I probably havn’t looked hard enough for it, but, could someone tell me how many men in a squad, squads in a whatever-comes-next, etc., all the way to devisions(?) in an army? I heard it once on Mail Call, but forgot about it. Thanks!
if your talking about the American army then it goes like this-
squad-13
platoon-40
company-130
battalion-500
thats as far as i can go but the numbers rarely ever match this in combat because of casualty rates, so thats why its hard to get a good number, as for regiments and divisions, it varies a lot so the best way to figure that out is basic multiplication
im sorry to say im not sure about the british army but i cant imagine its too different
Thanks for the info. I appreciate it.
British Army
Section: 8
Platoon: ~ 30
Gets very variable above that…
now when you say section is that a British term for a squad or a different unit altogether cause i have heard the term used in the US when talking about MGs or Mortars
Tactically, Britsh Army section is the equivalent speak for U.S. Army squad - i.e. it is a sub-unit of a platoon.
The section breaks down into two groups, a gun group - with LMG or fire support weapon - and a rifle group.
The gun group would consist of the gun team i.e. gunner and number two, and the gun controller - usually a Lance Corporal who doubles as Section 2i.c.
The Rifle Group consists of the Section Commander - usually a Corporal - and four riflemen.
On the parade-ground, the section are usually referred to as a squad (Although a squad can comprise of more than a section :)).
Culturally, the term ‘Suaddie’ may sometimes be used in a disparaging manner, or sometimes as an affectionate term for a Tommy - dendending on who is using it. 
Don’t the US army have Sergeants as squad commanders?
I believe they did/do?
Purely speculative. I would think it is something to do with the span of control. The Squad being 13 strong, as desribed above.
Also, their ranks are slightly different to the British - PFC comes to mind. The British have a grading system for private solders - ascending from four to one, as I recall - but I think this more of a ‘pay’ grade, and has no relationship with PFC, which appears to be a Lance-Corporal.
How many PFC’s and Corporals in a Squad?
Three squads add up to thirty-nine. So, in a platoon of forty, what about the platoon commander’s Tac. H.Q. ?
By the way, as I understand it, in the ‘Warrior role’ the section consists of ten men. Two of them being vehicle crew i.e. driver and commander, but then the de-bussed section reverts to eight?
Might find this interesting:
You may also find this of help. As the site states, these are ideal full strength numbers and varied considerably in reality:
From memory they do it as seven dismounts and three vehicle crew - the gunner stays with the vehicle as he can provide more firepower there than he would as a dismount.
Yes, I would suppose that this, generally, makes sound, tactical sense. Presumably this varies according to tactical requirements dictated by terrrain etc. e.g. FIBUA?
I believe that the Second World War infantry section consisted of 10, rather than the modern eight. three? in the gun group and seven? in the rifle group.
“Normal” weapon scales would be:
one Bren
two submachine guns (carried by the corporal and Lance corporal)
seven rifles
Of course in practice this would vary according to taste.
Yes, or squad leaders more precisely…
I think the US Army/Marines use the French style of ranks.
In that line, I think a US Army Sergeant would be more akin to a British Army Corporal, and a British Army Sergeant would be more of a “Sergeant First Class” in the US Army, roughly. I think.
I also believe up into the 1970s, the Army had an annoying system of enlisted pay grades for those at E-5 (now only sergeants) that was Specialist5/6, so a higher technical pay grade could be theoretically under the command of an NCO at the E-4 (corporal’s) rank. Today, only E-4s can be either corporals or “specialists”…
In the game Blitzkreig, one squad of soldiers is: one officer with a hand gun, one Boys AT gun or Bazooka rocket launcher, one or two lmg (Sten or Thompson) people and the rest of the ten were rifle men. That was for all the countries( Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, England, Canada, America, Russia, and any others). I was also wondering of that was somewhat close to being right.
Do you know how that would pan out with, say, Company Sergeant Major and Regimental Sergeant Major?
Typically, British Sergeant and W.O ranks are as follows, in descending order:
Regimental Sergeant Major (battalion) - Warrant Officer class 1;
Company Sergeant Major (job and description varies) Warrant Officer class 2;
Colour Sergeant (usuallly company quartermaster sergeant);
Sergeant (platoon).
The same would apply to squadron and troop etc.
Well, that last bit puts you one up on our resident uber-troll, a character by the name of IRONMAN who always quited the Call of Duty manual as if it were reality!
Originally Posted by Churchill
In the game Blitzkreig <snip> I was also wondering of that was somewhat close to being right.
Short answer, no. not by miles.
Ok. Thanks for the confirmation of its falseness.