Organization of the
Red Army Motorised Rifle Battalion
1942 to 1945
The Red Army deployed two
types of motorised infantry unit from early 1942 onwards. One of these was the Motorised Rifle
Battalion, and was found in the Motorised Rifle Brigades that formed part of
the Tank and later Mechanised Corps.
Where a Motorised Brigade was reinforced by the addition of its own tank
unit, it became a Mechanised Brigade, which did not affect the organization of the
Battalion.
For the purposes of this
study the evolution of the Motorised Rifle Battalion can be roughly divided
into four stages;
1.
The Motorised Rifle Battalion in its initial
form, as authorised in March 1942.
2.
The first major revision, with the addition
of a Machine Gun Company and increase in anti-tank weapons.
3.
The superseding organization of February
1943, which deleted the majority of the Battalion’s organic motor transport.
4.
The amendments of mid-1943, which
incorporated various reductions in command ranks and greatly increased the
issue of submachine guns.
The more well-known Motor
Rifle Battalion, later Motorised Submachine Gun Battalion, found in the Tank
Brigades of 1942 onwards, is a different unit and will be covered separately.
Below are links to the files
that make up this study. The first is a
narrative of the Battalion organization and how it evolved between 1942 and
1945. There are then separate files
detailing in full the information as found in the штат, or
Shtat (State) for the unit concerned, which gave the authorised numbers of
personnel, transport and weapons for the unit at full strength.
At the time of writing I
have only been able to obtain a copy of the original Shtat table, reference 010/371, dated 31st March
1942. Its successor, 010/421 of February
1943 remains missing. As a result the
files for February 1943 and June 1943 below are heavily reconstructed, using
the handful of summary details available as a guide.
All files in the below links
are in PDF.
Organization of the Red Army
Motorised Rifle Battalion 1942 to 1945
Red Army Motorised Rifle Battalion
March 1942
Red Army Motorised Rifle Battalion
end of 1942
Red Army Motorised Rifle
Battalion February 1943
Red Army Motorised Rifle
Battalion June 1943
Back
to…