German Co. Frontage

Tide1 · (This post was last modified: 03-11-2014, 12:28 PM by Tide1.)

GerryM asked me a very interesting question.

What is the frontage of a German Infantry Co. in the attack?

I looked in my Hand Book On German Military Forces. And what I found was a company was supposed to have a defensive perimeter of 750 yards across.
In the attack they move out in column and break down into assault groups. To me that means a company could attack on a front up to one thousand yards wide maybe more? Maybe less whatever the situation called for?
Any input is most welcome :)

USS Wyoming · 03-11-2014, 01:12 PM,

(03-11-2014, 12:26 PM)Tide1 Wrote: GerryM asked me a very interesting question.

What is the frontage of a German Infantry Co. in the attack?

I looked in my Hand Book On German Military Forces. And what I found was a company was supposed to have a defensive perimeter of 750 yards across.
In the attack they move out in column and break down into assault groups. To me that means a company could attack on a front up to one thousand yards wide maybe more? Maybe less whatever the situation called for?
Any input is most welcome :)

That sounds too wide a front to me for any kind of attack. Maybe in a defensive posture and I'm sure that was exceeded many times on the Eastern front.

Richie61 · 03-11-2014, 01:39 PM,

Some of the numbers I have seen are:

German Co. = 500-800 meters for frontage in attacks and 400-1,000 meters in frontage in defense modes.

Squads are around 40 to 50 meters and this lines up with Squad Battles. Big Grin

ComradeP · 03-11-2014, 04:52 PM,

Without enough men to man a line of trenches like in WWI, and thus with a strongpoint/fox hole mixture, 400 meters would be a reasonably strong line, perhaps even with some depth for a company. However, 750-1000 meters sounds more like an intermittent line of holes in the ground with guys in them than a line.

Frontage for an assault would depend heavily on terrain and number of forces involved, it's less easy to give a sensible number for that than for the average textbook defensive deployment.

Richie61 · 03-12-2014, 12:40 AM,

I have this one too.

Quote:WAR DEPARTMENT TECHNICAL MANUAL - TM-E 30-451
HANDBOOK ON GERMAN MILITARY FORCES - WAR DEPARTMENT
15 MARCH 1945

Quote:b. SECTORS OF ATTACK. The width of a sector assigned to an infantry unit in the attack depends on the unit's mission and battle strength, on terrain conditions, on the available fire support of all arms, and on the probable strength of enemy resistance. Normally the sector assigned to a platoon is between 165 and 220 yards. A company attack sector is about 330 to 550 yards. A battalion sector is 440 to 1,100 yards, while a division sector may be 4,400 to 5,500 yards. These sectors also provide the boundaries for the other arms, especially for the artillery in support of the infantry, although the artillery may utilize favorable observation positions in neighboring sectors. This also applies to the heavy infantry weapons.