formations and units

formations and units In the armed services of all nations there are and always have been several levels of command so that forces can be effectively ordered and controlled. The global nature of the Second World War meant that hostilities took place in several geographical the atres and this added to the number of levels. Thus, at the very top, national leaders directed the war, operating through their uniformed chiefs of staff. Theatres of war had commanders-in-chief, who controlled the land, naval, and air forces operating in that theatre. Eisenhower, as Supreme Allied Commander Europe, received his directives for the Normandy landings in June 1944 (see OVERLORD) from the Anglo-American Combined Chiefs of Staff and operated through his single service commanders— Ramsay for the Allied navies involved, Montgomery (land), and Leigh-Mallory (air). Each service, however, had its own command level terminology.

1. Armies

The normal levels of command are shown in Chart 1. Starting at the top, an army group consisted of 2–5 armies, but was not used by all countries. The Soviet term for an army group was a front. During the early part of the German–Soviet war the Soviets operated an additional command level, the Theatre, or Main Command for Strategic Direction, which was interposed between Stavka, the General Staff in Moscow, and the fronts. Three of these existed, but the concept was abandoned by summer 1942. The Japanese also did not employ army groups as such, but defined this level of command in terms of general armies, most of them having a geographic title, which commanded two or more area armies, roughly the equivalent of a western army (see Japan, Chart 2). Thus, the Southern Army directed Twenty-Fifth Army in the overrunning of Malaya and Singapore, Fifteenth Army in its invasion of Burma, and Fourteenth Army's landings in the Philippines.

All nations employed armies and it was at this level that specialized roles began to be reflected in their titles. Both the Germans and the western Allies during the 1944–5 campaign in north-west Europe had airborne armies. In the Anglo-American case the First Airborne Army supervised the airborne operations during the Normandy landings, MARKET-GARDEN, and the Rhine crossings, but the German Third Parachute Army fought solely as infantry. The Germans also had the Twentieth Mountain Army, which fought in northern Finland and Norway. In addition, they had a number of panzer armies, which began to be created from the end of 1941 onwards to reflect formations made up largely of tanks and mechanized/motorized infantry. In 1945 the Germans also had two SS armies, Sixth and Eleventh. The Red Army, too, formed Tank Armies, but also had Shock and Guards Armies. Shock Armies were strengthened formations employed in breakthrough operations, while Tank Armies were used to exploit them. The ‘Guards’ prefix was an honorific granted to armies which had distinguished themselves in action and were thereafter used as élite troops in especially difficult situations. The Japanese, on the other hand, only had conventional formations. Area Armies were responsible for a particular operational area and had overall charge of whatever formations were deployed in it. For example, the Burma Area Army both oversaw the operations conducted by several Japanese armies against the British and was responsible for the internal security of the country. A Japanese Army performed the same function as a British or American corps as it commanded a number of divisions. However, the Chinese armies which fought in the Burma campaign only equated in size to an American or British division.

Except for the Japanese, the armies of all combatant nations comprised 2–5 corps, and what were called Army Troops, mainly additional artillery, engineers, and logistics units, which were directly controlled by the army. A corps was like an army in miniature, but varied greatly in size. A Red Army Tank Corps, shown in Chart 2, was on the small side, equating more to an American or British division. Indeed, it had no divisions in it, being built around brigades. In the conventional corps the number of divisions varied up to a general maximum of five. The most common type of division was the infantry division (known as a Rifle Division in the Red Army), and Table 1 shows the composition of a US infantry division in terms of numbers of men and weapons in July 1943 and January 1945. In action it would often have additional elements—tanks, anti-aircraft guns, tank destroyers—attached to it. In a Japanese division, commanded by a lt-general, the infantry elements were under an Infantry Group HQ commanded by a maj-general, who might have other elements assigned to him for specific missions.

The British and Dominion divisions were essentially made up of two or three brigades. In the divisions of other armies they were termed regiments. The exception to this was the US armoured division during the latter half of the war. This had three tank and three infantry battalions, which for operations were apportioned to three headquarters elements known as combat commands.

Brigades and regiments within divisions usually consisted of three battalions of the same type, with infantry regiments often also each having an anti-tank gun company and a light howitzer company. An exception to the ‘rule of three’ was that British and Dominion armoured brigades had three tank and one motorized infantry battalions. Those armies which did not have divisional brigades, did employ brigades elsewhere. The Red Army, as we have seen, had tank and mechanized brigades within its tank and mechanized corps. Early in the war it also deployed independent tank brigades. Other nations also had independent brigades which had their own artillery, engineers, and logistical units. The Japanese termed them Independent Mixed Brigades, while the British called them Brigade Groups.

The brigade was the lowest formation; those below it in the command structure—battalions, companies, platoons, etc.—were known as units and sub-units. This meant that while battalions might be moved between brigades, parts of battalions never were, except on occasion very temporarily for particular operations. Confusion, not least to Axis intelligence, was created by the fact that the British almost alone called their reconnaissance, tank (as did the Japanese), artillery, and engineer battalions ‘regiments’.

Chart 3 shows the organization of a typical infantry battalion. Changes during the war were primarily concerned with strengthening the heavy weapons element. Tank battalions varied in strength from nation to nation and during various phases of the war, as Table 2 shows. They were also made up of companies and platoons (British—squadrons and troops). Field artillery battalions generally comprised three batteries each of 6–8 guns, but medium and heavy artillery battalions had only 12–16 guns.

Formations, Table 1: Organic composition of US Infantry Division, 1943–5 (aggregate strengths; principal equipment)

Unit	15 July 1943	24 January 1945
Source: Greenfield, K., Palmer, R., and Wiley, B., US Army in WWII:
The organization of Ground Combat Troops ( 1947).
Entire Division	14,253	14,037
Division Headquarters	158	166
Infantry	9,354	9,204
Regiment (three)	3,118	3,068
Hq. & Hq. Company	108	104
Band	–	–
Service Company	114	111
Anti–tank Company	165	159
Cannon Company	118	114
Battalion (three)	871	860
Hq. & Hq. Company	126	121
Heavy Weapons Company	166	160
Rifle Company (three)	193	193
Field artillery	2,160	2,111
Hq. & Hq. Battery, Division Artillery	114	114
Band	–	–
Light Artillery Battalion (three)	509	497
Headquarters Battery	132	126
Service Battery	77	74
Firing Battery (three)	100	99
Medium Artillery Battalion	519	506
Headquarters Battery	115	112
Service Battery	77	76
Firing Battery (three)	109	106
Anti–tank Battery	–	–
Auxiliary units	2,074	2,046
Reconnaissance Troop	155	149
Engineer Battalion	647	620
Medical Battalion	465	443
Quartermaster Company	193	186
Ordnance Company	147	141
Signal Company	226	239
Military Police Platoon	73	106
Division Headquarters Company	110	104
Band	58	58
Miscellaneous	–	–
Attached medical	494	497
Infantry Regiment (three)	135	136
Division Artillery	57	57
Engineer Battalion	17	17
Quartermaster	–	–
Special Troops	15	15
Attached chaplain	13	13
Principal armament
Rifles, cal 30	6,518	6,349
Automatic rifles, cal 30	243	405
Machine–guns, cal 30	157	211
Machine–guns, cal 50	236	237
Mortars, 60–mm	90	90
Mortars, 81–mm	54	54
Anti–tank rocket launchers	557	558
Anti–tank guns, 37–mm	–	–
Anti–tank guns, 57–mm	57	57
Guns, 75–mm.	–	–
Howitzers, 75–mm	–	–
Howitzers, 75–mm, self–propelled	–	–
Howitzers, 105–mm	54	54
Howitzers, 105–mm, self–propelled	–	–
Howitzers, 155–mm	12	12
Vehicles, all types (except boats and aircraft)	2,012	2,114

Formations, Table 2: Strength of a tank battalion. Organizations were frequently changed as the war progressed.

Nationality	Year	No. of tanks	Remarks
Source: Contributor.
France	1940	34	Heavy tank battallion.
Germany	1944	90	Actual strength was usually only 50% of this.
Italy	1942	52
Japan	1942	57
UK	1942	61
USA	1943	70
USSR	1941	36

2. Navies

Naval organizations were much simpler than those of armies. At the highest level was the Fleet, which was responsible for a particular operational area, including all naval shore installations. In the Royal Navy and Dominion navies, fleets were broken down into squadrons and flotillas. The former were made up of larger warships by type—battle squadrons (battleships), aircraft carrier squadrons, cruiser and light cruiser squadrons—while the latter, also by type, represented smaller warships—destroyers, submarines, motor torpedo boats. A squadron would consist of 4–6 ships, while a flotilla had 6–12. Escort vessels (destroyers, frigates, corvettes) operated in escort groups of 4–8 ships.

The US Navy took a more flexible approach. Its fleets formed Task Forces, which were tailored for specific operations. They, in turn, would be made up of Task Groups, which equated to British squadrons, and further sub-divided into Task Units. Thus, when the British Pacific Fleet came under American command in the spring of 1945 its fighting portion was designated Task Force 57 and the Fleet Train Task Force 112. The German Navy followed the British system, although squadrons tended to be built round one major warship. The Japanese reflected US practice in forming ad hoc forces and groups.

3. Air forces

Both the Soviets and the Japanese organized their air forces on army lines and they were part of either the army or the navy. They had air armies and the Soviets also used air corps. Both had air divisions and air regiments, with a regiment consisting of four squadrons (Japanese—companies), each of on average 12 aircraft. The German Luftwaffe had its Luftflotten (air fleets), which also had corps and divisions, but thereafter had a singular organization (see Germany, 6(d)). The British, too, had a unique system (see UK, 7(d)). The Americans had a mixed organization. An army air force had under it a number of commands, reflecting its various roles. Thus for the Normandy landings the Ninth US Army Air Force had Ninth and Nineteenth Tactical Air Commands, Ninth Bomber Command, and Ninth Troop Carrier Command. The Eighth US Army Air Force, which was primarily a strategic bombing formation, subdivided its Eighth Bomber Command into bombardment divisions, but most Commands were divided into Groups each of which had a number of squadrons (see USA, 5(c)).

Charles Messenger

Bibliography

Mollo, A. , The Armed Forces of World War II: Uniforms, Insignia and Organisation (London, 1981).