Lecture given at Origins 1999. The German armor advantages lay in tactical flexibility rather than design superiority. In theory, Soviet flexibility was about the same as the German's, but in practice, it fell short until later in the war. German Formations At the lowest level was the tank platoon, which usually consisted of 4-5 tanks. Three to four platoons made up a company, and three to four companies made up a battalion. Supporting units included engineers, Flak (AA), air operations, support, and various infantry and other ground forces. German tactical doctrine never used tanks in line abreast formation. Instead, the platoon commander had a choice of four formations: Keil (Arrow): The five tanks are in a 100 meter wide wedge, the middle furthest forward, the inner back and to the side, and the outer back and to the side of the inner tanks; Dopplereche (Double Row or column): Like the Keil except the outer tanks are directly behind the inner tanks; Reche (Row): One tank directly behind one another; and Breitkeil (Broad Arrow): Like Keil, except covering a much wider frontage -- about 200 meters. On the march, tank companies would implement a double reche. In combat, the German tank company would have the lead platoon in Breitkeil, or perhaps just Keil depending on how wide a frontage the unit was ordered to advance over. The next two companies were back and to the side in either Keil or Doppelreche--in essence creating a wedge. The fourth platoon would be behind this wedge in the middle in any formation. Platoons were separated by 100-meter distances, and the entire company would travel at 10-15 kph. Staff would be in a central position behind the lead platoon. Alternately, a tank company could deploy two platoons in Keil abreast of each other, followed by the third platoon. Directly behind the third platoon would be the staff and behind the staff would be the fourth platoon. This formation covered roughly 450 meters wide by 450 meters in length. At battalion level, the lead company was in a deployed wedge as described above (first formation). Second and Third companies were in doppelreche abreast of each other and behind the lead company. The fourth company in doppelreche was in the middle and behind their two companies. This formation spread out to about 800 meters wide by 1800 meters deep. Alternately, the battalion would be deployed in a Breitkeil formation with two companies in Breitkeil abreast and in the lead, followed by the third company in Keil behind and in the middle, and the fourth company in Keil directly behind the third company. This formation was 1000 meters wide by 1300 meters deep. Soviet Formations Soviet Formations in a three tank platoon usually drove in column, about 30-50 meters apart, and would change into line, the second tank heading left of the lead tank, the third tank heading to the right. The five-tank formation (generally light tanks like the T-60 and T-70) looked much like the German doppelreche. At company level, the Soviets showed one of five formations: line, wedge (one platoon up and two back), blunt wedge (two platoons up and one back, left echelon (platoons roughly in a line, but stepped back) and right echelon. A tank company in line measured 350-500 meters across. In 1941 and 1942, Soviet tactical practice was to fire on the move--they couldn't hit anything. By 1943, they were beginning to stop and fire--but never more than one shot at a halt. Comparison At the lower levels, German platoon commanders had considerable tactical flexibility with a number of formations to choose from. And this enabled them to out-fox and outfight the Soviets. At the upper echelons, fewer differences were apparent. Simultaneously, as the material advantage passed to the Soviets, their doctrine of stopping to fire increased damage to German forces, and helped the Soviets, if not equal to the Germans on a unit by unit basis, at least close the gap in armored competence. Miscellaneous Soviet Guards mortar units were actually truck-mounted Katusha rockets. Deuce and a half trucks had incredible traction and could often get anti-tank brigades in place faster than tanks and infantry. Lend-lease US Shermans had two radios--platoon net and company net--Soviets ripped one out to install in other tanks to alleviate radio shortages. About 60% of Soviet tanks had radios. Truck brigades in 1940 had over 600 trucks. Back to War Lore: The List Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 2000 by Coalition Web, Inc. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com