Company Weapons
In discussing the Rifle Company I deliberately omitted the question of support weapons maintained within the Company itself. Though it was done in an effort to speed the project along, it was not an entirely unsound decision.
The presence of a fire support element within the Rifle Company was by no means a universal arrangement, and enjoyed an unbroken existence only within the US Army. Both the German and Russian armies issued light mortars and heavy machine guns in varying allocations, complicating any serious study. The British Army never deployed separate Support Sections in their ordinary Rifle Companies, though 3 inch mortars were issued to specialists units.
There is an argument that light mortars and heavy machine guns within Rifle Companies present an unnecessary diversion. The tactical considerations for using mortars and machine guns are already detailed in the Weapons Company segment. The heavy machine guns found at Company level operated in the same manner as those in the Weapons company, so there is no sense in duplicating the discussion.
Light mortars were handled in a slightly different way however. The major consideration was their much reduced range over the medium models. This was most apparent with the Russian 50 mm, which was originally a Platoon weapon. The commander could do little more than concentrate the fire of his two or three tubes in an effort to increase their effect. The US 60 mm and German 8 cm Kurzer offered more flexibility. Their greater range meant they could be combined with a forward observer, normally keeping in contact via field telephone as opposed to radio. The Red Army 50 mm could only be corrected by the gunner watching the fall of his own shot. These technical limitations aside, there really is not much more to say than is not contained in the Weapons Company segment.
There were two other types of fire support available to the Rifle Company which do require separate examination, namely infantry anti-tank weapons and the sniper. Assault Pioneers were originally going to feature here also, but I have decided to cover them at a later date along with Engineers.
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Infantry Tactics of World War Two