Armored Personnel Carrier Assault tactics

HQ Halftrack with 75mm short




I ran across a "tactical guide" to the deployment of the German Armored Infantry platoon across an open field against an enemy trench. The armored infantry attack supported by tanks and assault guns is, to my knowledge, the most powerful direct attack the World War two soldier could partake in. US methods are mostly a direct copy of the German method.

Here is my summary (Armored infantry platoon):

-4 APCs.
* 3 X 251 halftracks armored with the MG34/42 on heavy mount.
*1 HQ haltrack armored with heavy weapon (20mm FLAK/37mm/ 75mm short/or other)
* 3 Panzergrenadier sections of 12 men each in each machinegun armed 251
* HQ halftrack- platoon headquarters, medic, heavy weapon handliers, communications equipment.
*messenger on motorcycle

-Automatic firepower- 9 machineguns, 1 cannon
-Rest- rifles, explosives, and submachineguns

Assault against Soviet trench across an open field

-German platoon spots Soviet troop position and gets into assault formation

-halftracks form staggered line 50 yards apart from each other and all weapons open fire while advancing towards Soviet position

-HQ halftrack takes the lead, shooting at the enemy while firing smoke grenades to block enemy vision

-HQ haltrack gives order to dismount! All halftracks slow to a crawl while infantry dismount quickly.

-3 x 10 man German infantry sections with 6 MG34/MG42s advance forward, covering each other and shooting aggressively. Three empty machinegun 251s follow closely behind. HQ halftrack follows.

-All four halftracks advance behind their troops and support them with all weapons

-Motorcycle with messenger drives from halftrack to halftrack, passing on orders and keeping the whole unit in balance


-Enemy position collapses



*The photo below is a defeated Armored infantry attack with assault gun support during the Ardennes Offensive. Apparently US armor/or AT guns hit it from the flank and knocked out two APCs and 1 STUG. The absence of German corpses may imply that the infantry managed to dismount.

 

I had some thoughts I'm hoping some other forumites will be able to clear up, I could be wrong about the following as it's piecemeal from a variety of sources.

Your platoon is a company and will have a sturmgeschutz for every two, which will be coordinated by an observation car for the batterie (Sdkfz 253) and an ammunition carrier (Sdkfz 250/6). Basically two battalions of panzergrenadier will rarely move without a battery of sturmgeschutz between them (even if these have to be improvised from other vehicle types).

Command vehicle for the 4-car Panzergrenadier kompanie is likely to be a Sdkfz 250/2 (radio equipment), or a Sdkfz 251/2.
Special weapons carriers were more of an improvisation than a luxury, related to terrain/weather and reduced mobility in heavier vehicles usually mounting these weapons. They're mostly employed by panzer reconnaissance battalions by designation, but were also requisitioned for sturmgeschutz and panzerjäger battalions by senior field commanders when panzer sized vehicles were made useless a few months of every year, essentially they were produced because most armoured cars have 2cm weapons at best and in mud season that's all you get. So mortars, flak and sturmkanone were fitted to the Hanomag and (less successfully) Demag. Both gave reconnaissance battalions some real fighting teeth all year round and became valuable default weapons for the front line armoured battalions during Russian mud seasons. If being routinely used as command vehicles this requisitioning would be far less possible, although it is very common for command vehicles to move with reconnaissance attachments (which most certainly could be using a special weapons halftrack).

6 machine gun teams among 30 men seems an overkill, only 12 infantry are left, unless you mean the three still mounted on the trucks providing support fire whilst 21 infantry and 3 machine gun teams (who'll be looking for some cover immediately) advance on foot, plus I've an inuition two mortar teams and one machine gun crew on foot for the thirty would be more useful.
Lead/command car (I still think Sdkfz 250/2 most likely) will still be calling upon the sturmgeschutz support though the StuG/Marder/whatever will be splitting his fire between this and another panzergrenadier kompanie (hence two companies would probably be assigned each jump off point or area of cover).

 

The Panzergrenadier section is built out of two 5 man squads, each squad is centered around a bipod MG. The squads cover each other forward. The 251s themselves retain the mounted MG.

how many STUG vehicles is a battery? 6?

 

Are you sure? I don't think Germany made that many MGs.

 

I'm pretty sure. I've thought of that before, though. German motorized units had two MGs per rifle section, which was pretty lavish compared to the Allies but the total German MG production numbers are far less than say, what the US produced.

 

You guys sure know your stuff. Approximate production figures of German machine guns, mg 34 and 42: mg 34: 350,000.
MG34 Machine Gun | World War II Database

MG 42: 750,000

MG 42 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Note the production figures of both models, the 42 was a redesign for simpler and faster production and used the maximum amount of stampings and minimum of machined components (bolt and barrel mostly). Few if any parts were interchangeable except ammo, despite the similar appearance. It is not hard to figure out why the Germans simply did not discard the MG 34 once the better gun was available since by then the war was in full swing, they already had the machine tools to make it, and in wartime you can never have enough machine guns, after all!


Mg-34 with the Afrika Corps

Mg-34 was noted for its finely machined parts that jammed readily upon the appearance of dirt, dust, mud, and other unusual things you would almost never find on a battlefield. Realizing this the Germans not only redesigned it for quicker manufacture, they also loosened the tolerances to allow the entrance of said detritus while still allowing the gun to function. Moreover they raised its cyclic rate from 900 rpm to an amazing 1200 rpm! They must have had good reason, as anyone who had fought against them and survived, can attest.

Once the mg-42 was available the Germans tended to send the mg-34 to armored units and other non-infantry uses (note that most german tanks and armored vehicles were equipped with the 34). This is entirely logical since the gun would spend most of its time in a bunker or inside a vehicle rather than in the dirt - moreover the armored units may have had a bit more time for cleaning the guns than the landser did!

 

I will post about Bren Carrier formations next

 

Another thing to recall in the MG-34/42 comparison is this. The 42 did not fit well into either the mantlet of an AFV with its rectangular air fins, nor did it fit into the existing mounting points on manned guns in bombers and other aircraft where a secondary MG was needed. The 34 was retained for these purposes as well.

 

AFAIK the MG 34 war retained for AFV use as not only it fit the existing armoured mantlets but also the, otherwise superior, quick barrel change mechanism of the MG 42 would not adapt well to vehicle use.
The MG 34 was not used on planes, initially the luftwaffe had the MG 15 (flexible) and MG 17 (fixed) 7.92 caliber weapons and later added the MG 81 that was inspired by the MG 34 but was a different weapon. Some paratroop or luftwaffe infantry units received mg 15 on bipod mounts but I don't believe the MG 34 was used on planes, I'm not sure it could even reliably fire the stronger charged 7.92 v-Munition ammo used by the airforce.

I think the second mg of the armoured infantry squad was probably the same weapon normally mounted as AA MG on the rear of the 251 amoured half tracks so the total was 3 MG per 12 men team, the one mounted forward with the small shield was not removed from the vehicle when the squad dismounted.

 

I stand corrected on the Luftwaffe MG, I was under the (apparently wrong) impression that the MG 15 and 17 were design off-shoots of the MG 34.

Guess not, but sorry don't feed the bulldog does it!