Yes, but bayonets are more relevant than you seem to think.
Did not come across well
Bayonets and pistols do have their uses, but in threads like this you invariably get fanbois of pistol and/or pistol cartridge X seeing them as war winners.
Back on topic
Infantry Regiment with some integral non infantry stuff and even more stuff attached as needed, or Brigade Group - no difference in my book.
Mind you, I have tendencies for shit-eating penny pinching
North European Plain.
IMO the 1st Wave German Inf Div of 1939/41 is close to the ideal. I.e. triangular, 3 light +1 medium arty battalion, sundries like Engineers, AA, Recce etc.;
My changes:
- if possible, motorise further
-- get rid of all motorcycle+sidecar combinations, replacing them with Jeep equivalents
-- Divisional Recce Battalion - a company or two of Daimler Dingo Scout cars +1 Rifle Company (reinforced) in Jeeps. Maybe a strong platoon of the Sdkfz. 222 cars.
- field artillery:
-- three battalions with 36-54 howitzers of around 10cm calibre, plus 12 c.15cm weapons. But I'm torn between the heavier gun being a howitzer of 3,5-4 tons, or gun-howitzer of 6-7 tons like the 15cm sFH. The British approach - 72x88mm howitzers +16 140mm (as good as permanently attached from AGRA) - is actually not different. I think I'd go with the lighter weapon (like the US Army did).
-- maybe a rocket artillery battalion -12 launchers - as suggested by
@sillygoose. Never thought about it previously.
-- no Infantry Guns at Infantry Regiment level, these being replaced with an AT Company with 12 dual purpose pieces (for direct fire) and 6x12cm mortars (for indirect);
- AT
-- as the PAW600 is not available, then I'd go with the Soviet 45mm; man-mobile, small, manouverable, good HE shell
hence can double as IG!, can kill anything it faces until '41. Another candidate for same reasons - the Austrian Bohler 47mm aka Italian 47/32 (but with different mount and L40). Two such guns in every Infantry Battalion (18), 12 per IR (36) and 18 at Division level - more or less the 72 pieces of OTL
;
-- 75/100mm recoiless rifles with HEAT are tempting - but at this point in time they'd weight about the same/minimally less, are overkill against tanks, have awfull backblast giving away their positions and their ammunition weights many, many times more - hence a no-no.
-- AT rifle - something like the PTRD/PTRS. As no can haz Carl Gustav these 15kg jobbies are the next best thing - 54-108 per division,. Maybe 2 per Infantry Company, the rest somewhere higher up? A Bazooka is tempting - greater tank killing and bunker busting capability, but smaller range. Let us go with the PTRD ... this is '39, after all, with tanks having 30mm armour (if lucky).
- AA Battalion
-- 40mm Bofors and some sort of 20mm automatic cannon
Getting down to Battalion level
- Heavy Weapons Company
-- 2x47mm AT (maybe also AT Rifle platoon)
-- 6x8cm mortar (bog standard)
-- 8 HGM on tripods, can be used as AA (with tracer) to scare away flyboys
The HMG is actually a GPMG, belt fed from boxes with 250 rounds, in a powerful 8mm round (think Italian 8x59).
- Rifle Company:
-- Heavy Weapons Platoon with
-- 2x60mm mortar OR 2x80mm - the latter would be the shortened, lightened version (OTL Granatwerfer 42) which weights the same as the 60mm at cost of shorter range. I am not sure if the difference between 1100m and 1800 metres is relevant (I admit my ignorance), but I do know that the weight of ammo matters. It will be much easier to keep the smaller calibre weapons supplied.
-- 2xMMG - the bipod version of GPMG, with 50 round belt in drum (lots of examples dating back to 1914
). Can use the box too, of course.
-- 2xAT Rifle
- Rifle Platoon:
-- some sort of HE shell lobber. Here I am torn between having a commando mortar like the British 2" and a cleaned up Tromboncino (the M79's grandfather). No Brixia, no Granatnik wz.36, no German 5cm mortar, no Japanese Leg Mortar (which was excellent, BTW) - too complicated for what they did.
For simplicity, the El-Tee's retinue aka Command Squad includes (besides medic, radio man!):
- 2-3x come early M79 (cleaned up Tromboncino*, i.e. a stand alone weapon, not an attachment to a rifle). Actually I'm ripping off the Japanese and their three Leg Mortars in a Fire Support Squad.
-- 3xRifle Squad
11 men with a magazine fed LMG. The ZB30/Bren or maybe the Mendonza 34 are drop-in candidates. This is the Squad's main weapon.
As I am not sure if I can put a reliable semi-automatic rifle into production by the mid '30 the PBI is armed with the Carcano 91 or Arisaka 38. Short rifles (carbines if you wish) with 50-55cm barrels in 6,5mm, with fixed iron sites zeroed to 350-400 metres is all they need. The LMG uses the same cartridge, a spitzer Carcano (not historical) or Arisaka "for LMG" (historical).
If a reliable semiauto is possible then MAS 49 (maybe even 49/56) in 6,5mm all the way, baby
An SKS would be nice, too
The pistol - which MUST be mentioned - is either the FN 10/22 or the Czech vz.27. I admit the former is sexier
, but weights two or three times as much.
I'd love to give the PBI more oompf when attacking, so - as we are talking about an ideal formation - a Company or maybe even a small Battalion of organic Assault Guns. As this is '39 nothing fancy - a Semovente 75/34, but cleaned up to make it slightly closer in looks to a Hetzer (with cupola?) and with 4 man crew. Nevertheless having even the Semovente 75/18 (with HEAT) would make an InfDiv Commander in 1939 faint from pleasure overload
Naturally, as many radios as possible.
Maybe a PPS or MP40 for crewmen of team operated weapons - but with a short rifle available? I'm not sure if needed. Maybe special issue when close range (woods? urban?) combat is expected?
* not exactly a household name, so here's the link to the first (?) user of high-low pressure principle:
