The United States of America

In Part Two of this series, we will be taking a look at the symbols, leaders, tactics, and equipment of each of the major powers. This will be a small selection of archetypes, and is in no way comprehensive, nor does it try to be.

**The flag of the United States, bearing 48 stars throughout the Second World War**

**The roundel of the United States, used during the early stages of the war**

**The updated US roundel used during the latter half of the war, after changes to make it easier to distinguish from Japanese markings**

**The white star emblem used on US ground vehicles**

First elected in 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, known as FDR, had been elected in 1932 and won a second term in 1936. As war loomed in late 1939, there was much speculation that he would run again in 1940 for an unprecedented third term. Roosevelt had come to office early into the Great Depression, running on a platform of reform he termed the “New Deal”, intended to bring the country out of economic stagnation. He was also a savy player in the media, making frequent “fireside chat” radio broadcasts to the population and being the first president to appear on television, at that time a new technology. After his 1936 victory, however, his attempts to alter the composition of the Supreme Court triggered a bipartisan backlash in the US Congress, blocking that and many subsequent New Deal proposals. As war loomed in Europe, Roosevelt made a firm stance that the US would remain neutral, reinforced by the Neutrality Act, but quietly began shifting the US toward rearmament as it became increasingly apparent that German aggression would likely involve the US at some point, as would the more direct threat of Imperial Japan in the Pacific. He would have to contend with the prominent isolationist movement in the United States, who were firmly based on the concept of keeping the US out of international conflicts.

The US infantryman of the Second World War underwent a significant transformation from 1941 to 1945, with the Doughboy of the Great War giving way to the GI. Uniforms evolved from wool affairs similar to their WW1 ancestors to a modern olive drab uniform, with field jacket worn over it in environments that merited it. There would also be a notable differenciation between the US forces in Europe and in the Pacific, as troops in the Pacific, both Army and Marine Corps, would make use of lighter uniforms and camouflage. Gear was made of canvas, with a notable replacement of the ammunition pouches typical of other powers with a cartridge belt, integrating those pouches into it. In addition, the wide brimmed “Doughboy” helmet of the Great War remained in use in 1941, but was quickly replaced with an entirely new design, the M1 “Steel Pot”, which would become one of the most iconic symbols of the US military and the enduring image of a military helmet after the war.

The standard US rifle of the Second World War is the M1, commonly known as the M1 Garand after its designer so as to differentiate it from the large number of other weapons and equipment on inventory also designated as “M1”. The rifle represented a significant achievement in military small arms, as it was the first semi-automatic rifle to achieve full standardization, completely supplanting the older M1903 bolt-action design before the end of the conflict (other designs were in service during the war and before, but only the US M1 was able to truly replace the bolt-action as the most common infantry rifle). It was a gas operated weapon, chambering the .30-06 M2 Ball cartridge and feeding from an eight round en-bloc clip loaded from the top, the empty clip ejecting from the action with the last shell with a characteristic “ping”. The rifle was also fitted with a finely adjustable aperture sight, indicative of the US doctrine of musketry, which had a high focus on marksmanship.

The US would also field a number of other rifles, such as the M1903 Springfield, particularly in the early stages of the war as M1 production was not yet at full capacity. The M1903 would be the primary weapon of the United States in the early battles against Japan, as the new autoloading designs had mostly bee kept in the United States. The older M1917 Enfield, also leftover from the Great War, would see service again as well, albeit in smaller numbers. Later in the war, rear echelon units and scattered front line forces would also make use of the updated M1903A3 Springfield rifle as well, although by that time the M1 had supplanted all bolt action designs in service.

In addition to the M1, the M1941 Johnson rifle would see limited service, primarily with the Marines in the Pacific, and an entirely new class of weapon was developed in the form of the M1 Carbine. This compact weapon was intended to bridge the gap between a handgun and rifle for support troops, and would find favor with paratroopers and even infantry during the war. The weapon fired a unique .30 caliber pistol cartridge from a 15 round detachable magazine, and was in many ways a precursor to the modern concept of the personal defense weapon, or PDW.

The M1911A1 - Wikimedia — **The M1911A1** - *Wikimedia*

The M1911A1 was an update of the older M1911 that had seen service in the Great War, but was not far removed from its predecessor. The weapon was still a semi-automatic handgun chambered in the .45 ACP cartridge, feeding from a seven round magazine. The A1 variant had come about as an amalgamation of several small design improvements, including a smaller hammer and larger “beavertail” on the grip safety to correct the problem of the hammer striking the user’s hand when firing, an altered grip profile for comfort, a larger ejection port for improved reliability, and others. From an operator standpoint, the weapon is basically identical to the battle proven original, notably the largest caliber handgun standardized by a major power.

US submachine guns were based around the iconic Thompson, first designed at the end of the last war and made famous by gangsters during the interwar era. The standard issue type is the simplified M1A1, but even this proves to be complex and expensive, and the weapon is known for excessive recoil from it’s .45 ACP round. This would lead to a program to replace it, resulting during the war with the M3, commonly known as the Grease Gun, which was a very simple weapon made of stamped sheet metal.

US machine guns were essentially all based on the designs of John Browning, including the M1919 light machine gun and its water cooled heavy counterpart the M1917, both in .30-06. The M1918 BAR remained in service as well, bridging the gap between the cumbersome belt-fed M1919 and the infantry rifle. The M2 .50 caliber machine gun, one of the most iconic machine guns of all time, was also in extensive use.

The United States did not have an independent Air Force during the Second World War, instead that role was under the authority of the Army as the United States Army Air Force, or USAAF. Before their involvement in the war the USAAF already began drafting plans for how they would conduct aerial warfare when the nation entered the conflict. The USAAF would operate a large number of types backed by the awesome industrial power of the United States to overwhelm the enemy air forces and establish complete air supremacy. US bombers were generally very well armed and numerous, suited for the daylight bombing strategy favored by American strategists. Unlike the British, they intended to attack only specific military and industrial targets, as opposed to the saturation bombardments favored by the RAF.

US fighters experienced a number of changes during the war. When the war began the primary US fighter was the Curtiss P40, an excellent type at low altitudes but one hampered at higher altitudes due to lacking a good supercharger for its engine. The Republic P47 Thunderbolt, commonly nicknamed the Jug, was one of the largest single engined fighters of the war, and was effective in several roles, but excelled as a fighter bomber. The North American P51 Mustang, although it got off to a slow start, evolved to the P51D model, with distinctive bubble cockpit canopy and its extreme range, allowing it to escort bombers deep into enemy airspace and back, became the primary USAAF fighter type in the second half of the war, and remained so until the end. The USAAF also fielded a very effective twin engined fighter in the Lockheed P38 Lighting, which won great fame in the Pacific, being flown by the top scoring US aces of the war. Finally, the US did deploy the Lockheed P80 Shooting Star jet, although it never saw any action before the end of the war.

The US bomber force consisted of a series of twin engine designs, such as the Dogulas A20 Havoc attack aircraft and the excellent B25 and B26 medium bombers, both of which also were often deployed in the attack role. The Boeing B17 Flying Fortress was a four engined heavy bomber that traded bombload for protection, its smaller bomb bay compensated for by allowing the aircraft to bristle with 13 .50 caliber machine guns. The Consolidated B24 Liberator, although far less glamorous, would also see substantial use during the war, outnumbering the B17s and gaining a good reputation with their crews. In the later stages of the war, the US would also deploy the Boeing B29 Superfortress, an advanced high altitude bomber capable of delivering massive payloads at extreme range.

Despite some promising early proponents of armored warfare emerging from the Great War, the interwar period was not kind to the development of US tank forces. This would change when they observed the success of the German panzers in 1939/1940, and a program would be rapidly launched to expand the US tank forces as well as to adopt modern new designs. This program would lead to the adoption of the M3 Stuart light tank, M4 Sherman medium tank, several dedicated tank destroyers, and, eventually, the M26 Pershing heavy tank.

US tank doctrine had a heavy focus on tank-on-tank engagements, and the simplicity of most American designs, combined with the capacity of American industry, lead to the US being able to count on numerical superiority in almost any tank battle in a coming war. During the conflict, the M4 proved to be more than a match for Italian and Japanese designs, although it struggled to compete with the panzers. The Sherman was boosted, however, by relatively high crew survival rates and ease of repair or even replacement. In addition, the US perfected the combined arms doctrine pioneered in the Great War, with close cooperation between infantry, armor, artillery and air support destroying their enemies with overwhelming force.

Iowa Class Battleship USS Missouri — Iowa Class Battleship *USS Missouri*

In the interwar years the United States had been a signatory of the Washington Naval Treaty, limiting the overall tonnage allowed in capital ships for the Navy. They had, much like the Japanese, moved to compensate for a lack of battleships with aircraft carriers, and a restriction on the number of naval bases led to a focus on longer operational ranges for US warships of the 1930s. The Navy also developed a larger submarine force, although their torpedoes were beset with problems.

Once the war began, the full might of US industry led to the exponential expansion of the United States Navy, growing from approximately 350 warships in 1941 to over 1,200 by the end of the conflict. In so doing, it surpassed the British Royal Navy as the largest and most powerful fleet in the world, proving instrumental in the final victory over Japan.

The United States also operated a number of aircraft carriers even before the war, and from them several dedicated aircraft were procured by the Navy, independent of the Army types. The main fighter at the beginning of the war was the Grumman F4F Wildcat, augmented by the Douglas TBD Devastator torpedo bomber and SBD Dauntless dive bomber. As the war progressed the improved Gumman F6F Hellcat would go on to boast the highest kill ratio of any fighter in the conflict, and the Vought F4U Corsair would become iconic in the service of the US Marines. The outdated Devastator would be replaced by the excellent Grumman TBF Avenger, and the Dauntless would serve throughout the war, augmented by the newer, but less popular, Cutiss SB2C Helldiver.

The Japanese Empire

The Kingdom of Italy

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