Blitzkrieg

Blitzkrieg West
Forces Organisation

British Infantry Division, 1939 to 1940

Divisional Troops
Divisional Headquarters
Employment Platoon
Divisional Signals
Divisional Cavalry Regiment (22 Officers & 422 men; 28 Light
tanks & 44 Carriers)
Regimental Headquarters (5 Officers & 21 men; 4 Light tanks
& 2 Carriers)
Headquarters Squadron (5 Officers & 101 men)
Squadron HQ (1 Officer & 4 men)
Motorcycle Troop (1 Officer & 40 men)
Administrative Troop (3 Officers & 57 men)
3x Squadrons, each (4 Officers & 100 men)
Squadron HQ, Fighting (2 Officers & 13 men; 2 Light tanks
& 2 Carriers)
Squadron HQ, Administrative (19 men)
2x Light Tank Troops, each (1 Officer or NCO & 12 men; 3
Light tanks)
4x Carrier Troops, each (1 Officer or NCO & 10 men; 3
Carriers)
3x Infantry Brigades, each
Brigade Headquarters
Infantry Anti-Tank Company
3x Platoons, each (3 25mm French supplied ATG)
3x Infantry Battalion, each (22 Officers & 646 men)
Battalion Headquarters (4 Officers & 43 men)
Headquarters Company (6 Officers & 215 men)
Company HQ (1 Officer & 6 men)
Signal Platoon (1 Officer, 33 men)
Anti-Aircraft Platoon (16 men; 4 trucks with a single Bren)
Mortar Platoon (17 men; 2 3 mortars & 15-cwt trucks)
Carrier Platoon (1 Officer & 29 men; 10 Carrier with a Bren)
Pioneer Platoon (20 men)
Administrative Platoon (3 Officers & 94 men)
4x Rifle Companies, each (3 Officers & 97 men)
Company HQ (2 Officers & 10 men)
Rifle Platoon
Platoon HQ (1 Officer & 5 men; 1 2 Mortar)
3x Rifle Sections, each (8 men)
2x Rifle Platoons, each
Platoon HQ (5 men)
3x Rifle Sections, each (8 men)

Divisional Artillery
Headquarters, Divisional Artillery
3x Field Regiments, each (24 guns/howitzers)
2x Batteries, each
3x Troops, each (4 guns)
Anti-tank Regiment (48 2pdr ATG)
4x Batteries, each
3x Troops, each (4 guns)
Divisional Engineers
Headquarters, Divisional Engineers
3x Field Companies
Field Park Company
Supply and Transport
Headquarters, Divisional Royal Army Service Corps
Divisional Petrol Company
Divisional Ammunition Company
Divisional Supply Column
Medical
3x Field Ambulances
Field Hygiene Section
Miscellaneous
Divisional Provost Company
Divisional Postal Unit

*Divisional Cavalry Regiment

The Carriers in the Regimental Headquarters mounted both a
light machine gun and an anti-tank rifle
The Motorcycle Troop provided a pool of 36 motorcyclists who
were attached as required to the Squadrons to act as
messengers
The Administrative Troop was equipped with 8-cwt and 15-cwt
trucks and 30-cwt lorries, to carry the various personnel and
suplies
Each Light Tank Troop had three Vickers Mark VI tanks,
commanded respectively by a Subaltern, Sergeant and Corporal.
In the second troop the officer was replaced by a Warrant Officer,
class III. The mark VI had a three-man crew. The extra four men
per Troop were relief crews, carried in the Squadron
Administrative vehicles
The first Carrier Troop had a Subaltern. In Troops two to four a
Warrant Officer III replaced the Subaltern
Each carrier was to be equipped with both a light machine gun
and an anti-tank rifle
Overall, the British Expeditionary Force was somewhat short of
reconnaissance units. At the end of March 1940, two Armoured
Reconnaissance Brigades were formed in France, each consisting
of two Divisional Cavalry Regiments, transferred from their
original formations. Three more Regiments continued with their
parent Divisions during the campaign of 1940

 1st Armoured Reconnaissance Brigade was reformed and

equipped in the UK following the evacuation, but by late
November 1940 it transitioned to an Armoured Brigade proper,
and the Divisional Cavalry Regiment ceased to form part of the
British order of battle. It was retained by both Australian and
New Zealand armies in North Africa, tough both modified its
equipment
*Infantry Battalion
During the early years of the war, not all Platoon sized units of
the British Army were commanded by junior commissioned
officers. The rank of Warrant Officer III, also known as a Platoon
Seargeant Major (or a Troop Sergeant major in some arms) was
held by two of the three Rifle Platoon commanders in each Rifle
Company, as well as several Platoon commanders in
Headquarters Company
The Battalion was commanded by a Lieutenant-Colonel, with a
Major as his second-in-command
The Rifle Section of the 1940 campaign consisted of a Section
commander, either a Corporal or Lance-Corporal, and seven men,
each man armed with a rifle. Two men in each Section acted as
gunner and loader for the Section's single Bren light machine
gun
*Field Regiment
There were two types of Field Regiment in use during the
Dunkirk campaign. In theory each Field Regiment was to be
equipped with 24 towed 25pdr guns, aplit into two 12 guns
Batteries, each battery divided into three Troops of 4 guns each
A number of Regiments however were equipped with a
combination of the older 18pdr guns and 4.5 howitzers. When
so armed, these Field Regiments had two 18pdr Troops and one
4.5 Tropp per Battery, still with two Batteries per Regiment
References

NAFZIGER, George; The Nafziger Collection of Orders of Battle

http://www.bayonetstrength.150m.com/