German Armored Panzergrenadier Squad (July 1944)

The German Armored Panzergrenadier Squad per the July 1944 KStN. One of four Panzergrenadier Battalions in the Panzer Division of the time were intended to be mounted predominantly on half-tracks, while the remainder were motorized.

Both the armored and motorized variants were authorized 2 MG42/34 machine gun teams in the light configuration on the dismount, although the armored variant also had the half-track's on-board MG that was manned by the co-driver. The armored variant was also smaller at this time, 10 men instead of 12, although the motorized variant got smaller later. Unlike the regular infantry squad based on a single machine gun, the full-strength Panzergrenadier Squad could split into two half-squads with one machine gun each to provide mutually supporting fire and implement fix-and-flank tactics. However, this was dictated by TTPs/SOPs rather than the TO&E, and half-squads would be task organized.

The immediately preceeding Armored Panzergrenadier Squad organization, just before they officially removed the Panzershreck.

Some key changes in the next 1 July 1944 TO&E:

1. The Panzershreck was removed from the squad in the April/July 1944 round of KStN updates, associated with the "freie Gliederung" KStNs. A procurement order document dated 2 March 1944 stated Panzer and Panzergrenadier Divisions ought not to be equipped with the Panzerschreck, while Infantry, Jaeger and Mountain Divisions ought to have 130. This was a bit of drama at the time because after the centralization of the Panzergrenadier Battalion's Heavy Anti-Tank Platoon within dedicated Panzerjaeger units their organic AT capability would be basically limited to AT mines. In practice Army Groups redistributed a portion of the Panzerfausts intended for regular infantry to their Panzergrenadiers to make up for the obvious shortfall. On 28 April 1944 the General Inspector of Panzer Troops demanded a repeal of that policy and issue of 67/45 Panzershrecks per Panzergrenadier/Panzer Division to include enough for 1 per Infantry Platoon in Panzergrenadier Companies. This was restated in an announcement by a Colonel von Grundherr from the office of the Panzeroffizier at the Chief of the General Staff of the Army dated 21 June 1944, which said Panzer and Panzergrenadier Divisions would in the future have 80 Panzerschrecks and 3 per Panzergrenadier Company (as well as 18 Panzerfausts per company as the basic allocation, half the 36 as in regular Infantry Companies). The November 1944 KStNs reflected this as Panzershrecks came back as a company-level troop (3x 2-man teams), so one-third the number that were authorized in November 1943.

2. Deputy Squad Leaders were moved from the "G" rank group (including Obergefreiter to Unteroffizier and Unterfeldwebel) to the "M" rank group (which topped out at Gefreiter).

3. The Deputy swapped his semi-automatic rifle for the Platoon HQ Leader's scoped rifle. However, some believe this may be a clerical error, because in the Nov 1943 KStNs and the April 1944 motorized version it was the opposite. The copy of the 1.7.1944 KStN available on NARA is a rougher preliminary edition compared to the final prints. I'm not sure if these are believed to be less reliable or not. In any case though, later in November 1944, the Deputy Squad Leader was no longer specifically designated in the KStN and the platoon got 2 Sharpshooters instead which replaced a rifleman in 2 squads. One Sharpshooter in the Company HQ was the leader of the platoon sharpshooters, and in other types of infantry companies these were a formal group rather than detailed under the platoons.

4. The half-track driver lost their TOE'd rifle and became reliant on the half-track's issued submachine gun.