5TH LIGHT REGIMENT 1941

Hi, I was reading about the 5th Light Division yesterday, and when it landed in Africa in 1941 it had;

50 x Panzer Is (were these all Ausf IBs).
45 x Panzer IIs (were these all Ausf Cs).
71 x Panzer IIIs (I read that these could be Ausf G and Ausf H some armed with the 37mm KwK 35/36 gun.
20 x Panzer IVs (not sure which model but it would have been either A, B, or C armed with the 75mmL/24 gun).
3 x Panzer kleine Panzerbefehlswagens (I think these could be Panzer Is).
4 x Panzerbefehlswagens (not sure which model of tank, maybe Panzer IIIs).


I am not sure about which mark of tank these are so I would be grateful for any help.


The recon battalion contained one Sd.Kfz 247 B but I am not sure what radio it carried or if it was armed with an MG34.

Other vehicles in the recon battalion are [FONT=&amp]Sd.Kfz 263, 221, 223, 222, 232 and 231 armoured cars.[/FONT]

Ian.

 

Sorry, can't say about which model of panzers, but as along as we have a thread on the 5.Leichte Division, might as well have the detailed T/O. Might want to correct the thread title.

Found this here:

Order of battle for Rommel's Cyrenaica campaign [Archive] - Battlefront Forum

Looks like two panzer btln, two infantry btln (?), two panzerjaeger btln, one recce btln, one light flak, one flak regiment (88mm), one field artillery btln (?)

Wonder if there are some errors in that.

 

Thank you Eartican, I will digest this info tonight, it’s a great start.


Yan.

 

Great info! Interesting that the MMG battalions only list 10 SPWs, they must have had additional trucks or unarmored halftracks to carry the listed weapons and troops.

Note that the Panzer III companies are designated leichte/light. This is in keeping with the original concept of Guderian and Lutz that 3 of the planned 4 companies in the panzer battalion would be light tanks. However the specifications, especially the five-man crew/three-man turret, ensured that the light tank was almost the size of the medium, and the PzIII is commonly referred to as such.

 

Hi Carronade, I too noticed the 10 x Sd.Kfz 251 per Battalion, I will try and dig further and see what I can come up with. I also noticed that most of the units have been equipped with le.MGs, I first thought that these were MG34s in the LMG mode, but in the MG battalions it says 12 s.M.G, at first I thought it meant S.M.G. (MP40s) but I soon realised that these twelve weapons must also be L.M.G.s, but why the different name I don’t know.


I am trying to find out how many men to each battalion, with that I can build each company and try and work out if they were up to full strength.


Yan.

 

Aufklaerung Abteilung III contained one armoured car Company;

‘’Pz.Spar.Wgn.Schwadron’’: 6 x heavy armoured cars and 18 x light armoured cars.
This is a breakdown of the above, just hope I have not made any errors.


Company HQ
HQ Section;
6 x Motor Cycles.
6 x Motor Cycles + Sidecar.
1 x Kfz.11 staff car.
1 x SdKfz.247 Medium car
Signals Section;
1 x Kfz.15 Medium Car.
1 x SdKfz.263 Fu
Signals Section; 1 x SdKfz.223 le.PSW Fu.
Signals Section; 1 x SdKfz.223 le.PSW Fu.
Signals Section; 1 x SdKfz.223 le.PSW Fu.
Signals Section; 1 x SdKfz.223 le.PSW Fu.

1x Heavy Armoured Car Platoon;
3 x SdKfz.231 s.PSW.
3 x SdKfz.232 s.PSW Fu.

Light Armoured Car Platoon;
4 x SdKfz.221 le.PSW.
4 x SdKfz.222 le.PSW.

Light Armoured Car Platoon;
6 x SdKfz.221 le.PSW.

I have struggled to find the rest of the Recce Battalion, except for scant data with no troop numbers.
Niehorster has done an M/C Company on his site; it may have some stuff I could use.
Kradschützen-Schwadron, German Army Organizations, 1.09.1939

Yan.

 

I had the same first thought about sMG, but I think it means schwere MG or heavy machine gun, which in this case is the same weapon - MG34 - in the heavy role.

 

Correct!

Also...


3 Aufk' Abt' arrived with a Kubelwagen Zug in place of the missing Armoured car company noted above.

 

I can't get the quote or copy & paste features to work in the reply box, can anyone advise?

Thanks.