Size of Platoon

[Guest Darren]

Hello,

What was the basic number of men in a German Platoon?

Thanks,

Darren

[Dave Danner]

Hello,

What was the basic number of men in a German Platoon?

Thanks,

Darren

That kind of depends on when and where. For a standard infantry regiment, the peacetime structure when the war began in 1914 would have called for a roughly 80-man platoon: four sections of 20 men each consisting of two squads (Gruppen) of 8 soldiers and a Gefreiter. The section (Korporalschaft) leader was an Unteroffizier.

But almost immediately on mobilization units began being reorganized to provide the nucleus for other units, wartime casualties reduced unit strength, and the 80-man platoon and 261-man company proved unwieldy. So this peacetime structure didn't last long.

Someone with the better references might be able to add to this.

[Guest Darren]

That kind of depends on when and where. For a standard infantry regiment, the peacetime structure when the war began in 1914 would have called for a roughly 80-man platoon: four sections of 20 men each consisting of two squads (Gruppen) of 8 soldiers and a Gefreiter. The section (Korporalschaft) leader was an Unteroffizier.

But almost immediately on mobilization units began being reorganized to provide the nucleus for other units, wartime casualties reduced unit strength, and the 80-man platoon and 261-man company proved unwieldy. So this peacetime structure didn't last long.

Someone with the better references might be able to add to this.

Thanks Dave, the information is most helpful. We will see if anyone can add to it.

regards,

Darren

[Ulsterman]

The German army reorganized formally in 1917. THE OKH lowered the formal strenghth of battalions from 919 to 650 as of the Summer of 1917-replacing troops with machine gun sections (3 for each company). This reduction affected privates and gefreiters only-not other Unterofficers or officers.

A platoon in an "average" infantry regiment in 1917-1918 would have had at the very most 60 men, including officers (1-2) and NCOs (7-8).

The OKH reorganizatoon allowed more formal NCOs and officers allowed per company than the 1914 establishments.

Photos of platoons in the field however, clearly show that there were about 35-40 per Platoon and sometimes even fewer.

Edited January 30, 2006 by Ulsterman

[Guest Darren]

Thank you Ulsterman for the added bit of information. I would assume then that a platoon in 1914 would be larger then the 1917 variety.

Nice picture by the way; they look to be having lots of fun

regards,

Darren