Bruce, enjoyed reading this. While I'm no expert on the wartime TO&Es, I can say that the numerical variance of the Army/Marine rifle company still held true until the reorganization associated with the F-100 Series March '44, which included the elimination of the Weapons Company from the battalion. I'm curious whether that is the primary reason for that variance.
Fox Co, 2/23, for example, received 46 Marines from the Weapons Company, "H" Co. as permanent company members on 3 March '44. That generally brought the company up to newly prescribed strength -- slightly less. And, as you note, a signature of that reorganization was the creation of the four-man fire team. It was really this change for which the veteran leaders of Guadalcanal were calling...including Merritt Edson and Lew Walt.
What gets truly fascinating (and bewildering) is that further additions from the F-100 such as flamethrowers, bazookas, and later, assault demolitions led different rifle companies, even within the same battalion, to create their own organizational solutions to putting those weapons to work. What we'll find is that the TO&E prescribed the weapons in the rifle company, but did not provide for specific personnel to operate or service them. So they found their own solutions. RCT 24 reported something of a unified solution throughout, but we know that "E" and "F" 2/23 organized differently.
Bruce, enjoyed reading this. While I'm no expert on the wartime TO&Es, I can say that the numerical variance of the Army/Marine rifle company still held true until the reorganization associated with the F-100 Series March '44, which included the elimination of the Weapons Company from the battalion. I'm curious whether that is the primary reason for that variance.
Fox Co, 2/23, for example, received 46 Marines from the Weapons Company, "H" Co. as permanent company members on 3 March '44. That generally brought the company up to newly prescribed strength -- slightly less. And, as you note, a signature of that reorganization was the creation of the four-man fire team. It was really this change for which the veteran leaders of Guadalcanal were calling...including Merritt Edson and Lew Walt.
What gets truly fascinating (and bewildering) is that further additions from the F-100 such as flamethrowers, bazookas, and later, assault demolitions led different rifle companies, even within the same battalion, to create their own organizational solutions to putting those weapons to work. What we'll find is that the TO&E prescribed the weapons in the rifle company, but did not provide for specific personnel to operate or service them. So they found their own solutions. RCT 24 reported something of a unified solution throughout, but we know that "E" and "F" 2/23 organized differently.