Does anyone else love the "square" platoons?

[Cribtop Gamer]

In general, all the armies of WWII moved from "square" (four unit) to "triangular" (three unit) formations. Three squads in a platoon, three companies in a battalion, etc.

While at higher levels I prefer triangular units(say, 3 companies to a battalion), I just finished Yelnia Stare as the Soviets and sure enjoyed the tactical options available to a square unit on the PLATOON level.

For example, you can take one squad per platoon, split them up, put them under a company HQ, and voila, instant FSE, all the while still having a full triangular company behind that FSE.

Example 2. Take one squad and split it to act as an FSE just for its parent platoon.

Example 3. Two squads cover the advance of the other two squads in bounding overwatch. Rinse and repeat.

Example 4. More manuever elements as you squirm around a contacted enemy squad in an attempt to gain fire superiority.

Now, I know a "square" platoon isn't the be all and end all, but it sure seems flexible upon first use. Of course, IIRC part of the reason everyone went "triangular" was that they were running out of men!

What does everyone think?

[Spook]

Originally posted by Cribtop Gamer:

What does everyone think?

A mixed bag.

There are some potential benefits, as you've noted earlier. Certainly, the concept of pulling off squads to form a FSE under the company CO, while still having sizable manpower for the core platoons, is noteworthy for company-level instead of platoon-level assaults.

But on the flip side, the "square" arrangement means that many more men tied in under each platoon HQ; a lower leader/men ratio, in effect. So if that platoon HQ gets nailed, or broken/routed, it's that many more men who'll be leaderless unless a nearby higher-up HQ can take over.

It'll also be interesting to see how the platoon OOB's will vary for the East Front timeframe of CMBB. IIRC, the squad manpower steadily dropped going into the later war years; perhaps as low as seven per average squad per one old reference of mine. But with the later war years, other tactical nuances can come up at battalion level, such as one full SMG company per Soviet infantry battalion. That'll be something to watch for as an assault element.