Jack Posted March 22, 2006 Share Posted March 22, 2006 I maybe stupid, but...... Could someone tell me what the size/numbers are of... Armies Divisions Regiments Battalions Platoons Squads etc etc Best wishes. Jack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Karoshi Posted March 22, 2006 Share Posted March 22, 2006 Peace time or wartime, modern or period ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Jack Posted March 22, 2006 Author Share Posted March 22, 2006 :twisted: :twisted: WW2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Karoshi Posted March 22, 2006 Share Posted March 22, 2006 Ok. For the US Army, WW2 era : (with some variations): Squad 12 Platoon 50 Company 200 Inf Battalion 900 Inf Regiment 3200 Division 15000 Corps 75000 Army 300000 This help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Jack Posted March 22, 2006 Author Share Posted March 22, 2006 Blimey yes thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Jessie The Jeep Posted March 22, 2006 Share Posted March 22, 2006 As far as the 8th Army Air Force was concerned, each airbase in the UK accommodated around 2500 to 3000 personnel, of which, only a small number were actually fliers. Each bomber had a crew of ten ( or 11 with Radar Equipped Bombers ). Four were officers, the others enlisted men, all at the rank of Sergeant. It was learned that the Luftwaffe Guards in POW Camps had little respect for any rank lower than Sergeant, so that became the standard rank for enlisted men. There was also a ground crew of five, 'though ground crews often looked after more than one bomber. A Bombardment Squadron started out made up of 12 Bombers. Later in the war, as manufacturing peaked mid '44 at 16 B-17's completed per day, this number increased to 18 planes per Squadron, causing some overcrowding on bases with the 'Frying Pan' type dispersals. The 'Spectacle' Hardstands could easily accomodate two bombers. A Bombardment Group initially started with three Bombardment Squadrons, but this was soon increased to four. This explains the out of sequence Squadron numbering..... For example, the 100th BG had the 349th, 350th, 351st & 418th Bombardment Squadrons. Three Bomb Groups were linked as a Combat Wing. These groupings were usually geographical, the centre base being the Wing HQ. Four Combat Wings were grouped, together with a Fighter Wing, as an Air Division. ( A Fighter Wing was comprised of Five Fighter Groups, Fighter Groups were comprised of three Fighter Squadrons ). Three Air Divisions made up the 8th Air Force. Each division had asymbol, 1st AD = Triangle, 2nd AD = Circle, 3rd AD = Square. These symbols were placed on the vertical tail of the bombers for identification. Each Bomb Group had a Letter which was placed in the symbol. Each Squadron had a two letter, or Letter/Number ID, which was painted on the fuselage side..... and each aircraft had an ID letter, also on the fuselage side. By looking at the letters and symbol, you can identify the aircraft, squadron, group and division it belongs to. In a minute, when I find the right book, I'll give you a breakdown of Units on a typical airbase. The 8th Air Force held a record ( and maybe still does ) as the largest single organisation in the world, with a compliment at it's peak of 1,500,000 personnel. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Jessie The Jeep Posted March 22, 2006 Share Posted March 22, 2006 Groups and Units that made up the 100th Bomb Group. You can see from the following list that each airbase was far more than just bombers. For every man in the air, there were at least 10 on the ground working to keep him there. 1776th Ordnance Company 18th Weather Detachment 869th Chemical Company 216th Finance Section 592nd Postal Unit 1285th Military Police 2110th Fire Fighting Platoon 1141st Quartermaster Company 83rd Service Group 456th Sub-Depot 412th Air Service Group 838th Air Engineering Squadron 662nd Air Material Squadron American Red Cross Royal Air Force Detachment Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Jack Posted March 22, 2006 Author Share Posted March 22, 2006 Steve, I ws reading the other day the that US air war cost them $40 billion during WW2..... :shock: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Jessie The Jeep Posted March 22, 2006 Share Posted March 22, 2006 Yeh, but at least they used up the left over bombs in Vietnam, so the money wasn't totally wasted! Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 AlienFTM Posted March 22, 2006 Share Posted March 22, 2006 It's easiest to start at the bottom (and let's talk infantry for simplicity). Given in brackets are how units would be referred to without drawing attention to what they actually were Squad (Section in UK, a sub-unit of a platoon): At full strength, a British infantry rifle section consisted of ten men. This was not continually attained. In the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS, ISTR it was eight. Platoon (a sub-unit of a company): Three sections. Company (a minor unit): Three platoons and a Field HQ (FHQ). Also potentially a mortar section and an MG section. Battalion (a major unit. For non-infantry arms, see Regiment): Three rifle companies with Support and HQ companies. Regiment (Infantry: an entirely administrative concept; anything else: a major unit): A red herring. Infantry major units were battalions, adminstered as regiments. A regiment consisted administratively of any number of battalions, all with the same cap badge but rarely if ever fielded side by side. Aside from the infantry, the major unit in for example armour, artillery, engineers was (and is) a regiment, which approximately equates to an infantry battalion in shape, though each section consists of tanks, guns, engineers, not infantry. Brigade (a formation, like anything bigger): A grouping of maybe three regiments or battalions with its own HQ. Divisions: A grouping of maybe two brigades and a Div HQ and services. There would also be REME, Signals, RMP, etc. Corps: A grouping of two or more divisions and a Corps HQ. Army: A grouping of two or more Corps with its own HQ (note that throughout the Cold War the British Army of the Rhine consisted of a single corps, 1 Br Corps). Army Group: A grouping of armies with its own HQ. If you ever see map markings, each unit carries an indicator of its size above the box. From memory (shoot me if I am wrong!): xxxxx = Army Group xxxx = Army xxx = Corps xx = Division x = Brigade /// = Regiment / Battalion // = Squadron / Company / = Troop / Platoon The size of a platoon might vary from say 32 in a rifle platoon down to six in a three-car armoured car troop. The size of anything bigger is entirely dependent upon the structure of the formation. In 1944 you would find US Divisions comprising three Regimental Combat Teams, A, B and R (+ Reserve). The division's half dozen or so constituent major units would be spread around through the three RCTs as the situation demanded in approximately Brigade-sized formations, this being the first Allied attempt at the flexibility which had served the German Kampfgruppen (Battlegroups) so well through the war. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Karoshi Posted March 22, 2006 Share Posted March 22, 2006 Steve, I was reading the other day the that US air war cost them $40 billion during WW2..... :shock: A figure of $175000 per minute for every minute, of WW2 has been quoted as the US total expense. Thats at 1940 prices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Question
Jack
I maybe stupid, but......
Could someone tell me what the size/numbers are of...
Armies
Divisions
Regiments
Battalions
Platoons
Squads
etc etc
Best wishes.
Jack.
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