While Christie advocated the use of lightweight tanks with long range and high speed, designed to penetrate enemy lines and attack their infrastructure and logistics capabilities, they saw the tank as simply a supporting weapon to facilitate breakthroughs by the infantry, and help isolate and reduce enemy strongpoints near the front lines, much as they had been used in the previous world war.
12.
In addition to its own Weapons Platoon, Company G's supporting weapons included a section of 75-mm recoilless rifles, a section of heavy machine guns from Company H, and a platoon of 81-mm mortars under command of Lt . James Whitaker which was dug in near the edge of the town and had a forward observer ( Lt . Whitaker ) stationed with Company G . There were also forward observers from the regimental Heavy-Mortar Company and from the 37th Field Artillery Battalion with Company G . During the daytime men from the 75-mm recoilless rifle section manned their weapons, but at night they replaced them with two . 50 caliber machine guns to prevent having their positions disclosed by the back-blasts of the recoilless rifles.
