942 

 

Death Island: Guadalcanal, 1943

 

Soldiers of the 172nd Infantry Regiment returning to the infirmary in July 1943 on New Georgia

 

Marines during the invasion of Tarawa, November 1943

 

The crew of the USMC M3 "Stuart" light tank posing with their M1911 and M1928A1 Thompson pistols at Bougainville 1944

 

Marine patrol, Cape Gloucester, January 1944

 

Not a Thompson question but is the rear sight and sight pinion missing from the M1 rifle carried by the second Marine in the Marine patrol, Cape Gloucester, January 1944 photograph?

Edited January 29, 2023 by Bridgeport28A1

[Got Uzi]

I thought that M1 had rear sight issues but I passed it off thinking it was my eyes playing tricks on me. 

[Dpedersen]

Here’s a war effort propaganda film poster. Original and matted on canvas. Kinda morbid, but shows the Thompson pretty well though!

Edited January 31, 2023 by Dpedersen

[rodfarva]

Such amazing photos.  It was truly a different time, but in the grand scheme of things it really wasn't that long ago.  Thanks for sharing.

[reconbob]

This is the photo I am curious about...

Bob

[rpbcps]

6 hours ago, reconbob said:

This is the photo I am curious about...

Bob

Bob,

The caption on the photo said "Carol Ogden USN Niguragua 1930-33".

Hope that helps.

Richard

[halftrack]

So,  looking at the first picture, US troops were issued Thompson’s with vertical foregrips?  I assume those are not colts?

[gijive]

8 hours ago, halftrack said:

So,  looking at the first picture, US troops were issued Thompson’s with vertical foregrips?  I assume those are not colts?

Halftrack,

If the picture was taken prior to 1940, which I assume it is, then yes, they are Colt made guns.

[rpbcps]

The first photo I am lead to believe is one of the Yangtze River Patrols back in 1932. So they were using the Colt Thompson's back then, probably modified to US Navy 1928 specs.

[John Dillinger]

On 1/29/2023 at 12:54 PM, rpbcps said:

I guess guys in armoured vehicles favoured drums too, no issues for weight or noise for them.

'USMC M3 "Stuart" light tank' photo above for example.

Yeah a 50 round L drum in a fixed position would be good for sustained fire especially over 20 round mags. So time consuming to load though. No C drums of course but they would have again been an excellent in a fixed position. Of course all of this would have been surpassed by a 30 Cal team. 
It’s a pity the BAR A2s mag capacity wasn’t increased above 20 rounds given its provenance in a fire fight. 
The British Bren Gun with its 30 round mag, ease of mag change when compared with the BAR plus the quick change barrel may have been a welcome addition to the US weapon system inventory perhaps.

Any thoughts on the BAR versus Bren Gun?