"Early 80's Danish Platoon TO&E" Topic

I'm getting together a LANDJUT campaign set in 1981 and my West German minis are about finished and I'm now starting on my Danes. In an effort to get my infantry stands correct, can anyone point me to a good online source for Danish platoon TO&E, be it armored or motorized? I'm interested in the basics, ie number of squads and how many riflemen per squad, how many LMG's, ATGM's, MANPADS, etc, whether integral to the platoon or cascaded down from the company level. Thanks very much to anyone that can help out.

I don't have info for that early, but do have the NATO order of battle for 1989, which may be somewhat useful.

Not sure if there was much change in the organizations between the early and late 1980s, but it's a start.

The data is from NATO Order of Battle 1989, version 8.6, that I ran across, on-line.

"The original document, including many of the orbats and the forward was prepared by Andy Johnson, to whom I owe a great debt of gratitude for preparing the original document. At this point, with the exception of some parts of the US lists (and the TO&E), little of his original work remains except his insightful commentary, which appears in blue.

Last update by Mr. Johnson: 27 May 00
Last update by Pat Callahan: 25 October 12"

Note 1: Mechanized Battalions had:
HQ: 3 M113
AT: 4 Land Rover 88 w/TOW, 4 M113 w/TOW
Mortars: 4 120mm mortars, truck-towed
Recce: 4 Mercedes GD w/scout teams
Tank Co: 10 Tanks
2 Mech Cos: 11 M113, 9 rifle squads, 2 M125 SP 81mm Mortar
1 Motor Inf Co (reserve): 9 trucks, 9 rifle squads, 3 81mm mortars
Infantry had Carl Gustav for AT

By the late 1980s, Stingers were beginning to replace the Redeye SAMs, known as either Hamlet, or Samlet, in Danish service. No numbers were provided for the SAMs, in most of the units.

I did see a note, where it mentions 6 x Redeyes for each of the artillery batteries, which seems to be where they were concentrated, since there are no listings of them in other units.

For the Motorized Inf. units (Foot too):
4, or 6 – 10 x 81mm mortars (4 x 120mm in some units, in addition to the 81mm mortars), depending upon the unit; 6 x Tows (8 in some units); and 36 x Carl Gustavs in the Infantry Battalions, which have from 4 – 6 companies each (usually 5 is mentioned). Note – some units may have both light and heavy mortars in them; others have either one, or the other type, but not both.

Are you using 15mm figures, for your forces, or 20mm scale?

I'd like to know a bit more about your plans, and forces, TO&Es, etc., if you have the time, and care to share, since I'm very interested in doing a bit of Cold War gone hot gaming as well.

I'll be using 3mm, as it allows me to go 1:1. It will be West Germans and Danes v East Germans and Poles

Ah, I see.

What rules do you plan to use?

I've been working on the minis and have yet to choose any rules. I'm thinking of adapting FFT3 to 1/600, but I'm open to suggestions.

How many squads/sections in a Danish platoon?

Given the above, it appears to me there are 3 platoons, with three squads each, plus the HQ and support unit(s).

Anyone know what type of trucks are appropriate for the motor infantry?

The Danes used mostly Unimog 1300L's, but some battalions had Bedford MK's

Serving in the Danish armed forces.

Can corfirm 'The rule of three'…

Platoon:

HQ team with plt cdr, COMMS operator, Light 60mm mortar gunner (+ HMG gunner for motorised only)

3x squad with sqd cdr, sqd 2IC (Carrying IR Night sight, LMG gunner (German MG3), LMG assistant, RCL rifle gunner (Swedish Bofors 84mm, RCL rifle assistant, 2x riflemen (Garand rifles for motorised/leg infantry, German G3 7.62 auto rifle for armoured infantry)
Each squad also 2x M72 LAWs.

Company:

HQ squad with CO, 2IC, both with vehicles and drivers. 2x COMMS operators, various HQ & LOG personel.

MMT section with 3x 81mm mortar for motorised/leg infantry, 2x 81mm M125 for armoured infantry.

3x platoons

Excellent! Thank you

PCS Dane, did platoons or companies field any MANPADS?

Thanks for the info, gentlemen.

That is greatly appreciated.

I presume they used trucks to transport the mortars and ammo, in the motorized/leg infantry units. If so, did they carry those in the standard platoon trucks, or did they have additional trucks for those (based upon the TO&E info I posted above, looks like they may have just been carried along with the regular squads)?

Based upon your info, PCS Dane, it appears that the 9 man squads may have been understrength, and really only had 8 men in them, or is one presumed to be the driver of the truck, or M-113 that carried them, if they were in a motorized unit (and not listed in the squad info you provided, since perhaps they stay with the vehicle)?