This post concludes to a five-part series. You can find the previous installments at the far end of the following links.
The diagrams decoded in this series deal exclusively with the company-level components of a motorcycle infantry battalion. Thus, while it is reasonable to assume that the unit possessed one headquarters, one machine gun company, and one heavy company, we cannot know the number of motorcycle rifle companies (Kradschützen Kompanien) that it rated. Indeed, it is quite possible that, given the fondness for modular design displayed by the authors of establishments at this time, the companies served as building blocks for battalions - actual or imagined - of several different kinds.
Company Headquarters
In keeping with the theme of modularity, the headquarters of the motorcycle rifle company rated the same mix of vehicles as its counterpart in the motorcycle machine gun company. These were:
an amphibious car (Schwimmwagen)
a truck to carry equipment (Gerät)
a motorcycle with a side car
three motorcycles of the two-wheeled persuasion
Rifle Platoon
Each of the three rifle platoons of the motorcycle rifle company consisted of
a headquarters (Zugtrupp)
three rifle squads
a mortar team
The platoon headquarters differed from the company headquarters in two respects. First, the equipment-carrying truck pulled a trailer. Second, it made use of fewer motorcycles.
Each of the three rifle squads of a rifle platoon rode in a quartet of motorcycles, all of which were fitted with side cars. One of these combos carried the squad’s light machine gun.
Armed with a single 5cm mortar, the mortar team rode in two three-wheeled cycles.
Machine Gun Section
The machine gun ‘half-platoon’ (Halbzug) carried the tripods, optics, and extra ammunition needed to employ its two general purpose machine guns in long-range mode.
Company Trains
Where the company train of each of the other companies of the consisted of a combat train and a baggage train, those of the motorcycle rifle company broke down into three elements.
The combat train (Gefechtstroß) was authorized all but one of the vehicles rated by its counterparts in other companies. That is, it got a Schwimmwagen, two motorcycles, and five cargo trucks, but no maintenance car (Instandsetzungskraftwagen 2/40)
The separate maintenance section (Instandsetzungs Trupp) rated a two-wheeled motorcycle, a cargo truck (marked with an ‘L’), and a maintenance car. (I have yet to figure out the meaning of the diagonal line drawn through the ‘L’ on the ‘cargo truck’ icon.)
Like its alter ego in the machine gun company, the baggage train of a motorcycle rifle company rode in one motorcycle and two cargo trucks.
I don’t know about the Eastern Front, where the motorcycle units were phased out a year in, but I think there’s a place for them still. So do the Russians in Ukraine.