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His assistant would help him with setting up the MG, supply ammo and assist him in combat. Next is the Machine Gunner, he operated the light machine gun and was responsible for taking care of the weapon. His responsibilities were to communicate with the Platoon Commander and also adjacent squads, thus he was vital for the coordination. The Second-in-Command was his assistant and was in command during the absence of the Squad leader. His responsibilities outside of combat included that the equipment of the unit was in order and that enough ammunition was available.(The German Squad in Combat: p. The Squad leader was commanding the unit, he directed which targets the LMG should engage and if the combat situation permitted also the rifle fire. The roles/duties and responsibilities of each squad member were as follows: 5-7 Bull: p.23-24) Roles/Duties and Responsibilities 15-16 German Squad in Combat: p.1-3 Töpfer: p. (Sources: Buchner, Alex: Handbuch der Infanterie 1939-1945, S. Hence, in total the squad had 1 light machine gun, 1 submachine gun, 2 pistols, 7 rifles and several hand grenades, which were issued depending on the situation. Note that the men except for the squad leader were numbered, whereas the machine gunner was the “Schütze 1” or rifleman number 1, which gives a good indication of his importance. Also the second-in-command was armed the same way as regular rifleman. This was the regular amount, according to Buchner more rounds were issued in case of a combat situation. Now, each rifleman had around 9 clips for his rifle with 5 shots each, thus 45 rounds. Note that the “German Squad in Combat” indicates a pistol instead of a rifle as a weapon for the ammo carrier, but it seems that this is incorrect and is probably from an old layout, when the squad consisted of an LMG and rifle team. Unlike the assistant he was issued a rifle not a pistol. He carried two Ammo boxes with 300 rounds each. There was also an ammo carrier assigned to the machine gunner, whose job was to carry and supply ammunition. Additionally, one ammo box with 300 rounds weighing 11.53 kg.
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The assistant gunner carried 4 ammo drums with 50 shots and a weight of 2.45 kg each. The machine gunner was equipped with an MG 34 and later on with an MG42, he was also issued a pistol and an ammo drum with 50 rounds.
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Initially all men besides the machine gunner and his assistant were equipped with the “Karabiner 98 kurz”, the German standard rifle, even the Squad leader, yet around 1941 he was issued a MP40 submachine gun with 6 magazines of 32 shots each. The German Infantry Squad in World War 2 for the most part consisted of 1 squad leader and 9 infantry men, thus a total of 10 men. Let’s begin with organization and armament.
#BATTLEFIELD 1 SQUAD LEADER MANUALS#
It is a partial translation of a German publication and using other sources, I could correct some small errors and inconsistencies, nevertheless take everything with a grain of salt, especially since manuals and combat realities often differ.
#BATTLEFIELD 1 SQUAD LEADER MANUAL#
Second, the main source for this is the US Manual “German Squad in Combat” from the Military Intelligence Service released in January 1943. Two important points, first a squad rarely acted alone on the battlefield, it was used in coordination with other squads of its platoon and/or company. Time to take a look a German Squad Tactics in World War 2. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please note: This post contains amazon affiliate links.