Airborne and garands

I don't know if some of the troopers jumped with M-1's or if they reequipped with them fairly quickly, but google images has a number of photos of men from both divisions in France armed with Garands.

Hope this helps,

Tom

They jumped with Garands. The standard TO&E for Parachute Infantry rifle squads had them equipped with M1 Garands. Carbines were for troopers who we not riflemen- bazookamen, drivers, assistant gunners on machine gun squads, etc. Thompson and Grease guns were usually issued at one per squad to an NCO. In Normandy the Paratroops were issued a "griswold bag" which was designed for the M1 to be carried in and attached to the chute harness. The drawback of that bag was that it required the M1 to be broken down into its' two main components, thus requiring assembly on the ground after landing, a big drawback on a combat jump. After Normandy the Griswold bags were modified  with an extension to allow the M1 to be carried assembled. After WWII, the M-1951 weapons case was developed for the same purpose, and is still in use to today when jumping with weapons (not exposed).

The Griswold bag is not to be confused with the British Leg Bag used by US paratroopers for the Overlord jump.

Thanks for all the good info guys

Raualduke, stikpusher is correct.  The majority of rifle, or "line" company paratroopers in the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions carried M1 Garand rifles in Normandy.  Obviously, there was also a mixture of M1A1 (folding-stock) carbines, Thompson and M3 ("Grease Gun") submachine guns among the troopers, but their main weapon was the venerable M1 rifle.

I've heard some reports the M1 Carbine was less than well loved by troops issued with it, too. Although light, and with a larger magazine than the Garand, the .30 Winchester cartridge fired by the carbine was much weaker in hitting power and range compared to a .30-06 round fired by a Garand.

On this stick rigging up for the Normandy drop, you can see that they have a mixture of Thompsons and Garands. All appear to be rigging up to drop with weapons exposed.

when rigged to jump weapons exposed, the weapon is supposed to be slung over the shoulder, muzzle down, and secured to the troopers harness by the belly band of the main chute wrapped over the weapon as seen below

These troopers have their weapons in Griswold bags attached to their harness under their reserve chute.

and while this photo is probably from Market Garden (unless the ground crews have not yet finished painting on the invasion stripes) this shows a mix of Griswold Bags and weapons exposed , M1A1 carbines

the same for this photo (possible Market Garden timeframe), which shows the scabbard for jumping a M1A1 carbine attached to the harness on the trooper in the center of the photo

and here is a Griswold bag with the M1 broken down to fit inside. While it only takes a few seconds to assemble and load after landing, it is still not the best way to jump into hostile territory

I hope this info helps out...

Thanks stikpusher and all you guys . Great photos !

That is the best photo I I have ever seen of an m1 broken down in a griswald bag. Where did you find it?

I did a google image search for "Griswold bag" and it was one of the early hits.

Thanks

Youre very welcome. I have a deep fascination with the history of the US Army Airborne and all things related. So much so that I had to try it myself. I may not be an expert on all things related, but I like to think that I can find most answers concerning these great heroes of mine.

stikpusher,

The first two paratrooper photos you posted have been identified by historian/author Mark Bando, and the third by authors Terry Poyser and Bill Brown. 

#1 is the HQ/3rd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division stick, jumpmaster Lt. Alex Bobuck at the extreme right. They were photographed and filmed outside (and inside) 3rd Battalion CO Lt. Col. Robert Wolverton's C-47 "Stoy Hora" by a Signal Corps film crew on Sunday, June 4th, 1944. 

#2 is of Sgt. Joe Gorenc, S-2 (Intelligence) sergeant of HQ/3/506th, boarding 3rd Battalion CO Lt. Col. Robert Wolverton's C-47 "Stoy Hora" on June 5th, 1944.

#3 is of paratroopers of F ("Fox") Co., 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division boarding their C-47 on June 5th, 1944.  The trooper standing at the left front is Orel Lev, and the trooper at right front is Ken Hull.