US Infantry Company 1:1

[Wartgamer]

D. (1) Battalion will lay wire to all the company Command Posts with priority to Company A and Company B.

(2) Radios will be silenced until 0800: current SOI in effect.

(3) Attacking companies will signal for lifting artillery fires with a red star parachute flare when their movement becomes masked.

E. (1) Battalion command Post will remain in Burmerange.

(2) Battalion Observation Post location as shown on overlay.

(3) As soon as company command Posts are established battalion is to be notified of their location.

From that same battle.

The A Company commander planned to use the second and third platoons in the attack so he took the platoon leaders to the Cavalry Command Post in order to coordinate plans for the jump off in the morning. In the meantime the executive officer moved the company into the buildings that had been designated by the company guides. The 1st Platoon proceeded to the southeast end of town and flushed out a German patrol which had entered the houses that afternoon and had not been dislodged. The platoon then set up positions in the buildings the Germans had occupied.

By 2000 the location of the Company Command Post had been reported to battalion, local security was posted, and the company settled down for the night. The company order was given at 2015 hours. The 2nd Platoon on the right was to attack southeast from Basse-Kontz and swing to the northeast upon reaching the end of Le Stromberg Hill. The 3rd Platoon on the left would move along the top and the west slope of the hill to protect the left flank of the 2nd Platoon. The 1st Platoon in support would follow the 2nd Platoon by approximately 150 yards and be prepared to give any possible assistance. The light machine gun section was to be in direct support of the 2nd Platoon an the 60 mm mortar section in general support. The Company Command Post would remain in Basse-Kontz, as would the aid station and the ammunition supply point, while the company observation post would be initially in the southeast end of town. A hot breakfast would be served at 0600 hours

[ March 17, 2005, 04:18 PM: Message edited by: Wartgamer ]

[Michael Dorosh]

At some point the Germans discovered our wireless frequency and proceeded to jam it. All I could hear was a loud EEE-YOW-EEE-YOW-EEE-YOW. When that happened the control set at Battalion would start sending out a netting signal on our first alternate frequency, which is what happened. Then I had to tune in my received to Battalion, net my transmitter to my receiver and call up Battalion to see if they could hear me: "Hello Mike Two, report my signals, over." If they could hear me loud and clear I would get the message: "Mike Two, strength five, out." Messages had to be brief. The "Mike" was part of our battalion call number for the day; "two" meant Baker Company, "strength five" meant loud and clear and "out" meant end of conversation, no reply expected.

We had to change frequencies several times on the (Walcheren) Causeway. It was usually like that. On a quiet night with nothing going on the 18-set was good for clear communication for about twelve to fifteen miles, but as soon as you went in on an attack there would be a lot of static from vehicles and explosions and probably Jerry would jam your frequency. it became difficult to maintain communications over one or two miles, let alone twelve miles...

The night passes and morning came. Baker Company headquarters remained where it was...

Captain Clarke spent a lot of time up ahead with the platoons, but from time-to-time would need to pass messages over the wireless. We would call down artillery fire on enemy positions on Walcheren (Island). I would say, for example, "Hello Able Two, message for Shelldrake, Mike Roger 242703, Mike Target, Fire, Over."

(Note - Sheldrake is still the code word for artillery; the Canadian Army still uses code words like Sunray (commander), Holdfast (Engineers), etc. unchanged from 1944)

...At one point a shell hit very close to me and the explosion did something to the wireless set. It went dead and I couldn't find the problem. Captain Clarke was not there. What was there to do? I couldn't just do nothing. I headed back off the causeway to Battalion HQ to pick up another 18 set....

A BACKWARDS GLANCE: The Personal Story of an Infantry Signaller with the Calgary Highlanders in World War II

[Michael Dorosh]

Same source:

I would get as accurate information as I could as to the position of a particular company. Then one end of a reel of D3 telephone cable would be attached to a terminal post on the telephone exchange. I would take the reel and a field telephone and set out reeling out cable along the ditch beside the road until I got into the village. When I was able to locate some rifleman in the company I would ask where I could find the company headquarters, which basically meant the copmany commander, his runner and his signallers. This was not easy to do in the dark. Then the company signaller would normally attach the cable to one terminal of the phone. On the other terminal was a bit of cable and a ground spike. he would stick the ground spike into the ground to complete the circuit and call up Battalion HQ. If he got through to Battalion he would shut down the 18-set but be ready to use it again if something cut the phone line.

[Wartgamer]

In many aspects, I believe the CW companies just acted like large platoons.

The German and US infantry companies were like small battalions.

[RMC]

Originally posted by Wartgamer:

In many aspects, I believe the CW companies just acted like large platoons.

The German and US infantry companies were like small battalions.

Deep Thoughts with Jack Handy.

[Battlefront.com]

Andreas,

(unless you talk 1945 doomsday formations).

yup, that is what I meant. The theoretical TO&E, not what was actually in the field.s

In 1944 you regularly see infantry divisions with very low numbers of 'fighting men', yet still strong in total numbers (the normal ratio seems to have been 1:3 before Bagration, going from memory, depending on how you count). That was a real problem for the Germans.

Yes, and I think I know the reason why... obviously the combat units were the ones taking the brunt of the fighting and therefore the bulk of the casualties. The idiotic insistence by Hitler/OKW that new units be created instead of fleshing out existing ones meant that units already in the line, depleted as they might be, were not given priority for replacements. Same thing with equipment with many units having platoons of stuff instead of companies. Artillery and armor (of course) were rarely up to their TO&E levels once in the front. But of course you know all this

BTW - low mechanisation does not automatically translate into lower manpower requirements. Veterinary surgeons, horse handlers, etc.pp. are also non-combat personnel (there were almost 5,000 horses in the 1. Welle divisons). If you then have an even small motor pool on top of that, you can add the mechanics for that as well.

Again, I was speaking of the late war organizations that were inherently less capable of mobility. Even horses were in short supply, with soldiers having to lug a lot of stuff by hand, get from A to B on bicycle, using a small pool of motor transport to do just about everything else, etc. I'd have to dust off German TO&E again to look at that stuff since I last looked at it... geeze... just about 3 years ago!

My point was that theoretically at the end of the war the US was admin heavy, Germans (by necessity) admin light, and the Commonwealth somewhere in the middle. Soviets... boy, they are in such another ballpark that they can't be directly compared without a rather cumbersome number crunching experience. Dupuy had some stats about this in one of his books.

Steve

[flamingknives]

Originally posted by Wartgamer:

In many aspects, I believe the CW companies just acted like large platoons.

The German and US infantry companies were like small battalions.

You say that like it's a bad thing for the Commonwealth. Why?

[Wartgamer]

I am not saying that like its a bad thing, its being read that way perhaps.

[Michael Dorosh]

Originally posted by Wartgamer:

In many aspects, I believe the CW companies just acted like large platoons.

The German and US infantry companies were like small battalions.

This would imply that the platoons acted like sections, and the sections didn't break down or have independent functions within the section. Theoretically, this was not true, though if you look at the Battle Questionnaires I posted earlier, you will see that sections usually consisted of 5 or 6 men at most.

[Wartgamer]

http://www.752ndtank.com/TOEdetails.html

Detailed TO&E for US Tank unit

http://www.752ndtank.com/MiscEquipment.html

Its interesting that again, we do not see ground mount tripods for 50 cals. Just for 30 cals.

[Wartgamer]

http://www.militaryresearch.org/WhatisTOE.htm

[Melnibone]

I surrender...you have successfully bored me to tears with both the number and tedium of your posts.

[Wartgamer]

A rather long read but it time and again mentions the concept of the Company CP.

http://www.tankbooks.com/stories/seeyou1.htm

Things remained quiet until about 0430, when again the Krauts threw everything they had in a last desperate attempt to dislodge us from the top of the slag pile. Coming from the C.P., Capt. Regn and Lt. Lovett discovered that the enemy was attacking from our front and left flank simultaneously. Capt. Regn sent Lt. Lovett to the front to organize the situation there, while he gathered the C.P. group, runners, mortar and 4.2 observers together, and organized them on the left flank. This provisional group stopped the threat on our left, but the Heinies’ main effort was on our front. Here they attacked fiercely, yelling and screaming like Indians.

Here we see the Company Commander and XO split up and again demonstrate, like the Field Manual for platoon HQ operations, that a HQ group could be spread out and in many cases, not a unit.

This example clearly shows that the Command Post personel can and will be used, along with anyone else, to defend the company.

[ March 18, 2005, 09:35 AM: Message edited by: Wartgamer ]

[Melnibone]

Pssst...you've won...you can stop now

[Wartgamer]

The concept of a Command Post and 'moving' it up to a new location is a battlefield reality that 'victory' assesment should take into consideration.

The 'fireteam' concept of breaking up a HQ section into its functioning parts should also be modeled for wargames at this scale. The CO fireteam, the XO 'fireteam', the Command Group (mans CP itself), 'basics' (new guys getting line-time before assignment) and even possibly the cooks/clerks further back. Runners are certainly a command and control reality, as is wire/radio and signal communications. This even applys to platoon HQ sections.

Earlier US TO&E had 'Basics' at the platoon level but they seemed to be moved up to the company level later. Much training was needed to actually get these men assigned properly. Unfortunately, later in the war, they were often fed raw into the units. Often at night. This was almost a criminal act as the old guys knew they were dangerous and would not last anyway.

US Airborne was one of the few units that did not like to take any new guys during an operation. They fought typically short engagements but even they were ground down later in the war.

[Gpig]

I think that could be neat . . .

ORDERS PHASE: Send your company 1st seargant (and his COMBAT/MORALE boost) over to 3rd platoon. Keep your Company Commander with 1st and 2nd platoon.

(You could even attach the camera to your Sgt, as he runs through the shell bursts and tracer fire, in order to prop up 3rd plt.)

Have individual COMMAND and CONTROL modelled 1:1. Watch your crucial (crack) sargent rally men within his own squad. Then turn to fire his thompson at the enemy.

In Band of Brothers, Easy company attacks Foy under command of a lame-arsed CO (forget his name.) The attack falters due to lame-arsed C&C. But when Winters sends in Captain(?) Spears to take over command, the entire company rallies. The attack succeeds.

Would CMx2 be able to simulate something like that? That'd be cool.

I wonder if it'll involve a lot more units and orders to manage. Not sure THAT will be neat . . .

Balance, eh? Can't wait to see how much FUN BFC will make it.

Gpig

(wish I had a URL to link to . . . )

[Wartgamer]

I have some links to US communications equipment that was used at this level. I would like to know if anyone has an equipment list that shows just how many of these items were issued typically during the war to a infantry company.

The Field phone

http://www.olive-drab.com/od_electronics_ee8.php

SCR536 'Handie-Talkie'

http://www.olive-drab.com/od_electronics_scr536.php

backpack radios

SCR300

http://www.scr300.org/

http://www.nj7p.org/history/portable.html

[Conscript Bagger]

http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=recent_user_posts;u=00016504

Three threads. Four days. Fifty posts, most of them consecutive.

If he isn't UserTittles, he does a great job imitating one.

[Wartgamer]

Some questions arise...

The SCR536 is AM and the SCR300 is FM. Both are on different freqs. I assume they could not talk to each other?

The SCR300 is battery operated (2 types, a large or small battery. One for CP use, one for more mobile use). There was no means to use a alternate power source? The batteries are actually battery packs, multiple voltage sources sealed together.

[DrD]

Just curious, but do you have a job? Are you independently weathly? I envy you that you have so much time you can put up over 600 posts in less than 3 months!

[Wartgamer]

Are you speaking to me? Well, yes, I am wealthy. Does that matter?

[Watson & Crick]

Originally posted by Impudent Warwick:

http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=recent_user_posts;u=00016504

Three threads. Four days. Fifty posts, most of them consecutive.

If he isn't UserTittles, he does a great job imitating one.

If he is not, he must be related. He's been a suspect from about his fifth post.

[DrD]

Originally posted by Wartgamer:

Are you speaking to me? Well, yes, I am wealthy. Does that matter?

yes. I'm just curious about how you have so much time to post. Feel free to tell me it's none of my business.

[RMC]

Originally posted by Wartgamer:

The concept of a Command Post and 'moving' it up to a new location is a battlefield reality that 'victory' assesment should take into consideration.

Are you stoned? You can't seriously be suggesting that the establishment of a new Command Post be factored in the victory conditions of a game that models battles lasting 30 to 60 minutes.

CM covers the fight, not the consolidation and reorganization that occur after the fight.

[Wartgamer]

How do you know what it will cover? And the present system can model this with Campaigns.

I made about 400 bucks today. Not great but I will make about 2500 for the week. I wish I could make 5000 a week. I would have plenty of time to post even more then. Would that not just be wonderful?

And I am sharing my wealth..here's a free website you can look at.

http://www.45thdivision.org/combatload.htm

[ March 18, 2005, 03:33 PM: Message edited by: Wartgamer ]