Did all countries use infantry smoke grenades during WW2?

Also, were smoke grenades standard issue for infantry for each country?

I'm not sure how rare they were during WW2?

Most units had smoke grenades available to mark targets. With artillery and air support, it was desired to let them know where the good guys and bad guys were. Different colors had different meanings and the meaning can be changed to suit the situation.

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Even Russian units?

When it comes to equipment, Russian Infantry seems to be poorly supplied!

Most units? Can you be more specific? At what level, platoon, company, battallion? Or Engineers only?

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Just trying to bump my post up to see if I can get a clearer answer.

Did most infantry units carried smoke as standard equipment, and if so at what level (squad, Platoon, company, battalion Or Engineers only?)

Would this also include Russian Infantry units?

I would be greatfull is anybody could help me out with some information here.
Thanks

I don't know about Russian units, but allied units would have them available depending on location and mission. You don't carry anything into combat unless it is needed. U.S. troops would probably carry them at the squad, platoon, or company level. One reference, that I cannot verify or remember which period, mentioned that a typical combat load included three frags and a smoke grenade. The trouble is that if a soldier carried everything they 'might' need, they could not move. For example, it was often the case that they would lose gas masks, often just keeping the case to store other supplies in. In a basic infantry configuration, each soldier had to carry clothing, food, water, his weapon, hundreds of rounds of rifle ammunition, and usually ammo for any crew served weapons attached. And some parts of the squad/platoon would also have to struggle under the weight of things like radios, flame throwers, etc. When I was radio man in a squad, we often had spare barries carried by some of the troops.

If you were in areas with no armor, air, or artillery support, smoke would often be useless. Thick jungle can render grenades limited in their usefullness. If smoke cannot penetrate the canopy of trees, even with air support, smoke would not help the mission.

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Lord, let me be the person my dog thinks I am.

I asked the guy(Stephen White) who wrote the war game we play about German and Russian infantry smoke grenades, and here was his reply...

With respect to your smoke grenades question; Germans tended to have a greater availability of such things, compared to the Russians. The Russians tended to rely more on their artillery or, more usually, not use smoke at all! Keeping in mind that such items were a "luxury" and, therefore, even the Germans would have few of them later in the war.
As for allocation, it would generally be the engineers and such troops that would have first dibs on smoke grenades. After that, it would be probably be the company hq that would dispense them. This would usually be to platoons or sections that were about to launch attacks.

Hope that answers the question.

As I pointed out recently in another thread, the hand thrown type of smoke grenade is of extremely limited value as a screening system. It produces only a brief cloud of smoke and is extremely vulnerable to weather and in particular wind. For the most part such grenades are primarily used as target markers or signaling devices rather than for screening.
When screeing was required it was normal for just about every nation to use smoke pots, smoke generators, or massed artillery fire (hence the German adoption of the Nebelwerfer for this purpose as one example).
I would say in terms of wargaming that a typical infantry unit might have one or two such grenades for marking targets and such, if any at all. As a screen, a couple of hand thrown smoke grenades are next to worthless. On a regular basis I would expect that forward observers and unit commanders might carry around a few but, other than that, I would rarely expect any infantry type unit to be lugging smoke with them.