Hi Guys,
I am starting to put together my first infantry squads for MicroSquad. I want to have a accurate representation of the number of men per squad when I make my stands. Do you have any reference information or Web sites that show this type of information. I am using the North African time period 1940-1941 and using the Italian and British units.
Information on squad composition
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Krag
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Mk 1
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The suggestion of the bayonetstrength website is a good one. It is an excellent resource.
Italians are particularly challenging on this point, as the squad structure of their infantry regiments was rather different than most other nations at the start of WW2.
By WW2 most major combatant nations had a platoon organzition of 3 (sometimes 4) squads, each of 9 - 12 men with rifles and 1 (sometimes 2) LMGs.
The original Italian platoon organization was only 2 squads, each of about 21 men, which was divided into a rifle section of 11 men, and a MG section with two LMGs and 9 men (lots of ammo carriers), along with a platoon leader who may have travelled with the rifles or the LMGs as he saw fit. The theory was evidently that each squad would have a fire base and a maneuver group.
It is hard to model this organization with most squad-based rulesets.
Their experiences vs. the British in the western dessert campaign led them to re-consider this, and by 1942 they published a new standard organization for their infantry, which was specific to the troops in Africa. With the new TOE their infantry squads and platoons started to look more like most other nations' -- ie: a platoon of 3 squads composed of riflemen with one LMG in each squad. But this TOE, which started to appear experimentally in 1941, was never universally adopted even in the formations in Africa, as new units that came over from Italy as re-inforcements were usually organized along the lines of the old TOE.
All of that is related only to the Italian infantry regiments. The Bersaglieri regiments had a different platoon and squad organization. So also the reconnaissance regiments (who had reasonable amounts of infantry too).
Italians are particularly challenging on this point, as the squad structure of their infantry regiments was rather different than most other nations at the start of WW2.
By WW2 most major combatant nations had a platoon organzition of 3 (sometimes 4) squads, each of 9 - 12 men with rifles and 1 (sometimes 2) LMGs.
The original Italian platoon organization was only 2 squads, each of about 21 men, which was divided into a rifle section of 11 men, and a MG section with two LMGs and 9 men (lots of ammo carriers), along with a platoon leader who may have travelled with the rifles or the LMGs as he saw fit. The theory was evidently that each squad would have a fire base and a maneuver group.
It is hard to model this organization with most squad-based rulesets.
Their experiences vs. the British in the western dessert campaign led them to re-consider this, and by 1942 they published a new standard organization for their infantry, which was specific to the troops in Africa. With the new TOE their infantry squads and platoons started to look more like most other nations' -- ie: a platoon of 3 squads composed of riflemen with one LMG in each squad. But this TOE, which started to appear experimentally in 1941, was never universally adopted even in the formations in Africa, as new units that came over from Italy as re-inforcements were usually organized along the lines of the old TOE.
All of that is related only to the Italian infantry regiments. The Bersaglieri regiments had a different platoon and squad organization. So also the reconnaissance regiments (who had reasonable amounts of infantry too).
-Mark 1
Difficile est, saturam non scribere.
"It is hard NOT to write satire." - Decimus Iunius Juvenalis, 1st Century AD
Difficile est, saturam non scribere.
"It is hard NOT to write satire." - Decimus Iunius Juvenalis, 1st Century AD