How BRITISH Infantry Squads Evolved in 100 Years



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Chapters:
0:00 – Intro
0:24 – World War 1
3:14 – Interwar
3:27 – World War 2
6:05 – Malayan Emergency
8:08 – Ad
9:07 – Cold War
16:27 – Modern

Main Sources:
[1] Field Service Manual, 1914. Infantry Battalion. (Expeditionary Force.) W.O. 2061. Dated 1st October 1914.
[2] Instructions for the Training of Platoons for Offensive Action. SS143. Dated February 1917.
[3] Frederickson, Lewis (2015) “The Development of Australian Infantry on the Western Front 1916-1918: An Imperial model of training, tactics and technology”
[4] Rankin, Adam (2014). “Montbrehain, 5 October 1918: A case study in tactical operations and battlefield integration”
[5] Section Leading 1923
[6] Section Leading 1928
[7] Infantry Section Leading 1938

As reported by https://bayonetstrength.uk :
[8] WE II/1931/12B/3, Dated 6 April 1938
[9] WE II/1931/12F/1. Dated 10 April 1940.
[10] 26 Nov 1940 amendment
[11] WE II/1931/12F/2. Dated 4 June 1941.
[12] The Infantry Training, 1937, Supplement (Tactical Notes for Platoon Commanders), dated February 1941
[13] WE II/233/2. Dated 30 April 1943.

[14] Infantry Training, Part VII, Section and Platoon Tactics. Dated 1944.
[15] Infantry Training Volume IV—Tactics—Infantry Section Leading and Platoon Tactics. Dated 22 December 1950.
[16] Lt. T.A. Gibson, The Wiltshire Regiment. “The Malayan War: 1948-?” in Australian Army Journal No. 27, August 1951.
[17] Infantry Training Volume IV—Tactics—The Infantry Platoon in Battle (Provisional). Dated March 1960.
[18] Provisional Pamphlet for The General Purpose Machine Gun, Dated 1962
[19] Film: SECTION FIRE AND MANOEUVRE (1971)
[20] Pamphlet No. 6B, The General Purpose Machine Gun (Sustained Fire) (All Arms). Dated 1968.
[21] Pamphlet No. 45, Part 2. The Infantry Platoon. Dated 1980.
[22] Ford, Matthew (2008). “The British Army and the politics of rifle development, 1880 to 1986”
[23] Pamphlet No. 45, Part 2. The Infantry Platoon. Dated 1975.
[24] Infantry Training Volume IX, Pamphlet No. 45 Part 2 The Infantry Platoon (Basic Tactics). Dated 1986.
[25] Pamphlet No. 1, The Infantry Company Group (The Fundamentals). Dated 1998.
[26] Conversations with Servicemembers

source

48 thoughts on “How BRITISH Infantry Squads Evolved in 100 Years”

  1. And………. as I joined the British Army at 16 as a junior leader, we had the L1A1 SLR and I absolutely loved her. Accurate, powerful and generally, if you hit someone with the SLR they wouldn't get up. When we switched to the 5.56mm SA-80A, I wasn't impressed at all. Yes, you can carry more ammunition but in my personal opinion, I'd still go for the SLR all day long. 🇬🇧🇬🇧✌✌

    Reply
  2. I hope your wife is doing better and you are doing well! I know medical situations can be difficult, but don't forget to take care of yourself too during this! Love your videos, some of my favorite on YouTube, great work!

    Reply
  3. Fun Fact: The BREN gun is weapon originaly from Czech (Czechoslovakia that time) that was manufactured in UK. The weapon is even carrying the shortcut of the name of armory which designed the gun in Czechoslovakia – BRno ENfield => BREN. (Brno is Czech city located in Moravia region)

    Reply
  4. Sir,
    Could you do a comparison of modern armed forces squad structures? I find it hard to understand why some squads are growing while some are shrinking.
    Kind regards

    Reply
  5. I was lucky enough as a cadet to fire the LE down ranges, back in the day, both cadet rechambered 22 and the full whanger (you could …. er… know the difference).
    I think my dodgy old right shoulder is probablty related to this 🙂

    Reply
  6. It's interesting (I have no dog in that fight) that my uncle who WAS a bren gunner,and others like him considered the bren TOO accurate, and ideally they wanted it LESS accurate in the suppress roll, and now they complain the squad mg is TOO accurate:) I'm not saying they are wrong, they know better than me, I'm an armchair idiot, they are probably right, but it's funny 🙂

    I think the constant of all time is soldiers will always complain 🙂

    Reply
  7. First video of yours of seen, great information, but at 2 mins in I am already ready to skip it due to the AWEFUL need to put in the frikken screen shake with every transition. Stop with the screen shakes, screen distortions and other unnecessary special effects. To quote Jurassic Park, just because you can do something doesn't mean you have to.

    Reply
  8. was alright until you got to 2018 you missed the shotgun lol each battalion has recon platoon singnals platoon javalin platoon sniper platoon guns platoon assault pioneers platoon motors platoon thats mostly D company that gives the guys in A B C platoons to have more specialized arms when needed so a platoon can get cover fire from guns or mortors depending on the job at hand. improvise adapt and overcome thats the motto and the royal marines are now using new tactics thats not been fully disclosed but they wiped out a full company od US Marines so doing something good

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  9. Having served in the Singapore army (former British colony), I found the modern infantry squads very similar to the British. During my time around 2010, a section comprised of one Sargent, two saws (lmg), 2 sharpshooters (marksman), and two M203s (grenadiers). The only difference was that the 2IC would be a M203 (I was one of them). So a section would be 7 men instead of 8.

    Reply

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