Organization
The basic unit for any infantryman in the United States Army was his squad. A typical United States infantry division contained about 15,000 officers and men, divided into three infantry regiments, with supporting companies and battalions. A regiment contained an artillery company, an anti-tank company, and three battalions of infantry. Each battalion contained a heavy weapons company with machine guns and mortars, and three rifle companies of infantrymen. Each company, usually commanded by a Captain, contained three rifle platoons, and each of those was comprised of three squads of twelve men each (a company also included a light weapons platoon).
The infantryman ate, slept, marched, fought, and died with his squad. While the platoon was commanded by a commissioned officer, usually a Second Lieutenant, the squad was led by a non-commissioned officer, usually, a Staff Sergeant serving as squad leader, assisted by a corporal. An infantryman’s link to the desires of the officers of the division was through his squad leader. Second Lieutenant was the most junior commissioned rank in the Army and experienced squad leaders often had to make up for their commander’s lack of experience in the field, and with the Army overall.
Each rifle squad had one man assigned to carry a Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) while the rest of them carried rifles, usually the Garand M1 rifle. Because the BAR had such a high rate of fire both the BAR man and another member of the squad carried extra ammunition for the weapon. All the members of the squad carried additional weapons, including a sidearm and bayonet, and when deployed in the field carried both smoke and shrapnel grenades. When a squad was ordered out on a patrol it usually fell to the squad leader to decide who went and who stayed behind, unless he had orders from the higher-ups directing him who to send.
For the most part, the members of the squad had no idea of the overall strategic situation or even the local tactical situation. For the infantryman, the war was limited to how it affected his squad, and the need to protect and defend it. The squad became the infantryman’s family, social system, and workgroup. Fellow members soon learned the strengths and weaknesses of each other, who could be relied on and who would shirk his duties. Bad apples were dealt with first at the squad level, and if that didn’t correct the perceived deficiency the problem was presented to more senior personnel by the squad sergeant.
The system made the success of American infantry operations almost wholly dependent on the ability of the squad leaders to direct their men in the field. Squad leaders were given limited objectives, leaving them to speculate for the most part on aspects of an operation outside of those in which they and their men were participating. For example, infantry units directed to disrupt German lines in Les Vosges in January 1945 had no idea they were preventing the reinforcement of troops involved in the Battle of the Bulge. To the men, it appeared they were fighting for useless hills. It was up to the squad leaders to keep them fighting in brutal weather, without asking why.