Hawkeye Posted July 31, 2000 Share Posted July 31, 2000 I've always wondered what these mean and have nodded enthusastically when they're mentioned as if I know what someone is talking about. How do military units break down? What's the basic size of the Platoon? Division? Company? Thanks for the help. -Hawkeye Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrD Posted July 31, 2000 Share Posted July 31, 2000 A search would turn up among other things this post from a while ago.: Epee, The organization of a typical US army infrantry division in WW2: Rifle Squad: 12 men, 10 M1's, one BAR, one Springfield '03 (but in CM it's a Thompson SMG which is accurate since these were issued later in the war) Rifle Platoon: 3 Rifle squads and a small HQ with a 2LT, RTO (radio-telephone operator), I think a platoon Srg, and one other gopher-type guy Rifle company: 3 rifle platoons plus a heavy weapons platoon which had 3 MMG's and 3 60mm mortars. I think that the bazookas were part of this platoon also. Note that in combat the heavy weapons were often distributed among the rifle platoons as they are in CM. Company HQ with Captain, 1LT (XO), a bunch of other guys. Also a high-ranking sarge who was senior enlisted in the company (called "top-kick") Rifle Battalion: 3 rifle companies as above plus a heavy weapons company equiped with HMG's and 81 mm mortars which acted as the battalion's "private" artillery (that's why it comes in so much faster than the 105's in VoT) Much larger HQ with CO (usually LtCol), several Majors (one XO, one each for supply, intell, etc.) and a whole bunch of other dudes. Regiment: 3 battalions as above and a large HQ. Usually commanded by a Col. Also had attached anti-tank company with 9 AT guns and a mine-laying platoon. If you've been following along you'll see that a regiment consisted of 12 companies total - 9 rifle and 3 weapons. Each company had a unique letter in the regiment, skipping J to avoid confusion with I. So 1st battalion was companies A-D, 2nd E-H, and 3rd I,K-M. The last co in each battalion was the weapons co. Also, each regiment in the US army had (and has) a unique number. So any company can be identified by letter and regiment without needing to refer to battalion or division. Division: the smallest unit containing all major combat elements. Consisted of 3 Rifle regiments, artillery (3 105 Battalions and a 155 battalion), and a whole bunch of other stuff including medical, signals, engineers, etc. Most divisions also had a tank battalion attached. Usually commanded by a Major General (2 star). Brigades were units smaller than divisions which were either permanent or created as "ad-hoc" battle groups. In armored divisions the practice was to have 3 HQ's below division called combat command A,B,C (usually seen as CCA etc.) and attach the battalions to each HQ as needed rather than permanently. In the modern US army I believe the regiment is only used as an administrative unit and no longer has a combat function. Rather the 10 or so batalions in each division are organized into brigade-sized units as needed. Brigades and combat commands are usually commanded by Brigadier General (one star). Well that's all I have time for. [This message has been edited by DrD (edited 07-30-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Michael emrys Posted July 31, 2000 Share Posted July 31, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by DrD: Regiment: 3 battalions as above and a large HQ. Usually commanded by a Col. Also had attached anti-tank company with 9 AT guns and a mine-laying platoon.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> He neglects to mention that the regiment also possessed a cannon company which (at this stage of the war) contained 12 105mm howitzers. <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>In armored divisions the practice was to have 3 HQ's below division called combat command A,B,C (usually seen as CCA etc.) and attach the battalions to each HQ as needed rather than permanently.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Actually, the third combat command in an armored division was called CCR. The 'R' stood for Reserve, I think. Michael [This message has been edited by Michael emrys (edited 07-31-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Private Pike Posted July 31, 2000 Share Posted July 31, 2000 And just to confuse matters after the slaughter of whole county regiments in WWI commonwealth regiments never fight together so 3 battalions formed a brigade and three brigades formed a division (but this is flexible, 1st Armoured Div in Desert storm for example only had 2 brigades and at one time 3 commando brigade in the Falklands had 5 battalions attached). And of cause in the ex-cavalry units platoons are called troops and companies squadrons. In the artillery companies are called batteries and they form regiments. Hope that clears a few things up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airborne Posted July 31, 2000 Share Posted July 31, 2000 Actually, the modern US Army went back to the regimental system in the mid/late 80s. There are 3 regiments per division. Some divisions only have two active regiments and one reserve division. "He neglects to mention that the regiment also possessed a cannon company which (at this stage of the war) contained 12 105mm howitzers." Per US Order of Battle by S. Stanton, a US infantry regiment had 6 105mm howitzers attached. -------Chris ------------------ Land Soft--Kill Quiet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Michael emrys Posted July 31, 2000 Share Posted July 31, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Airborne: "He neglects to mention that the regiment also possessed a cannon company which (at this stage of the war) contained 12 105mm howitzers." Per US Order of Battle by S. Stanton, a US infantry regiment had 6 105mm howitzers attached. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> You are absolutely right. I was relying on the TO&E chart for the regimental combat team included in /Unit Organizations of World War II/ by David Myers and in my haste misread the damn thing. The cannon company does have only six howitzers. The twelve extra howitzers belong to the attached artillery battalion. My apologies for propagating misinformation. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olle Petersson Posted July 31, 2000 Share Posted July 31, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by DrD: Regiment: ... Also had attached anti-tank company with 9 AT guns ...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> In the armoured divisions these ATGs (57mm) usually got "lost" pretty soon after arrival in Europe. The infantry almost always had Shermans in support, and these were better at dealing with enemy armour at medium to long range. At close range there were plenty of Bazookas. The ATG crews were used to fill up the infantry instead. Cheers Olle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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