User:MFIreland/German Infantry Company

The Rifle Company underwent a major change following the invasion of Poland, with a very different Rifle Squad, or Gruppe introduced as a result of experience.

The original Squad was thirteen strong, with three Squads per Platoon. The Squad was made up of a leader and assistant, both NCOs, and seven men, all of who were armed with rifles. The Squad was completed by a Light Machine Gun group of four men, armed with three pistols and one rifle and serving a single light machine gun. Platoon HQ was nothing more than an officer and three messengers carrying a pistol and rifles respectively. The Light Mortar Section contained an NCO and two men, all armed with rifles and serving a single 5-cm light mortar.

This was the Squad and Platoon in use during the invasion of Poland, where it proved to be too cumbersome a unit to operate effectively in action. Following the campaign the ten man Squad was adopted, but it was not until early 1941 that this was reflected in the organisational tables. It does raise the intriguing question of whether units in action in the West in 1940 were operating on the old organisation or the new.

The new Squad was made up of an NCO, a six man rifle element and a three man light machine gun team. The NCO was originally armed with a rifle, but as sufficient stocks became available adopted the MP40 machine pistol. The MP40 was the world's first mass produced submachine gun, and was constructed from pre-fabricated metal stampings and plastic. It fired the usual 9-mm round, and became a highly sought after allied trophy. Some one million were eventually produced. The men of the rifle group were all armed with the Mauser bolt action rifle, an amended model of the 1898 weapon fielded during the Great War. One of the riflemen also acted as assistant leader. The Germans based the firepower of the squad around a single light machine gun. The MG34 was served by a gunner and loader, each man armed with a pistol, while a third man acted as an ammunition bearer and carried a rifle. The original weapon was the revolutionary MG34. The Germans believed a gunner would only have seconds to engage exposed enemy infantry before they naturally took cover. The MG34 had an exceptionally high rate of fire for the period, enabling even the shortest burst to unleash a tremendous volley.

With the reduction in the size of the Squad came an increase in the number of Squads per Platoon, rising from three to four. The four Squads were directed by a Platoon commander aided by an NCO, three runners and a supply wagon driver. The commander was armed with a machine pistol and a semi-automatic pistol, while the NCO was unusually authorised just a pistol. The three runners carried rifles, as did the wagon driver. One of the runners was the first to be equipped with a telescopic sight for his rifle. The wagon driver was responsible for the Platoon supply vehicle, a horse drawn affair which transported the bulk of the unit's equipment. Increasingly during 1942, it became common for the Platoon Commander to be a senior NCO rather than a commissioned officer.

The Company Train included four stretcher bearers armed with pistols, one being routinely attached to each Platoon. The Light Mortar Section was the same as before, with an NCO, gunner and loader. The NCO carried a rifle, each crewman now a pistol. The 5-cm light mortar was not a popular weapon. Unlike the British, who used the 2-inch mortar more for smoke than effect, the Germans intended the 5-cm to bridge the gap between maximum grenade range and minimum safe artillery range. It was not a success, being too heavy a weapon for too small an advantage. It fell out of use quickly once the campaign in the East began. During 1942 each Squad received a rifle grenade launcher, used to propel a variety of high explosive and more often anti-tank rounds, providing a much more flexible weapon.

Company level fire support also changed considerably between 1939 and 1941. Initially, each Rifle Company had a Section of two heavy machine guns under its own command, which when added to the eight such weapons in the Machine Gun Company gave the Battalion a total of fourteen. By 1941, and possibly earlier, the Company machine guns were removed and a third Platoon was added to the Machine Gun Company, bringing the total number of weapons down slightly to twelve.

Replacing the Machine Gun Section was the Anti-tank Rifle Section. Its NCO commanded three teams, each of a gunner and loader serving a single Panzerbuchse 38/39. The anti-tank rifle was an outmoded idea from a previous era, effective against only the lightest of armoured fighting vehicles. The ironic reality was that many German Infantry units did not even have the rifles until the invasion of Russia, in which theatre of war they were infinitely outclassed by the heavier Soviet tanks. But, as in the British and Red armies, they remained in use long after they should have to provide the infantry soldier with some means to engage armour in the absence of the necessary towed guns.

Company HQ provided the usual command functions. The supply role was handled by the substantial Company Train, which included a large number of horse drawn vehicles and a 2-ton truck.

The 1944 Company was a much smaller unit.

The Rifle Squad itself was reduced to nine men, deleting the ammunition bearer for the machine gun team. The loader now officially adopted a rifle, and a second machine pistol replaced a Mauser in the rifle group, possibly carried by the assistant leader. The remainder of the Squad was effectively unaltered, and this organisation was almost certainly more reflective of that in use throughout 1943.

Platoon HQ had a Commander, two runners, a stretcher bearer, and two supply wagon drivers. The Platoon Commander could now be either an Officer or a senior NCO, and there was no longer the equivalent of a Platoon Sergeant to assist him. Each Platoon had a two horse wagon, and a one horse wagon with trailer. The commander still carried his MP40 and pistol, the medic a pistol, the runners and drivers all rifles. The Platoon also had two unallocated light machine gun for deployment as required, but this was swiftly reduced to one and this too may have been deleted in subsequent cutbacks. Curiously, there is no indication of radios being issued to Platoons. Instead, Company HQ listed four signallers among it strength, who were perhaps despatched as necessary. The Company Train carried a further light machine gun.

With the demise of the 5-cm mortar and the anti-tank rifle, fire support was provided initially by two 8-cm mortars, which were subsequently withdrawn and replaced by two heavy machine guns. In both cases the weapons involved were simply redeployed from the Machine Gun or Heavy Company.

A number of new individual weapons began to reach the troops in 1943, which the neu Art Rifle Company organisation aimed to incorporate. It was intended the Company would receive nineteen self loading rifles, ten of which would be fitted with telescopic sights. There was no specific guidance on how these weapons were to be allocated, but two per Squad, one scoped, would seem reasonable. Given the often incoherent nature of the German supply system it would be sensible to regard this more as the ideal situation than the actual in many cases. The Gewehr 43 was an attempt to provide a semi-automatic rifle to the troops, but still using the same ammunition as the Mauser. It had been preceded by the Gewehr 41, which had proven to be an all round failure in terms of usefulness and reliability. The G43 on the other hand was a success, and while it never replaced the 1898 Mauser, it offered a real increase in firepower to those units lucky enough to receive it. Likewise, the MG42 served alongside the MG34 as the Squad light machine gun, its high rate of fire proving as devastating in the light role as the heavy. Anti-tank potential had also been exponentially increased. For the best part of two years, the German soldiers only reply to a Soviet T34 was to move within spitting distance and assail it with either a Teller mine or a bundle of stick grenades. A new series of one shot disposable anti-tank grenades changed that in late 1943. The variously titled Faustpatrone or Panzerfaust gave the individual soldier the ability to successfully destroy a tank, though effective range never increased beyond 100 metres as the design was progressively upgraded. Unlike the Bazooka or PIAT, the Panzerfaust was effectively a munition, and was issued in tremendous numbers to offset the declining status of the Panzer arm.

Rifle Company (4 Officers, 186 men), circa 1930 to 1940 comprised of
 * Company HQ (1 Officer, 11 men)
 * Battle Train (18 men)
 * Rations and Baggage Trains (6 men)
 * Machine Gun Section (16 men)
 * Three Rifle Platoons, each comprised of;
 * Platoon HQ (1 Officer, 3 men)
 * Light Mortar Section (3 men)
 * Three Rifle Squads, each comprised of 13 men

Rifle Company (4 Officers, 187 men), circa 1941 to 1942 each comprised of
 * Company HQ (1 Officer, 12 men)
 * Battle Train (17 men)
 * Rations and Baggage Trains (7 men)
 * Anti-tank Rifle Section (7 men)
 * Three Rifle Platoons, each comprised of;
 * Platoon HQ (1 Officer, 5 men)
 * Light Mortar Section (3 men)
 * Four Rifle Squads, each comprised of 10 men

Rifle Company (2 Officers, 143 men), late 1943 each comprised of
 * Company HQ (1 Officer, 11 men)
 * Company Train (13 men)
 * 8-cm Mortar Section (21 men)
 * Three Rifle Platoons, each comprised of;
 * Platoon HQ (1 Officer or NCO, 5 men)
 * Three Rifle Squads, each comprised of 9 men

Rifle Company (2 Officers, 140 men), circa mid-1944 each comprised of
 * Company HQ (1 Officer, 11 men)
 * Company Train (13 men)
 * Machine Gun Section (18 men)
 * Three Rifle Platoons, each comprised of;
 * Platoon HQ (1 Officer or NCO, 5 men)
 * Three Rifle Squads, each comprised of 9 men

German Grenadier Battalion, Grenadier Company, June 1944
Numbers in parenthesis indicate number of personnel assigned to role, number of unallocated weapons or number of sub-units in detachment.

Notes * served as 'Groom' for Officer's horse, though horse later deleted from table

Notes * 1st Platoon commanded by Officer, 2nd and 3rd Platoons each commanded by NCO

Platoon Weapons single MG34/42 light machine gun carried in reserve