Is there a diagram or map that shows troop deployment at the squad level during WWII.?

Question

Reading WWII mempoirs and even novels, it is tough for me to picture accurately how the main battle line for a front was laid out during WWII. I've seen the maps and read the descriptions but on a deteailed level I really can't picture it. Were individual soldiers spread out in a line over hundreds of miles? Or was the main battle line more a collection of fortified strong points? In the movies they always show just a platoon of soldiers wandering around in enemy territory....that can't be right.

Answer 1

I seriously doubt you will find actually maps of deployments at the squad level. Mainly because it changed daily and even hourly and sometimes by the minute. Any map that might show individual squad, and fire team deployments were kept mainly at the platoon and company level only and were quickly out dated and often coded in an individual fashion (in case they fell into enemy hands). Threw experience (in Iraq not WWII) I can tell you this there is no way they were spread in a long line, as you said, individual strategic strong holds. Patrols would be sent forward from there. So your idea of platoons "wandering" around in enemy territory is close but trust me when I say its NOT JUST wondering. There is a set rout and objective, that will fit in with the patrol of another platoon.



Its also purposely meant to look like "wandering" so your enemy can't get an idea as to what your doing till after its too late.

All though I doubt the movies made it look that way for the same reason.



The manner in which troops move depends on many things:

1- Terrain i.e. you could spread out in a dessert, during the day and still see all your squad mates, but at night you can't quite spread as far. samething in heavily Vs. lightly wooded areas, urban settings etc.

2- Mission i.e. is it an assault patrol you might form abreast (next to each other) or in a wedge, a security patrol you might be in line

3- Enemy Disposition and Your Knowledge of Them i.e. if your in an area with alot of enemy but little is know of there wereabouts you would form in more or less a dimond shape or a stagered line. If you knew where they were concentrated you would form across there front in an obleque or a scirmish line

thats just a few factors that will affect your formations and an extremely basic way they might affect you. Everything in the military is done for a reason. get yourself some handbooks and training manuals, you will find more infomation than you could imagine even exsisted on the subject.

Answer 2

You got a lot of good answers already. So I won't go into all that. But I'll just pass you a couple of links that might illustrate what you are thinking about.



The "Green Book" series the Center for Military History put out a number of years ago is an excellent series and you can find them online nowadays. The 2nd link below lists most of them that can be found there.



1) Go halfway down and you'll see maps and click on #VIII (8). This shows you where the Airborne troops landed the morning of 6 Jun 44. Additionally, it shows you the dropzones (DZs) where they were suppose to land. So you can see the dispersal caused by incoming flak the planes took. There are some other good examples in that section of perhaps what you are looking for.



2) This is a listing of many of the military historical books (on-line) this website has (from the Center for Military History). It's a good list and they are very informative and exhaustive (almost to a fault). Good for any historian.



3) The website's main page



I have many of the books (received them while in the Army) and the maps are excellent as are the books. Seeing them online is real nice.

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2nd try...



There are military Field Manuals (FMs) that illustrate how a squad or any size element should theoretically be positioned in any number of situations. However, as one has already mentioned the real-world placement of troops depends on METT-T (Mission, Enemy Terrain Troops available, and Time).



You might find something at http://www.army.mil/usapa/doctrine/7_Series_Collection_1.html. It is a collection of FMs for the infantry. They are in .pdf format. Additionally, you might find some older FMs on ebay or at army surplus stores.



The examples I gave you above regarding the laydown of airborne troops during the Normandy Invasion may also answer your question as to how far apart larger size elements were from each other (larger than Fire Team but smaller than Company or Battalion).



I was an Intelligence Analyst in the Army and when I first came in we studied Soviet military theory in depth and learned how they moved in various situations (where squads were, etc) but this was in theory. The next step was to take that "doctrinal template" and lay it against the terrain and see where they might be realistically. You had to take the weather and no-go/go terrain into account and other various elements. It was pretty interesting stuff all-in-all.

Answer 3

Sometimes troop concentrations at the front were dense, although to chart them at the squad level would be impossible, as squads were constantly on the move. The maps usually show divisional movements, and the movements of higher groupings (like corps and armies).

On the Eastern front at the beginning of the invasion of Russia, the Germans had about 3 million troops spread over a front of more than a thousand miles. Once the invasion of Normandy was over, Allied troops concentrated on NW France and the Netherlands, with armies of about 2.5 million men in total.

In the Pacific theater, the Allied fighting was concentrated on islands (Wake, Midway, Guam, Saipan, etc.). Here the troop density was great.

Answer 4

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Answer 5

Actually, all the scenarios you discussed happened.



War is a series of sporadic engagements with the objective of taking control of land and resources from your enemy.



In WWII there were very large lines of engagement and then there were individual squad-level actions with specific missions in mind.



I don't know of any comprehensive maps showing movement, it's more like a series of little and then big bursts.

Answer 6

Since squads are formed for specific purposes in mind Ie: listening posts, forward observers, demolition teams and on and on. No, there wouldn't be a specific organizational chart except perhaps at company level and then only if there were several squads deployed for a multitude of different types of missions.