Tank Formations

The ol one eye. · March 3, 2002

I wanted to get an idea of how tank formations are configured, specificly Soviet and German WW2 era.

I've just started to really get into WW2\military history, so Im a little sketchy on how many tanks were in a platoon, company, battallion.

Just from what I've gathered from reading around here (so these numbers are ballpark), a platoon has 1 command tank, and anywhere from 4-7(?) regular tanks. So a company would be 15- 21 tanks strong, a battalion 45-60somthing.

I realize that force attrition due to combat losses, technical\logistical problems affected Soviets and Germans drasticly, but what were the formations sizes supposed to be.

Also, what do you all think the command radius of a no-radio equipped tank should be, 150 meters?

Im trying to be as patient as I can for CMBB, but I want to learn everything I can about the East Front.

[ March 03, 2002, 01:06 AM: Message edited by: The ol one eye. ]

Bullethead · March 3, 2002

The ol one eye said:

I wanted to get an idea of how tank formations are configured, specificly Soviet and German WW2 era.

The Germans are a bit beyond my grasp, but I can tell you about the Russians. All Russian info taken from The Red Army Handbook 1939-1945 by Steven J. Zaloga and Leland S. Ness, which I highly recommend.

The Russians started the war with tank corps. These were composed of 2 light tank brigades, each of which had 4 battalions of T-26 or BT-5/7 light tanks. Each such battalion had 3 companies consisting of 2 command tanks and 3 platoons of 5 tanks each, plus 3 more tanks at battalion HQ. Thus, each battalion had 54 light tanks.

There were also pre-war independent light and heavy tank brigades. Independent BT brigades had 3 battalions but independent T-26 brigades had 4, just like those in tank corps. Heavy brigades had 3 battalions but only had 3 tanks per platoon (plus 1 for company HQ but none at battalion), either T-28 or T-35, plus some BT tanks for recon. But it seems neither of these multi-turret heavies will be in CMBB, so it really doesn't matter.

After the Winter War and Poland, the Russians decided large tank formations weren't worth having so broke them up and distributed the tanks for infantry support. But the Blitzkrieg made them reconsider so in 1941 they created motorized divisions and tank divisions:

A motorized division had a light tank regiment, which had 5 battalions of 54 BT tanks organized as in the original tank corps above.
A tank division of this era is a bit shadowy but the best guess is had 2 tank regiments, each of which contained 1 heavy battalion, 2 medium battalions, and 1 flamethrower battalion. The heavy battalion was 31 KVs: 1 at BN HQ and 3 companies of 3x3-tank platoons plus 1 more at company HQ. The 2 medium battalions each had 52 T-34s (1 at BN HQ and 3 companies of 1 HQ and 3x5-tank platoons). The flamethrower battalion had 1 T-26 at the BN HQ and 3 companies each of 1 T-26 HQ and 3 platoons each of 3 OT-26 flame tanks.

The Russians didn't have enough tanks to fill these out and what they'd accomplished by 1941 was quickly snuffed out, so the above formations aren't really important. In July 1941, mechanized divisions were converted to rifle divisions and tank divisions reorganized as follows: 2 tank regiments, each having 1 medium and 2 light battalions.

The medium battalion had:

1 heavy company of 10 KVs (1 HQ and 3x3-tank platoons)
2 medium companies of 10 T-34s (1 HQ and 3x3-tank platoons)

The 2 light battalions had 3 light companies each of 10 T-26 or BT tanks organized as above.

But these new tank divisions didn't last long, either. 10 were formed but only 23 remained by October 1941.

In August 1941 the Russians went back to tank brigades. At this point, organization becomes easier to track thanks to having real TO&Es on hand, plus the Russians were usually able to fully equip these units as they formed them. An August 1941 tank brigade was as follows:

1 medium/heavy battalion, including

1 heavy company of 7 KVs (1 HQ plus 3x2-tank platoons)
2 medium companies each of 10 T-34s as above

2 light battalions, each of 3 light companies, each of 10 tanks.

In December 1941, new tank brigade TO&Es came out that further reduced the strength of the unit. It now contained 2 battalions, each containing:

1 light company (8 T-60/T-70: 2 HQ and 2x3-tank platoons)
1 medium company (10 T-34s: 1 HQ and 3x3-tank platoons)
1 heavy company (5 KVs: 1 HQ and 2x2-tank platoons)

These brigades also had an infantry battalion and an SMG company of dedicated tank-riders. In the spring of 1942, the Russians started grouping these types of tank brigades into tank corps, which contained 2 and later 3 tank brigades plus more infantry and some arty, recon, etc.

But having 3 different types of tank in each battalion was a pain, so in July 1942 a new tank brigade TO&E came out. These brigades had 1 medium and 1 light battalion, plus an infantry battalion. The heavy tanks at this time were all put in independent units for infantry support. The medium battalion had 3 T-34 companies of 10 each, plus 1 in BN HQ. The light battalions had 2 T-60/70 companies of 10 each, plus 1 in Coy HQ. Thus, the brigade had a total of 32 T-34s (including 1 in brigade HQ) and 21 light tanks.

Tank brigades of this type were also grouped into tank corps, which contained 3 tank bridages and 1 motorized infantry brigade. As 1943 went along, these corps got other attachments, notably a regiment of SP guns. Originally this regiment had 1 SU-76 in the HQ, 4 batteries of 4 SU-76, and 2 batteries of 4 SU-122 (total 17 SU-76 and 8 SU-122), but in May 43 it converted to 12 SU-152s. Then in August 43, the corps' 2 attached heavy ATG units were replaced by 2 more SP regiments, 1 with 21 SU-76s and the other with 16 SU-122.

In November 43, the tank brigade TO&E changed again to become an homogenous T-34 unit, without any light tanks. It now had 3 battalions, each with 1 T-34 in BH HQ and 2 companies of 10 T-34s (1 + 3x3), plus 2 in brigade HQ, for a total of 65 T-34s. This organization remained in effect for the rest of the war.

Tank corps of this period contained 3 such T-34 brigades, plus 1 regiment each of heavy (12 SU/ISU-152), medium (12 SU-85), and light (21 SU-76) assault guns. But by February 1944, all assault gun regiments went to 21 AFVs each, and by the end of the war the SU-85s were being replaced by SU-100s.

Starting in the fall of 1942, the Russians also started created in mechanized brigades. These had 3 motorized rifle battalions and a small tank regiment of 39 tanks. This had 1 light compamy of 16 T-60/70 (1 + 3x5) and 2 medium companies of 11 T-34s (1 + 3x3), plus 1 regiment HQ T-34. 3 such mechanized brigades, plus a tank brigade, plus other attachments, formed a mechanized corps.

In January 1943, the mechanized brigade's tank regiment was reorganized into 3 medium companies (1 + 3x3 T-34s) and 1 light company (1 + 2x3 T-60/70). At the same time, an SP regiment was added to the mechanized corps, which was either light (25 SU-76) or mixed (17 SU-76 and 8 SU-122).

By August 1943, mechanized corps got 3 SP regiments: 1 light (21 SU-76), 1 medium (16 SU-85), and 1 heavy (12 SU-152). As with tank corps, all these SP regiments went to 21 AFVs by early 1944.

And this isn't the end of the line, either. There were also independent tank battalions and regiments, plus independent assault gun units.

Independent tank battalions from August 1941 had:

2 T-34s in BN HQ, 1 medium company of 7 T-34s (1 + 2x3) and 2 light companies each of 10 T-60s (1 + 3x3), for a total of 9 T-34s and 20 T-60s.

This was beefed up in November 1941: 1 T-34 in BN HQ, 1 heavy company of 5 KVs (1 + 2x2), 1 medium company of 10 T-34s (1 + 3x3), and 2 light companies each of 10 T-40 or T-60 tanks (1 + 3x3), for a total of 5 heavy, 11 medium, and 20 light tanks.

Independent tank regiments followed the organization of the tank regiments in mechanized corps, discussed above.

When the heavy tanks were removed from tank brigades in late 1942, they got put into separate units called guards heavy breakthrough tank regiments. These began with 21 KVs (1 in Regt HQ and 4 companies of 1 + 2x2) and later got a submachinegun company as well. 2 such heavy regiments had Churchills instead of KVs. In February 1944, these units started switching to IS-2 tanks and the word "breakthrough" was dropped from their title.

Independent assault gun regiments appeared in the first few months of 1943. These were of 2 types. The most common had 1 SU-76 in the Regt HQ, 4 batteries of 4 SU-76, and 2 batteries of 4 SU-122, for a total of 17 SU-76 and 8 SU-122. At the same time, some heavy assault gun regiments were formed with 1 KV for the Regt HQ and 6 batteries of 2 SU-152s each (total 1 KV and 12 SU-152).

The mixed assault gun regiments were a pain so in April 1943 they were split up into light and medium regiments. The light regiments had 1 SU-76 in HQ and 4 batteries of 5 SU-76 each, for a total of 21. The medium regiments had 1 T-34 for the Regt HQ and 4 batteries each of 4 SU-122s (total 1 T-34 and 16 SU-122).

In August 1943, the SU-122s began to be replaced by the SU-85, which was itself replaced by the SU-100 starting in late 1944. In September 1943, the SU-152 began to be replaced by the ISU-152 (and also by the ISU-122 in December).

In October 1943, the heavy regiments were reorganized into 4 batteries like the light and medium regiments. It thus had 1 KV or IS-2 in the Regt HQ, and 4 batteries each of 3 SU/ISU-152s. And starting in February 1944, all types of assault gun regiments were brought up to 21 AFVs in 4 batteries of 5 each, plus 1 for the HQ.

Towards the end of the war, there were also assault gun brigades. Light brigades (begun in 1944) had 3 light battalions, each of which had 1 T-70 BN HQ and 5 batteries of 4 SU-76s, plus attachments. Medium brigades (from January 1945) had 3 medium regiments (total 65 SU-100s and 3 SU-76). 1 heavy assault gun brigade was formed in March 45, with the same organization but 65 ISU-122s and 3 SU-76s.

Whew!! That's certainly enough typing for tonight . The thing is, except for the pre-war stuff and the assault gun brigades, the Russians made dozens or even hundreds of formations of these types. Also, many of these TO&Es overlapped to some extent, so at any given time (particularly in 1942-43) there were often many units of the same nominal type organized on several different TO&Es.

The ol one eye. · March 3, 2002

Wow, thanks Bullethead, excellent post, I never expected such a detailed answer. It must of been a mess reorganizing such things in the middle of such chaotic warfare. How much red tape it must have taken to pull that off!

I was also curious about the recon TO&Es, I'll check around and see what I can find, if this post drums up any more intrest, I'll post what I can find.

Thanks again Bullethead, good stuff.

JAK · March 3, 2002

Hi one eye, I am no super grog but here is what my information says on the German Panzer battalion TO&E=

German Panzer Battalion(1942-43) consisted of three tank companies (2 PzKpfw III and 1 PzKpfw IV), a Kompanie was organized into three platoons of five tanks each (more normally 4 tanks, unless the unit was elite and therefore had better supply ranking), a platoon of four or five light tanks and a headquarters section of two tanks. The Battalion HQ consisted of three command tanks, a support company with an engineer platoon (with trucks), a signals platoon, a reconnaissance platoon (four or five light tanks), and a anti aircraft platoon (8 20mm on 4 Halftracks)

The Panzer Battalion(1944-1945) was organized into 3 kompanies, made up of 3-4 platoons and further broken down into 4-5 tanks each (panzerkampfwagen IV-or panther V), and a Kompanie HQ of two tanks. This was supported by a Battalion HQ with three command tanks and a support company with an engineer platoon (with Halftracks), signal platoon (with trucks), reconaissance platoon (with with four or five PzKpfw IV), and a antiaircraft platoon (3 vehicals, possibly wirble or ostwind?)

The Heavy Panzer Battalion(1942-1943) was made up of two kompanies, organized into two platoons of four heavy tanks (Tigers) and two platoons of four or five medium tanks, with one command tank for the kompanie HQ. This was supported by the Battalion HQ with two tanks and a support company with an engineer platoon (with trucks), a reconaissence platoon (with 3-4 tanks), and a antiaircraft platoon (three Halftracks with for 20mm each).

The Heavy Panzer Battalion(1944-1945) was made up into three kompanies, and organized into three platoons of four heavy tanks (Tigers)each and two command tanks for the kompanie HQ. The battalion HQ consisted of three command tanks and a support company with an engineer platoon (with trucks), an antiaircraft platoon (with four or five wirblewind), and a vehical recovery platoon (with five Bergepanther) Hope this helps :rolleyes:

Jake

[ March 03, 2002, 11:00 AM: Message edited by: JAK ]

Bullethead · March 4, 2002

The ol one eye said:

It must of been a mess reorganizing such things in the middle of such chaotic warfare. How much red tape it must have taken to pull that off!

It is amazing. The infantry, cavalry, and arty formations went through similar amounts of changes at the same time, too. You should really get that Zaloga book

The thing that strikes me is that after the big pre-war formations were swept away in the disasters of 1941, the new formations' names become rather misleading. Tank brigades had a strength analogous to a US tank battalion, a tank corps was about like a weak armored division, and so on. Also, the mechanized corps had more tanks than the tank corps.

I was also curious about the recon TO&Es, I'll check around and see what I can find, if this post drums up any more intrest, I'll post what I can find.

Again going from Zaloga, the Russians didn't have that much specialized recon. The size of recon units, like that of other Russian formations, took a nosedive early in the war and wasn't really built back up that much. Also, brigades of whatever type (infantry, tank, mechanized, assault gun) usually didn't have their own recon unit. You found what recon there was in rifle divisions and in tank/mechanized corps. There were also few independent recon units. OTOH, the Russians had a large force of horsed cavalry brigades, divisions, and corps for most of the war. However, these were more often used for exploitation forces or for providing mobility in very difficult terrain instead of as recon for other forces.

The structure of recon forces changed a lot as well, just like other types of formation. At different times and in different formations, recon units varied between company and battalion in size, and were equipped with 1 or more of the following types of things: armored cars, light tanks, medium tanks, motorcycles, scout cars, cavalry, and grunts on foot or in trucks.

Recon in rifle divisions was 2 recon platoons in each regiment, 1 of grunts on foot or in trucks, and 1 of horsed cavalry. At the division level, at the start of the war there was recon battalion as follows:

1 motorized rifle company (grunts in trucks)
1 armored car company (1 + 3x3)
1 light tank company (1 + 3x5 T-38)

By August 1941, along with other massive reductions in TO&E rifle division strength, division recon was reduced to a single motorized rifle company in trucks (when available--walking otherwise). And that seems to be how things stayed for the rest of the war.

Independent rifle brigades started with a recon company of 2 platoons of foot grunts, and seem to have kept this structure the whole war. Mountain divisions had a horse cav squadron (about 1 company).

On the armored/mech side, the short-lived pre-war 1941 motorized and tank divisions both were supposed to have had recon battalions consisting of:

1 armored car company (15 ACs)
1 light tank company (17 T-40)
1 motorcycle company

but few if any of these units reached full strength before destruction or reorganization. In the July 41 tank divisions, the recon battalion changed to 10 T-40s, 26 armored cars, and 1 motorcycle company.

The original tank brigades of August 1941 had a recon company of:

1 heavy armored car platoon (5 heavy ACs)
1 light armored car platoon (5 light ACs)
1 motorcycle platoon (49 guys but only 23 MCs)

This recon company disappeared in the December 41 TO&E, however. Also, the tank corps formed in early 42 from such brigades didn't have corps-level recon units, either. However, these tank corps included 1 motorized rifle brigade that had a recon company of trucked grunts. These trucks were reportedly armored to some extent.

From April - September 1942, the Russians formed 25 more tank corps with brigades on a new pattern discussed in my last post. As before, these brigades lacked recon elements but the corps were supposed to have a motorcycle battalion. However, only 5 such battalions were formed by the end of 1942, leaving the other corps still without recon. But starting in December 42, the Russians formed more recon units for the tank corps. These apparently were battalions with 1 motorcycle and 1 armored car company (20 armored cars). The armored cars faded away as the war went on and motorcycles proliferated, so by the end of the war tank corps recon was performed only by a motorcycle battalion.

The mechanized corps started forming in the fall of 42. Each of corps' 3 mechanized brigades had a recon company of grunts in armored trucks (this was also present in the mechanized brigade in the contemporary tank corps). The corps recon asset was, like in the tank corps, a motorcycle battalion, although these were rare at until the start of 43. During 1943, some mechanized corps were authorized to have an armored car battalion as well, but only 1 such battalion ever seems to have been provided, and it only for the latter 1/2 of 1943.

As noted previously, there weren't many independent recon units. A number of independent battalions were formed, but they were incorporated into new tank and mechanized corps soon after formation.

The pre-war mechanized corps had motorcycle regiments, which became independent when these corps broke up shortly after the start of Barbarosa. These motorcycle regiments contained:

3 motorcycle companies
1 mortar company (18 50mm)
1 ATG battery (4 45mm)
1 armored car company (4 ACs and 4 T-27A tankettes)

In March 1943, 3 new motorcycle regiments were raised under a different organization:

1 motorcycle battalion (3 companies as before, only the HQ is new)
1 ATG battalion (2 batteries of 4 45mm and 1 battery of 4 76mm)
1 tank company (originally 16 T-70s, later 10 T-34s)
1 pioneer company
1 mechanized company in M3A1 scout cars

In March - September 42, the Russians also formed 19 independent motorcycle battalions, but all but 6 of these wound up in tank and mechanized corps during 1943. The few that remained independent were organized as followed:

2 motorcycle companies
1 armored car company

In mid-43, these battalions were reorganized as follows:

1 motorcycle company
1 mechanized compay (in APCs of some sort)
1 tank company (10 T-34s)

The ol one eye. · March 4, 2002

I will have to pick up that Zaloga book, it seems like a good source. Thank you for taking the time JAK and Bullethead(again!) I now have a firmer grasp on the whole TO&E of the Red and German tank divisions. The sheer scale of armoured warfare is impressive, now I can understand the epic scale of battles like Kursk, Moscow, and so on...

Last night I checked around to see what info there was on Soviet tanks, you've probably already seen this stuff, but just in case:

T-60s in action

General run down of Red tanks

Soviet TO&Es, pics, general info.

{Damn BBS!!}

[ March 03, 2002, 06:22 PM: Message edited by: The ol one eye. ]

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