I was reading through the unit journal of my grandfather's WWII battalion and his company is mentioned only a handful of times throughout a span of many months while some company's movements are constantly being mentioned. Just wondering what the reason(s) may be for this?
I ended up finding my answer to this and figured I'd share in case anyone came across this post looking for the same info.
"The heavy weapons company (authorized strength - 166) was designed to allow the battalion commander to add combat weight to the battalion in general, or to specific companies or parts of the battlefield. In addition to a headquarters cell, the weapons company contained two platoons of heavy machine guns (four .30 caliber water-cooled guns per platoon) and one 81mm mortar platoon of six guns. The 81mm mortar of WWII could lob a 15-lb high explosive projectile to a range of about 3,200 yards. The battalion commander generally apportioned the heavy machine guns to support particular rifle companies as he saw fit for specific situations, but usually retained the mortar platoon under the direct control of the battalion’s command group."
My grandfather was an ammo bearer for a .30 caliber water-cooled machine gun in M Company, which was their heavy weapons company. According to this, it sounds like they didn't really run as their own unit, but were split up and ran with other companies which would explain why M Company was rarely mentioned.