US World War II and Korean War Field Fortifications 1941–53The US Army and Marine Corps in World War II considered themselves highly mobile, offensive forces. Their mobile-warfare doctrine envisioned field fortifications and obstacles as temporary in nature. As a result, their design was simple and made use of local materials, and they could be constructed comparatively quickly, whilst still providing adequate protection. By the time of the Korean War, only minor changes had been made to field fortification construction and layout, and to small-unit organization, weapons, and tactics. This title addresses field fortifications built by US infantrymen during World War II and in Korea, and covers rifle-platoon positions, trenches, crew-served weapon positions, bunkers, dugouts, shelters, observation posts and anti-tank obstacles. |
Contents
| 4 | |
| 5 | |
Special Defensive Principles | 9 |
Building And Manning The Defenses | 11 |
Conduct Of The Defense | 16 |
Field Artillery | 17 |
Defensive Firepower | 19 |
Antitank Weapons | 21 |
CrewServed Weapon Emplacements | 34 |
Trenches And Shelters | 41 |
Obstacles | 45 |
Types Of Obstacles | 46 |
Theater Specific Defenses | 48 |
Northwest Europe | 49 |
The Pacific | 50 |
Korea | 53 |
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US World War II and Korean War Field Fortifications 1941–53 Gordon L. Rottman No preview available - 2005 |
Common terms and phrases
81mm mortar AA guns allowed artillery fire assistant gunner attack avenues of approach barbed wire bazookas bunkers camouflage combat concealment concertina construction counterattack crest crew crew-served weapons deep defensive positions defilade earth enemy established field fortifications fields of fire fighting positions final protective fire Firing ports firing positions firing step flanks front frontage frontline German Guadalcanal HMGs hole howitzer infantry battalion Korean Korean War layer LMGs located logs M2 mortar machine gun manual materials observation and fire occupied one-man foxholes outposts overhead cover parapet patrols pickets prone shelters Rangers rear areas recoilless rifles regimental reserve revetting ridges rifle companies rifle platoons rock sandbags screw pickets sectors of fire seldom sides slit trenches slopes special trenches SPOIL squad stake strongpoints sump support platoon tank destroyers terrain troops two-man foxholes vegetation wall weapons company weapons emplacements wide wire obstacles