Heavy Weapons Company, Rifle Regiment - FM 7-15 War Department Field Manual

Section I. Composition, armament, and equipment 1-6 II. Tactical employment of heavy weapons company.- 7-1B ■ 1. Composition. — a. Company. — The heavy weapons company consists of a company headquarters, two caliber.30 heavy machine-gun platoons, and one 81-ram mortar platoon. (See fig. 1.) For details of organization, armament, and equipment, see Tables of Organization and Table of Basic Allowances. b. Company headquarters. — (1) The company headquarters is composed of a command group and an administration group. (2) The command group consists of the company commander, reconnaissance officer, first sergeant, reconnaissance and signal sergeant, transport sergeant, motor mechanics, bugler, orderly, and messengers. Chauffeurs who drive the command trucks assigned to company headquarters, and basic privates, are included in the command group. (3) The administration group consists of the supply sergeant, mess sergeant, cooks and cooks' helpers, armorerartificer, and the company clerk. c. Platoons. — For composition, refer to figure 1 and see paragraphs 78 and 154. Piguke 1; — Composition of heavy weapons company. (See T/O 7-18.) ■ 2. Capabilities and Limitations of Heavy Machtke Gun. — The caliber,30 heavy machine gun is a crew-served weapon capable of delivering a large volume of continuous fire. Medium rate of fire (125 rounds per minute) can be sustained indefinitely. Rapid fire (250 rounds per minute) can be fired for several minutes, but steaming will occur Within 2 or 3 minutes. Because of its fixed mount, the heavy machine gun is capable of delivering overhead fires and of firing accurately at night from predetermined data. Due to the length of the beaten zone (horizontal pattern of dispersion) enfilade fire is the most effective type of fire delivered by this weapon. When overhead fires are not possible or desirable, fires are directed through gaps between riflemen or groups of riflemen. Gaps may be created and maintained for such fire. a. Mobility. — After being removed from its weapon carrier, the heavy machine gun and its crew have the same sustained mobility for a considerable distance as have riflemen. Eventually, however, fatigue will cause the crew to fall behind, beyond supporting distance. Hand-carry of ammunition for distances much in excess of 500 yards greatly increases the problem of maintaining an adequate supply of ammunition at the gun. Weapon carriers must be used, therefore, to the limit of their capabilities in transporting the machine guns and supplying them with ammunition. See limitations on the use of weapon carriers, paragraph 6b (2). b. Manges. — (1) The effective range of the machine gun, employing direct fire, is limited by observation. Observation will rarely be effective beyond 2,000 yards. (2) The effectiveness of the machine gun, employing indirect fire, is limited by its maximum effective range and by the facilities for obtaining accurate firing data. (See FM 23-45 and 23-55.) c. Vulnerability. — An enemy will search for the location ol machine guns. The distinctive noise of firing, the muzzle blast, dust clouds caused by firing, and the silhouette of the gun, all tend to disclose its location. Therefore, firing positions should, whenever practicable, be selected in position defilade or partial defilade. See paragraph 25b (3) and figures 7, 8, and 9. When time permits, the machine gun should be well dug in. For machine-gun emplacements, see appendix I and figures 28, 29, and 30. d. Targets. — The hostile target most dangerous, at the moment, to friendly troops is the primary target.

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