Quote Originally Posted by Fuchs View Post
Infantry action is more important at the platoon level, and in the modern Western model of warfare even the infantry platoon is only a tiny component of the whole, as quite often the difference between tactical success or not is predetermined irrespective of the platoon's quality, TO&E and equipment.
Funny you should say that. I was reading Royal Marines and some things really caught my eye. From 1943 to about the early 1960s (maybe a bit later for some units) the RM Cdo was organised into five troops with a HQ and Weapons troop (2 x mortar 2 x MMG). Each troop (a large platoon sized org) had 63 all ranks. Organised as either four ten man sections, a 10 man spt section and a 13man HQ (1943) or two 26 man sections (two 11 man sub-sections and a fure support sub-section) c. 1950s. There simply was no Sqn (Coy) HQ. From I have read the Company organisation was introduced for better interoperability with Army units when rotating especially during the whole East of Suez drawdown. Given the mission of the RM I suppose it made sense to have large Troops. Would love to know how well the system worked (i.e., without a Coy HQ/layer of command) though in practice given it lasted over 20 years and was tested by WWII combat conditions.