ARCHANGEL Posted March 22, 2001 Share Posted March 22, 2001 Gentlemen, Now that I am able to play CM again I have taken to building some scenarios...my question is: In a German TO&E of the CMBO time period, what were the TANK PLATOON sizes??? Three?? Five?? Something else entirely?? Naturally, I am refering to Army as well as SS... Would there be five Pz4's in a plt?? or would there be three Pz4's accompanied by something else?? Many Thanks, Archangel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zakalwe Posted March 22, 2001 Share Posted March 22, 2001 Basically its four tanks in a Heer platoon, and five in an SS platoon. This was the standard allocation according to 'Soll' esrablishment (meaning that the unit was in full strength). Often platoons were missing a tank when going to battle. All the tanks in a platoon would be of the same type - so generally no mixed platoons of Panthers and PzIVs. However, circumstances often forced the formation of 'ersatz' Kampfgruppes of varying sizes, and these might contain a mix of available vehicles rounded up from workshops etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niles Posted March 22, 2001 Share Posted March 22, 2001 also, infantry companys before November of 1944 often had StuG support, but to make up for lost tanks the Germans soon after early November circulated them into fully armored platoons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olle Petersson Posted March 22, 2001 Share Posted March 22, 2001 Originally posted by Zakalwe: All the tanks in a platoon would be of the same type ...All the tanks in a batallion would be of the same type. Each batallion had three companies of three platoons. The regiment typically had one batallion with PzKw IV and one batallion with PzKw V. I'd avoid mixing tank types until I have more than 20 of them... Cheers Olle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olle Petersson Posted March 23, 2001 Share Posted March 23, 2001 Originally posted by Olle Petersson: Each batallion had three companies of three platoons.Correction: Each battalion had four companies. Cheers Olle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasoncawley@ameritech.net Posted March 23, 2001 Share Posted March 23, 2001 SS Panther and Pz IV - 5 tanks All Tigers, Heer Panthers and Pz IV - 4 tanks StuG & JdgPz - 3 tanks There were some formations still using 4 tanks in the StuG formations, but 3 vehicles per platoon was more common for them. There was also a difference above the platoon level. Some companies had 3 platoons (Tigers, StuGs, Jadgpanzers), others had 4 (Panther, Pz IV). Rare ones had 2 (Jadgtiger). Some battalions had 3 companies (Tigers, StuGs, Jadgpanzers), others had 4 (Panthers, Pz IV). Again Jadgtiger had 2. There was only a single command vehicle at the company level for the StuGs and Jadgpanzers, besides the ones in the platoons. But 2 command tanks at the company level for all the other types. And in certain minor formations the structure was different again. E.g. an independent panzer brigade had a different structure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Lakowski Posted March 24, 2001 Share Posted March 24, 2001 truth is the TOE of the platoon was what ever you could get your hands on. By late 44 most companies might be down to 7-10 tanks. May be when brought up to strength for a campaign , they might reach four platoons of 4 or 5 tanks per , but most of the time it would be something like 10-13 AFVs per company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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