Steve Wilcox
Posts: 103
Joined: 8/17/2001
From: Victoria, BC, Canada
Status: offline
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Okay, some more actual TO&E stuff (again dug mostly from the Red Army Handbook 1939-1945 by Steven J. Zaloga and Leland S. Ness, with a bit of stuff from the Up Front rulebook), this time about Soviet SMG Companies. There are two types to be considered, those in the Rifle Division's Infantry Regiments and those part of the Motorized Rifle Battalion in the Tank Brigades.
First the Inf Rgt:
Oct 41 SMG Co: SMG Plt (3 Sqd) x3. The Sqd consisted of 10 men, all armed with SMGs. The company totaled 100 men in three 31 man platoons, and a 7 man HQ section. Everyone had an SMG and there were no other weapons (except I assume grenades, etc.).
After referring to some fine-tuning of the official division organization made in Oct 44, the Red Army Handbook 1939-1945 says that: "In addition, some further changes were made locally; an apparently popular one was to rearm one platoon in each rifle company entirely with sub-machine guns - in some cases such a platoon kept its DP light machine guns and in others they were dropped."
And in the Up Front rulebook it says that: "after 1943 many Rifle Regiments disbanded their separate Machine Pistol companies and formed a Rifle company with machine pistols rather than rifles. Because the LMG's and HMG's of the latter were retained, the company became much more effective than the pure Machine Pistol company."
And now the Mot Rifle Bn (in a Tank Bde) ones:
(By way of background, a Mot Rifle Bn in a Tank Bde from Nov 39 had 3 Rifle Companies, but in Dec 41 that was changed to 2 Rifle Companies and 1 SMG Company, this last unit being the Tankodesantniki).
Dec 41 SMG (Tankodesantniki) Co: SMG Plt (3 Sqd) x3. These are the tank-rider guys. They had a smaller Sqd (8 men), Plt (25 men), and HQ Sec (4 men) for a total of 79 men in the company, and were armed exclusively with SMGs.
(Again by way of background, in Nov 43 the 2 Rifle Companies in a Tank Bde's Mot Rifle Bn were converted to Motorized SMG Companies, while the 3rd (original) SMG company retained its unenviable task of clinging precariously to the T-34s as they rode into battle.)
Nov 43 SMG (Motorized) Co: SMG Plt (3 Sqd w/3 LMG) x3, MMG Plt (2 MMG). Note that these squads retained their LMGs and that the company retained its MMGs, as opposed to the pure SMG formations.
Nov 43 SMG (Tankodesantniki) Co: The overall size of the company is now 95 men according to a table, although no other specifics are given. Otherwise it appears to be the same as the Dec 41 version.
I'll do a thread about the Russian Motorized Rifle Companies when I get a chance, in case anyone is interested.
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