Redundancy in small unit organization

[Norfolk]

Until now I haven't posted on this thread; but now I will to say that a Squad or a Section requires a certain level of redundancy to (hopefully) last for a decent interval before being forced to extensively reorganize.

A single MG and a single UGL are sufficient to provide a base of fire for a Squad/Section. Likwise, a single RPG-type weapon is sufficient to deal with field fortifications and most armoured vehicles. And each of these weapons can be carried and fired by a single man. A second man for each of these weapons is best to have in order to carry extra ammo.

Most assault and clearing tasks require a pair of 2-man teams, or a single 4-man team. House-clearing can be done with a single 4-man team, but if something goes wrong, the rest of the Squad/Section may either be too far away to help in time, or may be tied up in their own fight. As such, for many house-clearing and similar tasks, a 4-man team may do the initial sweep, the rest of the Squad/Section needs to be on hand to maintain security and to be available for back-up if something does go wrong.

At it most basic, then, a Squad/Section requires 7 men. The Squad LDR/Section CDR can serve as the Grenadier (it's ideal for him to mark targets and lay smoke anyway) and he should be paired with the LMG Gunner so that he can direct its fires. Another man to carry extra ammo and provide security for the LMG Gunner is prudent; in short, 3 men for the Fire Element. A 4-man Assault Element is required, either to operate as 2 2-man teams, or a single 4-man team; they would carry the RGP and its ammo with them, as the RPG is best employed at the closest quarters practical.

Then there is the matter of battle losses. With an historical average loss rate of 20-30% as Melody and or Karcher report (based upon US Army studies), a 3-man Fire Element would require at least a fourth member to absorb battle losses, whereas a 4-man Assault Element would require at least 2 more men to have a practical chance of maintaining a 4-man assault element; given the added risks involved in assaulting and clearing, along with the added flexibility accorded to the Assault Element if it were habitually organized into a Leader and 2 3-man teams, a third addition to the strength of the assault element may also be prudent.

The result would be a Squad/Section of 11-men, with a Fire Element of 4 men including the Leader/Grenadier, LMG Gunner, and 2 Riflemen to carry ammo and provide an ability to absorb losses, and an Assault Element of 7 men including the Leader and 6 Riflemen, one of whom carries an RPG-like weapon, and another extra ammo. This organization can continue to perform its tasks at close to full efficiency before being forced to reorganize once it is depleted to 6 men. This is probably why both the Germans and the Commonwealth have traditionally favoured the 10-man Gruppe/Section (although the Canadian Army determined in the mid-1950's that 11 was actually required).

The balanced two-Fire Team Squad/Section throws everything into conflict. The US Army found in study after study that nothing less than a 12-13 man Squad, of two 6-man Fire Teams, could last in battle for any useful length of time before being forced to reorganize into a single-team Squad due to the taking of casualties. For a two-Fire Team Squad/Section to work, it still has to be able to produce a minimum 4-man Assault Element plus the necessary manpower for double the number of LMGs and UGLs as its counterpart with a single LMG and UGL; a minimum of 6 men is required for this, without taking casualties into account.

Taking casualties into account, the base 10 men required for the two-Fire Team Squad/Section requires no less than a minimum of 4 additional men, for a minimum 14-man Squad/Section. Once this organization is depleted by losses much below 10 men, then it requires extensive reorganization. Only the USMC Rifle Squad approaches this capacity.

8- and 9-man Squads/Sections have to be able to maintain 6-7 men out of their authorized strength to remain effective, using one LMG and UGL for fire support. Increasing that fire support with an additional LMG and UGL may allow for greater tactical flexibility, but it increases manpower requirements to a minimum of 10 men before casualties. When 20-30% casualties can be expected, 8- and 9-man Squads/Sections have no realistic chance of lasting long enough on the battlefield to make much meaningful use of their Fire Team organization, especially considering that the 11-man Squad could not retain its Fire Team structure in practice during Vietnam.

Another thing to bear in mind, of course, is the effect of Squad/Section organization on Platoon organization. The Germans found that 4 10-man Infanterie Gruppen (each with one LMG) were required to win the Zug/Platoon Firefight quickly, and transitioned to this structure in 1940 from 3 12-man Gruppen for the rest of WWII. When this kind of Platoon has most of its Squads/Sections with less than 6 or 7 men, then it has to break one of them up and reorganize the remainder. Ideally, the disbanded Squad/Section's LMG and UGL would be manned by the Platoon HQ.

Likewise, the Panzergrenadiere Gruppe with 2 LMGs, had 14 men each if Motorized, 12 if Armoured; each Platoon required only 3 such Gruppen. As manpower losses forced the Germans to reduce authorized establishments down to 8-9 men, the Panzer Grenadier Groups lost their offensive power. At such a point, with no prospect of immediate reinforcement, the Squad/Section's have to divest themselves of their second LMG and UGL and reorganize. Ideally, at least one LMG and UGL would be manned by the Platoon HQ.

Redundancy has to be built-in to Minor-Unit TO&E, and at two levels. The first level is simply to provide a certain amount of overstrength to each Squad, Section, and Platoon, etc., to absorb an anticipated level of battle losses; the 20-30% figure that the US Army identified is not exact, but it is based on past experience. The Canadian Army found the 10-man Section to typically consist of 5-6 men in practice, and not surprisingly sought an 11-man Section with one LMG to provide for the minimum 6-7 men necessary to carry out the Section's tasks.

The second level is reorganization, a sort of controlled self-cannibalization to simply make the most of what's left. The 10-11 man, 4-Section Platoon, with one LMG and UGL per Section, has the easiest time of this, being able to reorganize into 3 6-7 man Sections plus an LMG and an UGL at Platoon HQ, ideally. The two-Fire Team Squad/Section, has the worst of it, requiring at least 12-14 men to start with before casualties force reorganization. When it does reorganize, and if all 3 such Squads/Sections are in more or less similar circumstances, the Platoon must divest itself of nearly half its support weapons, or it will lose its offensive power almost completely.