"Cold War Danish Squad and Platoon Organization?" Topic

Anyone have squad level info, and up to platoon/company level, for the Danes, during the Cold War, or a good on-line, or other references for them?

Ideally, I'm interested in various periods, from the mid-1950s or so, up to the mid-late 1980s.

Don't know much about their structure, equipment, or organizational changes over the years, other than a few bits and pieces I've run across, occasionally.

I need info on the number of men in a squad, and their weapons.

I'm especially interested in Bornholm, and the other islands, but the peninsula would be good as well, as would be TO&Es for units other than infantry/mech. infantry, e.g. armor, marines, etc.

Just starting from scratch on considering them for the Cold War, as a force to deal with Soviet and Warpac invaders.

Thoughts?

mech inf comp
hq 2 x m113
3 platoons 3 x m113
mort platoon 2 x m125 81mm mort (m113)
a/t platoon 2 x 106mm rec rifle or tow on jeeps

inf weapons
german mg3 lmg, g3 rifle, carl gustav a/t, bofors 40mm, redeye a/a, m115 art, tow, 106mm rec rifle,
tanks & afv's
m41 bulldog (modified), leopard1, centurion, m113, m125, m109 155sp,
all info from janes 'armies of nato central front'
hope that helps

I think you've seen this for the higher-level stuff: PDF link

Tank platoons were 3x tanks. Three platoons per company and 1x Company HQ tank, so ten tanks per company.

I'll keep looking for squad organisation, but there was 1x MG3 per squad, with G3 being the standard rifle. Squads had M72 66mm LAW and each platoon had 1x 84mm Carl Gustav MAW. There were also a couple of MG3s grouped at company level, though I don't think they had sustained-fire mounts.

Mech companies had three M113 per platoon and two M113 in the CHQ (11 total). Motorised companies seem to have had no CHQ vehicles (only 9x Unimog listed), though I'd be very surprised if the company commander didn't have a Land Rover or two.

Mech companies had two 81mm mortars grouped at company level, mounted in M125. Motorised companies instead had a single 81mm mortar in each platoon HQ (3 per company).

Home Guard and some low-grade Reserve units were often armed with Garand and MG42 instead of G3 & MG3.

Battalion support platoons were:

Recce – 4x MG-armed Land Rovers with dismountable patrols.

AT: 4x TOW mounted on lightweight Land Rover or M150. 106mm RR still used by many Reserve/Home Guard units.

Mortar: 4x 120mm towed mortars, towed by trucks.

I served in the Danish military (conscription anyways) but I can't unfortunately add anything much beyond what's been posted since I didn't have any interest in the matter all those years ago :-)

We have Browning .50 cal machine guns as well though I never saw many of them in my time.

I can shed a bit of light on one topic though:

The Home Guard "Hjemmevaern" is essentially an independent organization. Think of it as an armed militia.
It was formed in response to world war 2, to ensure an armed body of men that could carry on armed resistance while we are under foreign occupation. It was part of the "total national defence" concept.

Quality wise they'd be uneven, especially the closer you get to modern times. While some of them are dedicated and enthusiastic, many are also the definition of "weekend warriors". If they had to actually fight Soviet paratroopers or whatnot, quality would have varied wildly.

The G3 in Danish service is known as M75. From that, you can guess when it was introduced :-)
Scoped version were available too.

Cheers Weasel!

Didn't know it was called the M75 (scribble, scribble…)

Was there any unit organisation bigger than Company in the Home Guard? All I've found is platoons and companies.

Interesting what you say about variable quality – each Danish Command (i.e. Corps) apparently had a Home Guard Long Range Patrol Company who were apparently very, very good – special forces equivalent. I suppose in wartime they would be 'stay-behind' types?

I'll see if I can dig something up. I knew friends that were home guard but I never really dug into it a lot.
My impression was that the larger levels were administrative primarily.

The patrols are a cut above but they are also a bit harder to get into and tend to take a more active role. So you get the people who actually want to do something tough, which self-selects for quality.

Not sure if they are quite special forces material, but they'd be rough on some hapless Warpac paratrooper for sure.

The regular Danish conscript would be competent if unexceptional. Pretty much the definition of a peace-time NATO force.
The professional volunteer force (the only people that get to go to peacekeeping missions) would be on par with other "first line" NATO types but lacking extended combat experience.

Peace keeping operations have shaped the Danish military thinking significantly, particularly the later in the time line you get. If you want to get all role-play about it, give us a bonus to interacting with civilians in scenarios.

Thanks for all the great info, and quick replies. I really appreciate it.

I ran across a website last night, after posting this query, that shows a guy in the UK I believe, making up a 1/600th force, at 1:1 level. His timeline for building the Cold War force was for 1981.

He said, after doing a bit of research, that he was going to use squads of 8 men for the Mech units, armed with 4 x G3s, plus one MG3 team, and one Carl Gustav team. Not sure if the extras in the MG3 and CG teams carry G3s, or just pistols, so if anyone can shed light on that, it will be appreciated.

Supposedly, 2 x LAWs were available to each squad, in addition to the CG.

Also, very interestingly, Redeyes were issued to Brigade level units, and then supposedly parceled out to Batts., so, it appears they may not be available down to the platoon level (or even the company one?).

Also, as far as the Reserves/Home Guard go, apparently even in the early 1980s, they had an eclectic mix of kit, e.g. surplus WWII British uniforms, with American M-1 helmets, M-1 rifles, and Bren guns. Might have to convert some figs, unless QRF want to do that for me. ;-)

Obviously, info on squad and platoon strengths, if different than the above, would be very helpful.

I think that would be me, Mako. If you go to my blog: verytinywars.com, use the labels on the right and click on "Danish". You'll find quite a few posts on all things 1981 Danish.

Yep, that's you, HistoryPhD.

Love your blog, and have already done so.

Your site was very helpful, and I love all the pics of your minis!

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Rob

Much appreciated

BTW, the seconds in the MG3 and Carl Gustav teams would have carried G3's

Thanks for that confirmation.

I suspected that, but one really never knows unless it is explicitly stated, since pistols might be an option too.

Okay, bonus question time.

How many Carl Gustav spare rounds does the assistant usually carry?

I've seen an on-line photo of the gunner carrying a few spare ones in cardboard tubes (presumably), but sadly only half of his backpack was visible. He had at least two rounds in it.

The rounds are 84mm, so they're not huge, but they're also not light. I'd say 5 or possibly 6 would be about all one guy could manage. US Army SOP was for the loader to carry a pistol, but the Europeans generally carried just 4 rounds and a long gun. I remember we (US Army) didn't get the CG until the late 80's, when it began replacing the M67 and partially replacing the M72 LAW.

Thank you.

One other question.

Do the Danish use the 1.5 ton Unimogs for their troops, the 1300 model, or perhaps both?

I seem to recall mention of the latter, but perhaps it is a more recent model, that replaced the S 404 B model Unimog, later in the Cold War period?

Then again, perhaps it is just a different Danish designation for the same vehicle, like some of the other renamed items mentioned.

this is useful:
armyvehicles.dk/index.htm

…they had an eclectic mix of kit, e.g. surplus WWII British uniforms, with American M-1 helmets, M-1 rifles, and Bren guns. Might have to convert some figs, unless QRF want to do that for me…

Umm…

Problem with 'eclectic' is that it kinda demands every [well, perhaps not every, but a lot] figure to be different, which is not really very cost effective to the master/moulding process.

I am slowly starting to look at more generic ranges though. AK 47 with 'Fritz' kevlar being the first

The 1300L. Also some Bedford M series

Geoff,

Once you're Canadians are done they'll be very useful 'generic' infantry with US M1 helmet and FN FAL. Add a MILAN team and you've got Belgians… Add a Dragon team and you've got Dutch…

What do we have to add for Lichtenstein?

Men carrying suitcases stufed with unmarked bills… (ditto Swiss)

Aargh!!! I've just noticed that I wrote "you're" when I meant "your"!!!! Time to hand in my Grammar Police warrant card…

It must be senility… Before long I'll be talking about "turrents'… :(

US helmet and FN-FAL would be great for a lot of "brush war" stuff.

Yep, I could use some of those Canadians for very early Bundeswehr, apparently.