German name or number system for platoons?

dlazov

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So I believe I asked this before, but I can't find the quick answer for it.

I know for an example that in the US Army or USMC the numbering of platoons and companies went something like this:

1st Platoon, A Company, Some Numbered Regiment

So the shorthand would be:

1/A/389th

So my question is what did the Germans name or how did they number their platoons?

I know the following for companies to battalions is derived from this chart (I also believe Michael Koch confirmed this for me):



Any help would be appreciated
 

von Marwitz

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So I believe I asked this before, but I can't find the quick answer for it.

I know for an example that in the US Army or USMC the numbering of platoons and companies went something like this:

1st Platoon, A Company, Some Numbered Regiment

So the shorthand would be:

1/A/389th

So my question is what did the Germans name or how did they number their platoons?

I know the following for companies to battalions is derived from this chart (I also believe Michael Koch confirmed this for me):



Any help would be appreciated
I am not really sure about the numbering conventions of Wehrmacht units below the Company level.

But here are the translations:

Platoon = Zug
Squad = Gruppe
HS = Trupp (HS would be a rough translation.)

First Platoon, A Company, 389. Regiment

1/A/389th (US designation)

1. Zug 1./389. (Wehrmacht designation)

IMHO it would be very unusual to come across anything with a specific numbered designation smaller than a Zug. I have read quite a number of books but can't recall this.

To describe a particular squad, probably you'd say something like this:
"Eine Gruppe des 1. Zugs 1./389.", i.e. "a squad of 1/A/389th"


As for the pasted structure of an Infantry Regiment, this is correct:

3 Bataillons (not Battalions...) with Roman numerals, 14 Companies with Arabic numerals, of which the 4th, 8th, and 12th are the HW companies, while the 13th is the INF-Gun Company and the 14th is the ATG Company.


von Marwitz
 

dlazov

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Thank you both to M.Koch and von Marwitz, very much appreciated!
 

Eagle4ty

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So I believe I asked this before, but I can't find the quick answer for it.

I know for an example that in the US Army or USMC the numbering of platoons and companies went something like this:

1st Platoon, A Company, Some Numbered Regiment

So the shorthand would be:

1/A/389th

So my question is what did the Germans name or how did they number their platoons?

I know the following for companies to battalions is derived from this chart (I also believe Michael Koch confirmed this for me):



Any help would be appreciated
Interestingly enough writing in accepted U.S. military style specified at the time by regulation until some time in the 1970s at least, the proper way to denote a combat battalion was to include a dash between the Bn and Regiment designator, e.g. 1-128 Inf Rgt or A/1-128 Inf Rgt. to denote a company of the same, whereas A/1/128 should have been construed as denoting a support unit designation. However, with the large number of "civilians" introduced into the services, honor of this stipulation was practiced more in the breach than by application but remained "on the books" for many years.
 

Michael Dorosh

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Platoon designations were rarely seen on anything. If you look in soldier paybooks, road signs, you name it, the lowest sub-unit appears to be the company. The battalion number was not used if the company number was, so either:

1./145 GR for 1st Company of Grenadier Regiment 145, or
I./145 GR for 1st Battalion of Grenadier Regiment 145

Platoons seem to have been less consequential. Especially when you consider few platoons were commanded by officers - the Germans tended to use commissioned ranks for the really important stuff and were happy to let the NCOs run stuff below company level.
 

Michael Dorosh

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Typical award document - to a soldier of the 485th Infantry Regiment.

15073

It's to a Feldwebel, almost certainly a platoon commander - but only his company is indicated on his award document.
 
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