.50 calibre rounds

[Richard T. Eger]

Dear All,

This may sound like a dumb question, but Allied armament is far, far and away not my specialty. So, here goes.

An acquaintance has told me that he found .50 calibre spent rounds at Scheppach south of the Autobahn across from the Me 262 forest production facility known as Kuno I. Now, this area was heavily camouflages and there were no air attacks to the facility on the north side of the Autobahn, so the question arises as to why the south side, likely also camouflaged, might have been hit with such rounds.

The Autobahn to the west of the production facility was straight and used for takeoff, the center section having been paved over. Perhaps the rounds came from Allied aircraft straffing Me 262's on the Autobahn. But, the thought occurred to me that the rounds could have come from Allied land forces as they captured the area. If so, my question is whether any .50 calibre weapons were used by ground forces? If so, hand held, mounted on vehicles, or what?

Regards,
Richard