Commanded by a Lieutenant-Colonel and with a Major as his Second-in-Command, a wartime British Army infantry battalion in 1942 had a nominal strength of 33 Officers and 753 Other Ranks (excluding attached Army Catering Corps, RAMC and RAOC personnel) and would be organised as followed:
|
|
A Battalion HQ of five officers and 50 Other Ranks.
|
|
A Headquarters Company of eight officers and 248 Other Ranks, consisting of a Company HQ (one officer, eight Other Ranks) and the following Platoons, which were numbered 1 to 6:
|
|
No 1 Platoon, Signals, one Officer, 35 Other Ranks.
|
|
No 2 Platoon, Anti-Aircraft, 20 Other Ranks, primary armament four twin Bren guns, this platoon was replaced by a specialist anti-tank platoon (two officers, 53 ORs), equipped with 2-pounder or 6-pounder guns, later in the war.
|
|
No 3 Platoon, Mortars, one Officer, 45 Other Ranks, equipped with six 3-inch mortars and their associated Carriers.
|
|
No 4 Platoon, Carriers, two Officers, 62 Other Ranks, equipped with 13 tracked Carriers.
|
|
No 5 Platoon, Pioneers, one Officer, 21 Other Ranks
|
|
No 6 Platoon, Administration, two Officers, 57 Other Ranks.
|
|
The four Rifle Companies of the Battalion each had a nominal strength of five Officers and 119 Other Ranks. Each Company was organised with a Company HQ (two Officers, 11 ORs) and three Platoons, each of one Officer and 36 Other Ranks
|
|
The Companies were designated:
|
|
A Company, with Platoons 7, 8 & 9
|
|
B Company, with Platoons, 10, 11 & 12
|
|
C Company, with Platoons 13, 14 and 15
|
|
D Company, with Platoons, 16, 17 and 18
|
|
Each Platoon was further divided into a Platoon HQ (one Officer and six ORs and three consecutively numbered Sections, each of 10 ORs.
|
|
The Platoon HQ would be armed with one pistol (the Officer's), six rifles, one Boyes .55-inch anti-tank rifle (replaced in 1943 by the PIAT weapon) and one two-inch mortar.
|
|
Each Section consisted of: a Bren light machine gun team of two men (the gunner and the 'No 2', his loader); an NCO in charge of the Bren gun team; a NCO Section Leader; and six riflemen, each equipped with a Lee Enfield bolt-action rifle. Each rifleman would also carry several spare magazines each for the Bren gun.
|
|
The Platoon would be commanded by a Lieutenant, with a Sergeant as his Second-in-Command. Each Section would be commanded by a Corporal or a Lance Corporal, these often armed with a Thompson sub-machine gun (the Sten gun was never issued to the 16th DLI).
|
|
However in action and after casualties, Platoons would regularly be commanded by Sergeants and Sections by Lance Corporals and even experienced private soldiers.
|
|
To see a schematic diagram of a 1942 Infantry Battalion’s numbers, weapons and organisation click here.
|
|
Later in the war a reorganisation took place and the six-platoon HQ Company was replaced by a new, smaller HQ Company (four officers, 91 ORs, Signals and Admin Platoons only) and a new Support Company was formed (seven Officers, 185 ORs), which now comprised the Mortar, Carrier, Anti-Tank and Pioneer Platoons. These changes took place for the 16th DLI in mid-1943 at the close of the Tunisian Campaign.
|
|
The easiest way to understand Battalion and Company organisation is to look at it in practice, so on the following pages I have transcribed several listings of 16th DLI Officers and NCOs from various stages of the war. Click on the hyperlinks as below:
|
|
July 1941, May 1942, November 1942, May 1945
|
|