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Posted: 10/10/2016 2:57:07 PM EDT
How many sniper rifles were available to a WW II Army infantry company?
Link Posted: 10/11/2016 6:58:09 PM EDT
[#1]
In a nutshell? None.
The US Army had very little interest in sniping between the wars, and during WW2, there were exactly no snipers listed on the TO&E of an infantry company. There's very little info about sniping in WW2 from the US Army side available anywhere...it just wasn't common. There were sniper rifles made, of course, but many of those sat in armories, never issued. Some specialist troops-Rangers, for example- learned to use them, but they were far from common. The US Marines had sniper rifles and even had scout platoons that integrated a sniper section, but it was far from an institutional thing even for them.
Basic line infantry companies would not have had access to sniper rifles, or anyone who knew how to use them effectively if they did. It wasn't till Korea that sniping became a "thing", and even then it was kind of considered a dirty job. Not until Vietnam did there exist any kind of real, formalized training and standards for sniping.
Link Posted: 10/12/2016 10:47:07 PM EDT
[#2]
Cammobunker is dead on here.  I looked at a few TO&E's and didn't see anything.  I'm sure they were there, just not down on anything official.  From the personal accounts I've read and from what one of my Dads friends said who was a sniper in WW2 was basically, "Hey who's the best shot in the company?"  Then as my Dads friend said, "I told Top I qualified expert in basic, and I was handed an '03 and told to shoot some Krauts with it."  Other stories I've read and heard was they zeroed them quickly and went out on the line with them.  No training just make it up as you go along.  Common sense was the biggest component in these matters.

My Dads friend said they looked for NCO's and officers.  If none were seen, they plugged the first German they saw.  Then as the war went on and they got into Germany they shot boars to supplement their rations.  Sniping then was nothing like it is now.  Also the fighting in Europe probably didn't lend itself as suitable like it did for the Marines in the Pacific.  

Link Posted: 10/13/2016 12:35:09 AM EDT
[#3]
Availability differed unit by unit, but AFAIK usually it was one team per company, sometimes one sniper per platoon. About 30,000 1903A4 rifles were made, more going to the Army than the USMC. In addition there were M1C, M1D kits that could upgrade rack M1 rifles though that weren't very good. In Okinawa specialist units were given M1 Carbines with Infrared scopes, that killed a while lot of Japs.

Here's a link that may help point you in the right direction.
http://warships1discussionboards.yuku.com/topic/24475/Query-US-snipers-in-WWII
Link Posted: 10/14/2016 11:49:12 PM EDT
[#4]
Thanks guys.  I know the US Army didn't do much if anything with respects to snipers or sniper training. Yet 03A4s were issued and haphazardly issued.

During WW II the USMC on the other hand had sniper schools on both coasts.

BTW, I got my answer and it's 9 rifles per battalion, or one per platoon.  There was no guarantee that those rifles would be issued either.
Link Posted: 10/30/2016 8:09:59 PM EDT
[#5]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Cammobunker is dead on here.  I looked at a few TO&E's and didn't see anything.  I'm sure they were there, just not down on anything official.  From the personal accounts I've read and from what one of my Dads friends said who was a sniper in WW2 was basically, "Hey who's the best shot in the company?"  Then as my Dads friend said, "I told Top I qualified expert in basic, and I was handed an '03 and told to shoot some Krauts with it."  Other stories I've read and heard was they zeroed them quickly and went out on the line with them.  No training just make it up as you go along.  Common sense was the biggest component in these matters.

My Dads friend said they looked for NCO's and officers.  If none were seen, they plugged the first German they saw.  Then as the war went on and they got into Germany they shot boars to supplement their rations.  Sniping then was nothing like it is now.  Also the fighting in Europe probably didn't lend itself as suitable like it did for the Marines in the Pacific.  

View Quote

Was your dad's friend issued a scoped 03?  

My own research shows a haphazard approach towards issuing scoped rifles.  Few had anything in the way of training and most guys who were issued it were untrained.
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