Distribution of weapons inside German Infantry squads

[FinnN]

It's quite easy to find information on how many weapons like rifles, machine guns, etc were distributed within a squad - but much harder to get more than vague information on the other weapons - grenades, anti-tank mines, grenade bundles, rifle grenades and panzerfausts. None of the books I've looked through have this information, and I've only found vague references on the internet. Anyone got any pointers for me on what would be typical and if it varied between types of unit (presumably it did)?

Have fun

Finn

[MikoyanPT]

Probably hard to find a standard equipment pack for grenades and antitank mines.

Usualy a soldier would fill is pockets, satchels and boots with grenades and anithing they could get their hands on and he could carry.

Impressive the number of grenades a man can carry stuck inside is boots tube, the german anti infantry type of course, the ones with a long wooden handle.

[FinnN]

There's 'could carry', and 'usually carry' though. For example, it seems there were 6 rifle grenade attachments per platoon (3 squads in ToW) at least for mountain troops and paratroopers. But how many rounds? I read 15 somewhere per attachment, but to me that seems a lot.

Have fun

Finn

[Sturmmann]

This also depends on what period the war we are talking about. By the time of mid/late 1944 until the fall of Berlin soldiers pretty much grabbed what they could find. I have a bookcase full of German army books so I will look to see what I can find.

[FinnN]

That'd be a great help - I'm looking for what would be regarded as a fairly 'standard' at different parts of the war and for different types of unit. I notice in the stock backpacks it's typically 2 M24's (the stick grenades) sometimes 4 (either 4 M24s or a mix of them and later types). The grenade bundles and PWMs seem to have been allocated in pairs too. Rifle grenades are missing of course but, animations aside, I think these are implementable to some extent anyway. A guy running around with 8 of them seems a lot to me though. Then there's the Panzerfausts - Close Combat gave out 2 per squad if I remember correctly. Any idea if this is historical?

Have fun

Finn

[Sturmmann]

Panzerfausts were actually handed out like candy towards the very end of the war. They were cheap to make and were easy to use. Certanly though Im sure there was no offical amount that each unit or squad got.

[SlapHappy]

Engineers minus flamethrowers aside, I would think that satchel charges would be doable within the context of what can be currently altered.

And perhaps teller mines, too?

[you1]

Hi

In combat you always like to move quick

Fire then move bloody quick!! any foe worth his salt would fire back at a noise or hot spot, infantry would carry enough and no more,

If your dead a full ammopack means nothing, the correct pack would mean you see the sun rise,

Good gaming

thank your god it's a game

[G.Mooyman]

Indeed hard to find any good info on this subject. First of all the soldiers themselves didnt had anything to say about it. Weapon distribution was done by the NCO's. In general every squad had the standard amount of weapons however if an assault took place the distribution was altered. The squad acted as spearhead got the most ammo and those soldiers normally would carry more ammo into combat as normal. The other squads received less ammo.

As for grenades. It's common that everybody thinks all soldiers carried hand grenades (which may true as the war progressed) However the German doctrine was to assign one soldier in the squad as 'thrower' Normally the guy who could throw the best. This soldier carried all the nades.

This is however not possible in ToW.