This new all-color reference provides engaging insights into the main infantry weapons of the five largest protagonists of World War II-Germany, Japan, Russia, the United States, and Great Britain, with particular attention to the actual roles these weapons played in battlefield combat encounters. Comparing axis to allies-who had the upper hand, the fair (or unfair) advantage-author Jan Suermondt examines the physical details (and provides current collector values) of over 150 small arms, including revolvers, pistols, rifles, submachine guns, machine guns, mortars, grenades, and mines.Readers are introduced to the types of weapons used during the war; how five years of war saw the needs and types of weapons change; as well as the technological advances during the period (paying particular attention to antitank weapons). More than 500 photographs, including actual war images, present a masterful visual iconography of some of the most important weapons carried into combat-the U.S. Army's BAR, the British Ben, the German Schmeisser, and the Russian Degtaryev DP/DPM.… (more)