West German infantry platoon TO&E

Last weekend, I covered the TO&E that I use for my Danish infantry platoon stands, so it seems fitting that I continue the theme and talk about my West German infantry platoons. 

As with my other TO&E's, this is somewhat stylized because I'm forced to adapt to what O8 actually produces. I also ignore things like grenatpistoles and G3 SG1 sniper rifles, which at this small scale would be pretty well invisible anyway. In any case, in 1981, a West German panzergrenadier platoon consisted of 3 squads. A squad varied from 5-7 men, depending on strength levels. I've settled on using 7, which gives me 21 per platoon stand. Each squad was 5 riflemen armed with G3's:

One Panzerfaust 44:

And one MG3 LMG:

Giving a platoon total of 15 riflemen, 3 PzF44, and 3 MG3. 

The early 80s was a time of profound restructuring for the West German Army, which was in the midst of transitioning from Heerstruktur 3 to Heerstructur 4. Because of this, some platoons would still have had a Carl Gustav or even two:

While others would already have replaced them with a Milan launcher (later in the 80s it was increased to two Milans): 

So I randomly give some platoons a Carl Gustav and others I give a Milan launcher. 

Panzergrenadier companies often had one or more Redeye launchers attached, though some didn't, which generally (but not always) would've been cascaded down to the platoons. So to ease my woes, I've elected not to put any on my platoon stands, instead keeping them grouped at company level. 

Panzerjägers had an identical structure with the exception that their squads had 2 extra riflemen, for a platoon total of 21 riflemen, so I have two types of West German stands, as if all this wasn't headache enough!!

More from me later this weekend, hopefully....

Danish infantry platoon TO&E

I've already covered the TO&E I use for making East German infantry platoon stands, so this weekend, I'll go over how I structure a Danish platoon. 

After a bit of Internet research, a platoon of Danish infantry in the early 80s was made up of 3 squads. Each squad consisted of 4 riflemen, a 2 man LMG crew (the MG was a German made MG3):

And a Carl Gustav with a two man crew:

Two M72 LAWs were also issued to each squad:

 

So this makes my platoon stand 12 rifles, 3 LMGs, and 3 Carl Gustavs. In the early 80s, individual platoons had no MANPADS, which seems to me to be a significant handicap. Six two-man Hamlet teams (the Danish name for the US Redeye) mounted in Land Rovers were assigned at the brigade level, to be parceled out to the infantry battalions: 

They weren't replaced by Stingers until the later 80s. 

Additionally, each mechanized company had a pair of M125 mortar carriers (81mm): 

Motorized units substituted 3 mortars carried by a Unimog 1300L. 

In other news, I used this weekend to finish the East German T-55 company that was missing from the panzer battalion for my motor rifle regiment, which is slowly taking shape. Here's the entire battalion, including command, in one of GHQs bunker boxes:

I also made a start on a Danish armored reconnaissance squadron. Here are 2 troops of M41 Walker Bulldogs:

A friend mentioned "Oh! They're not exactly correct. They're not M41 DKs!" No they aren't. However, Danish M41s didn't begin the upgrade process to DK standard until 1983 (being completed in 1985), so because I begin my scenario on March 30, 1981, they would still have been standard, unmodernized M41s:

And just for conversation's sake, here's an M41 DK:

The visible differences being the addition of a laser range-finder box above the gun barrel, Leopard-style scalloped side-skirts, and a truly enormous turret bustle.

That polishes off this weekend. Another installment in a few days, if not before!

East German motor rifle platoon TO&E

This weekend hasn't seen much painting going on, but rather, I've been trying to decide how to put together my 1981 East German infantry stands in 3mm for my LANDJUT campaign. I try to stick as close to 1:1 as possible, but I'm forced to confine myself to those figures O8 actually produces, so this is what I've settled on:

Historically, a platoon consisted of 3x squads (the platoon commander was also leader of one of the squads) and at company level there were 3x SA-7 Grail MANPADS launchers and their gunners which were cascaded down, one to each platoon.

There was also a separate section of 2-3x AGS-17 Plamyas

each with a 2 man crew at the battalion level.

Each squad was made up of an RPG-16 gunner

a PKM light machine gunner

and 5 men with AK-74's

Each squad also had the fire support of the BTR-60PB

or BMP-1

that transported it. 

One of the squads would also have had an SVD sniper rifle

in place of an AK-74, but I'll overlook that. O8 casts their PKM with a 2 man crew, so I'd have to fudge reality a bit and make each stand 5x AK-74 gunners, 1x PKM and crew, and 1x RPG. That's about as accurate as I can conveniently get. For each platoon, I'd also have to do a stand of 1x SA-7. Oh, and there was also an additional combat squad at company level made up from the HQ personnel. 

So, all that would mean an awful LOT of little squad stands littering the table during a game. In an effort to keep that problem under as much control as possible, I'm going to do larger platoon stands. 9x AK-74 figures, 3x PKM's, 3x RPG-16's, and 1x SA-7. The stands are, after all, just a graphic representation of a platoon, and not a real platoon. As the AGS-17's are a battalion asset, they'll have to stay on a single, separate stand. 

The only difference between a Soviet company and those of other Warsaw Pact countries was that the Soviets had a dedicated machine gun platoon at company level (an additional 6x PKM's and 2x BTR-60PB's) and the other countries did not. So if and when I actually do Soviets, I'll have to change things around a bit. 

If any of this sounds like I've missed something or misinterpreted anything, I'd appreciate your input. Stand by to see platoon stands next weekend. Today I ordered a pack of Soviet infantry heavy weapons from Picoarmor, along with a few other goodies! See you soon!