The British Motor Battalion, 1941 to 1942
The Motor Battalion, circa 1941 to 1942
Battalion Headquarters (5 Officers, 26 men)
Headquarter Company (5 Officers, 116 men), comprised of;
Company HQ (1 Officer, 5 men)
Signals Platoon (1 Officer, 27 men)
Administrative Platoon (3 Officers, 86 men)
Four Motor Companies (6 Officers, 156 men), each comprised of;
Company HQ (2 Officers, 28 men)
Scout Platoon (1 Officer, 41 men)
Three Motor Platoons, each comprised of;
Platoon HQ (1 Officer, 5 men)
Three Motor Sections, each comprised of 8 men
Total Strength of 800 all ranks (34 Officers and 766 men)
Points of note
The only change to the organisation of the Motor Battalion in 1941 was the replacement of the Platoon Sergeant Majors in eight of the twelve Motor Platoons by commissioned officers (the second riflemen in each such Platoon becoming a batman). Other than this, there were no changes to transport or weapons.
North African variations, circa 1942-1943
By early 1942, British and Commonwealth units were reorganising themselves to meet the demands of the new type of warfare emerging in the North African campaign. This lead to a notable increase in the firepower of the Motor Battalions, bringing anti-tank guns, medium machine guns and 3-inch mortars into their organisation for the first time.
The Motor Battalion (Middle East) August 1942
Battalion Headquarters (10 Officers, 102 men)
Four Motor Companies (6 Officers, 161 men), each comprised of;
Company HQ (2 Officers, 42 men)
Scout Platoon (1 Officer, 37 men)
Machine Gun Platoon (1 Officer, 29 men)
Motor Platoon (1 Officer, 23 men)
Anti-tank Platoon (1 Officer, 30 men)
Total Strength of 780 all ranks (34 Officers and 746 men)
The Motor Battalion (Middle East) October 1942
Battalion Headquarters (10 Officers, 110 men)
Three Motor Companies (6 Officers, 158 men), each comprised of;
Company HQ (2 Officers, 46 men)
Scout Platoon (1 Officer, 37 men)
Machine Gun Platoon (1 Officer, 29 men)
Two Motor Platoons, each (1 Officer, 23 men)
Anti-tank Company (7 Officers, 146 men)
Company Headquarters (3 Officers, 30 men)
Four Anti-tank Troops, each (1 Officer, 29 men)
Total Strength of 765 all ranks (35 Officers and 730 men)
Points of Note
The above unit represents the most radical departure for British organisation of conventional forces I have yet seen, with four Motor Companies each of identical composition. It is echoed by similar descriptions of both German and Italian mobile troops in the theatre, which mixed riflemen, machine gunners and anti-tank weapons down to Company level.
The effective date for the War Establishment table is August 1942, however contemporary accounts strongly suggest it was put into force around April 1942. A superseding table was drafted just in time for the battle of El Alamein in October 1942. In this revised version, the anti-tank guns were concentrated into a single Company, with the Motor Companies reduced from four to three, each replacing the former Anti-tank Platoon with a second Motor Platoon.
The elements of the Battalion
Battalion Headquarters - Headquarters included the elements generally found elsewhere in the Battalion, such as signallers, administrative personnel and pioneers, as well as the usual command staff.
Company Headquarters - each Motor Company HQ included both command and administrative functions as before. They also added a measure of fire support, with a single 3-inch mortar added to each Motor Company HQ.
Scout Platoon - the Scout Platoon continued to operate eleven Universal Carriers, together with two Jeeps and a lorry. Normally, British tables show all the light machine guns in a unit, both on vehicles and carried by riflemen. The original Battalion as a whole is shown with only twenty six Bren guns, seemingly insufficient for one per the forty four Carriers present. It may be a typo, it may be an oversight, but I would find it almost impossible to believe that a number of the Carriers were left unarmed. In the revised table the Bren gun allocation is a far more reasonable sixty eight, ample for one per carrier, and anti-tank rifles were increased to fifty four, easily allowing for one per carrier also.
Machine Gun Platoon - each Platoon served four Vickers medium machine guns, for an impressive total of sixteen in the Battalion, latterly reduced to twelve.
Motor Platoon - now as my obsession is for detail on infantry organisation, the absence of it for this unit is unfortunate. The Platoon consisted of an Officer, Sergeant, three drivers (one a batman) and nineteen men for 'general duties'. Transport was one Jeep and two lorries. There is no indication what their firepower consisted of as regards Bren guns or anti-tank rifles .
My guess would be the Platoon was divided into three small Sections, each of a Corporal and five men, leaving the Officer, Sergeant and one man, acting as a runner, at HQ, with the batman-driver and two drivers in charge with the vehicles. Despite the allocation of just twenty six Bren guns given on the August War Establishment table I feel certain each Section would have deployed a Bren gun, and also possibly a Boys anti-tank rifle. These scales are perfectly feasible given the totals for the October table.
Anti-tank Platoon - each Platoon served four 2.pdr guns, mounted on their own 3-ton lorry, with a further lorry and two Jeeps completing the transport. As each Platoon had an AA light machine gunner, it would seem reasonable to suppose it included a Bren as well. During the epic duel at Snipe in October 1942, the men of the 2nd Battalion, Rifle Brigade, had some thirteen 6-pdr anti-tank guns at their disposal. It would seem therefore the 2-pdr was already being replaced in some infantry units in practice long before they were on paper.
Summary
The most notable features of the above two units are the increases in anti-tank firepower coupled with the reduced reliance on both the Boys and 2-inch mortar. Neither version saw use outside of the North African theatre, and both were the result of the often painful experiences of the British and Commonwealth troops fighting in one of the bleakest arenas of the Second World War.
Return to...
The British Infantry Battalion