World War II Infantry Tactics: Squad and Platoon

by Stephen Bull

Book Overview

Osprey's study of infantry tactics of the squads and platoons of World War II (1939-1945). Despite all technological advances, final mastery of any battlefield depends upon the tight-knit group of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1841766623
• ISBN13: 9781841766621
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing (UK)
• Length: 64 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 7.4" x 9.7"

Customer Reviews

Provides succinct overview of its topic in its 64 page length

This book provides an introduction, in a very succinct fashion, to the squad and platoon experience, training, doctrine, tactics (defensive and offensive), organization and fieldworks for the German, English and American armies in 64 pages. Does it succeed? Remarkably, for its length (64 pages) and its breadth of topics, yes. With one hour's of reading one gets an idea of the main differences (and similarities) between the German, British and American armies at this level of organization. The book also is well illustrated with pictures and sketching to show attack, defense strategies, field fortifications, etc. (basically what it discusses). The only illustration it is missing is one showing how the "typical" German, English and American infantryman was kitted out (a page with all three would have been nice). Plus the author's writting is not dry. In short, if you are looking for a brief introduction to this topic this is the book to read.

very good title (but the red army?)

This book is a very good source of information for the small units tactics: the only remark is that there's no mention of the soviet army and this is really a pity, since the Red Army was a major player of WWII and you can't simply "forgot" about is. Recommended.

World War II Infantry Tactics

This book provides the detailed tactics that I find interesting. I am an avid wargamer. With Final Combat as my rules set, I am able to replicate authentic WWII infantry tactics as described in this book. It also details methods of fortifying buidings which will eventually be incorporated into my games. I recommend this book to any WWII enthusiast or wargamer.

Excellent graphics, good general introduction

For a 64-page book, this is an outstanding value. I have several hundred books and manuals on military subjects, including a number of War Department, Department of the Navy, and Department of Defense manuals. I purchased "World War II Infantry Tactics--Squad and Platoon" as a guide for building minature World War Two small units. I already knew quite a bit about US Army and USMC squads and platoons from World War Two--and I am very familiar with the current stuff because of my 23 years of military service--but I don't know everything. British infantry squads have different assumptions and "character" than American squads. They don't fight the same way, they don't look the same in the field, and even if they had the same equipment they'd use it differently. I'm not as familiar with German infantry squads, but what Dr. Bull wrote is comprehensive and accurate. If you need more detailed information, you'll have to collect a bigger library. This book is on the squad and platoon--for order of battle information, go to books dealing with divisions and regiments. A note about rifle squads and platoons in the US Army and Marines--they usually go into combat with less than their full TO & E allotment of personnel. During World War Two, the general attitude was that anybody could be cannon-fodder foot soldiers. Because of this attitude, special soldier units such as Ranger battalions had to be formed to make up for lack of skilled infantry rifle companies. General McNair trained the average infantry Joe as well as he could, but the emphasis for quality personnel and other investments went to the Army Air Force and then to Engineer, Armor, Artillery, and Airborne units--with the infantry getting low priority. Audy Murphy, the most-decorated American soldier of the war, was rejected by the Marines and the Paratroopers for being to small, skinny, and lacking education, proving that the metrics used for predicting success weren't perfect. Dr. Bull didn't cover Marines in this volume, which is okay--the USMC rifle squad differed radically after 1944 from the US Army infantry squad even though the US Army had more soldiers in the Pacific war than there were Marines. The training, tactics and mind set of Marines and Soldiers from the same nation differed sufficiently that plugging a few into the other service's rifle squad resulted in disaster--they don't interchange well even today. Organization, equipment, and tactics exist to serve doctrine. "World War II Infantry Tactics" details the differences between infantry rifle squads and platoons from three nations. I'd like to see Dr. Bull write on the squads and platoons from the USSR and Imperial Japan, as well as France, China, and the smaller nations.