U.S. tank destroyer battalion "TOEs" - historical scenario design aid

[Conscript Bagger]

Maybe I'm just too easily excited by little things, but I was recently thrilled to go to www.militaryhistoryonline.com find a list of US TD Bns in the ETO including the type of gun they were equipped with (M10, M18, M36, or towed). Anybody designing scenarios with US forces should find this helpful, as literature rarely tells what kind of equipment a TD Bn used in a given battle. Info is as of January '45, although several towed Bns are noted as having switched to SP guns after that date. I also did some Web searching and turned up a few dates when some Bns were equipped with new weapons, and noted them in the list. Otherwise, credit for 99% of the info in the list goes to a gent by the name of Rich Anderson.

To whit:

There were fifty-two TD Bn's in the ETO on 1 January 1945:

SP

601st (M36, also served in Tunisia, Sicily, and Italy with M3 and M10)

602nd (M18)

603rd (M18)

607th (M36)

609th (M18)

610th (M36)

612th (M18)

628th (M36)

629th (M10)

630th (7/44 - M18) (sometime pre-1/45 - M36)

631st (M10)

634th (M10)

635th (M10)

636th (M10, also served in Tunisia and Italy)

638th (M18)

643rd (M18)

644th (M10)

645th (M36, also served in Italy with M10)

654th (M36)

691st (M36)

701st (M10)

702nd (M36)

703rd (M36)

704th (M18)

705th (M18)

771st (M36)

773rd (M36)

774th (M36)

776th (11/42 - M10 in Tunisia and Italy) (9/44 - M36)

803rd (M36)

808th (M36)

809th (M36)

811th (M18)

813th (M36, also served in Tunisia and Sicily with M3 and M10)

814th (8/44 - M10) (11/44 - M36)

818th (M36)

821st (M10)

823rd (M10)

827th Colored (M18)

893rd (M10)

899th (M36, also served in Tunisia with M10)

Towed (changes to SP are sometime post-1/45)

614th Colored (T)

692nd (T) (?? - M10)

772nd (T)

801st (T) (?? - M18)

802nd (T) (?? - M10)

807th (T)

817th (T) (?? - M18)

820th (T) (?? - M18)

822nd (T) (?? - M18)

824th (T) (?? - M18)

825th (T) (?? - M10)

[Gen. Sosaboski]

Nice find Offwhite! Always been interested in TD units.

[JasonC]

Yes, that is a useful site for US TOE info. Some added background on the TD battalions.

Each battalion had 3 TD companies, each of 3 platoons, each of 4 guns or TDs. When they had towed 76mm guns, the prime movers were usually halftracks, not trucks. In addition to the 3 "line" TD companies, there were two additional main formations at the battalion level. One cavalry troop to scout, and one assault gun section for indirect fire support.

The assault gun section had 6 M8HMC, used either together as a battery firing indirect (in CM terms, 1 75mm FO), or in 3 2-gun sections assigned to each TD company.

The cavalry troop had 3 platoons each of 3 sections, with each section armed with 1 M-8 armored car, and 2 other scout vehicles, usually jeeps (but sometimes M-20s later on, or M3A1 scout cars earlier). One of the scout vehicles carried a 60mm mortar team, the other was MG armed and scouted ahead. The troop could assign a scout platoon to each company of TDs. Overall, the whole battalion had 51 AFVs (or 36 HT-ATG pairs and 15 AFVs) and 18 scout vehicles, making it as large as a tank battalion, overall.

In CM terms, a TD platoon would have 4 TDs or 4 76mm AT guns plus 4 M3 halftracks to move them. And for every three such, they would have a 75mm FO or 2 HMCs, plus 3 M-8 scout cars, 3 60mm mortars, and 6 other scout vehicles (jeep MG, jeep, M3A1 scout car, or M-20) - sometimes split up among them, sometimes working seperately.

Cavalry battalions had 3 of the scout companies (as above), the same HMC battery, and one company of 17 Stuarts, in 3 platoons of 5 plus 2 in an HQ section. (The permanent cavalry battalions of the 2nd and 3rd armored divisions were exceptions. They each had a 4th company of the standard cav, making 36 M-8 AC all told). The standard ones thus had 50 AFVs (17 Stuart, 6 HMC, 27 M-8) and another 54 scout vehicles.

Around 50 AFVs plus some sort of recon ability added, was thus the norm for all battalion sized armor or mech type units - tank, TD, or cavalry. Armored infantry battalions were somewhat larger in number of armored vehicles, at 20 halftracks per company - plus 57mm ATGs, 81mm mortars, and a recon platoon at the battalion level.

The design philosophy of recon element, line AFV element, fire support element, was repeated throughout. Thus, all battalion level units had some sort of organic fire support - 6 81mm mortars for armored infantry, 6 75mm HMCs for TDs and cavalry, and 6 Sherman 105s for tank battalions. All had some sort of recon (light tanks for armor, M-8s for TDs, etc), or in the case of the "already recon" cavalry, of heavier support (the one light tank company). In addition to the standard three "line", fighting company type (medium tank, TD, or cavalry).

Naturally when the subunits were parcelled out to task forces, and some were reduced below TOE, all of the above could get jumbled and the numbers could vary, etc. But it can help to understand the basic layout. The roles could be fufilled by fewer vehicles or stop-gap substitutes "lent" from whatever force was available, but the design, the layout of the roles and the rough portion between them, was likely to persist.