The Great War, aka WWI

[dragoon500ly]

Doing some research for a paper I'm doing for college and came across the organization of a U.S. Infantry Regiment in 1918, its intresting...

The Rifle Platoon (one of four in the company) consisted of 59 men and was made up of a headquarters group of 6 men and four rifle squads:

First Squad consisted of 12 men who acted as grenadiers (close-assault), typically armed with pistols or shotguns and as many as 12-14 hand grenades per man.

Second Squad consisted of 9 men and was armed with rifles, each fitted with the French VB rifle grenade discharger.

Third Squad was the maneuver element and was made up of 17 riflemen armed with either the M-1903 Springfiled or the M1917 US Enfield rifle.

Fourth Squad was the fire support element and consisted of 15 men armed with rifles and four M1918 Chauchat automtic rifles (later replaced by BARs).

Four Rifle Companies, along with a small headquarters group (39-45 men) made up a battalion.

Three Battalions made up the Infantry Regiment, Regimental Headquarters consisted of 350 men and include a infantry gun section with three M1916 37mm guns and a trench mortar platoon armed with six 3-inch Stokes mortars. Supporting the Regiment was a Machine Gun Company of 178 men and sixteen French 1914 Hotchkiss HMGs.

The Brigade level organization consisted of two Infantry Regiments, with a Machine Gun Battalion (sixty-four French 1914 Hotchkiss HMGs).

A Field Artillery Brigade consisted of two French 75mm Field Gun Regiments and a French 155mm howitzer Regiment, each regiment with twenty-four tubes as well as a Trench Mortar Battery with twelve 6-inch Newton Trench Mortars.

All told, each Division of the American Expeditionary Forces contained some 28,000 men, this at a time when a French Infantry Divsion seldom fielded more than 10,000 men.

Also of intrest was that the AEF commander, General Pershing, made the decision to go with a strong division so that it would be able to maintain its combat effectiveness for a longer period of time. Its organization was created specifically for the assaults necessary to break the German frontlines. After the war, While the Army tried to maintain the "square" division, Pershing (during his period as Chief of Staff), fought to have the division organization converted into the "triangular" division organization.

Sources are the Doughboy Center.com and "Chateau Thierry & Belleau Wood, 1918"