Grendel LMG

[LRRPF52]

Do you have access to a copy of Sturmgever: From Firepower to Striking Power by Hans-Dieter Handrich (Collector Grade Publications)? FWIW, it says (in Chapters 9 and 11) the Germans actually considered equipping all members of the squad with assault rifles and eliminating the squad LMG. After some experimentation, it looks like they concluded that platoons consisting of two 7-man assault squads equipped with assault rifles and one 7-man MG squad equipped with two MGs (along with an HQ platoon consisting of the platoon leader, two messengers, a liter bearer and three rifle grenadiers) worked best (page 274, under the heading "Configuring the Optimum MP-Platoon). That was in 1944.

I can't find the exact passage I was looking for. It may be in another Collector Grade book, Full Circle, about the Stg 45, CETME, G3 and other roller-locked and roller-delayed designs.

By 1944, they were running into serious issues of manpower loss from the failed Eastern campaign, where 2/3 of the Wehrmacht actually spent its effort under the Strategic bungling of Hitler.

The Wehrmacht Infantry Squad in the beginning of World War II included 10 men, a Squad Leader and 9 Infantrymen, all initially armed with Karabiner 98 Kurz. In 1941, the MP40 SMG was issued to Squad Leaders. The MG team had a gunner, AG, and AB initially.

I can see why they would be forced to make do with two 7-man Squads and one 7-man MG section. The Eastern Front cost them 1.106 million KIA, 1.018 MIA, and 3.5 million wounded/sick.

The North Africa/Italy campaign alone cost the German Army 50,481 KIA.

In contrast, the US military entire death toll for all branches during WWII was 407,316, with US Army sustaining 318,274 (234,874 battle, 83,400 nonbattle), including North Africa, the Pacific, and ETO.

So it's an interesting discussion because you start to see the connection between strategic limitations of manpower and how it's connected down to operational Squad sizes, which is really one of the biggest problems for us currently.