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Infantry Small Arms and Personal
Equipment
The bolt-action rifle
remains the standard infantry small arm, generally superseded by the
semi-automatic rifle throughout the period. The carbine and
SMG achieve wide military use. Primitive rifle grenades are
widely used, some with limited anti-armor capabilities.
Infantry Support Weapons
Both the
light autogun and the automatic rifle are introduced as
squad-level support weapons. Lighter mortars are available to
company- and platoon-sized units and are capable of firing chemical
rounds. The increase in the importance of armored vehicles
leads to the introduction of a variety of anti-armor infantry
support weapons, the most important of them being the one-shot
disposable anti-armor grenade launcher and the individually-loaded
anti-armor rocket launcher. Both weapons rely on the hollow-charge
principle (referred to here as high-explosive, armor-piercing, or
HEAP). Light, low-velocity field guns are used at the
regimental/brigade level as infantry-support pieces, firing HE,
smoke, and chemical rounds. Toward the end of the period, HEAP
rounds are also added.
Artillery Weapons
All tube-firing weapons are now quick-firing
with field artillery in the 7-10 cm range, medium artillery in the
12-15 cm range, and heavy artillery in the 15+ cm range. The
basic rounds are HE, smoke, and chemical. The first crude
rocket-launchers are introduced. Toward the end of the period
the large strategic missile is introduced, though it is not capable
of carrying a nuclear warhead.
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