tdracer (your #56),
...One thing claimed in the book was that researchers had discovered that well over half of the soldiers in WWII (all sides) were sufficiently adverse to killing that they either didn't fire their weapons, or intentionally fired to not hit anyone. I thought this rather hard to believe so I asked my dad about it. His response was strange - along the line of 'that's a very interesting claim'. I got the very distinct feeling it was something he really didn't want to talk about. Knowing my dad, I find it hard to believe that it applied directly to him...
Longer ago than I can clearly remember, I read a statement somewhere that, in WWI, roughly 700 rounds of small arms ammo were fired for every single casualty from rifle or MG fire. Don't ask me how the figures were arrived at !
Even today, we see scenes of fire-fight on TV, in which a chap pokes his head out of cover, blasts a dozen rounds off a Kalashnikov in the general direction of the opposition, then dives back in again with absolutely no idea of aiming at all.
Conversely, my Dad told me of the "Mad Minute" they were trained for in WW1. This consisted of taking up a fixed position (kneeling on one leg, or prone), then firing 15
aimed shots with the SMLE in one minute at a visible enemy, then rising, advancing or retreating a few yards as circumstances directed, then having another "Mad Minute", and so on.
I believe that this tactic, during the Mons Retreat, caused the advancing Germans to hugely over-estimate the number of machine guns our Expeditionary Force had at its disposal.
Danny.