[BlueTrain]

Good post, Mr AMP, although you simplified things a little.

The Germans employed both light machine guns at section/squad level and heavy (now called medium) machine guns at a higher level. They were both the same guns, of course, but the so-called heavy machine gun tended to be used on a tripod with a telescopic sight. Twice as many spare barrels were carried, too. The principal machine guns throughout the war were the MG34 and the MG42, though other machine guns were also used. The Germans also realized that like they had always said, machine guns can waste ammunition, so they tended to impose strict fire discipline in their use.

The Bren gun was came with a tripod but I've never seen a photo of one in actual use. The Browning light machine gun at platoon level in US service was always used on a tripod until they attached a shoulder stock and bipod in imitation of the German practice. During WWII, the British and Canadians employed the Vickers in battalion sized units and were evidentally great believers in machine guns for indirect fire. I suppose that's no longer done.

I meant, in my original post, if full auto was a useful thing to have in an infantry rifle and it seems more think that it is than not. But I imagine more opinions will be around eventually.