The American infantry, in its activities and tactics, especially during the fighting in the Mediterranean (1942-1945) and during the fighting in North-Western Europe (1944-1945), attached a relatively large role to machine guns. In the American squad from 1943, which numbered 12 soldiers, there was one soldier armed with a BAR manual machine gun. On the other hand, at the company level, the so-called weapons platoon armed inter and others, one 12.7mm M2 and three 7.62mm M1919s. At the infantry battalion level, there was also an organic unit with machine guns - the so-called weapons company with a total of 11 machine guns. Machine guns - from squad to company level - were also seen as the primary and necessary support in an attack by US infantry. It was also an important element in the conduct of defensive operations, and its role in these actions in the American infantry tactics was even greater. However, it is often assumed that the tactic of using machine weapons in defense by the American troops was inferior to that used by the German army during World War II.
The American armed forces first encountered the use of mortars on a large scale only during World War I, and more precisely in its final period - in the years 1917-1918. In the 1920s, the US Army conducted tests and carried out theoretical work, which was to lead to the development of possibly consistent tactics and concepts for the use of this weapon in infantry units. However, the first modern mortars began to appear on a large scale in the American armed forces only at the beginning of World War II, when two basic types of mortars came into use: the 60 mm M2 and 81 mm M1 mortars. The first was treated as a company and platoon support weapon, and was seen as a kind of intermediate link between the hand grenade and the M1 mortar. The M1 mortar, on the other hand, was treated as a support weapon at the company and regiment level. Both these mortars proved to be effective and easy to use. They also remained in service after 1945. They were used in combat during the fighting in the Pacific, in Italy, as well as in Normandy and North-Western Europe.