The basic Boxer and Bushmaster. 1. For historical reasons, armor and Ranger units of brigade size are called regiments, and the equivalent Special Forces units are called groups. Arty - Artillery Have a great day. If the light battalions have the current strength of 560 then 28, with the specialised infantry unchanged at 267, gives a total of 16748. To take, and then hold ground is the usual answer. Yn a|FKtpW"[I'nJpbR].VB`8~q}RBTw'#g( Indeed, one was carried until the 51 mm was prematurely retired (because the ammunition went out of production). 100th Infantry Battalion. Tactically, battalions are grouped into brigades. Morale is low (not unique to Guards but across the Army) for a number of reasons, a big one being that Guardsmen feel they are stagging on without the return of getting a tour in. Ill break my reply into a couple of comments. Its a tactical-sized unit that can perform a battlefield function on its own. So it is a very flexible number. In the latter case, the unit is called an eskadron, which translates roughly to "squadron". In between are the intermediate elements of Army organization, including the squad, platoon, company, battalion, brigade and division. In my world it would be EAGLE 44 and 66 to have commonality in light and medium protected mobility. For purposes of clarity, this display is simplified through the elimination of numerous headquarters, maintenance and other support units which are normally attached to or associated with the listed combat units [despite the well known fact that amateurs talks tactics while professionals talk logistics]. Why did / do we need mass, as in large numbers of infantry boots on the ground ? So Rifle Sections of 9 soldiers would work well. So to summarize it up: my suggestion would be to create identical infantry bataillons, but without any organic protected mobility. %PDF-1.6 % Catering Platoon General Creighton Abrams, from 1968 to 1972. We can tailor our forces now for a sustained operation, such as we have done for Bosnia until the present I dont think we need to radically change the div structure just refine the battlegroup concept to reflect the modularity aspect of the force but reataining the mass of the individual capability the heavy, medium and light bring when needed. 25th INFANTRY DIVISION (Occupation) During the occupation of Japan from 1945-1950, the 25th Infantry Division retained its triangular WWII organization of three infantry regiments. Both featured the same support units as well, with a signal platoon, supply platoon, repair workshop and medical aid station. With eachJavelin vehicle requiring a driver and commander, t. As noted above, there is no reason why other weapon types and combinations could not also be used. , Specialist (OR-4), armed with 1 60mm Mortar and 1 M9/M17 Pistol, , Private First Class (OR-3), armed with 1 M4A1 Carbine, , Sergeant (OR-5), armed with 1 M4A1 Carbine. Without the institutional Army, the operational side cant function. The corps is the highest level of command that can provide operational direction for actual combat. Training Wing Could we not then consider having whole crews staying with the vehicle rather than depleting them when the section has to dismount? With this weapon now returned to individual sections, in lieu of the 5.56 mm L110A2 LMG, there is arguably no need for a separate machine gun platoon, especially as platoon vehicles will have a mix of 12.7 mm HMGs and 40 mm GMGs. This means instead of giving every infantry unit organic protected mobility, i would even take the units that have such now this vehicles and would create own fighting units out of them which are then part of the tank troops. Therefore, there may be a case to standardise all infantry battalions around a common structure with an identical headcount for each. Welfare Office The Warrior has two benches how many can you squeeze on? When infantry commanders are able to plan around having 36 soldiers in all circumstances, this is bound to have a positive impact on training, tactics and procedures. Over time, the regiments were turned into battalions, the reserve units amalgamated and more regular units raised and disbanded. So it looks as if the developments for the vehicle are at a pretty advanced stage, making a cancellation of the vehicle and its replacement by the Ajax IFV variant unlikely. It is also suitable for Light Role battalions operating on foot. Culling BHQs may be good for the budget, but by nowhere near enough to justify trading such depth. For what its worth, I think it would be good to have a rotating other-arms presence. Commando Battalion (joint para/RM group) The number . Remember this guy? Combat enemy fast air? To be true general purpose infantry they would be trained to act together with the tank units which can transport them and then assist them in the fight, but this tank units would be a world for them own and would even in the case of an unit of IFV be an complete seperate unit which could and should also fight for its own if the need arises. Sergeants Mess Staff Lynx can carry 8 dismounts and would allow us to really increase the mass of the armored infantry withot adding to vehicle numbers in any significant way. With all these components, a battalion is the smallest military unit capable of "limited independent operations".[1]. Ensuring that infantry units can be accommodated by their vehicles can also be a challenge. This creates a requirement for 1 officer + 44 other ranks. The motorised (Light) brigade would have MRVP/Bushmaster. From the 1960s through the early 1980s, a typical maneuver (infantry or tank) battalion had five companies: headquarters and headquarters company (HHC) and A, B, and CCompanies, plus a combat support company (CSC), with a scout platoon, 107mm (4.2 inch) heavy mortar platoon, along with other elements that varied between organizations. That might work for armoured Infantry or Boxer based mechanized infantry, where the infantry are close protection for armoured vehicles, or their closely supporting artillery firepower. That said, mounting guard for a month would I think be novel and exciting and interesting, not least because of the opportunity for the junior ranks to live it up in London. These include leading the quartering partya forward echelon that prepares an assembly area for the company's arrivalcoordinating sustainment and CASEVAC, and aiding in coordination with different echelons of command. within a Battalion was designated as a Heavy Weapons Company and it was I have been asked many times about our Army infantry structure in Vietnam. AUTHORISED PERSONNEL: AUTHORISED EQUIPMENT - BATTALION LEVEL: Prev Next The 100th Infantry Battalion, initially made up almost entirely of Japanese Americans from Hawai'i already in the army prior to World War II, represented the first group of Japanese Americans to see combat during World War II. DUI A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In the U.S. Marine Corps, an infantry or "rifle" battalion typically consists of a headquarters and service company, three rifle, or "line", companies (designated alphabetically A through M depending upon which battalion of the parent regiment to which they are attached) and a weapons company. [33] That is, rifle companies A, B, C along with heavy weapons CompanyD were part of the 1st battalion, rifle companiesE, F, G, and heavy weapons CompanyH constituted the 2nd battalion, and rifle companies I, K, L, and heavy weapons CompanyM were in the 3rd. (Please click on the image for a larger version) Losing this space (currently in the Pl HQ wagon) is a big problem. Title. @UKLP The GPMG Light Role and GPMG Sustained Fire are very different weapons with very different roles and capabilities. The order of battle shows 101 German infantry divisions and 139 Soviet rifle divisions. German Organization for Combat, 1944. Dubbed Infantry Battalion Experiment Campaign Plan, or IBX30, the three-battalion effort is part of the Corps' push to reorganize for conflicts with near-peer adversaries by 2030, which the. Your email address will not be published. Maybe have the armoured corps supplying the vehicle crews in a similar way to the Mastiff group on Telic? An important issue that has to be maintained are weapons then there are radios. Company HQ will be extremely lean with just one officer and five other ranks. The nomenclature varies by nationality and by branch of arms, for instance, some armies organize their infantry into battalions, but call battalion-sized cavalry, reconnaissance, or . At a higher level, each armored brigade (formerly designated 'heavy brigade') is now composed of three CABs (versus the two CABs of a former heavy brigade), one reconnaissance squadron, one artillery battalion, one brigade engineer battalion (BEB), and one brigade support battalion (BSB). Many armies are adding Javelin mounts to their 12.7 mm remote weapon stations. Gimpy is too big and heavy for a section weapon, its hard going over walls/fences/through buildings etc and shouldnt really be fired from any position but the prone, unlike the lighter and more agile LMG. This means units/sub-units pinged would spend a colossal amount of time rehearsing at cost of other training and tasks. The current infantry rifle platoon organization is identical to the infantry, air assault, and airborne rifle platoon organizations listed in the Change 1 of FM 7-8 published in 2001. The basic individual weapon in the light infantry battalion was the M14 rifle, while the airmobile unit was authorized M16 rifles. MP - consists of a platoon headquarters, 3 rifle squads, and 1 weapons squads. What if you disbanded the reserve artillery regiments and added reserve batteries to your regular regiments? The company overall is led by a Captain infantry officer who travels with a Forward Signal Support NCO and two Radiotelephone Operators (RTOs) who operate and maintain the communications equipment in the company commander post. NATO defines a battalion as "larger than a company, but smaller than a regiment" while "consisting of two or more company-, battery-, or troop-sized units and a headquarters. Total raised: $5,448,951.00 Total includes user, company, and offsite donations. This question arises a fair bit with readers of WorldWar2Facts.org, so we have compiled a table to help explain what the unit or group names mean, what units made up larger WW2 army units, the rough size of the unit, and what rank of officer or NCO was normally in charge. This would prevent your rifle sections from becoming overburdened and also allow greater autonomy at company level, perhaps creating miniature battlegroups akin to French SGTIAs. Doing this has massively increased the company in vehicles (+6) and personnel (platoon now being 9+9+9+9+4+4=44 without a Signaller or medic). This would increase the overall costs extreme and such an all-mech-inf force with the ability of the mech-inf to also fight as light inf if the need arises would create a high logistical footprint, high equipment costs and much higher training costs etc. For context Ive remembered where my TA train of thought originated, it was during the general discussion on strike brigades and a resurgent Russia. During the American Civil War, an infantry or cavalry battalion was an ad hoc grouping of companies from the parent regiment (which had ten companies, A through K, minus J as described below), except for certain regular infantry regiments, which were formally organized into three battalions of six companies each (numbered 16 per battalion vice sequential letter designations). Infantry Regiments and Their Commanders 1792 - 1815 The Austrian infantry and their commanders. Exellent article and I just thought Id add some thoughts. 40mm is under used in general in my opinion. And a Canadian infantry (rifle) battalion, in an armoured division, was organized, and consisted of: - a Battalion headquarters of six officers and 54 other ranks - a Headquarters company of five officers and 94 other ranks, within - a company headquarters - a signal platoon - an administrative platoon Beginning in the early 1980s, some elements of the combat support companies (the mortar and scout platoons) were merged into the headquarters company with the staff and support elements, others were moved to their parent type organization (ground surveillance radar and air defense), and in infantry battalions the heavy anti-tank missile platoon was organized as a separate company (ECompany). With common ORBATs, marine battalions can quickly be prepared for the allocated mission. Both consisted of a battalion headquarters of 12 personnel and three motorised rifle companies of 110 personnel each, along with a number of combat support units: a mortar battery consisting of eight 120mm 120-PM-43 mortars or automatic 82mm 2B9 Vasileks, an air defense platoon with nine MANPADs, either the SA-7 Grail, SA-14 Gremlin or SA-16 Gimlet, and an automatic grenade launcher platoon with six 30mm AGS-17 launchers. This is an excellent weapon. I do think the reserves however have a huge role to play in defending airfields, HQs, dockyards, ammo dumps etc etc. The nine regular force infantry battalions each contain three or four rifle companies and one or two support companies. That gives a reduction of 1590 from current strength that could be used for the new bronegruppa. Additionally, a Combat Medic (Specialist), Forward Observer (Sergeant), and Fire Support RTO (Specialist) are also typically attached, but are not integral to the unit. Life would be easier if we had nets so boys could just strap bergens to the outside of the wagon. I am not going into the argument about a Battalions manning however the REME manning is open to question. My idea would be here to adept and develope the russian/soviet idea of the Bronegruppa to the extreme. of troops assigned than an infantry company . The Quartermasters Platoon will be comprised of support staff whose job it is to manage and distribute material and other resources to each of the rifle companies. There are pouches hanging off the turret cage. Weapons listed in this article are what has been effective as of 2020. Troops in IFVs will additionally benefit from 40 mm CT40 cannons and 7.62 mm chain guns for support. However, your suggestion of four rifle sections will require even greater manpower to maximise effect. Its more the lack of balance than PD itself. Some armies are looking at 40 mm medium velocity grenades to reach-out to 800 metres. Btn - of the U.S. Army as it exists within the Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT). The Army overall is about 5000 under authorised strength and an increase to about 7000 under strength does not seem a good change. Nagy, Istvan Austrian Cavalry @UKLP I fully agree that the infantry platoon needs a manpower uplift. Whilst I absolutely do not think that that is the right way to go, perhaps a shake up of public duties manning is in order? Not being Guards and having never done public duties, how would this sound: equipped with heavy Machine Guns and 81mm Mortars(See chart for An infantry battalion, logistical battalion, combat battalion, and the Netherlands Marine Corps all have a battalion structure. If not six wagons as I suggested previously, maybe four section vehicles plus a Pl HQ wagon? 27 Sep 44. I have proposed just what you suggest in your comment. They are normally identified by ordinal numbers (1st Battalion, 2nd Squadron, etc.) (e) 1 combatant and 1 from auxiliary service per battalion; one of the combatants may be a corporal. Vehicle tools, pegs for the troop shelter and bits like that that dont live in the side or back bins usually go under the left bench, the right has the hydraulic ram for the back door under it and a big tray for the rations. Date. Important figures in a battalion headquarters include: Battalions of other corps are given separate cardinal numbers within their corps (e.g., 101Battalion REME). The infantry brigade combat team, as of 2014, contains 4,413 soldiers and is organized around three battalions of infantry. The other support company would have the assault pioneers and the 2-3 anti tank platoons. Different structures are all very well, but if we needed to deploy a substantial size force in a hurry, there is a risk that we might fail to achieve critical mass. Officers Mess Staff battalions Weapons companies do not receive a letter designation. ), probably Boxer SPH. The UK is likely to do the same, but only a limited number of vehicles will get it presumably Anti-tank and Reconnaissance platoons. With that in mind Id suggest four sections of six, so that everyone off a given platform is on the same page, four sections could also divide neatly down the middle with its vehicles to give two patrols of twelve under a platoon sergeant and a platoon leader respectively. A brigade consists of a few battalions and anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 soldiers. iRO$[>_kw(y@tpKJd+D82;^*K|3sld\,xAZ|hskBA Does it have to be infantry? Increased range and lethality for less weight will kill off 7.62mm guns in the fire support/ mg section / mg plt role. published by the Department of the Army, May 2018, published by the Department of the Army, April 2016, published by the Department of the Army, October 2016, MCoE Supplemental Manual 3-90 Force Structure Reference Data ". It has been estimated that only 1/3 of a division actually served as combat infantrymen---the remainder were command, support, artillery, etc. 3-battalion and can be augmented by 1 for every battalion in excess of 3. Strike battalion Sometimes it appeared confusing so I am going to try to straighten it out. A company consists of three or four platoons and is generally commanded by a captain. Is this concept outdated ? The U.S. Army's Infantry Rifle Platoon consists of a platoon headquarters, 3 rifle squads, and 1 weapons squads. The commander's staff coordinates and plans operations. Storage space is hardly ample; the wagons were designed for blokes to fight from, not live in. The ideal solution is to have a 30 mm cannon turret with twin ATGM boxes. Also the logistics and training burden of all the various disposable rocket systems could be removed with CG. At present, infantry battalions have a fourth platoon that provides fire support via GPMGs. A group consists of four or five field armies and between 400,000 and 1 million soldiers. of the two vehicles seem to vary somewhat according to which source you use. This would give the heavy infantry battalions more fire power when dealing with more formidable foes. The central idea in proposing a universal battalion structure is to build it around platoons of 1 + 35 soldiers. The Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment is the parent administrative regiment and corps of regular and reserve infantry battalions in the New Zealand Army.It was originally formed in 1947 with a singular Regular regiment and multiple reserve regiments. Their highly publicized exploits in basic training and combat in Italy helped . This is vital. Option C Platoon divides the platoon into three groups (or multiples) of 12 soldiers. it would have a very vulnerable breaching capabilty and 105mm arty that is out ranged and very vulnerable to counter battery fire. Also not every infantry unit would then need an kind of sister tank unit (because of rotation, because of terrain and so on) and so the number of vehicles for the protected mobility units which could at the same time act as independent fighting units seperate from the infantry could be smaller as if every infantry unit would have its own protected vehicles. We already have two dedicated battalions for public duties and what youre really asking is could we make do with just one? The Infantry Battalion was the basic tactical unit of the ground forces of the Canadian military throughout the 20th Century. In a trentch or a building 5.56mm belt feds are superb. The Army is composed of an active duty component and a reserve component that comprises the Army Reserve and Army National Guard. The BTR battalion also featured an anti-tank platoon with four AT-3 Sagger or AT-4 Spigot launchers and two 73mm SPG-9 recoilless guns; BTR units on high-readiness status sometimes had six missile launchers and three recoilless guns. 3 x Rifle Sect: eight soldiers. The British Army has 32 regular infantry battalions, but six different battalion types. I appreciate, cause I found exactly what I was looking for. The Fire Support Company HQ structure is the same as a rifle company, except that it will have1 officer + 15 other ranks. consists of command and support personnel for the company. firepower and protection yes (which would possibly be over kill), but at the expense of a massive logistical footprint. In the U.S. Marine Corps, the brigade designation is used only in "Marine Expeditionary Brigade" (MEB). The LMG is a good belt-fed weapon up to 400m, perfect for D FT. Leave the general as a pl asset for depth targets and to join the suppressing section to give it big licks when needed. Whereas In a peer conflict youre going to lose and need a lot of people very quickly and youre probably going to find the army reserve faster than youre going to find the regular reserve. Given that kit is cheaper than people in the long run, do we need fire firepower to make up for lack of infantry mass ? The tables contained in Part II of this book are the Marine Corps Tables of Organization approved by the Commandant 27 March, 1944 (with changes of 22 July, 1944). During World War II, most infantry regiments consisted of three battalions (1st, 2nd, and 3rd) with each battalion consisting of three rifle companies and a heavy weapons company. Ideally infantry should be carried in tracked IFVs or wheeled MIVs, but even light PMVs are preferable to MAN trucks and Land-Rovers that offer no protection. To deal with 3 points infantry mass, use of TA, and number of vehicles, which are all interconnected: 1. Company, a support unit of a Regiment With the major reform of its armed forces in 2004, the Swiss Army abandoned the old regimental system and adopted a combat team approach centred on battalions as the building blocks of mission-oriented task forces. The way my unit does it is to strip kit down to belt kit and daysack for fighting and then have gonk bag in a canoe bag and a single rocket pouch containing admin kit. A staff sergeant is often in charge. Intelligence Cell A heavily loaded German infantry unit marching into a new position on the Eastern Front in 1943. With a 7.62mm MG, 7.62mm DMR and 6 shot 40mm GL in each section I would not want to follow the Yanks direction to an overly powerful 6.8mm AR for everyone. Italy. The basic building block of military capability is the infantry section. Did your article mention or show pictures of the benches being kept or are they being replaced by seats? I was throwing around the idea of top slicing the TA and just plugging companies into existing battalions with the intention that it would enhance their professionalism and that they could pull through the three regular companies as casualty replacements. Battalion - A battalion comprised three or more companies and was commanded by a lieutenant colonel. * Each squad is authorized two disposable shoulder-fired munitions (general AT-4s) which would go to the Riflemen. [27][28], A Soviet artillery battalion in the late 1980s consisted of a battalion headquarters, a headquarters platoon, a maintenance and supply platoon and three firing batteries, each with six artillery pieces, whether the self-propelled 2S1 Gvozdikas or the towed D-30 howitzers, and numbering 260 personnel or 240 personnel respectively. I suppose they might have a home defence role or be trained as medics or something, but they would be on a specific contract and would not be deployable. (d) 3 from auxiliary service. Radio operators, medics and anti-tank weapon operators would carry assault rifles with shorter barrels for reduced weight and increased convenience. This would inevitable change their way of fighting and therefore hinder them to be an true general purpose infantry. A battle group consists of an infantry battalion or armoured regiment with sub-units detached from other military units acting under the command of the battalion commander. It is a genuine concern that the British Army lacks sufficient protected vehicles. If youre looking to increase platoon strength without greatly increasing overall numbers Id eliminate the support company and draw its manpower and vehicles down from battalion, possibly adding two dedicated support sections to a platoon. PHILANTHROPY. The Medical Platoon (which establishes a Regimental Aid Post when deployed) will be comprised of 1 medical officer + 19 other ranks. \ |sZ4U !{s<0 Should we be looking to bring UAVs to company or even platoon-level? Prior they would have travelled in an M1165A1 HMMVW, although any mark of HMMVW that was available likely would have been used. @Captain Nemo Units Go to Units In armoured or mechanised formations the vehicle crew would be drawn mostly from Fire Support Section. A battalion usually contains two to five organic companies (batteries in the artillery), with a total of 500 to 1,200 Marines in the battalion. And sometimes Recruiting Team. its principal allies and enemies. A dedicated anti-armour team can provide overwatch and have a capability to bridge the section-level short-range NLAW and the Jav Platoon which is overworked and undergunned in the current ORBAT. This means that you have moved a battalion of Foot Guards out of LONDIST and back into the deployable force thats good, right?