The 13th Company (Platoons)
This post continues the tale of the organization of 13th company of the Grenadier regiment of the 32nd Wave of the German Army of the Second World War. For the first two posts of this three-part series, see …
The people who designed infantry units for the German Army of the Second World War sought to create standard components that could be assembled in various ways to create a variety of larger units. At the same time, they were obliged to make careful use of a limited supply of men, horses, and equipment.
In the last year of the war, the need for economy usually trumped the desire for modularity. Nonetheless, the authors of establishments managed, on occasion, to design standard components that could be plugged into larger structures of different kinds. Thus, in the 13th company of a Grenadier regiment of the 32nd Wave, both the platoons armed with heavy (12cm) mortars and the platoons equipped with heavy (15cm) infantry guns used the same sort of headquarters and the same sort of supply echelons. Moreover, in situations where a shortage of 15cm pieces prevented the creation of a heavy infantry gun platoon, the tables of organization called for the provision of a platoon of light (7.5cm) infantry guns identical to the one found in the heavy company of each Grenadier battalion.
When armed with heavy infantry guns, the business end of the third platoon of a 13th company broke down into a pair of all-but identical squads, each of which rated eight horses, six gunners, five teamsters, a squad leader, a two-horse wagon, a limber, and, of course, at 15cm heavy infantry gun. (One of the squads also rated a light machine gun, which rode in its two-horse wagon.)
Each of the two mortar platoons of a 13th company consisted of four squads, each of which was authorized six horses, five gunners, two-teamsters, a squad leader, a two-horse wagon, a limber, and a heavy (12cm) mortar. (Like the infantry gun platoon, each of the mortar platoons also received a single light machine gun, which customarily rode in the two-horse wagon of one of the squads.
Sources:
General der Infanterie beim Chef Generalstabs des Heeres, Nr. 3160/ 44g vom 5.9.44, microfilmed at the U.S. National Archives, Captured German Records , Series T-78, Reel 763. (The link will take you to a PDF of this document on file at the Military Learning Library. To download, gratis, the full reel, visit this page on the WW2 Archive.)
Organizations Abteilung/Generalstab des Heeres Nr. I./44 g. K dated 1 September 1944, Bundesarchiv, RH 2 1295 (The link will take you to a page on the website of the Bundesarchiv.)
