Stormtroopers

[Webstral]

While I was seeing a man about a wallaby earlier today, I was leafing through my well-worn copy of Gulf War Factbook. The authors mention that the Iraqis form special forces companies within their infantry divisions as a means of milking some offensive action out of divisions that are, towards the end of the Iran-Iraq War, not in great shape due to the transfer of skilled personnel and equipment to the Republican Guard and other mobile formations. I’m sure we all know that this practice can be related to the German practice of creating units of stormtroopers towards the end of WW1 to give the weary infantry some punch. It occurred to me that this probably would happen in many armies by 2000.

We see an example of this practice in the TO&E of 10th Guards Tank Division in The Ruins of Warsaw. The Security Group represents a pretty small fraction of the division’s manpower. The Recce Group is an even smaller slice of the pie. It stands to reason that combat formations with lots of re-tasked REMFs and recent inductees would see the need to create stormtrooper units that would have the best of what was left. These units might have a high percentage of the remaining AFV under their control.

[Panther Al]

I would be shocked if this wasn't the case in most units. It just makes too much sense for it not to be. If you only have a limited supply of equipment, be it armour or weapons, you want to be sure it is in the hands of those that will use to its utmost, without wasting it.

[Legbreaker]

Agreed. The "cast off" combat troops could be used for less critical tasks such as flank protection, rear area security, night sentries and so forth to give the 1st line combat troops a bit of a break and leave them fresh for their primary tasks. Training and retraining would of course be ongoing with the aim of converting all combat troops into the elite type (but of course never quite getting there).
You might even see the elites becoming a sought after posting with various perks and privleges given to those who achieve and maintain the required standard.

Originally Posted by StainlessSteelCynic

A wallaby? Do tell

Web is obviously an animal lover.....

[Raellus]

I don't know. I'm sure it would happen quite a lot, but some commanders may well see this sort of thing as a mistake.

The Germans were guilty of cherry-picking talent from the fittest new recruits and the Wermacht for the Waffen SS, to the detriment of the regular army. To extent, this practice was repeated for Goerring's pet Luftwaffe field divisions. Waffen SS units could be counted on, for the most part, to fight competently and with vigor, but the regular army suffered qualitatively for it. Quite a few military historians have noted this as being a serious strategic error on the part of the Germans. If they'd spread the cream a little more evenly, the army as a whole would likely have been more effective. It was usually regular Wermacht units that buckled under attack, and it was often the Waffen SS sent to plug up the gaps. I believe the applicable idiom here is "borrowing from Peter to pay Paul".

[Legbreaker]

I don't think we're talking about concentrating the cream into divisions or even battalion sized units, but more like platoons and up to a company.
I know it's already common practise for an infantry battalion to concentrate its best infantrymen in the recce and assault pioneer platoons. We're really just talking about extending that.

Some new units may be created to hold the injured and sick with a focus on getting them well again (unless crippled permanently), and fit for duty. These less able soldiers are still useful as we've previously discuss in other threads for supporting jobs, security and the like.

[Raellus]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

I don't think we're talking about concentrating the cream into divisions or even battalion sized units, but more like platoons and up to a company.
I know it's already common practise for an infantry battalion to concentrate its best infantrymen in the recce and assault pioneer platoons. We're really just talking about extending that.

OK, I'll buy that. But with all units scaling down, a full-sized "commando" company is a larger percentage of the total unit strength than a pre-war recce platoon. Watering down your rifle companies is still something not to take lightly. I see your point, though.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

An interesting thought and as Panther Al said, it's probably worth considering as something that became the norm by 2000 but please forgive me for straying off topic, it was this part that grabbed my attention: -

Originally Posted by Webstral

While I was seeing a man about a wallaby earlier today...

A wallaby? Do tell