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Strategic Movement of light infantry WW2


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I often like focusing on the bottom up when it comes to organization, but when looking at the sheer number of forces involved top down like in these videos, it's a whole different ballgame equipping the armies and allocating resources.  Obviously they cannot all be mechanized or even motorized, but regular infantry divisions seem to play an important role securing the flanks and shoring up the salients to protect against counter-attacks.  As the battle lines shift forward and back, do these guys end up moving around via marching predominantly, or does the limited organic transport assets shuttle back and forth to bring them forward in parts? 
 




 

Edited by Burncycle360
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AFAIK, even German Panzer and Motorized divisions did tend to form very mobile "kampfgruppe" (though larger than what that name implies, but with lack of better word..) for maximum mobility and have less mobile parts follow behind.

US divisions of course in Europe were fully motorized.

We Finns had quite good experiences moving light infantry on bicycles. Specific "polkupyöräpataljoona" units were formed (just wanted to use the word, it just means bicycle battalion). 😎 

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On 5/1/2021 at 3:36 AM, Burncycle360 said:

I often like focusing on the bottom up when it comes to organization, but when looking at the sheer number of forces involved top down like in these videos, it's a whole different ballgame equipping the armies and allocating resources.  Obviously they cannot all be mechanized or even motorized, but regular infantry divisions seem to play an important role securing the flanks and shoring up the salients to protect against counter-attacks.  As the battle lines shift forward and back, do these guys end up moving around via marching predominantly, or does the limited organic transport assets shuttle back and forth to bring them forward in parts? 
 

 

Whole units marched mostly, but Model created an adhoc cavalry brigade by pulling the recon units from the infantry divisions and filled in the infantry with rear area troops.

Strategic movement for the infantry was by rail and foot, see for example the deployment of the Spanish volunteer division: "The division was transported by train to Suwałki, Poland (August 28), from where it had to continue by foot on a 900-kilometre (560 mi) march. It was scheduled to travel through Grodno (Belarus), Lida (Belarus), Vilnius (Lithuania), Molodechno (Belarus), Minsk (Belarus), and Orsha (Belarus) to Smolensk, and from there to the Moscow front. While marching towards the Smolensk front on September 26, the Spanish volunteers were rerouted from Vitebsk and reassigned to Army Group North".

Trucks and such were needed to keep the unit supplied during the march.

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  • 1 month later...

Such a long road march sounds untypical and odd...   My understanding is that nearly all ‘strategic’ movement of infantry divisions (which, at any rate, would have had some vehicles and carts+horses not to mention artillery) would be by ship/train, depending.  Marches would typically occur once at least at army-level rear echelon.

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In the advance during Barbarossa and Fall Blau my understanding is that infantry marched endlessly. There was no alternative. The railways had not been brought back into operation. Motor vehicle transport was restricted to supplies and prime movers. Infantry units had horse-drawn carriages for heavy weapons and field kitchens, but not the men. They had to advance on Shank's Pony. 

Grouping the motorised elements of divisions (usually recce battalions and the heavy artillery battalion) into forward detachments was a standard approach to enhance mobility and the ability strike more deeply. See e.g. Kissel's writings in the 'Die Wehrmacht im Kampf Series' on the Uman cauldron.

All the best

Andreas

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