Basic Organization of Infanterie-Regiment (mot.) in Infanterie-Division (mot.)

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Table 1. Infanterie-Regiment (mot.) in 1939

Table 2. Firepower of Infanterie-Regiment (mot.) in 1939

Table 3. Reorganization of Detached Infanterie-Regiment (mot.) in 1939

Table 4. Reorganization of Infanterie-Regiment (mot.) to Schüzen-Regiment in 1940

Table 5. Infanterie-Regiment (mot.) during 1940 to 1941

Table 6. Firepower of Infanterie-Regiment (mot.) During 1940 to 1941

Table 7. Infanterie-Regiment (mot.) during 1941 to 1942

Table 8. Firepower of Infanterie-Regiment (mot.) During 1941 to 1942

Grenadier-Regiment (mot.) in 1943

The build-up of Infanterie-Division (mot.) was intended to keep up with fast-moving panzer divisions, and so they were completely equipped with motor vehicles. The first four motorized infantry divisions (2., 13., 20. and 29.) were directly upgraded from infantry divisions during 1937 to 1939, so they kept most of the features of their parent ones. Each motorized infantry division had three motorized infantry regiments plus one motorized artillery regiment as its major combat components. The motorized infantry regiment contained three motorized infantry battalions plus one infantry gun company (Table 1). This was due to the German policy in decentralization of heavy weapons within the division, so each infantry formation had its own supportive firepower unit.

Infanterie-Regiment (mot.) in 1939

Regiment Stab
I. Bataillon	1. Kompanie
	2. Kompanie
	3. Kompanie
	4. MG-Kompanie
II. Bataillon	5. Kompanie
	6. Kompanie
	7. Kompanie
	8. MG-Kompanie
III. Bataillon	9. Kompanie
	10. Kompanie
	11. Kompanie
	12. MG-Kompanie
	13. IG-Kompanie

Table 1. Basic organization of Infanterie-Regiment (mot.) in 1939

The motorized infantry battalion also had its own machine gun company as its supportive firepower unit. The machine gun company was not a company equipped only with machine guns, but a unit with mixed weapons including the heavy machine guns and 8 cm mortars. The heavy machine guns were the heaviest infantry flat-fire weapons of the battalion. They were used in all kinds of combat and formed the "backbone" of the fighting at medium and long ranges. The 8 cm mortars were the battalion's high-angle weapons. They formed the mini-artillery in the battalion against built-in enemy targets that could not be engaged. The machine gun company was always at the battalion commander's disposal with its heavy infantry weapons. They were generally subordinated to the motorized infantry company as directed by the battalion commander and received its combat assignments from the company commander. The overall firepower of the regiment is shown in Table 2.

Firepower of Infanterie-Regiment (mot.) in 1939

Table 2. Firepower distribution of Infanterie-Regiment (mot.) in 1939, LMG: light machine gun, HMG: heavy machine gun, IG: infantry gun.

Among the "heavy weapons" of the motorized infantry regiment were not only the heavy machine guns and mortars of the battalion, but also the light or heavy infantry guns. They belonged to the 13. IG-Kompanie. With these guns the regimental commander could have his own "artillery".In general, the infantry gun platoons were subordinated to the motorized infantry battalions. They received their combat assignments from the battalion commanders. To form focal points, the regimental commander could concentrate the firepower of the infantry gun company under the leadership of an infantry gun chief.

After Polish campaign each of the four motorized infantry divisions detached on motorized infantry regiment to other formations, most of them were panzer divisions (Table 3). Thus the motorized infantry division remained only two motorized infantry regiments with six battalions and one motorized artillery regiment. This became the standard organization in the further formation of motorized infantry division.

Reorganization of Detached Infanterie-Regiment (mot.) in 1939

Table 3. Reorganization of detached Infanterie-Regiment (mot.) from Infanterie-Division (mot.) after Polish campaign in 1939. Div.: division, R: regiment, Inf.-Div. (mot.): Infanterie-Division (mot.), Inf.-R (mot.): Infanterie-Regiment (mot.), "GD": "Grossdeutschland", Pz.-Div.: Panzer-Division, Schtz.-R: Schuetzen-Regiment.

The fall of France proved the concept of armored mobile concept to be success, after French campaign a total of eight motorized infantry divisions (3., 10., 14., 16., 18., 25., 36., and 60.) were formed from existed infantry divisions. These infantry divisions also detached one of the three infantry regiments to other formations and the rest of them became motorized. Two of the first four motorized infantry divisions were reorganized to Panzer-Division (Table 4). Their motorized infantry regiments also detached one of three battalions to other formations then reorganized to Schuetzen-Regiment. Most of the detached battalions were used to form Kradschuetzen-Bataillon and distributed to Panzer-Divisions or Infanterie-Divisions (mot.).

Reorganization of Infanterie-Regiment (mot.) to Schuetzen-Regiment in 1940

Table 4. Reorganization of Infanterie-Regiment (mot.) in Infanterie-Division (mot.) to Schüzen-Regiment in newly formed Panzer-Division in 1940. Div.: division, R: regiment, B: Bataillon, Inf.-Div. (mot.): Infanterie-Division (mot.), Inf.-R (mot.): Infanterie-Regiment (mot.), Pz.-Div.: Panzer-Division, Schtz.-R: Schüzen-Regiment, KB: Kradschüzen-Bataillon.

The motorcycle rifle battalion became a special feature not only in the panzer divisions but also in the motorized infantry divisions since late 1940. The new motorzied infantry regiment was reinforced by a Panzerjäger-Kompnaie and the total strength became fourteen companies (Table 5). The previous heavy machine gun company in each battalion was also renamed as heavy company with both heavy machine guns and mortars.

Infanterie-Regiment (mot.) during 1940 to 1941

Regiment Stab	Stab-Kompanie
I. Bataillon	1. Kompanie
	2. Kompanie
	3. Kompanie
	4. Schwere-Kompanie
II. Bataillon	5. Kompanie
	6. Kompanie
	7. Kompanie
	8. Schwere-Kompanie
III. Bataillon	9. Kompanie
	10. Kompanie
	11. Kompanie
	12. Schwere-Kompanie
	13. Panzerjäger-Kompanie
	14. IG-Kompanie

Table 5. Basic organization of Infanterie-Regiment (mot.) during 1940 to 1941.

The overall firepower of the regiment was increased as compared with previous one, especially in the number of light machine guns and anti-tank guns (Table 6).

Firepower of Infanterie-Regiment (mot.) During 1940 to 1941

	LMG/HMG	3.7 cm Pak	5 cm/8 cm Mortar	7.5 cm/15 cm IG
Stab	6/0	0	0	0
I. Bataillon	36/12	3/0	9/6	0
II. Bataillon	36/12	3/0	9/6	0
III. Bataillon	36/12	3/0	9/6	0
13. Kompanie	0	12	0	0
14. Kompanie	0	0	0	6/2
Total	118/36	9/5	27/18	6/2

Table 6. Firepower distribution of Infanterie-Regiment (mot.) during 1940 to 1941, LMG: light machine gun, HMG: heavy machine gun, IG: infantry gun.

O 22 Jun 1941 German launched the "Operation Barbarossa" and the Russian campaign began. The panzer and motorized infantry divisions became the major roles to invade the mother of land with their mobility and firepower. The organization of the motorized infantry regiment remained constant in this period (Table 7).

Infanterie-Regiment (mot.) during 1941 to 1942

Regiment Stab	Stab-Kompanie
I. Bataillon	1. Kompanie
	2. Kompanie
	3. Kompanie
	4. Schwere-Kompanie
II. Bataillon	5. Kompanie
	6. Kompanie
	7. Kompanie
	8. Schwere-Kompanie
III. Bataillon	9. Kompanie
	10. Kompanie
	11. Kompanie
	12. Schwere-Kompanie
	13. IG-Kompanie

Table 7. Basic organization of Infanterie-Regiment (mot.) during 1941 to 1942.

The regiment still contained three battalions with motor vehicles, the major modification was the disband of Panzerjäger-Kompanie with its anti-tank guns integrated into the heavy company in each battalion. The Stab-Kompanie was also reinforced by a platoon of anti-tank guns (Table 8).

Firepower of Infanterie-Regiment (mot.) During 1941 to 1942

Table 8. Firepower distribution of Infanterie-Regiment (mot.) during 1941 to 1942, LMG: light machine gun, HMG: heavy machine gun, ATR: anti-tank rifle, IG: infantry gun.

The fighting strength of some motorized infantry divisions in southern Russia was further increased by adding one Panzer-Abteilung for Operation Blau during 1942, the Panzer-Abteilung became the standard combat component in later years. The motocycle rifle battalion absorbed the reconnaissance battalion and remained the title of "Kradschuetzen-Bataillon" in 1942. But they were reorganized as Panzer Aufklärung-Abteilung in 1943 thus ended the legendary arm of "Kradschuetzen". And all of the Infanterie-Regiment (mot.) in the motorized infantry divisions were also renamed as Grenadier-Regiment (mot.) to boost their morale on 15 Oct 1942.

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