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• amargen1

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Panzer Grenadier Battalion (Mechanized) (1940-1942) 

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Battalion HQ (5 Officers, 27 men) o Battalion Commander, 2 Adjutants, Medical Officer, and a staff of around 27 runners and clerks. Communications Platoon (22 men) Battalion Supply and Maintenance Elements (32 men) Heavy Weapon Company o Company HQ (1 officer, 16 men) o Pioneer Platoon  Machineguns, rifles, explosives and flamethrowers. o Anti Tank Platoon  3 3.7cm Pak AT guns, later 5 cm guns (some made it into units by the invasion of Russia). o Infantry Gun Platoon (26)  2 7.5 cm guns. (12 each) o Company Supply and Maintenance Elements (31 men) Machinegun Company o Company HQ (1 officer, 16 men) o Mortar Platoon (1 officer, 53 men)  6 teams, each manning an 81mm mortar. o 2 Heavy Machinegun Platoons, each containing:  Platoon HQ  Platoon Commander (Oberleutnant or Ober/Stabs/Feldwebel; MP40 and pistol), Assistant Platoon Commander (Unteroffizier or Feldwebel; MP40), 2 messengers (Kar 98k), driver (Kar 98k rifle, plus a "spare" MP40 in the halftrack), assistant driver (pistol; fires the vehicle-mounted MG), medic (pistol), and motorcycle orderly (Kar 98k) on a motorcycle, the rest mounted in a Sdkfz 251 halftrack.  2 Machinegun Sections, each containing:  Squad Leader (Unteroffizier; MP40), Assistant Squad Leader (Obergefreiter; Kar 98k), 2 gunners (pistol) and 2 loaders (pistol) manning 2 MG34 machineguns, and a driver (Kar 98k rifle, plus a "spare" MP40 in the halftrack) and assistant driver (pistol; fires the vehicle-mounted MG) piloting a Sdkfz 251 halftrack. o Company Supply and Maintenance Elements (31 men) 3 Rifle Companies o Company HQ  Company Commander (Hauptman, Kar 98k or MP40 and pistol), 4 messengers (Kar 98k), messenger/bugler (Kar 98k), 4 bicycle messengers (Kar 98k), and 1 driver (Kar 98k rifle, plus a "spare" MP40 in the halftrack) piloting a Sdkfz 251 halftrack. o Machinegun Section  Squad Leader (Unteroffizier; MP40), Assistant Squad Leader (Obergefreiter; Kar 98k), 2 gunners (pistol) and 2 loaders (pistol) manning

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2 MG34 machineguns, and a driver (Kar 98k rifle, plus a "spare" MP40 in the halftrack) and assistant driver (pistol; fires the vehicle-mounted MG) piloting a Sdkfz 251 halftrack. 3 Rifle Platoons, each containing:  Platoon HQ  Platoon Commander (Oberleutnant in the first platoon in the company, Ober/Stabs/Feldwebel for other platoons; MP40 and pistol), Assistant Platoon Commander (Unteroffizier or Feldwebel; MP40), 2 messengers (Kar 98k), driver (Kar 98k rifle, plus a "spare" MP40 in the halftrack) and assistant driver (pistol; fires the vehicle-mounted AT gun), medic (pistol), and motorcycle orderly (Kar 98k) on a motorcycle, the rest mounted in a Sdkfz 251 halftrack. The Platoon HQ halftrack normally had it's front MG replaced with a 3.7 cm Pak AT gun (Although a 37L45 gun, it has equivalent stats to a 37L21 gun firing AP rounds - it got the nickname "Armor Doorknocker" due to it's lack of penetrating power) to give the platoon some anti tank punch (this model was known as the Sdkfz 251/10, and was produced through 1943 and saw action even longer).  3 Rifle Squads, each containing:  Squad Leader (Unteroffizier; MP40), Assistant Squad Leader (Obergefreiter; Kar 98k), one rifle element with 4 riflemen (rifles), a machinegun element with 2 gunners (pistol) and 2 loaders (pistol) manning 2 MG34 machineguns, and a driver (Kar 98k rifle, plus a "spare" MP40 in the halftrack) and assistant driver (pistol; fires the vehicle-mounted MG) piloting a Sdkfz 251 halftrack (although at this time it was more likely to be armed with a MG34s than MG42s).  Company Supply and Maintenance Elements  Each company had (optimally) 3 50mm mortars and 3 PzB 39 Anti tank rifles, distributed amongst the platoons/squads as desired. The PzB 39 was often carried in the platoon HQ's 251/10 halftrack.  One of the riflemen in each rifle squad may have been armed with a Kar 98k with schiessbecher, 10 HE and 5 AT grenades as the squad's rifle grenadier. I am hesitant to put it in the squad layout above, however, as rifle grenades were more appropriate to infantry dug in to a position or slowly advancing by foot towards the enemy; the tactics of the panzer grenadier units called for quick advancement over the battlefield and deployment as closely to the enemy as possible, which I just don't see involving extremely explosive, long-range grenades. Include them in your panzer grenadier formations as you wish.  It was common during the earlier years of the war for only the first rifle company of the battalion to be equipped with halftracks. In such a case the mechanized components would replace the halftrack with a truck, and the platoon HQ would ride in 2 kubelwagons, replacing the motorcycle driver with a second car driver.