"soviet motorized machine gun battalion organization?" Topic

I'm trying to get more detailed info on the companies in these battalions in Soviet tank brigades in 1944. Zaloga doesn't give enough of a breakdown to determine what the platoon structures were. There were two companies in these that had been rifle companies and these folks retained their lmgs whereas the one company designated tank riders did not. All the other troops carried smgs. Does anyone have a more detailed breakdown? I don't have the Sharp volume on these units – does he have a more detailed breakdown? The shtat is 010/502 I believe.

I presume that the title was intended to read as "Soviet motorized SUB-machinegun battalion organisation?".

I don't have the Sharp books, nor the Shtat. I take it, as above, you're looking at the Motorised SMG Bn of Nov43, noted as 507 all ranks by Zaloga and Ness?

You can make an educated guess re the original SMG Coy, which they show with 4 officers, 10 NCOs and 81 men. Given the typically slim nature of Red Army units, I'd suggest a Coy CO and senior NCO, 3 Pl Cmdrs, each Pl with three Squads, each of 1 NCO and 9 men. I did spend some time way back trying to work out how the two former Rifle Coys might have looked, but it's not so obvious.

Zaloga and Ness do indicate the Coys had three Pls, each of three Squads, leaving a small Coy HQ and a Sec for the two HMGs. They show 5 officers, 22 NCOs and 74 men. The officers could easily have been 1 Coy CO, 1 MG Cmdr and 3 Pl Cmdrs. The MG Sec could conceivably have 2 or 4 of the NCOs, and if only 2 the others would be with Coy HQ. That would leave 2 NCOs per Squad. I'd tend to go with 2 NCOs and 7 men per Squad, which leaves about 11 men milling round; depending on the size of the MG teams there could have been a small Coy HQ element (perhaps snipers), or a Med det.

There's an even vaguer outline here (see page 3) –

PDF link

Unhelpfully it doesn't match the figures given by Zaloga and Ness, and seems to credit the Tank Bde with a 76-mm Atk Bty not shown by Z&N.

Yes, smg battalion. Let me edit that. Oh dang!

@SR: Yes, I've been going through that exercise in my mind as well, hoping to find someone with concrete info.

I came up with about the same. I guessed platoons of an officer and 3 squads with 9 men, so 28 men in each of those. That accounts for 84. I found a previous organization for an hmg platoon (squad really?) with an officer 2 ncos and 8 men. There are more than one organization of such. If I went with that, I'd have 6 left for the co hqs. I suppose that's workable.

From Charles Sharp vol. 2:
507 men total
Battalion HQ with 71 men.
Recon platoon with 3 APCs. (M-3 scout cars, Bren Carriers or captured Sd251)
Two motorized companies with 101 men with 9 LMGs and 2 HMGs.
Tank rider company of 95 men, all SMG.
Mortar company with six 82mm mortars and 42 men.
Anti-Tank rifle company with six ATRs and 53 men.
Anti-Tank battery of four 45 or 57mm guns and 44 men.
Hope this helps.

I've been able to get hold of a little more detailed info re Red Army motorised units; not man for man detail, but less vague than is normally available.

The SMG Coy proper did breakdown into a 2-man Coy HQ and three Pls, each of a 1-man HQ and three Squads of 10 men apiece. Using the officer/NCO/men split from Zaloga and Ness I think the above post holds good (yeah!).

The Rifle Coys (which are stated to have been rearmed with SMGs) are shown as a Coy HQ of 6 men, an MG Pl of 11 men, and three Pls, each of a 1-man HQ and three Squads of 9 men apiece. So 2 NCOs and 7 men per Squad seems reasonable, with one LMG per Squad and just an officer at Pl HQ. The MG Pl looks like a simple officer and two Squads, each of 5 men with one HMG. Coy HQ is not detailed beyond it having 6 men, so could have included snipers or medical personnel.

The Mortar Coy Shows 42 men, with two Pls of 18 men each, allowing three 82-mm weapons per Pl. The Atk Rifle Coy shows 53 men, with 2 in Coy HQ and three Pls, each of 17 men with 6 atk rifles. The Atk Bty shows 44 men, with 3 in Coy HQ, two Pls of 15 men each (two 76-mm atk guns per Pl), and (I think) a HQ Pl of 11 men.

Bn HQ breaks down to 11 for Staff, 2 Political, and what appears to be Supply Pl of 44, 2 for maintenance and 6 for medical. There's a further subunit of 6 men, which may either indicate a Coy HQ or the Recce element.

There's no information on transport allocation to the Bn whatsoever.

By the by, if anyone knows Cyrillic, could what looks like 'Omd' be an abbreviation for what the West would call a Squad or Section? And if coupled with what looks like 'ynp', would that simply means HQ Sec/Sqd?

Gary