"Soviet AT rifles - how many in a company?" Topic

I understand that in 1941-42 Soviet units varied wildly as old units were decimated and new ones thrown together using spit and chewing gum. But at least in theory, how many AT rifles would a Soviet infantry/platoon/company/battalion be supposed to field?

Thanks in advance. My platoon has two teams of AT rifles.

My source has 18 for a battalion or six per company. Sometimes split out, sometimes kept together in a group. So two for your platoon is about right.

There were many (MANY!) different infantry TOEs over the course of the war. Units of the same designation may have operated under many different organizational structures at different times, or even at the same time.

So any answer should be taken with a large grain of salt. Basically, mix and match pretty much at your discretion -- almost any variation can be justified if you want to justify it.

As a general guideline, a Soviet ATRs were based in ATR platoons or ATR companies. They were not generally present in rifle platoon or rifle company TOEs.

Some TOEs provided for an ATR platoon per rifle battalion. Some provided for an ATR company per battalion, or per regiment.

I have seen, on many occasions, reference to 18 ATRs in an ATR company. I have also seen reference to 6 ATRs in an ATR platoon. However, most detailed sources seem to describe 9 ATRs per platoon and 27 ATRs per company.

link

But that does not mean that there were not some TOEs with ATRs in the rifle company, or even in the platoon. Just that this was not the general approach. And then there were probably a fair few battalion commanders who divided their ATRs among the rifle companies. But most of the ATR unit training materials I have seen emphasized mass fire, and so emphasized keeping the ATR platoons and companies together.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

Theoretically the ATR units were deployed as part of the overall AT plan for that section of front, not attached out to infantry.

More or less what they said – TO&E was usually for a company of 27, and they tended to keep them massed, not give one to every rifle platoon like most countries. I'd be tempted to go with either none or a platoon of 9 in my force, rarely anything in between.

If you look at the Niehorster links you'll see that any ATRs are in divisional anti-tank battalion or regimental ATR companies.

These may be attached out to rifle battalions/companies of course, but I strongly suspect their minimum unit of employment is going to be the section (2-3 rifles), just because the section was, in general, the minimum sized tactical unit in the Red Army as a whole.

Well that's interesting.
I thought in 1941 you could find a single ATR attached to a platoon.
Then they switched to grouping them.
A group of 9 is the number I've seen.
Like all soviet stuff, I'm pretty sure this will have varied enormously. Units were used up or the dregs attached to other fresh units so you could find odd mixes.

German tanker accounts describe coming under fire from numerous ATR at once. Enough to damage road wheels. My understanding is the entire unit of atr would often direct it's fire on one tank at a time.

In 1941 there doesn't seem to be many AT rifles in use. The good ones start appearing in 12/41. Their ammunition improved about 4/42.
In 1941 there were a few Sholoklovs and foreign ones.

Yeah, in '41 there was a *huge* shortage of them – you might well see the odd single one on a "that's all we've got" basis, as they were added to the TO&E before they'd actually been produced in any kind of numbers. Both the PTRD and PTRS started production in '41, but with very little ammo available until early '42….

Prior to the widespread introduction of those two models, AT rifles were pretty darned rare – there were a few hundred Polish wz.35s captured in '39 which some sources seem to think were issued, but there was no "Soviet" weapon other than the hastily adopted 12.7mm Sholokhov (mainly used in the defence of Moscow) until the PTRD and PTRS.

The official allocations for the multiple 1941-42 Rifle Divs orgs were;

Apr41 – none with either the Rifle Regts or Div Atk Bn.

Jun41 – as above.

Dec41 – 89 total; 27 per Rifle Regt Atk R Coy and 8 with
Arty Bns (1 per 122-mm how)

Mar42 – 279 total; 75 per Rifle Regt (27 with Regtl Atk R Coy and 16 with each Rifle Bn Atk R Co) + 36 in Div Atk Bn (in single Atk R Coy) + 12 with Arty Regt (1 per 122-mm how) + 6 with Inf Trng Bn.

Jul42 – 228 total; 54 per Rifle Regt (27 with Regtl Atk R Coy and 9 with each Rifle Bn Atk R Pl) + 36 in Div Atk Bn + 12 with Arty Regt + 6 with Inf Trng Bn (all as for Mar42), and 12 for Div MG Bn (in single Atk R Coy).

Dec42 – 212 total; 54 per Rifle Regt (27 with Regtl Atk R Coy and 9 with each Rifle Bn Atk R Pl) + 36 in Div Atk Bn + 12 with Arty Regt + 2 with Inf Trng Coy.

Gds Dec 42 – 279 total; 75 per Rifle Regt (27 with Regtl Atk R Coy and 16 with each Rifle Bn Atk R Coy) + 36 in Div Atk Bn + 12 with Arty Regt + 6 with Inf Trng Bn.

Gds Dec44 – 90 total; 9 per Rifle Bn, 6 with Inf Trng Coy, and seemingly 3 with an attached Replacement draft (?).

Pretty much echo as above. The Red Army concentrated its atk rifles rather than distributed them far and wide as we're used to in Br/US practice. 9 gun Pls were based on three Squads, each of a leader and three teams, each team of gunner and asst for one weapon. 8 gun Pls tended to be four Squads, each of leader and two atk rifle teams. Pl HQs were at most officer, Sgt and wagon driver, with the Sgt later deleted.

Motor Rifles did break convention and have one atk rifle per Rifle Pl (three-man team) before they switched to all SMGs in late 1943, and formed an Atk Rifle Coy with another variation (18 guns over three Pls). Mech Bdes were different again.

Gary

Great information, guys. Thank you all.

Thanks Gary.

Any word on resurrecting the bayonet strength site or is it dead and buried?

Please can we look forward to the return of Bayonet Strength? A great resource and sadly missed.
Oak.

Yes, it's on the list, just the list is longer these days with other things in front! Daft thing is I've got so much to stuff to add, things I've found or acquired and what others have shared. Anything that I could do at Battalion level last year I can pretty much now do at Regimental level, and branch out beyond Inf and Recce units into Engrs and Arty, and though it feels me with dread, armoured.

Once I work out a standard template to present the info it just becomes a matter of typing..

Gary