Organization of the WWII US Army Infantry Rifle Squad

This video breaks down the infantry's "smallest tactical unit," introducing its basic composition and weapons, plus an examination of squad teams and the Buddy System. It all starts here.

Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
00:28 Squad Organization, Ranks, and Weapons
7:02 Additional BARs and SMGs
9:50 Squad Teams
17:38 The Buddy System

Notes:
1. After further research I was able to pinpoint the implementation of the Able/Baker/Charley squad organization to 29 January 1945. That would be the earliest possible date a G.I. would have trained with those team designations, assuming the training circular went into immediate effect. (Remember, due to a quirk in American periodical publishing that cover-dates magazines one month in advance, the March 1945 issue of The Infantry Journal was actually in readers hands in February of 1945 at about the same time this change to the drill regulations was adopted.)

2. Many of the quotations used in this video were originally compiled during the pursuit of private study and well before I had ever entertained the thought of starting a YouTube channel. As such, I was lax with the citations; they are not up to the standard of my subsequent videos. The final quote in this video was only vaguely credited in my notes to the "Infantry Journal, 1947." Recently, while researching another topic, a fortuitous page-turn led me to the original quote. The updated citation follows.

Edwin R. Shackleton, Jr. (A/71). "Rifle Squad," The Infantry Journal, Vol. 60, No. 4, April 1947, p. 76.

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