US Armored Rifle Platoon
"If we don't know what we're doing, the enemy certainly can't anticipate our actions!"
- – Anonymous Soldier
The Armored Rifle Platoon was a component of the Armored Infantry battalion that fought alongside mechanized elements of the United States Army during WW2. In contrast to the regular Rifle Company, the Armored rifles were purely transported in M3 Halftracks in order to keep up with their support element.
Mid War[edit]
Late War[edit]
IRL[edit]
Mechanized infantry was still a novel concept in WW2, and no force, not even America, fielded mechanized infantry divisions[1]. If you were in an infantry division, you were slogging it and if you were lucky you might have some trucks. But the story changed if you were assigned to an armored division. Under the US Army's setup, a typical armored division consisted of three battalions of tanks, three battalions of self-propelled artillery, and three battalions of mechanized infantry in half-tracks. The infantry component of the division was there to achieve two things: protect the tanks, and spot for the artillery.
| US Forces in Flames of War | |
|---|---|
| Tanks: | M4 Sherman - M3 Lee - M5/M3 Stuart - M24 Chaffee - M26 Pershing - M27 Tank - M6 Heavy Tank - T14 Heavy Tank |
| Transports: | M3 Halftrack - Jeep - DUKW |
| Infantry: | US Armored Rifle Platoon - Parachute Rifle Platoon - Rifle Platoon - American Rifle Company - Glider Platoon - Machine Gun Platoon |
| Artillery: | US 155mm - US 105mm Artillery - US 75mm Artillery - US 81mm Mortars - T27 Xylophone - 57mm Anti Tank Platoon - M12 155mm Artillery Battery - M7 Priest - M8 Scott |
| Tank Destroyer: | M10 - M18 Hellcat - T55 Gun Motor Carriage - M36 Slugger |
| Recon: | M3 Scout Car - M20 Security Section - M8 Greyhound Cavalry Recon Patrol |
| Aircraft: | P40 Warhawk - P47 Thunderbolt - P38 Lightning - F4U Corsair |
| Anti-Aircraft: | M15 & M16 AAA Platoon |
- ↑ Panzergrenadier divisions may sound like mechanized divisions, but like most German things were in fact quite complex and beyond the scope of this page.