"Late 1950s US Armored Cav Platoon?" Topic

I ran across a photo in an on-line article of the old Armor magazine from 1959. In it, it showed a couple of vehicles which appear to be the M59 APC (forerunner to the M113), and possibly the M84 (M59 mortar vehicle trailing), in route march separation, moving down a road, with a M48 tank in the lead.

In the article, it mentions 10 x vehicles in the platoon, so I'm guessing it would be similar to that of the later, early Armd. Cav. platoon, so consisting of 5 x M151 Mutts (1 x HQ and 2 x sections of 2 scouts each), 3 x M48 tanks, 1 x M59 APC with infantry squad, and 1 x M84 (4.2" mortar vehicle).

Can anyone confirm that?

I know they used the same org. slightly later (early 1960s), once the M113s became available, swapping those out for the earlier APC/Mortar vehicle models.

It appears to be accurate although I have chart comparing recon & scout platoons vs cavalry platoons that only shows 2 tanks, M41s at Division level and M48s at Corps. It came from an Armor School White paper.

I saw mention of 2 x M41s too, on one list, but was wondering if that was a typo or not, since all the others show 3. Sounds like, given that, it may be correct after all.

Also, some of the units show 7 x scouts (light vehicles – Mutts, M114s, etc. – HQ x 1, and 3 x scout sections of 2) as opposed to 5, but apparently one scout section of 2 is dropped when/if the 3 x tanks are added on to the "Platoon".

From my reading, M41s were used first, from the early 1950s, transitioning to M48s at the end of the 1950s, and then on to the M551s even later (1970s I think).

Also, once the M551s were withdrawn, they got 4 x M60A1s instead, as replacements). I think that was around the late 1970s – early 1980s.

M-48s were used in West Germany, units in the US still had M-41.

That's a little too simplistic. There were M41s in Germany before the M48s showed up, and as more M48s came into theater, more M41s went stateside or to our NATO allies. Plus stateside armored units also were getting M48s. It just depends on when you take the snapshot.

Sounds like the standard H series TOE
In the 1960s my father was the First Sgt of the local national guard unit. They were Armored Cavalry but had M48 and later M60 with the curved hull. Until Vietnamization they actually kept the vehicles at the depot annex site. Since he had the keys I played there on occasion. The gun jeeps had recoilless rifles. The HQ Jeep carried a trailer that had a pop up style tent in it that could be used for sleeping or meetings.