Your basic Infrantry Regment within the British Army

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#1

The break down of an Infantry Regment.
Your basic Infrantry Regment within the British Army will hold 600/700 men, This is Commanded by a LT/ Col.
Each regment will have 5 Coy :- (The Guards Regments don’t use A,B,C for there Coys they stick to numbers)
A Coy/ 1 Coy = 120 men. Each Coy is Commanded by a Major (Cpt 2nd in command)
B Coy/ 2 Coy = 120
C Coy/ 3 Coy = 120
Support Coy = 120
HQ Coy = 120
Then you will have men from other Corps with specialist training in other jobs that are attached to Regments making there numbers to 700 men at times.

Break down of each Coy :- To each Coy there will be 3 platoons (plt).
So in A Coy there would be :- 1st plt, 2nd plt ,3rd plt (each holding 24 men 3x Lt or 2nd Lt commanding with plt Sgt 2 I/C).
B Coy will have:- 4th plt, 5th plt 6th plt (24 in each).
C Coy will have :- 7th plt, 8th plt, 9th plt (24 in each.)
Support Coy will have :- Machine gun plt, Mortor plt, Anti-tank plt and Recce plt
HQ Coy tends not to be built up from plts this will contain :- Reg O/C LT/Col , 2nd in command (2 I/C), Regmental Sgt Maj (RSM), Regmental Qmaster Sgt (RQMS), Rmp’s, clarks medic’s and signals.

Break down of each platoon (plt). Each plt will have 3 section’s to it apart from HQ coy as they don’t have plts, So here we go :-
A Coy 1st plt
section 1 = 8 men (1x Cpl 1x L/Cpl 6x pte commanded by Cpl)
section 2 = 8
section 3 = 8
This is the same for 2nd and 3rd plts, And is the same of each plt in each Coy A-C. Support Coy will have :-
3 sections in Machine gun plt
3 sections in Mortor plt
3 sections in Anti-tank plt
3 sections in Recce plt

Right now for ranks starting from the top :- commissioned officers
Regment commander----- LT/Col (O/C)
2nd in command------ Major (2 I/C Maj)
Coy commanders x 4----- Major (Maj)
Coy 2nd in command x4----- Captin (Cpt)
Platoon commands x 13------ Lieutenant or 2nd Lieutenant assisted by a plt Sgt (Lt/ 2Lt). But also if its a specialist plt a Cpt will command but not offten
Non commissioned officers (NCO)
Warrant officer 1 x1----- Regmental Sgt Maj (RSM or WO1)
Warrant officer 2 x1----- Regmental Quartermaster Sgt (RQMS or WO2)
Warrant officer 2 x5----- Coy Sergeant Major (CSM or WO2)
Coy Store’s x5----- Coy Quartermaster Sgt (CQMS or SSgt C/Sgt colour Sgt if in the Royal marines)
Plt 2nd in command x9----- Sergeant (Sgt)
Section commander x27----- Corporal (Cpl)
Section 2 I/C x27------ Lance Corporal (L/Cpl)

In some Infrantry Reg and Crop’s there are some other NCO ranks like in the welsh Guards they have Lance Sgt (still 3 strip’s) I think insted of L/Cpl, And in Artillry Cpl and L/Cpl are know as Bombardier…

#2

Just a correction if I may…

“In some Infrantry Reg and Crop’s there are some other NCO ranks like in the welsh Guards they have Lance Sgt (still 3 strip’s) I think insted of L/Cpl”

All of the Foot Guards Battalions have Lance Sgts. They are afforded full Sgts priveledges, ie membership of the mess, etc.

They are distinguishable only in cermonial dress, The reds with the bear skins, or other dress in which the sash is worn, ie No1, No2 and Barrack dress.

A Sgt wears a sash, A L/Sgt doesn’t. In reds a Sgt has 3 gold stripes and a L/Sgt has 3 white stripes.

A Foot Guards Lance Corporal wears two stripes, white on reds, and is refered to as a Corperal not a L/Cpl.

There is no other rank below other than Guardsman/private.

#3

Izabig_d very nice info , thanks . :stuck_out_tongue:

#4

No problem bud i was abit unsure about this bit.
But i got most of it right saying they didn’t have L/Cpl I just didn’t include all 5 Guard Reg I knew welsh Guards used them as my Sgt on the APC was a L/Sgt anyway thanks dude

#5

There’s a picture over on one of the other threads of a L/Sgt next to a Sgt.

What is this 26 week course all about?

#6

Does anyone have a detailed ORBAT for a WWII infantry battalion?

EDIT: Just to add to the initial post, modern infantry platoons often also have a fourth four-man “manouvre support” section armed with GPMGs and light mortars.

#7

I know I have somewhere, give us a minute I’ll have to find it.

Any date? or theater? Also with a carrier plt or without?

#8

The Household Cavalry don’t have sergeants (because it’s French for servant), they have Corporal of Horse, Squadron Corporal Major (SCM) and Regimental Corporal Major (RCM).

They get awfully anti when you phone up and ask for the RSM

#9

I think it’s actually latin mate.

Ranks as follows.

Tpr - Pte
L/Cpl - L/Cpl
Cpl - Cpl
Lance Cpl of Horse - Sgt
Cpl of Horse - SSgt
Cpl Major - WO

Appointments as follows

Sqn Cpl Maj - SSM
Regtl Cpl Maj - RSM
Regt QM Cpl - RQMS

and so on.

#10

Not trying to be a pedant but it’s actually french from serjeant. Also mess comes from the french ‘messer’ meaning to eat together.

A Coy/ 1 Coy = 120 men.
you’d be lucky!

My company when i started up was 240 strong it’s now 60, wheat from chaff…

#11

Slight difference here. Your company is a training company, and thus starts strong and loses people.

A rifle company would consist of 3 plattons and a coy Hq. so could be 100 men - 120 dependant on role. 120 I feel is the Cold war size when each section was 10 men. If this number was not met, then extra men would be posted in to make up the numbers.

I will take a moment to consult this french/latin thing.

#12

Which is also the spelling that the Green Jackets and the LI still use for their stripeys.

#13

I go along with the Serjant thing, in fact I was told this was how it was officially used until after ww2. Not really sure if thus is true, just read it in some olf RAF pamflet.

#14

I have some originals and some reprints of several British Army WW2 and prewar training pamphlets, they use a mix between sergeant and serjeant.

Jan

#15

I’ve noticed both spellings on the headstones in military cemeteries, with ‘serjeant’ being used predominantly for the RAF casualties, although I think Jan’s right in assuming both spellings are/were correct.
I’ll see what the GWGC have to say about it.

#16

Just found this on en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_Cavalry

“Formerly, sergeant was exclusively an infantry rank: no cavalry regiment had sergeants. Only the Household Cavalry now maintains this tradition, possibly because sergeant derives from the Latin serviens (meaning servant) and members of the Household Cavalry, once drawn exclusively from the gentry and aristocracy, could not be expected to have such a title. However this origin may be apophrycal, since serjeant was a title used by some offices of comparative seniority, such as Serjeants at Arms, and Serjeants at Law.”

So quick summary Sgt comes from Latin, the other spelling is a French way of spelling used only by a few regiments in the British army now adays, although, it once was heavily used in the British army, I have an old book of bugle calls which uses it exclusivly. Possible Yank influence after WW2 or a NATO standardisation? Bullets and bombs were all standardised about this time also.

#17

Granted about the latin origin but i still think the modern word sergeant comes from the french derived from latin. Remeber that in the Norman military, whom spoke french, the rank serjeant was used as you said meaning servant. The serjeants were the permanent soldiery of a Norman lord. As the french speaking Normans conquered Britain it was adopted here. Remember that the Anglo-Saxons spoke a form of German with a small smattering of Latin and the rank of serjeant did not exist in Saxon England, so essentially serjeant comes from the french.

#18

May be, but as pointed out, at its formation the Life Guards/Household Cav were actually all gentlemen, ie not salt of the earth like in other units.

This is why there is actually only one mess, for all ranks bar Tprs.

They would have had a problem with being servants. Also as mentioned you do get a Sergeant at Arms, he being part of the security apparatus of the Houses of Parliment.

#19

Sorry pedant time again,
When the life guards were formed in the civil war their personal servants accompanied them and were kitted out and armed by their masters they formed part of the unit.
Apologies for being a pedant once again.

#20

There servants weren’t actually in the Life Guards they merely accompanied them. The Life Guards were the Body guards of the king, what would now a days be called CP work. There lackies were merely stable hands and, essentially, batmen to the Life Guards.

from the official MOD site

“TThe Life Guards are the senior regiment of the British Army. Just before the Restoration of King Charles II, a Royal Mounted Bodyguard was formed in Holland from eighty Royalists who had gone into exile with The King after the Battle of Worcester in 1652.”

Be a pedant by all means, just be right at the same time. :smiley: