According to my husband, a platoon would most certainly have a radio operator. After all they would have to call in for artillery rounds etc. Combat engineer units would not be any different than any other army unit.

I have a friend who was in the signal corps and was under General McAuliffe. I can ask him some questions. I'm sure the other vets who frequent this forum will be able to pitch in their two cents.

For you and others, I am going to post some info on the signal corps and radios in WWII.

http://www.gordon.army.mil/AC/WWII/WWIIINTR.HTM

http://www.gordon.army.mil/AC/WWII/34SIGCO.HTM

I commanded an Engineer Company © during WW11. We were authorized ONLY ONE radio / company. Never had more!!! My operator was T/4 Ernest Besperska, after the war he changed his name to Besper. Much of our messages traffic was by motorcycle runner untill mid-war, then they were taken from us.

Thank you Al! Any others want to comment on radios in their units?

Was reading this on a site: http://www.warchronicle.com/staffsyeo/sold...ii/meredith.htm

--------

“My Sunray is gone.â€

On the radio net the commander is normally referred to as “Sunray†in radio-telephone jargon. So a tank commander, if you’re talking about him, is the “Sunrayâ€.

I can remember the voice of somebody (whose tank commander had obviously been killed) coming on and repeatedly saying, “My Sunray is gone. What shall I do?†Repeatedly saying this until he got an answer, and I suppose the answer was you just get on with it.

But I remember that voice because it was somebody who didn’t know what to do in those circumstances and I could feel for him obviously.

I think one thing we weren’t trained well in all our years of training was getting down to that sort of basic. I was lucky in that I had been to a regiment where we were taught something about tactics, we had a stint commanding tanks and that sort of thing but generally once that had finished you weren’t taught how to cope with that sort of thing. I would have thought that was really an essential. On D-Day, particularly those poor people on Omaha beach, couldn’t have known really what they were going in to...

Through the eyes of a radioman. He lists some of the equipment and talks about landing at Normandy, etc.

http://www.smecc.org/albert.htm

All about "handie-talkies" WWII.

http://www.privateline.com/war/personalcom.html

------------------------------------

History of the Signal Corps

"Service: Story of the Signal Corps"

http://www.lonesentry.com/gi_stories_bookl...ts/signalcorps/

RADIO, WWII

A Working Bibliography

Childs, Harwood L., and Whitton, John B., eds. Propaganda by Short

Wave. Princeton, NJ: Univ Press, 1942. 355 p. D810P6P76.

Meo, L.D. Japan's Radio War on Australia, 1941-1945. London:

Melbourne U.P., 1968. 300 p. D810P7J362.

Rolo, Charles J. Radio Goes to War. NY: Putnam's, 1942. 293 p.

D798R6.

U.S. Army. 2d Mobile Radion Broadcasting Co. History - Second

Mobile Radio Broadcasting Company, December 1943-May 1945.

n.p., n.d. 89 p. 2101-2MRB-1945, UHRm.

_________. Signal Corps. Walkie-Talkie-Past, Present and Future.

Ft. Monmouth, NJ: Sig Corps Engr Lab, 1951. 10 p. UG610U6.

U.S. War Dept. German Radio Communication Equipment. TM 11-227, Jun

1944. 55 p. TM.

_________. Radio Set SCR-593-A. TM 11-859, 2 Mar 1943. 83 p.

TM.

_________. Signal Communication Equipment Directory, Radio

Communication Equipment. TM 11-227, 10 Apr 1944. 124 p. TM.

USAMHI Commo - Radio

RefBranch

dv 1985

NOTE: RADIO MINIATURIZATION & TRANSISTORS, WWII

A search of sources uncovered no indication that the 82d Abn Div used

miniaturized vacuum tubes or other small-scale radio components

during Operation MARKET-GARDEN. The signal equipment of US abn divs

at that time appears standard and non-miniaturized, even though the

pertinent technology existed, having already been proven in the

proximity fuze program.

Published and unpublished histories of the 82d and 101st Abn Divs,

XVIII Abn Corps and First Allied Abn Army contain no details of

actual signal equipment used; instead, they concentrate on operations

and combat. The same holds true for the pertinent published memoirs

and biographies. Even the microfilm records of the 82d Div on file

here lack detailed reports of the G-4 and Signal Section.

The radios used by the airborne divisions are listed in General Board

Report No 16, pp. 8-9, 30 & 32 (D769A5no16). See also Technical

Manuals 11-242 (Feb 1946), 11-235 (May 1945), and 11-615 (Apr 1945),

which reveal ordinary tubes in several of those standard radios. No

hint of miniaturization appears in the descriptions and illustrations

of the radio sets in pertinent articles, from Signal Corps Technical

Information Letter No 23 (Oct 1943), pp. 37-38 & 42-45, and No 30

(May 1944), pp. 25-28.

Miniaturization of some electronic equipment did occur during the

war, most notably in the British-initiated variable time or proximity

fuze, which was, in effect, a miniaturized radar set and included

miniaturized vacuum tubes. However, commensurate miniaturization did

not apparently take place in other wartime electronics. Although the

war's radios progressively became more lightweight and small, no

tactical model appears to have been sufficiently reduced to be

considered miniaturized.

Furthermore, a monograph by William Stevenson, "Miniaturization and

Microminiaturization of Army Communications-Electronics, 1946-1964"

(US Army Material Command, 1966) asserts that wartime mimiaturiza-

tion technology was limited electronically to the proximity fuze.

(The monography is not on file here, but its contents were reported

by Archivist Simchick, Historians Office, Communications-Electronics

Research Command, Ft Monmouth, NJ). In short, radio miniaturization

awaited postwar development.

Miniaturization p.2

SOURCES:

Baldwin, Ralph B. The Deadly Fuze. San Rafael, CA: Presidio, 1980.

UL400.71P7B34.

Baxter, James P. Scientists Against Time. Boston: Little, Brown,

1947. pp. 226, 232-233, & 241. Q127U6B34.

Johns Hopkins Univ. Opns Research Office. Effectiveness of

Miniature Radios in Small Infantry Units. Chevy Chase, MD,

1956. pp. 7 & 97. ORO-T-338.

Smith, Merritt Roe. Military Enterprise and Technological Change:

Perspectives on the American Experience. Cambridge, MA: MIT

Press, 1985. UL170M55.

See Chap 6 on transistor development.

Thompson, George R., and Harris, Dixie R. The Signal Corps: The

Outcome. In the USAWWII series. Wash, DC: OCMH, 1966. pp.

504-505. D769A533v6pt5v3.

U.S. Army. Signal Corps Engineering Laboratories. Walkie-Talkie:

Past, Present & Future. Ft Monmouth, NJ, 1950s. UG610U6.

Although no US tactical radio became miniaturized during the war, the

SCR 695 was indeed a lightweight model. It replaced the SCR 284 in

the abn divs. One can compare the two radio sets in the War Dept's

Radio Communication Equipment: Technical Manual 11-227, (Apr 1944),

pp. 58 & 115. The SCR 694's tubes themselves appear standard size,

as seen in depictions of its internal components in TM 11-230c, (Aug

1944) pp. 51, 53, 63, & 66. The 694 model appears to be little more

than a compressed version of the 284.

We can be reasonably certain that the 82d Abn Div actually used SCR

694s during opns in Holland. According to the div's G-4 Journal (on

microfilm WWII Docs, Box 2041, item 2063) such sets were items of

resupply.

Incidentally, the British B mk II wireless, which was used during the

war by SOE for clandestine opns, appears to be about the same weight

but more compact than the US SCR 694. The British set is described

on p. 102 of Foot's SOE in France (London: HMSO, 1966; D802F8F6).

Could it be that British lightweight radio technology was borrowed by

the US Signal Corps to develop a lightweight tactical radio, such as

the SCR 694?

Miniaturization p.3

Incidentally, no info was found in sources on file here of any

significant radio communications problems experienced by US abn divs

during MARKET-GARDEN opn, which contrasts with those that plagued the

British 1st Abn Div. See:

Galvin, John R. Air Assault: The Development of Airmobile Warfare.

NY: Hawthorne, 1969. pp. 188-189. UD480G3.

Golden, Lewis. Echoes from Arnhem. London: Kimber, 1984. 197 p.

D759.6G65.

Participant focuses on signal aspects.

Hibbert, Christopher. The Battle of Arnhem. NY: Macmillan, 1962.

pp. 95-97. D763N4H48.

MacDonald, Charles B. The Siegfried Line Campaign. In the USAWWII

series. Wash, DC: OCMH, 1963. D769A533v3pt6.

See index under "Radio."

Ryan, Cornelius. A Bridge Too Far. NY: Simon & Schuster, 1974.

D763N4R9.

See index under "Operation Market-Garden: Communications

Problems."

Foxhole Radios - GI's get inventive!

http://members.aol.com/djadamson7/articles...es/foxhole.html

http://www.bizarrelabs.com/foxhole3.htm

WWII Transmitter - T-22/ARC-5

WWII Radio Receiver

WWII Field Phone

This is a Key WT 8 Amp key enclosed in a sheet metal case with two canvas leg straps to secure it to the leg of the radio operator. It was widely used in vehicles during WWII.

http://members.cox.net/w1vet/military/key42

WOW!!! What a wealth of information! I found myself exploring these links and more. Thanks for the time & effort put into this.

Al - A friend of mine who drove jeep for B Company, 327th Engineers emailed me privately and said, as you did, that their radio was at Company level. He said it was medium sized, about 6x8x12 inches and could be carried as a back pack - not a walky talky.

Thanks, Everyone.

Laurie

could be carried as a back pack - not a walky talky.

A "walkie-talkie" was carried on the back, usually on a back board. The handie-talkie is the small hand-held radio with short range.

I wanted to reply to this but I'm not at home and don't have access to my resources.

Steve

Things you learn on this forum: For 65 years I thought the hand held radio was THE walkie-Talkie? NOW you tell me the Company Commanders radio was the walkie-talkie!

Every radio operator should know their hardware, Thus I stand corrected.

I am still a little confused by http://www.olive-drab.com/od_electronics_scr536.php can some one explain.

Ah yes, the good old walkie talkie radio (the SCR-300) The Infantries favorite as it

had a range of about 5 miles. A back pack radio, being powered by a battery pack wieghing about half the wieght of the complete unit. Also the famed handie talkie radio

(the SCR- 536) . Good only, "maybe up to 1000 yards". Hand held and nowhere near

as heavy as the SCR-300. (not like as portraid in the movies where it really reached out. ) .