US Army WW2 terminology and OOB

[Shosties]

It's been a while since I cracked open a good book that would cover these topics, so I'll ask if anyone can clarify the use of these terms and what they represent in the way of forces... here goes...

Combat Command <letter> [A,B,R (R = Reserve?)]

<number> Regimental Combat Team

Task Force <lastname of OIC>

[PiggDogg]

Shosties,

Here is only a short answer to one of your questions. If I recall correctly, during WWII, USA armored divisions (I think, after the 1st & 2nd Armored Division which had a regimental structure) were divided into three combat commands (CCA, CCB, & CCR).

CCs were full combined arms (armor, infantry, arty, logistics, intel, etc) combat forces that could and were used as independent combat units.

Technically, each CC would have their armor, inf, arty mixed and matched on a task basis. However, in practice, the different units within a CC were pretty much left near permanently attached to the CC.

Once again, if I recall correctly for the US Army, Regimental Combat Teams were for infantry division what CCs were for armored division. However, RCTs were used in WWII, but the RCTs were not used on a large basis until the Korean Police Action (I use 'police action' pajoratively here).

Task Forces or equivalent terms for all nations before, during, and after WWII, "generally" were combat groupings pasted together for a particular objective or task on possibly a temporary basis. They could or could not be full combat arms units. This is the short answer for TFs

Some super grog can correct me as required.

Cheers, Richard

[Shosties]

PiggDogg,

Thanks for taking a stab at what is probably a overly general question to ask and expect a clear and concise answer. Basically, what I've been wondering is what a leading element of a armored division's combat command from late '44 and early '45 would look like in composition, and wether it would generally be given the Task Force moniker. It would be interesting to see how the tank platoons mixed and matched the various models of M4 (or didn't?) and if they brought along some TDs. Again, thanks.

[Michael Emrys]

Combat Commands usually settled into a structure of one battalion each armor, armored infantry, and artillery, with additional support as needed from engineers, anti-tank, AA, etc. I never heard of them having any of the division's intel guys assigned to them on anything like a permanent basis, but in a big war I suppose everything happens at least once.

Regimental Combat Teams were basically just standard infantry regiments with a battalion of artillery and some support elements attached.

A task force was usually just a scratch force of whatever was available for a specific mission when a more formal organisation was not available or would be uneconomical.

Michael

[Tropic Fury]

I'm sure that in the modern sense that a Task Force is usually a battalion-sized organization that is semi-independant and is comprised of a headquarters of the host unit and several companies/batteries/troops/squadrons of varying combat arms. TF's are also known as Battle Groups.

The reason I state a battalion-sized organization is that anything smaller would be unsustainable and anything larger would require a more formal headquarters and administrative structure.

The current forces deployed in Bosnia are a series of independant Battle Groups/Task Forces from different nations controlling independant sectors.

These structures seemed to be historically task-orientated within the overall operational plan of a division to gain tactical objectives.

I may be wrong, but there doesn't seem to be a textbook definition of a Task Force.