Military WI: Fireteam and camoflauge widespread in WWII

When the US Marines started adventuring around in Central America after the introduction of the Thompson, they discovered that much better results could be achieved with the dividing of the squad into three four-man fireteams. However, the military was conservative and forced them back to squad tactics. Communist China developed a three-man fireteam concept during their war with the KMT, and later spread it throughout SE Asia.

Camouflage was experimented with during WWI by the Germans, who further developed it during WWII.

What if these ideas became more prevalent during the interwar period, leading to several major armies adopting them and thoroughly implementing them during WWII?
 

CalBear

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When the US Marines started adventuring around in Central America after the introduction of the Thompson, they discovered that much better results could be achieved with the dividing of the squad into three four-man fireteams. However, the military was conservative and forced them back to squad tactics. Communist China developed a three-man fireteam concept during their war with the KMT, and later spread it throughout SE Asia.

Camouflage was experimented with during WWI by the Germans, who further developed it during WWII.

What if these ideas became more prevalent during the interwar period, leading to several major armies adopting them and thoroughly implementing them during WWII?


Uh...

The Marines used camo across the Pacific starting in mid-1943, becoming commonplace by the end of the year.

Another way to look at it is that the Marines started wearing camo as soon as the gear ordered in mid 1941, when the expectation was fighting in Europe, where camo wasn't nearly as useful as in the jungle.

As you note, the Heer made use of camo, as did the Finss and Soviets during the winter. Additionally, the field uniforms of the Allies, especially the British (and the American, after a few weeks of wear) tended to blend fairly well with the average wood lot background common in much of Western Europe.
 
Calbear hit the nail on the head with the camo. My guess is that if the Marines practiced a fireman team concept in WW2, we might have seen less casualties. The marines would have been in smaller groups moving around in conjunction with other groups all working for the same cause. You could see tactics that were wide spread in OIF in WW2. In a shorter answer, more precise victories with less loss of life.
 
I also mean for all sections of all armies. US Army, British Army, Wermacht Heer, etc all employing the fireteam concept.

And again, camouflage in all forces, more along the lines of the types the Heer experimented with.
 
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