German Squad Tactics in World War 2

Time to take a look at German squad tactics in World War II

Two important points:

First, a squad rarely acted alone on the battlefield...

It was used in coordination with other squads of its platoon and/or company.

Second, the main source for this is the US manual 'German Squad in Combat' from The Military Intelligence Service.

It is a partial translation of a German manual,

and with using other sources I could detect some small errors and inconsistencies.

Nevertheless, take everything with a grain of salt,

especially since manuals and combat realities often differ.

Let's begin with the organization and armament.

The German infantry squad in World War II for the most part consisted of:

One squad leader and nine infantry men, thus a total of ten men.

Initially, all men besides the machine gunner and his assistant

were equipped with the Karabiner 98 kurz, the German standard rifle in World War II.

Even the squad leader was equipped with that rifle.

Yet around 1941 he was issued an MP40 submachine gun with 6 magazines, 32 shots each.

The machine gunner was equipped with an MG34, and later on with an MG42.

He was also issued a pistol and an ammo drum with 50 rounds.

The assistant gunner carried 4 ammo drums with 50 shots each, additionally 1 ammo box with 300 rounds.

He was also issued a pistol.

There was also an ammo carrier assigned to the machine gunner, whose job was to carry and supply ammunition.

He carried 2 ammo boxes of 300 rounds each. Unlike the assistant he was issued a rifle, not a pistol.

Note that the 'German Squad in Combat' indicates a pistol instead of a rifle as a weapon for the ammo carrier.

But, it seems this is incorrect and is probably from an old layout of the squad, which was used in 1937.

Now, each rifleman had around 9 clips for his rifle with 5 shots each, thus 45 rounds...

This was the regular amount. According to Buchner more rounds were issued in case of a combat situation.

Also, the second in command was armed the same way as the regular riflemen.

Hence in total, the squad had: 1 light machine gun, 1 submachine gun, 2 pistols, 7 rifles,

and several hand grenades, which were issued depending on the situation.

Now the rolls and responsibilities of each squad member were as follows:

The squad leader was commanding the unit.

He directed which targets the LMG should engage

and if the combat situation permitted, also the rifle fire.

His responsibilities outside of the combat included

that the equipment of the unit was in order, and that enough ammunition was available.

The second in command was his assistant,

and was in command during the absence of the squad leader.

His responsibilities were to communicate with the platoon command and also adjacent squads.

Thus he was vital for the coordination.