Question about how the weapons were distributed among the soldiers

I didn't know were to put this thread, so it ended up here.

My question is:
Were the weapons given out randomly? Like som got M1 Garands, some got Thompsons, som got M1 Carbine, s got BARs? Or were there a system for this?
I am most interested in how the americans did this, but Germany is interesting also.

Thanks!

 

USMC:The Marine Rifle Squad

 

I've heard that the Marines had a tendency to hand the BAR to the smallest men in the platoon.

 

howdy, voodoo,if i remember correctly most men in a rifle platoon carried the garand, 2 men in each plt. had a BAR, thompsons were usually for ncos and rangers, officers usually carried the m1 carbine.officers and ncos also carried a pistol mostly the 1911, but some guys had 38's. machine gun crew ncos had pistols as well.

 

I recall seeing an interview with a former Marine who fought in the PTO, he had been issued/detailed the flamethrower to carry since he was a slightly larger than average guy, and had strong shoulders. Unfortunately for the Marines, but good for him, it turned out he was allergic to some portion of the mix and would devolve into sneezing fits when he strapped the tanks on. They transferred the flamethrower to another Marine, and he was assigned the BAR. The reason I say good for him is that the flamethrower was a specific target for the Japanese, and very dangerous to the carrier. The fellow who took his place was killed within two weeks, he survived the war obviously.

 

The Germans had their weapons listed on their Soldbuch . They would receive whatever was available . Fighting units would get the modern weapons and stationned, occupation, homeguard and Reserve units would get the old fashioned ones and captured weapons. I know the Ost Legionen used the Russian Nossin Nagants (some were even used in Normandy France) .
Some Germans used the old WWI Lebel gun in South Western France. They used many Czech MGs in their bunkers and French Renault turrets too. At one point in 1944 , some units in Normandy used wooden Mauser bullets because these training rounds were the only ones available.