Modeling Polish 10th Motorized Brigade

[Brian61]

Originally Posted by DRG

40 man platoons, 10 men per section/squad.

Would that apply to all motorized units you think or just that one ?

Don

All. At least that's the short answer The Warsaw motorized brigade was, on paper at least, a clone of the 10th motorized brigade. As far as I'm aware, those were the only two motorized Polish formations in 1939.

I'd like to point out that, along with a 10 man rifle/BAR/grenade squad unit, a two wz30 HMG unit is needed as well. Each motorized rifle squadron had two HMGs (not three), the three HMG units currently in the OOB were (at least in the motorized brigades) part of each regiment's HMG squadron.

There was another type of motorized unit, the motorized recon squadrons. Those were, at the platoon level, basically (using SP OOB terms) a dismounted calvary troop with the addition of vehicles. There was a bit more variety amongst the recon units but it boils down to whether each team had its own vehicle or the entire troop got sandwiched into one truck.

Thanks,
Brian

PS: Yea, the numbers finally add up! I can sleep peacefully now

[DRG]

There is already is a unit with 2 wz.30 HMG's ( 159 ) I'll see if renaming that works or whether just building a new one works better

The only other unknown ( for me...) at this time is when these formations were added to the Polish army

Don

[TonyE]

I would guess that each squad would be 8 men. Just got a photobook about the 10th Motorised Brigade (prewar and sep`39) campaign and there is a picture showing several personeltransporting trucks (Fiat 621) driving along a road, each with 16 men in the back, so two trucks per platoon possibly. So three platoons each of four squads would amount to 96 of the 120, the rest would be divided between platoon leader, assistants, the biker-dudes, drivers, company staff, the ATR crew etc. In addition to the 120 men would propably come the MG section, not listed in the Warzaw Brigade OB, but they were certainly in the 10th Brigade.

Alternatly one could have 9-men squads by including the AT-rifle in one of the squads and spreading the platoon leader and his assistant(s) among the other three squads.

The formations were formed in early 1937 as an experiment, later getting more formal. Have the exact dates at home though but writing from work.

[DRG]

All we can usually hope for is close to the way the game works expecially when info if scarce. However, if we're counting heads in trucks how many guys are in these Fiats ? ( It clearly shows four rows of 5 men and that adds up to 20 )

[TonyE]

Don,

Ofcourse, the game sets limits upon us so we have to work within these.

The picture is not visible (error), but if it is the first one that shows up in a google search for Fiat 621 then it would show a city parade and it was not uncommon to squeeze as many troops as possible into available vehicles during such. The photo i was refering to shows several trucks during rural road movement.

Btw here is a fieldphoto:



On dates, first motorised formation (10th Cavalry Bde) were raised in march 1937, vehicles arrived in may/june, initially borrowed from other formations, training started during the summer.

[Brian61]

Is that picture of motorized infantry of a motorized infantry squadron or of a motorized recon squadron?

[DRG]

Intersting. Tony says he cannot see the photo yet I see it plainly. Does anyone else not see it ?

What's also interesting is the photo I have shows the same truck with the four men closet to the cab facing backwards and the rest facing forward and there appears to be plenty of room in the truck especially between the four in the front and the 16 behind them. The photo Tony provided shows 4 men less but they are all crowded in tightly and there doesn't look like there could be room for 4 more yet all the details of the truck seem identical.

Don

[Brian61]

Originally Posted by DRG

Intersting. Tony says he cannot see the photo yet I see it plainly. Does anyone else not see it ?

What's also interesting is the photo I have shows the same truck with the four men closet to the cab facing backwards and the rest facing forward and there appears to be plenty of room in the truck especially between the four in the front and the 16 behind them. The photo Tony provided shows 4 men less but they are all crowded in tightly and there doesn't look like there could be room for 4 more yet all the details of the truck seem identical.

Don

Yeah I can't see it either, gives me the vBulletin error: Invalid Attachment specified.

Perhaps there were short bed and long bed variants?

Brian

[DRG]

I've re-attached it to the post. The trucks look identical in every detail except that the troops in Tony's photo look much beefier

Don

[Brian61]

Originally Posted by DRG

I've re-attached it to the post. The trucks look identical in every detail except that the troops in Tony's photo look much beefier

Don

Must be a heavy weapons detachment, emphasis on heavy.

Maybe Regiment HQ staff, clerks, cooks?

Brian

PS: I can see your photo now, thanks.