if I were a low rank conscript, and a division comander gave me an order in the middle of battle. I would conclude that someone somewhere screwed up, and that we are losing.
@Guacamoli Cheese A court martial might have a funny way of making you wish you hadn't shot yourself. This is, of course, assuming they even notice and don't make you charge anyway.
Alan Cox A batman or an orderly is a soldier or airman assigned to a commissioned officer as a personal servant. Before the advent of motorized transport, an officer's batman was also in charge of the officer's "bat-horse" that carried the pack saddle with his officer's kit during a campaign.
Alan Cox Its not bagman, his spelling is correct. Bat derives from the French term that meant "pack horse". On the other hand, I have found no evidence for the military existence of "bagmen". Also, it is an obsolete term, did you serve in WW2 by chance?
So a Major gets to know his men, all 150 of them, which is about the maximum number of people a person can know reasonably well. What happens to his 150 friends back home?
It's a rough estimate, Dunbar actually states between 100 and 250, but still... it's the number of people you currently are more knowledgeable about, that of course varies depending on the situation, say you move from your current address to another part of the country or abroad, or say you go to war, you don't entirely forget about the other people, you just don't know or register what they currently are doing or what is your position in their relationships. Also your brain isn't a fixed organ, it changes it's structures a bit according to it's use. So if you really want to know and relate to more people you have to train and focus a lot in your social skills (you know those people that are social butterflies and seem to know everybody?) although after some point you probably hit some hard cap, I don't know how much can the neo-cortex grow to accommodate such use. After that it's long term memory and other things... But hey there are people out there with almost perfect memory, so... it's both use and some genetic luck ;)
I think you men platoon mate , it's three sections on average to a platoon ( 12 men per section on average ) And it's 3 platoons to a company . So on average it's about 100 to 108 fighting men to a company plus whatever support staff you have ( medical, liaisons from HQ, radio men, artillery spotters , and etc) So really 150 men is quite a average estimate of a full strength company.
US Army here. In my artillery unit, we had much of the same setup for individual weapons as infantry does. Two fire teams per squad/section. First team: Team leader(grenadier)/rifleman/machine gunner(also carrying a rifle)/assistant machine gunner(also a rifleman). Second team: Team leader(AT rocket)/rifleman/marksman/light machine gunner. In addition we had a squad leader for a total of 9 men per squad/section. I was the machine gunner with the M240B because everyone thought it would be funny to make the shortest guy carry the heaviest weapon + a rifle.
I also am of short arse stature and I also was given in the U.K. armed forces the GPMG and a load of spare ammo as well as my personal weapon,mind you I was also 15 stone solid muscle ,all shoulders ,arms and big F off legs as well as being SF ,must be an army thing brother ha ha
Games Played Badly that being said. the company comander would be scared to death if the battalion comander was killed. have you ever seen "We were soldiers"? Imagine if Mel Gibson had been killed when everything was falling apart. comand would have had no choice but to try and evacuate. and the communists would have overrun them as soon as enough had left.
Here is a description of units in Commonwealth Forces and who would command them: Patrol/Fireteam - 4x men (Lance Corporal) Section - 2x Patrols/Fireteams (Corporal) Platoon/Troop/Flight - 3x Sections (2nd Lieutenant - Captain) Company/Battery/Squadron - 3x+ Platoons/Troops/Flights (Captain/Major) Battalion/Commando - 5x Companies (Lieutenant Colonel) Regiment - 3x Battalions/5x Squadrons/Batteries (Lieutenant Colonel/Colonel) Brigade - 3x+ Battalions/Regiments/Commandos (Brigadier) Division - 3x+ Brigades (Major General) Corps - 2x+ Divisions (Lieutenant General) Field Army - 2x+ Corps (General) Army Group - 2x+ Field Armies (Field Marshal) Army Region/Theatre - 2x+ Army Groups (Field Marshal) Note administrative regiments and corps use different units in their hierarchy. Pltn - Coy - Btln = used by Infantry, Intelligence and Technicians Tp - Coy - Cmdo = used by Marines Tp - Sqn - Regt = used by Tankers, Special Forces, Cavalry, Engineers, Signallers, Logistics and Medics Flt - Sqn - Regt = used by Aviators Tp - Bty - Regt = used by Artillery Pltn - Coy - Regt = used by Military Police
But how did those tiny Brittish soldiers sin the war? I mean - I have met Germans. And they are the size of normal men, while your soldiers are åt the size of a matchbox.
Basically the same as a Roman century. The Centurion had 80 men plus additional personel making around a hundred in number. He would have known all the other Centurions and many of the optio as well as Legion commanders and special services people like the medic and quartermasters. That probably didn't come to more than a 150 people.
Everything Loyd is saying is completely correct Personal Story about one of my battalion commanders: Deployed in afghanistan, the biggest threat for the first 2 months of deployment was direct enemy action. We did a lot of fighting. But then everything quieted down and the biggest threat became IEDs. During this "calm" period or BN commander decided to help out his command staff and try to "get them some field experience". In reality, none of them had seen any real action so they didn't have a combat action ribbon and were hunting medals and awards. So the BN commander, Sgt Major, Intel Officer, Sigan Officer and the freakin Chaplain decided to go on a patrol. Together. At the same time. With only 1 radio operator and 1 sgt as escort. Noone else on the patrol had any experience on the ground or in the streets other than the 2 lower ranked enlisted. The entire battalion lost all respect for the BN command staff because they weren't doing their damn jobs and staying safe so they could properly support the rest of us, support the fighting men. Their jb was to give us as much help as possible so we face minimal risk once bullets start flying. Their incompetent patrols put the entire BN at risk.
Yeah, that sounds like a really dumb idea. I mean, ensuring your command staff has at least some actual experience and knowledge of what the people on the ground go through seems like a good idea in theory, and something that should probably be a mandatory (or highly reccommended) part of someone's training and preparation for, say, everything above junior officers. After all, while a battalion command staff won't interact that much with direct combat (or the people who fight in it), the people below them (company command staff etc) apparently do. So having some experience would help them understand the situation of the people they have to command. (assuming you actually have a conflict to send people to) Of course, you should do that as part of someone's training before they get to that level, or you have existing command staff rotate through a few lower-risk operations in small groups while their back-ups take over their jobs for a while. Going on a random joyride with most of your staff, with barely any escort or experienced people, WHILE YOU'RE IN COMMAND? That's just begging for someone to wipe out half the command structure you served them on a silver platter. Or for a court-martial for abandoning your posts and knowingly taking massive unnecessary risks.
Lloyd, Hail the Beige Supreme! Have you considered doing videos about Battalions, Regiments, Brigades and such. I am an author and have found these videos both informative and very enjoyable to watch. Thank you for the bountiful harvest of videos recently!
I am DEFINITELY not going to paint up a 1:1 figure scale division! I may do other units, yes, although I think it works better when i have something unusual to say about a unit, rather than merely describing what it was. Some unit types vary far more between nations and service arms, and don't lend themselves so well to a video like this. Battalion to company is much like company is to platoon. Regiments are rather British in nature and don't have equivalents in all armies.
One thing about these higher levels of command is that, despite what Lloyd suggests, you would generally know your higher command officers, at least the commanders. You may not know them well but you'd certainly recognize your Battalion, Regimental/Brigade, and Division commanders even if you don't regularly interact with them. Of course, this does vary a bit from unit to unit depending on how close (physically) you are to your parent unit. In the US often times battalions, even companies are not on the same base, sometimes not even the same state as their higher headquarters. At any rate, the standard definition of a battalion and higher is 2 or more of the lower level unit. So, a battalion consists of 2 or more companies, but in practice (once again in the US and the Marine Corps in particular) a battalion is made up of 3 line companies (regular infantry, tanks, or whatever), a heavy weapons company, and a headquarters company. A regiment would be organized similarly minus the heavy weapons but they'd probably have some other regiment level only asset instead. So, basically a US battalion, regiment/brigade, & division is 3 line units, a headquarters, and 1 or more specialized assets.
Lloyd, I have a friend who was a sniper in Goose green a few hundred yards away from the incident where H Jones was killed. He still lives in Blackpool and is a friend of the actor David Thewlis (who also played a Falklands veteran incidentally and got a lot of good character info from him.. I also got a lift off a guy driving back to Aldershot in the Lakes who was there (I was hitchhiking). Your description of what the men thought when Col. H Jones was shot was "diplomatic" in comparison to what I heard, In fact, some of what I heard should never really go in a video.
I only recently discovered your channel, but i instantly fell in love with it. The way you talk, tell stories or argue about whatever topic is just amazingly appealing. I think it's because your one of the few people who doesnt leave open holes/questions when arguing. The fact that you can present your thoughts so structured and fluent, rarely loosing track makes me watch every single second of your videos ^^ tl;dr: Great work!
One thing we theorized during my American Civil War reenacting days was that 100 men is about the limit that can hear your voice commands in linear warfare. If you position yourself in the middle of a line of infantry your voice can't really be clearly heard or understood past 150 feet or so, which is about 50 men to your left and 50 men to your right. And that's without battle noises and other movements making noise. I suspect the range would be the same in the days of sword and spear. Just an observation.
@@shuttheheckupkarl6153 drum and bugle calls were great for smaller fights but imagine multi companies/battalions all using their musicians to relay orders....our unit the 21st OVI did use our drummers at Gettysburg 135 but we were only one in the ad hoc battalion to do so.
Nailed it. I am in the US Marine Corps. And the psychology is pretty spot on. I wouldn't follow orders from just any officer. And the whole schpeel about its about the company, absolutely it is!
You nailed it Lloyd. As usual. I'm a U.S. Army Iraq vet and the camaraderie and getting to know each other is a huge deal. I knew my commander very well and my 1SG as well. In the U.S. Army, at least in my experience Majors usually do paperwork at BN headquarters though. :) The company is run by the First Sergent and Captain. The platoons are run by the platoon sergeants and Second or First Lieutenants. Sometimes a Warrant officer instead of LT if it's a technical type platoon. Interesting to me that the ranks are one higher basically in the British military. My comment about Majors is kind of an ongoing joke in the service. Because Captains run companies and Lt. Colonels and Colonels run BN's So Majors are usually in some other job at BN Headquarters. Like Admin or something. For a year or so. We like to say they have "command envy". Too high rank for a company and too low for a battalion. Anyway love your stuff as usual Lloyd. Thanks! EDIT: Oh! One more thing. I have seen VERY few Corporals in my career. The U.S. military automatically promotes up to Specialist (E-4) which is the same pay grade as a Corporal but they are NOT an NCO. They are sort of like skilled Privates. When I was deployed a bunch of the Specialists were temporarily promoted to Corporal so they could be team leaders (groups of 4-5) because there was a rule that you had to be an NCO to be a team leader. Once they got home they were "demoted" back to specialists although like I said it's the same pay grade.
hmm, here we have another example of diffferent nations doing stuff differently, in Denmark Corporals are not NCO's but about the same thing as you descripe the E-4's, though corporals retain command resposibility. As far as I know, this structure was pretty common during WWII
I'd love to see you do these sorts of videos all the way up to corps/army level. (Yes, I know it's harder to be generic the higher you go, but still). I've looked into this stuff before, but these videos explain these organizational-type things to laymen excellently.
Hell, it's harder to be generic at the combat level. Once you go high enough, it's all just old men and clerks. I'm irritated that I attempt to approach military history from the combat level (company to squad and team tactics) because they fascinate me almost as much as weapons design, only to be stifled by the intellectual "establishment" around the subject(s): endless chattering about massive divisions and the rear-area-dwelling politicians (flag officers) who are most focused on by historians/scholars.
Very good job. I would add that the Company level is the the first level with support troops and administrative capabilities. The Company Commander is the lowest level Commander who carries the responsibility of administering military justice, takes administrative (personnel) action, assumes financial responsibility of the military equipment and facilities and the feeding, housing, equipping and general welfare of its soldiers.
First off, I enjoy your channel quite a bit so thank you for putting it together. A very excellent explanation of the rationale behind tactical formations. I'm a retired U.S. Army officer and former Platoon/Company/ Battalion commander or staff officer. Today in my second career work authorization documents for military units (more of a sideline but it's part of the job). What I continue to discover, is when we move off proven models we create formations that simply do not work. Everyone wants to economize on manpower, but forgets the problems we solved previously when we originally settle on a particular unit size. We are always shocked when that original issue suddenly pops up, but keep re-learning this lesson over and over. Thankfully we do still have some sanity. Example, the Army has firmly refused to reduce the size of a tank crew to 3 personnel rather than the current 4. We could use an auto-loader and eliminate a crewman (which is repeatedly proposed), but we have learned time and again that you actually need 4 personnel to maintain, supply, and fight the tank (well that, and trained humans can load faster than any mechanism on these particular guns). Technology is not an answer here. I would add one thing to your discussion on Companies....these, and Platoons, are very easily shifted as a package when creating a Task Force for combat. We routinely attach and detach units to change the nature of our order of battle. Doing this with these size formations is simplified. If you shift a Platoon or Company commander to another command, the flow is very natural. Both the U.S. and British Armies are very adept at this...even while on the move and engaged. This ability makes our Armies particularly lethal.
Nathanael Sallhag Eriksson What is now the Ministry of Defence was called the War Office until the 1960s, when they presumably decided that name was a bit too bellicose...
This channel is new to me and I watched around 30 videos in the last three days. The one about platoons was just seen yesterday. Very informative channel with logical sounding explanations.
The Lieutenant Colonel who charged the machine gun nest, had he perhaps only recently been promoted? Because I can see a Major commanding a company doing that if something had gone wrong, he was the only officer nearby, and the gun had to be taken asap or people would die. Thus I can imagine a recently promoted Lt.Colonel, who had until recently been a company commander, behaving like a Major just out pure spinal reflex habit.
+Lindybeige, have you served in the military? In my time I knew most of my squad well, and maybe 2-3 people from the company. I of course recognized their faces but I can't say I knew most of their names. Dunbar's number didn't quite manifest itself in this normal peace time situation since you already know people outside the service. Later in NCO training and specialization you meet a lot of new people and know mostly the people you share your room with. Ultimately you know your immediate squad, the officers, and the company's oddballs who drank filtered ethanol fuel with pineapple juice.
As a private or corporal, possibly even a sergeant, I imagine that would be the case, yes. If you were the company major however and your report with 90% of your company is so atrocious that you don't even know their names, I imagine that would have some implications on your ability to command your company...
Yeah he did, he's mentioned it few times, his military service that is. But then again every single Brit over the age of 38 has spent some time in the army, it used to be mandatory.
no my brother is 41 and he never did, i think compulsary military service went out in (i had to google this) dec 31 1960 ! thats anyone older than 73 years because you had to be 17 !
hmm I thought after spend some time in boarding school, he went to university. and after that became archaeologist?, in which video he mentioned his service in military?
World's Future Leader The only one off the top of my head was I think the one were he talked about how he modifies the collars of his shirts. He made an anecdote about a female coworker being surprised that he could sew since he was an ex soldier.
Love the Band of Brothers reference! It's similar to the scene with Private Blithe; where Lieutenant Winters saw that he wasn't firing his rifle. Winters ran up to him, remembered his name, and gave him orders to start firing on the Germans!
Two things I would like to say, both topics are praise. Firstly, amazing job with the camouflage. You must have a terribly steady hand. Second, I'm glad you're making videos again. Welcome back. :D
After watching his videos, I decided that if he can wear his nerdy outfits for all the world to see on TH-cam, I can wear my nerdy helmets to the range
Thank you for this great video. It is really interesting, you said that a Major is usually responsible for a company. Major Winters from BoB was in charge of E company as a Captain throughout most of the war. Then in Bastogne they put him in charge of the whole battalion. He didn't like that and wore his first aid kit over his helmet bars. The other battalion commanders wouldn't take him seriously.
Wow, what an informative video! I love the use of figurine soldiers for visual aid, really cool and extremely easy to understand even for someone who has no clue about army structure before opening this video.
When I watch one of Lindybeig's videos I don't bother to watch before I press like anymore. there are few creators on youtube who always puts up quality content. Keep up the good work!
Have I mentioned how much i like your insights? You've nailed it. May I offer insight? The reason he was disparaged for his actions, I think, have more to do with other aspects of leadership and how we, as soldiers, are judged and evaluated. Nowadays we call it "Resource Management" and you summed it up nicely in your video about using the minimum weapon to get a job done. He wasted a Bn Commander for an MG.
Well done, as an ex serving Infantry man of 20 years, I like your explanation of the unit structures and the WHY. Yes, to us it was the section first, the platoon was organically the wider family, the company was something slightly out of our sight, as young soldiers. Obviously as you progress through the ranks you get to see the wider picture, the battalion starts to open up your view even wider. You get to know who to speak too, for favours, to get equipment, stores, FOOD lol. As I progressed even further dealing with the regiment and then across the brigade and all their support arms gives you an organisational feel to the battle group but ... you never lose that feeling of belonging within the section. Those guys are still my mates, 40 years later, thank you Lindybeige
Quick US rundown..4 to 5 men in a Team (Usually Alhpa team and a Bravo team). 2 Teams in a Squad. 3 to 4 Squads in a PLT with the last squad being a heavy weapons squad that gets split off into the teams. 4 to 5 PLT's in a Company
Definitley true with knowing the soldiers..Company is about it but with a few others outside in order to get supplies, ammo, etc.. But PLT size is where the closes bonds are. All the way down to Teams where we fight right beside each other
Thanks for this. I'm assuming this refers to current-ish structure and not WWII or the like? I had, evidently erroneously, thought that fireteams were, or at least could be smaller (2-3?) and that 4 was probably the max amount of platoons comprising a company. What NCOs/officers might you identify with each component?
Fireteams, in the Marine Corps at least, consists of 4 men and headed up (usually) by a corporal, then there are 3 - 4 fireteams per squad with the squad leader being a sergeant and isn't a part of any fireteam, from there are 3 - 4 squads to a platoon commanded by a 2nd or 1st Lt. with a Staff Sergeant (sometimes a Gunny) acting as his Platoon Sergeant. The Platoon Sergeant is effectively the platoon's XO (Executive Officer) or second in command and also, most importantly, serves as the teacher for the Platoon Leader. Even though the Platoon Leader technically outranks his Platoon Sergeant he is expected to listen to any suggestions or advice the Platoon Sergeant gives because he, the Platoon Sergeant) has been in much longer than the Platoon Leader and actually knows what he's doing.
Riceball01 Yes thats very similar to the Army with slight differences here and there..Except we dont have a whole PLT or company made up of your SAW's and 240B's. The SAW's are one to each team with one squad getting a 240B gunner..They are apart of that PLT the whole time
Chris H Yes your correct and they absolutely could be smaller. That was just a general rundown of a modern infantry company. There are variations and mixes of headquarters, medics, mortar teams, etc.. Depending on how the Captain wants to run it and mission dependant..There were many times in combat that we would run missions in smaller teams if we wanted to keep a lower profile to try and kill or capture a high value target for example
These are some of by favorites of yours, hope there's more military videos ahead! You have a fantastic grip of the WWII era, and human nature in general.
Now that you mentioned Band Of Brothers, I think it does a well done job to it's story allowed to portray what each 1;st officer in each level of unit does. Especially if you follow Winters who move up the ranks within the series.
In the attack on Foy after the relief of Bastogne ..... not that I am a fan or anything .... the best parts of the Band of Brothers series were the testaments of the real soldiers including Winters himself, at the start and end of each episode. Makes me choke every time. War is ghastly and I am extremely grateful to all the allied armies for their role in WWII.
Dyke was an example of a staff officer being given field experience. Another, actually famous, example of this was von Paulus at Stalingrad. Valuable for the officers but deadly for the troops.
Lloyd, I have a friend who was a sniper in Goose green a few hundred yards away from the incident where H Jones was killed. He still lives in Blackpool and is a friend of the actor David Thewlis (who also played a Falklands veteran incidentally and got a lot of good character info from him).. I also got a lift off a guy driving back to Aldershot in the Lakes who was there (I was hitchhiking). Your description of what the men thought when Col. H Jones was shot was "diplomatic" in comparison to what I heard, In fact, some of what I heard should never really go in a video.
James Atherton One guy who was not actually there said "Its a good job both sides were using 7.62".. What the guys who were there said I won't divulge.. but lets say he was not a popular man.
Good video. My company at 29 Palms, California, during radio school, was 2,300 marines. That was just an odd training situation, and that never happened again anywhere else I went in the corps. However, we were the largest "company" in the armed forces of the US.
Lindy I really must say how much I enjoy your videos I personally agree with you in most of them and the topics you talk about are great, Just wanted to say keep it up because they really are a pleasure to watch after a long day.
I just realized something. In the US, at least where i live, classrooms have a size of about 30 kids. There are 6 periods in the day, and the teachers get one off. So the teachers would on average be dealing with very close to 150 kids in their classes.
Once had 180 kids. but all goodness, so that also works. Would also work with a teacher and an aide even with inattentive ones. Amazing how quiet even the bad ones are when a second adult is in the room. An aide need not be credentialed to be highly effective. In the old one-room school house, which so many who have attended swear by, younger kids respond well to tutoring by older ones. Story from the ‘20s. A big farm kid who had struggled with three Rs. and was still in 8th grade at 15, responded so well to being tutored by a sharp 13 year old girl, that he aced the leaving exams. The girl went on to become a teacher at age 18, and the boy. now working the family farm, ended up marrying her. Heard this story from the widow herself. The grown-up boy himself went to ag school at her insistence and became an important landowner in the county.
Drat. I was sure for a moment, and now I don't know what to think. As I type this, "YES" is the top comment. I can't help but hope that it gets replaced, but I suppose I should be careful what I wish for.
I'm not in a British infantry unit, but I am in an American Signal unit. I'm not sure where all the differences are, but in my experience the Company commander has always been a Captain (O-3) and his NCO has always been the First Sergeant (E-8). In the US Army (and National Guards for each state) we have The Platoon and instead of sections we say squads, and within a squad we have fireteams. The squad leader is generally a Sergeant (E-5). The Platoon is lead by a Lieutenant (O2 or O1) and the Platoon sergeant (E-7). Then after the Company you have the Battalion which is commanded by a Lieutenant Colonel (O-5) and Command Sergeant Major (E-9). After that you have the Brigade lead by the Colonel (O-6) and CSM (E-9). After that you start getting Generals. I've rarely seen any Majors. I know that I have had very limited interaction with anyone outside of my company. There have been some Battalion events but even then we tend to stick to the company. It's true that you get to know your company pretty well, and you get to know your platoon very well. Generally how well you get along with your unit can make or break your military experience.
ive never heard of you before, and dont consider myself purveyor of "military history" by any stretch of the word, but this was amazing. thanks for covering such a unique topic so clearly, this was really interesting.
Do you ever plan on making a video about Gurkhas? I'm American and I haven't heard much about them outside the mythical stories of them taking out entire enemy platoons and such.
Torneko In the Falklands, they prepared to take a particular hill. When the Argies heard whom they were going up against, they immediately surrendered. This saddened the Gurkhas, as they were ready for a good fight.
My experience with Gurkhas is accidentally driving into the Royal Gurkha Rifle barracks in the 11th Inf Brigade - I can't speak for their skill or courage, but they were very helpful and drew a very nice map
Wow! Utterly spectacular! I subscribed to you a few months back but I never watch any videos, you had my utmost attention from start to end in this one, keep up the great work!
I'd be interested to know how army organization evolved from the feudal period to modern day. I know vassal lords would be expected to provide so many horse and foot based on the size of their holdings, and that only 1 or 2 men from each village would be called up as levee's but that seems like comparatively few men under the direct command of any one "officer"
I'm assuming you're talking about "levies" (singular "levy"). I doubt one or two men from each village would be called up to stop floods by lying in the way of the water...
one or two men and a couple masculine lesbians... perhaps Lloyd can do a video on the origin of bad puns and how simple words can come to mean two vastly different things.
I think Lloyd may have actually mentioned at least the lance at some point in his other videos. A lance was the basic medieval/feudal military unit, raised from a single manor. Classically it consisted of one knight or man at arms in heavy armor etc, his squire, equipped as light cavalry, and a few yeomen, split between archers and maybe some spearmen, pikemen or whatever. Similar in size to a modern section or squad. In general, I think the company size, in particular, has stuck in the 80-150 range through the vast majority of history. Think of Roman centuries, 100-man units, for example. As Lloyd noted, somewhere around 150 (I've heard 100-200 before) is a natural size of group for humans to socialize and bond with: military companies, farming villages etc. are around that size. Hunter-gatherer groups tend to be more platoon-size, probably due to 1 decent-sized game animal feeding about that number of people, but they might associate a bit more with a few other groups to form different levels of clan, tribe, etc.
Feudal Period companies had more to do with having a Commander. There were many mercenary companies of various sizes and specialties. But a Company has a Commander who negotiates the contract and maintains administrative and tactical command. But there was not a set structure or number of subordinates.
+Snaake42 This is more just a matter of semantics but a Roman century actually only had 80 fighting men, divided in to 10 groups of 8. Each group would be assisted by 2 noncombatants who would carry extra gear, maintain the camp, etc.
Another fine video, I agree wholeheartedly with your comment that a Company Commander was known to his men. I served three company commanders of superb stuff, gentlemen, warriors and quite unhinged in their devotion to their men and to getting a horrific job done well. Of my three battalion commanders I would have to go through the records to find two of their names, the other was called Swanson, I remember because I knew his son well, he served in my Company. Beyond the orbat details, communication, firepower projection etc. there is a strong tug of attachment to the Company. It just sounds right, feels right. In a company of men, even civies can hear the bond in that statement. Tell them you served in a multiple or battalion and their eyes glaze over. Only Regiment comes close. The only memento of my service to adorn my walls is a print of my Company colours, the Regimental cap badges, stable belts and medals are all stuffed in some drawer somewhere. To finish off this series you may think about a video on wastage. It would come quite neatly into a description of the battalion. The reason a standard issue section, troop, platoon, company and battalion are the size they are is to accommodate the natural wastage of action. One can expect 1/3rd casualties to enemy action and accidents in every rotation through the front lines (again Im limiting myself to the WWI and WWII experience). To be effective these units only require 1/2 to 2/3rds of their strength. The rest are there to maintain as much of their front as possible. This paradox - that Company Commanders are devoted to their men, live close with them and will know them personally and yet will be fully expectant of loosing a 1/3rd each time they go forward - is I think the most heartbreaking and fascinating in the field of soldiering. I got close enough to witness it but not to practise it, and if Im honest I genuinely regret that. I only knew one or two company commanders who didn't cut the mustard, and they lasted weeks in the job before they were found out. It wasn't professionalism or experience it was that paradoxical balance between connecting with your men and accepting their deaths. Being forward enough to take the same risks is instrumental, character is key. We were the loyal hounds to my Majors hunting party. The two Im thinking of were quite possibly unemployable in any other industry, a streak of madness, horrific glee and itch for the scent of battle ran through both that set them apart from ordinary blokes. They were close enough to be heard and known yes, but also they were close enough to the enemy to set the example. Theres a lot going on in a company.
I totally can say that what you're saying about loyality and trusting you commanders is true. When I served in an infantry batalaion at the austrian army, I always was "Who the fuck are you bat.commander? go away pls." I only appaered a few times during manouvers (mostly at forming up or something) and then he vanished and wasn't seen again until the end of training. Same goes for my former companie commander... The only officers we trusted, being always with us, fighting with us, were our platoon and section commanders. Now, I'm at a self-reliant company (so, we technically don't have a battalion above us), and I know my company commander very well, so ... yes. it's true. :'D I'm also a teacher, teaching 4 classes with about 25 students each. And it is already hard to recognize everyone of them... so... yeah. I don't know if I could manage to know one more class :D
I'm going to be completely honest. This, video. Is the most informative war video I've ever seen. I always wanted to know the teams in a company but I didn't know where to look. But now I know. Thank you. Really. Also make a battalion video. ;)
This was one of your most informative , and interesting , videos ( in my opinion ) on battles and men that I have watched. Thanks for your time and effort in setting up the models.
I really enjoyed this video as well as the platoon one. Those toy soldiers that you made look really good and really helped tell your story. I enjoy this channel
I have to say I absolutely love these videos. They are fascinating. Thanks for deepening my military knowledge. I'd love to see more of these sort of videos but all your content is great so keep doing what you're doing!
I know a lot of people already asked for it, but I'm going to add to the volume of fire: could you, please, make a video about the next level (battalion) and continue all the way up? Also, could you talk about nowdays granade launchers (those that go under the rifle) and mortars? have the granade launcher made the mortar obsolete? or does it still have it's place in the fields, despite the advent of other forms of throwing explosive devices?
Marcelo Silveira grenade launchers are still direct fire launchers as you at least need line of sight on your target. mortars can engage well out to 3500 meters.
I understand that 300 is the optimum size for a cohesive community of people. I think that was mentioned on a programme about early colonial settlements in north America. not sure how accurate that is mind!
It's a good, solid working-class number. High enough to display the magnificience of the masses, but not too high to consider itsself part of the fancy-pants numbers.
When I was in the FDF, we at the combat engineers had a squad of 12, four squads per platoon and three platoons in the company. I might be a little off on the numbers, it's been well over 10 years, but typically Finnish combat engineers have larger squads and platoons than other units / branches in FDF. However, the combat engineer battalion I served in, was divided into three; we had guerilla company (CEs who go behind enemy lines and blow them up), "rifle CEs" (CEs who were the first to attach to rifle platoons) and "heavy CEs" (we, who blow shit up anywhere we go; we don't dig in, we blow up). So, three specialized platoons in a single company. We didn't really train together, so in my case, you could replace the "company" with "platoon" and you got things pretty right. :P Great video, Lindy! Please make more of these; they are very informative!
This is a really great series. It would be interesting to see a compare and contrast between a eight gun British battery and a American/German four gun battery
Lloyd, these figures look a bit chunky. Did you make them yourself? Are they made of wood, plastic or some gel? And why did you say you didn't want to make more of them than necessary? It's not like you did you do them just for the purpose of this video, did you?
if I were a low rank conscript, and a division comander gave me an order in the middle of battle. I would conclude that someone somewhere screwed up, and that we are losing.
Most of the time that might be true, but now and then you get the crazies like Patton.
I would be used to it after North Africa.
if i were a low rank conscript a hole the size of an SMLE bullet may find it's way into my foot
@Guacamoli Cheese A court martial might have a funny way of making you wish you hadn't shot yourself. This is, of course, assuming they even notice and don't make you charge anyway.
in the Soviet or German Army they would have given you a matching hole in the back of your head.
well now you have to do battalion
if he has enough models :P
he can just say that 1 model represent 4 people or so
Dank Meme then he must do the next unit up
〈Chopper Gamer〉
I want him to do the entire WWII British army in 1:1 scale. :)
but where's he going to find that many people?
So each british leutanant had his own batman?
No wonder the nazis lost.
What did he actually say though?
Batman or bagman.
Alan Cox A batman or an orderly is a soldier or airman assigned to a commissioned officer as a personal servant. Before the advent of motorized transport, an officer's batman was also in charge of the officer's "bat-horse" that carried the pack saddle with his officer's kit during a campaign.
It’s a bag man not a batman! I know what a bagman is having been a pl sgt 😂 ps check your spelling and it’s a bit off
Alan Cox Its not bagman, his spelling is correct. Bat derives from the French term that meant "pack horse".
On the other hand, I have found no evidence for the military existence of "bagmen".
Also, it is an obsolete term, did you serve in WW2 by chance?
So a Major gets to know his men, all 150 of them, which is about the maximum number of people a person can know reasonably well. What happens to his 150 friends back home?
It's a rough estimate, Dunbar actually states between 100 and 250, but still... it's the number of people you currently are more knowledgeable about, that of course varies depending on the situation, say you move from your current address to another part of the country or abroad, or say you go to war, you don't entirely forget about the other people, you just don't know or register what they currently are doing or what is your position in their relationships. Also your brain isn't a fixed organ, it changes it's structures a bit according to it's use.
So if you really want to know and relate to more people you have to train and focus a lot in your social skills (you know those people that are social butterflies and seem to know everybody?) although after some point you probably hit some hard cap, I don't know how much can the neo-cortex grow to accommodate such use. After that it's long term memory and other things... But hey there are people out there with almost perfect memory, so... it's both use and some genetic luck ;)
But also 150 would be a pretty huge company. Usually you're talking more like 100 (30 max to a section, 3 sections plus half a dozen in the HQ).
Chuckleluck War changes people.
I think you men platoon mate , it's three sections on average to a platoon ( 12 men per section on average ) And it's 3 platoons to a company . So on average it's about 100 to 108 fighting men to a company plus whatever support staff you have ( medical, liaisons from HQ, radio men, artillery spotters , and etc) So really 150 men is quite a average estimate of a full strength company.
If you've been on campaign for a few years you're probably going to forget who borrowed a couple of quid from your back home…
US Army here. In my artillery unit, we had much of the same setup for individual weapons as infantry does. Two fire teams per squad/section. First team: Team leader(grenadier)/rifleman/machine gunner(also carrying a rifle)/assistant machine gunner(also a rifleman). Second team: Team leader(AT rocket)/rifleman/marksman/light machine gunner. In addition we had a squad leader for a total of 9 men per squad/section. I was the machine gunner with the M240B because everyone thought it would be funny to make the shortest guy carry the heaviest weapon + a rifle.
Jonah Shook not tall enough
“A taller MG gunner catches more shrapnel” -bigbrain testing division
How was that an artillery unit?
I also am of short arse stature and I also was given in the U.K. armed forces the GPMG and a load of spare ammo as well as my personal weapon,mind you I was also 15 stone solid muscle ,all shoulders ,arms and big F off legs as well as being SF ,must be an army thing brother ha ha
"US Army here"
* doggo-bulbasaur profile pic *
Battallion Commander killed: "Oh well, still got a job to do."
Platoon Commander killed: "Oh fuck! Sunray is down!"
Games Played Badly that being said. the company comander would be scared to death if the battalion comander was killed. have you ever seen "We were soldiers"? Imagine if Mel Gibson had been killed when everything was falling apart. comand would have had no choice but to try and evacuate. and the communists would have overrun them as soon as enough had left.
Major General got shot, a beloved one, well… shit replacements.
"Imagine if Mel Gibson had been killed." Then I guess they would have replaced him with another director.
He was the protagonist in the movie
He was also the director.
Here is a description of units in Commonwealth Forces and who would command them:
Patrol/Fireteam - 4x men (Lance Corporal)
Section - 2x Patrols/Fireteams (Corporal)
Platoon/Troop/Flight - 3x Sections (2nd Lieutenant - Captain)
Company/Battery/Squadron - 3x+ Platoons/Troops/Flights (Captain/Major)
Battalion/Commando - 5x Companies (Lieutenant Colonel)
Regiment - 3x Battalions/5x Squadrons/Batteries (Lieutenant Colonel/Colonel)
Brigade - 3x+ Battalions/Regiments/Commandos (Brigadier)
Division - 3x+ Brigades (Major General)
Corps - 2x+ Divisions (Lieutenant General)
Field Army - 2x+ Corps (General)
Army Group - 2x+ Field Armies (Field Marshal)
Army Region/Theatre - 2x+ Army Groups (Field Marshal)
Note administrative regiments and corps use different units in their hierarchy.
Pltn - Coy - Btln = used by Infantry, Intelligence and Technicians
Tp - Coy - Cmdo = used by Marines
Tp - Sqn - Regt = used by Tankers, Special Forces, Cavalry, Engineers, Signallers, Logistics and Medics
Flt - Sqn - Regt = used by Aviators
Tp - Bty - Regt = used by Artillery
Pltn - Coy - Regt = used by Military Police
Lindybeige is one of the most interesting channels on the internet. Hes a great resource for history lovers.
But how did those tiny Brittish soldiers sin the war? I mean - I have met Germans. And they are the size of normal men, while your soldiers are åt the size of a matchbox.
Pluck.
Tiny paratroopers need tiny planes.... harder to spot!
Hahahahahaha lite svensk humor är bäst
What is this??? An army for ants?
@@cab711 No no... It's any army OF ants.
"Dad, were you a hero during the Great Meme War of 2015-2016?"
"No son, but I served in a company of heroes."
More like Company of Shitlords.
Company of Deplorables.
Kek Company.
Wargame Red Meme Gon
Special Shitposting Service
Basically the same as a Roman century.
The Centurion had 80 men plus additional personel making around a hundred in number.
He would have known all the other Centurions and many of the optio as well as Legion commanders and special services people like the medic and quartermasters. That probably didn't come to more than a 150 people.
Lithuanian Scot Now I know a Legion Centurion is about the same rank of an NCR Major.
@@megarepal patrolling the Mojave almost makes you wish for a nuclear winter.
megarepal except the centurion fights
@@megarepal I always thought "centurion" was basically Roman for NCO...
@@benjaminodonnell258 No, he was definitely equivalent of today's officer. NCO never commands a unit of 80+ soldiers.
Everything Loyd is saying is completely correct
Personal Story about one of my battalion commanders:
Deployed in afghanistan, the biggest threat for the first 2 months of deployment was direct enemy action. We did a lot of fighting. But then everything quieted down and the biggest threat became IEDs. During this "calm" period or BN commander decided to help out his command staff and try to "get them some field experience". In reality, none of them had seen any real action so they didn't have a combat action ribbon and were hunting medals and awards. So the BN commander, Sgt Major, Intel Officer, Sigan Officer and the freakin Chaplain decided to go on a patrol. Together. At the same time. With only 1 radio operator and 1 sgt as escort. Noone else on the patrol had any experience on the ground or in the streets other than the 2 lower ranked enlisted. The entire battalion lost all respect for the BN command staff because they weren't doing their damn jobs and staying safe so they could properly support the rest of us, support the fighting men. Their jb was to give us as much help as possible so we face minimal risk once bullets start flying. Their incompetent patrols put the entire BN at risk.
Did they survive their random patrol?
No it most definitely was not "completely correct".
Rad Bromance
sadly, yes, though not for a lack of trying. The Chaplain saw "someone" flee down an ally so he immediately pursued. Down an ally. Alone.
That's what happens when you put too much pride in medals and not in men, you get people willing to die for a medal, rather than do paper work
Yeah, that sounds like a really dumb idea.
I mean, ensuring your command staff has at least some actual experience and knowledge of what the people on the ground go through seems like a good idea in theory, and something that should probably be a mandatory (or highly reccommended) part of someone's training and preparation for, say, everything above junior officers.
After all, while a battalion command staff won't interact that much with direct combat (or the people who fight in it), the people below them (company command staff etc) apparently do. So having some experience would help them understand the situation of the people they have to command. (assuming you actually have a conflict to send people to)
Of course, you should do that as part of someone's training before they get to that level, or you have existing command staff rotate through a few lower-risk operations in small groups while their back-ups take over their jobs for a while.
Going on a random joyride with most of your staff, with barely any escort or experienced people, WHILE YOU'RE IN COMMAND? That's just begging for someone to wipe out half the command structure you served them on a silver platter. Or for a court-martial for abandoning your posts and knowingly taking massive unnecessary risks.
Lloyd, Hail the Beige Supreme!
Have you considered doing videos about Battalions, Regiments, Brigades and such. I am an author and have found these videos both informative and very enjoyable to watch. Thank you for the bountiful harvest of videos recently!
anonny mouse I feared that.
I am DEFINITELY not going to paint up a 1:1 figure scale division!
I may do other units, yes, although I think it works better when i have something unusual to say about a unit, rather than merely describing what it was. Some unit types vary far more between nations and service arms, and don't lend themselves so well to a video like this. Battalion to company is much like company is to platoon. Regiments are rather British in nature and don't have equivalents in all armies.
Lindybeige Maybe you could do Regimental histories, oh Lord Beige.
One thing about these higher levels of command is that, despite what Lloyd suggests, you would generally know your higher command officers, at least the commanders. You may not know them well but you'd certainly recognize your Battalion, Regimental/Brigade, and Division commanders even if you don't regularly interact with them. Of course, this does vary a bit from unit to unit depending on how close (physically) you are to your parent unit. In the US often times battalions, even companies are not on the same base, sometimes not even the same state as their higher headquarters.
At any rate, the standard definition of a battalion and higher is 2 or more of the lower level unit. So, a battalion consists of 2 or more companies, but in practice (once again in the US and the Marine Corps in particular) a battalion is made up of 3 line companies (regular infantry, tanks, or whatever), a heavy weapons company, and a headquarters company. A regiment would be organized similarly minus the heavy weapons but they'd probably have some other regiment level only asset instead. So, basically a US battalion, regiment/brigade, & division is 3 line units, a headquarters, and 1 or more specialized assets.
Lloyd, I have a friend who was a sniper in Goose green a few hundred yards away from the incident where H Jones was killed. He still lives in Blackpool and is a friend of the actor David Thewlis (who also played a Falklands veteran incidentally and got a lot of good character info from him.. I also got a lift off a guy driving back to Aldershot in the Lakes who was there (I was hitchhiking). Your description of what the men thought when Col. H Jones was shot was "diplomatic" in comparison to what I heard, In fact, some of what I heard should never really go in a video.
size of my neocortex is very small indeed
I only recently discovered your channel, but i instantly fell in love with it. The way you talk, tell stories or argue about whatever topic is just amazingly appealing. I think it's because your one of the few people who doesnt leave open holes/questions when arguing.
The fact that you can present your thoughts so structured and fluent, rarely loosing track makes me watch every single second of your videos ^^
tl;dr: Great work!
One thing we theorized during my American Civil War reenacting days was that 100 men is about the limit that can hear your voice commands in linear warfare. If you position yourself in the middle of a line of infantry your voice can't really be clearly heard or understood past 150 feet or so, which is about 50 men to your left and 50 men to your right.
And that's without battle noises and other movements making noise. I suspect the range would be the same in the days of sword and spear. Just an observation.
El Grande Dave thanks for sharing.
El Grande Dave but I would imagine you guys would have drummer boys that would relay the order down the line, similar to the real deal
In times of sword and spear the soldiers couldn't hear orders except for the front line, the others just copied what the ones in front did.
@@shuttheheckupkarl6153 drum and bugle calls were great for smaller fights but imagine multi companies/battalions all using their musicians to relay orders....our unit the 21st OVI did use our drummers at Gettysburg 135 but we were only one in the ad hoc battalion to do so.
that is a very respectable mustache that major has :)
rediculous, a company is clearly 2 people, havent you ever heard 2s company 3s a crowd ?
mcpartridgeboy i strongly disagree this is war after all
You, sir, are a unit.
1 is the loaniest, 2 is a conversation & 3 is a conspiracy!
Joshua Rankin yes, one is the loaniest number that you’ll ever do.
@@MarcosElMalo2 "Suck my unit."
Nailed it. I am in the US Marine Corps. And the psychology is pretty spot on. I wouldn't follow orders from just any officer. And the whole schpeel about its about the company, absolutely it is!
You nailed it Lloyd. As usual. I'm a U.S. Army Iraq vet and the camaraderie and getting to know each other is a huge deal. I knew my commander very well and my 1SG as well.
In the U.S. Army, at least in my experience Majors usually do paperwork at BN headquarters though. :) The company is run by the First Sergent and Captain. The platoons are run by the platoon sergeants and Second or First Lieutenants. Sometimes a Warrant officer instead of LT if it's a technical type platoon.
Interesting to me that the ranks are one higher basically in the British military.
My comment about Majors is kind of an ongoing joke in the service. Because Captains run companies and Lt. Colonels and Colonels run BN's So Majors are usually in some other job at BN Headquarters. Like Admin or something. For a year or so. We like to say they have "command envy". Too high rank for a company and too low for a battalion.
Anyway love your stuff as usual Lloyd. Thanks!
EDIT: Oh! One more thing. I have seen VERY few Corporals in my career. The U.S. military automatically promotes up to Specialist (E-4) which is the same pay grade as a Corporal but they are NOT an NCO. They are sort of like skilled Privates. When I was deployed a bunch of the Specialists were temporarily promoted to Corporal so they could be team leaders (groups of 4-5) because there was a rule that you had to be an NCO to be a team leader. Once they got home they were "demoted" back to specialists although like I said it's the same pay grade.
hmm, here we have another example of diffferent nations doing stuff differently, in Denmark Corporals are not NCO's but about the same thing as you descripe the E-4's, though corporals retain command resposibility.
As far as I know, this structure was pretty common during WWII
it's no coincidence that O-1 through O-3 are "company grade" officers.
Amadon Faul Thank you for your service, and I wish you a happy (somewhat late) Veteran's Day.
I was a specialist team leader while in active duty.
This man needs to make the larger units, like battalions and regiments!
Hey Lloyd, I'm loving these videos. Please continue to make videos about these military fundamentals!
Really liking these military unit videos! Keep it up
I should really start packing my bags for this weekends trip
"Lindybeige has uploaded...."
Well, guess not.
I'd love to see you do these sorts of videos all the way up to corps/army level. (Yes, I know it's harder to be generic the higher you go, but still). I've looked into this stuff before, but these videos explain these organizational-type things to laymen excellently.
Hell, it's harder to be generic at the combat level. Once you go high enough, it's all just old men and clerks.
I'm irritated that I attempt to approach military history from the combat level (company to squad and team tactics) because they fascinate me almost as much as weapons design, only to be stifled by the intellectual "establishment" around the subject(s): endless chattering about massive divisions and the rear-area-dwelling politicians (flag officers) who are most focused on by historians/scholars.
Very good job.
I would add that the Company level is the the first level with support troops and administrative capabilities. The Company Commander is the lowest level Commander who carries the responsibility of administering military justice, takes administrative (personnel) action, assumes financial responsibility of the military equipment and facilities and the feeding, housing, equipping and general welfare of its soldiers.
First off, I enjoy your channel quite a bit so thank you for putting it together.
A very excellent explanation of the rationale behind tactical formations. I'm a retired U.S. Army officer and former Platoon/Company/ Battalion commander or staff officer. Today in my second career work authorization documents for military units (more of a sideline but it's part of the job). What I continue to discover, is when we move off proven models we create formations that simply do not work. Everyone wants to economize on manpower, but forgets the problems we solved previously when we originally settle on a particular unit size. We are always shocked when that original issue suddenly pops up, but keep re-learning this lesson over and over.
Thankfully we do still have some sanity. Example, the Army has firmly refused to reduce the size of a tank crew to 3 personnel rather than the current 4. We could use an auto-loader and eliminate a crewman (which is repeatedly proposed), but we have learned time and again that you actually need 4 personnel to maintain, supply, and fight the tank (well that, and trained humans can load faster than any mechanism on these particular guns). Technology is not an answer here.
I would add one thing to your discussion on Companies....these, and Platoons, are very easily shifted as a package when creating a Task Force for combat. We routinely attach and detach units to change the nature of our order of battle. Doing this with these size formations is simplified. If you shift a Platoon or Company commander to another command, the flow is very natural. Both the U.S. and British Armies are very adept at this...even while on the move and engaged. This ability makes our Armies particularly lethal.
Oh god Band of Brothers and he shows footage of the first episode, so tragic to see there faces again :(
their*
now i need to binge watch it again
Raz0rking yeah feel kinda the same
Fodonzo R THEIR****
can you do videos on the next bigger unit size and then the next and so fourth all the way to the division
He can go all the way to the War Office as far as I'm concerned...
+Robert Faber what's the war office
Nathanael Sallhag Eriksson What is now the Ministry of Defence was called the War Office until the 1960s, when they presumably decided that name was a bit too bellicose...
+Robert Faber ah, OK
The next level up would either be a battalion (the logical step since Lindy mostly covers British infantry) or squadron.
This channel is new to me and I watched around 30 videos in the last three days. The one about platoons was just seen yesterday. Very informative channel with logical sounding explanations.
The Lieutenant Colonel who charged the machine gun nest, had he perhaps only recently been promoted? Because I can see a Major commanding a company doing that if something had gone wrong, he was the only officer nearby, and the gun had to be taken asap or people would die. Thus I can imagine a recently promoted Lt.Colonel, who had until recently been a company commander, behaving like a Major just out pure spinal reflex habit.
I love all the army unit videos please make more.
+Lindybeige, have you served in the military? In my time I knew most of my squad well, and maybe 2-3 people from the company. I of course recognized their faces but I can't say I knew most of their names. Dunbar's number didn't quite manifest itself in this normal peace time situation since you already know people outside the service.
Later in NCO training and specialization you meet a lot of new people and know mostly the people you share your room with.
Ultimately you know your immediate squad, the officers, and the company's oddballs who drank filtered ethanol fuel with pineapple juice.
As a private or corporal, possibly even a sergeant, I imagine that would be the case, yes. If you were the company major however and your report with 90% of your company is so atrocious that you don't even know their names, I imagine that would have some implications on your ability to command your company...
Yeah he did, he's mentioned it few times, his military service that is. But then again every single Brit over the age of 38 has spent some time in the army, it used to be mandatory.
no my brother is 41 and he never did, i think compulsary military service went out in (i had to google this) dec 31 1960 ! thats anyone older than 73 years because you had to be 17 !
hmm I thought after spend some time in boarding school, he went to university. and after that became archaeologist?, in which video he mentioned his service in military?
World's Future Leader The only one off the top of my head was I think the one were he talked about how he modifies the collars of his shirts. He made an anecdote about a female coworker being surprised that he could sew since he was an ex soldier.
Good stuff. I am using this with my MA students. Nice explanations. And just whacky enough to be interesting. Thanks.
PS spot on discussion of H Jones.
These videos on military structure are so very clear and concise. I always enjoy your presentations...even when you ramble a bit. ;)
Are you going to talk about tank companies next
I love this series of military organization
Every time you upload a video about military organization structures I get unreasonably excited
Love the Band of Brothers reference! It's similar to the scene with Private Blithe; where Lieutenant Winters saw that he wasn't firing his rifle. Winters ran up to him, remembered his name, and gave him orders to start firing on the Germans!
Two things I would like to say, both topics are praise.
Firstly, amazing job with the camouflage. You must have a terribly steady hand.
Second, I'm glad you're making videos again. Welcome back. :D
Lloyd makes looking like a dork look cool!!
After watching his videos, I decided that if he can wear his nerdy outfits for all the world to see on TH-cam, I can wear my nerdy helmets to the range
Thank you for this great video. It is really interesting, you said that a Major is usually responsible for a company.
Major Winters from BoB was in charge of E company as a Captain throughout most of the war.
Then in Bastogne they put him in charge of the whole battalion. He didn't like that and wore his first aid kit over his helmet bars. The other battalion commanders wouldn't take him seriously.
Hmm... may have to dual wield katanas to cut through an entire company.
don't forget your Spandau and your Pommel.
no memes no.
studded leather, spiked armor! WIth Barbwire-Chainmail *****
Don't forget to store them in a backscabbard
And torches, they should be everywhere.
Wow, what an informative video! I love the use of figurine soldiers for visual aid, really cool and extremely easy to understand even for someone who has no clue about army structure before opening this video.
Dammit Lloyd, stop putting out videos while I'm in class!
I deliberately scheduled this one for Friday afternoon, thinking that on Friday afternoons people are looking for distractions at work.
Lindybeige Ah, now that makes sense.
When I watch one of Lindybeig's videos I don't bother to watch before I press like anymore. there are few creators on youtube who always puts up quality content. Keep up the good work!
We're still waiting for your Crossfire Wargaming game video!
Have I mentioned how much i like your insights? You've nailed it. May I offer insight? The reason he was disparaged for his actions, I think, have more to do with other aspects of leadership and how we, as soldiers, are judged and evaluated. Nowadays we call it "Resource Management" and you summed it up nicely in your video about using the minimum weapon to get a job done. He wasted a Bn Commander for an MG.
The "number of people you can know personally" is called the Dunbar number
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar's_number
aka the Monkeysphere.
Can you do a video about ancient naval warfare? I'm talking about things like the first punic war?
No immediate plans, but yes, that's a great topic.
Lindybeige
Yay. =)
You should do a video on Salamis, Thermopylae would have been meaningless without naval superiority.
Well done, as an ex serving Infantry man of 20 years, I like your explanation of the unit structures and the WHY. Yes, to us it was the section first, the platoon was organically the wider family, the company was something slightly out of our sight, as young soldiers. Obviously as you progress through the ranks you get to see the wider picture, the battalion starts to open up your view even wider. You get to know who to speak too, for favours, to get equipment, stores, FOOD lol. As I progressed even further dealing with the regiment and then across the brigade and all their support arms gives you an organisational feel to the battle group but ... you never lose that feeling of belonging within the section. Those guys are still my mates, 40 years later, thank you Lindybeige
I like to imagine that he just plays with the toy soldiers out of context.
Quick US rundown..4 to 5 men in a Team (Usually Alhpa team and a Bravo team). 2 Teams in a Squad. 3 to 4 Squads in a PLT with the last squad being a heavy weapons squad that gets split off into the teams. 4 to 5 PLT's in a Company
Definitley true with knowing the soldiers..Company is about it but with a few others outside in order to get supplies, ammo, etc.. But PLT size is where the closes bonds are. All the way down to Teams where we fight right beside each other
Thanks for this. I'm assuming this refers to current-ish structure and not WWII or the like? I had, evidently erroneously, thought that fireteams were, or at least could be smaller (2-3?) and that 4 was probably the max amount of platoons comprising a company. What NCOs/officers might you identify with each component?
Fireteams, in the Marine Corps at least, consists of 4 men and headed up (usually) by a corporal, then there are 3 - 4 fireteams per squad with the squad leader being a sergeant and isn't a part of any fireteam, from there are 3 - 4 squads to a platoon commanded by a 2nd or 1st Lt. with a Staff Sergeant (sometimes a Gunny) acting as his Platoon Sergeant. The Platoon Sergeant is effectively the platoon's XO (Executive Officer) or second in command and also, most importantly, serves as the teacher for the Platoon Leader. Even though the Platoon Leader technically outranks his Platoon Sergeant he is expected to listen to any suggestions or advice the Platoon Sergeant gives because he, the Platoon Sergeant) has been in much longer than the Platoon Leader and actually knows what he's doing.
Riceball01 Yes thats very similar to the Army with slight differences here and there..Except we dont have a whole PLT or company made up of your SAW's and 240B's. The SAW's are one to each team with one squad getting a 240B gunner..They are apart of that PLT the whole time
Chris H Yes your correct and they absolutely could be smaller. That was just a general rundown of a modern infantry company. There are variations and mixes of headquarters, medics, mortar teams, etc.. Depending on how the Captain wants to run it and mission dependant..There were many times in combat that we would run missions in smaller teams if we wanted to keep a lower profile to try and kill or capture a high value target for example
These are some of by favorites of yours, hope there's more military videos ahead! You have a fantastic grip of the WWII era, and human nature in general.
Now that you mentioned Band Of Brothers, I think it does a well done job to it's story allowed to portray what each 1;st officer in each level of unit does. Especially if you follow Winters who move up the ranks within the series.
Yes, there is a point when he is ordered NOT to go forward to help his men, because, being more senior, that is no longer his role.
Lindybeige The Foy episode when Lt. Dyke has a breakdown.
In the attack on Foy after the relief of Bastogne ..... not that I am a fan or anything .... the best parts of the Band of Brothers series were the testaments of the real soldiers including Winters himself, at the start and end of each episode. Makes me choke every time. War is ghastly and I am extremely grateful to all the allied armies for their role in WWII.
Dyke was an example of a staff officer being given field experience. Another, actually famous, example of this was von Paulus at Stalingrad. Valuable for the officers but deadly for the troops.
No i do think blythe WAS shot, but it is true that he was successful in korea.
I came here for the Pronunciation poem and stayed for the awesome content. you deserve a lot more views
Please do a video about Gladiators!
what?
Lord Pigster jet was my favourite.
Gladiator companies!
Would be far less exciting than you think.
Kentish Zombie would you not be entertained?!?!?!
I looooove this series. As a huge war fanatic, listening to your orgasmic voice AND learning is just the best thing.
Lloyd, I have a friend who was a sniper in Goose green a few hundred yards away from the incident where H Jones was killed. He still lives in Blackpool and is a friend of the actor David Thewlis (who also played a Falklands veteran incidentally and got a lot of good character info from him).. I also got a lift off a guy driving back to Aldershot in the Lakes who was there (I was hitchhiking). Your description of what the men thought when Col. H Jones was shot was "diplomatic" in comparison to what I heard, In fact, some of what I heard should never really go in a video.
NoFaithNoPain How did they really react?
James Atherton One guy who was not actually there said "Its a good job both sides were using 7.62".. What the guys who were there said I won't divulge.. but lets say he was not a popular man.
***** Really?
James Atherton Don't take my word, ask anyone at the time.
we don't know anyone there at the time, so couldn't you just tell us?
Having been a platoon commander myself, I can only say that - EXCELLENT POINT you made! (about practicality on the battlefield)
'The commonest'? Gah, call yourself an Englishman!?
he has been replaced by a French spy!!!
According to the OED, Byron used this word in 1821, and Swift in 1710. Are those good enough precedents for you?
Nope, unless I see a written letter of approval from Ol' Liz herself, I'm gonna claim to be the smarter-est
Lindybeige going to need u to a regiment and then a battalion next please
Going by the order he's doing this in, it would be battalion, then regiment. But I'm just being pedantic.
Good video. My company at 29 Palms, California, during radio school, was 2,300 marines. That was just an odd training situation, and that never happened again anywhere else I went in the corps. However, we were the largest "company" in the armed forces of the US.
The 150 dislikes are all the people who loaned stuff to Lloyd that he wouldn’t return
Lindy I really must say how much I enjoy your videos I personally agree with you in most of them and the topics you talk about are great, Just wanted to say keep it up because they really are a pleasure to watch after a long day.
I just realized something. In the US, at least where i live, classrooms have a size of about 30 kids. There are 6 periods in the day, and the teachers get one off. So the teachers would on average be dealing with very close to 150 kids in their classes.
Once had 180 kids. but all goodness, so that also works. Would also work with a teacher and an aide even with inattentive ones. Amazing how quiet even the bad ones are when a second adult is in the room. An aide need not be credentialed to be highly effective. In the old one-room school house, which so many who have attended swear by, younger kids respond well to tutoring by older ones. Story from the ‘20s. A big farm kid who had struggled with three Rs. and was still in 8th grade at 15, responded so well to being tutored by a sharp 13 year old girl, that he aced the leaving exams. The girl went on to become a teacher at age 18, and the boy. now working the family farm, ended up marrying her. Heard this story from the widow herself. The grown-up boy himself went to ag school at her insistence and became an important landowner in the county.
5:20 .....the most polite way of saying '' he decided who lives and who dies'' i've heard. lindybeige....you're an english gentleman.
Would you consider doing one on how armored cars/light vehicles worked in a platoon?
Excellent mini-series dear boy! Please continue going up the command chain! :)
No country should be composed of more than one hundred and fifty people.
That's a pretty small country ;)
Tribalism. What you've just described is tribalism.
The first sine qua non of anarchist communism.
What is that? 30 families? Max? You'll be inbred within two generations.
A Quite Obese Pig They just have to breed with people from other countries ;)
I heard something like this on a QI rerun yesterday and now there's a Lindybeige video on it. Brilliant.
YES
NO
Merliginary YENAYBE
PROBABLY
Drat. I was sure for a moment, and now I don't know what to think.
As I type this, "YES" is the top comment. I can't help but hope that it gets replaced, but I suppose I should be careful what I wish for.
Lindybeige ayyy
OMG! Another Lindybeige video! There's no such thing as too much Lindybeige.
I'm not in a British infantry unit, but I am in an American Signal unit. I'm not sure where all the differences are, but in my experience the Company commander has always been a Captain (O-3) and his NCO has always been the First Sergeant (E-8).
In the US Army (and National Guards for each state) we have The Platoon and instead of sections we say squads, and within a squad we have fireteams. The squad leader is generally a Sergeant (E-5). The Platoon is lead by a Lieutenant (O2 or O1) and the Platoon sergeant (E-7). Then after the Company you have the Battalion which is commanded by a Lieutenant Colonel (O-5) and Command Sergeant Major (E-9). After that you have the Brigade lead by the Colonel (O-6) and CSM (E-9). After that you start getting Generals.
I've rarely seen any Majors.
I know that I have had very limited interaction with anyone outside of my company. There have been some Battalion events but even then we tend to stick to the company. It's true that you get to know your company pretty well, and you get to know your platoon very well.
Generally how well you get along with your unit can make or break your military experience.
My cadets are Paras. We're doing a parade this sunday commemorating Suez Canal and the last parachute deployment in 1956.
Easy Company ♤
ive never heard of you before, and dont consider myself purveyor of "military history" by any stretch of the word, but this was amazing. thanks for covering such a unique topic so clearly, this was really interesting.
A company being made up of companions, those with, 'com-', whom you break bread, 'panis', hence the company mess hall.
If you break a lot of bread, you are indeed going to end up with a mess...
Crumbs!
Please don't break my panis.
Nevets t. Smith Do you want somebody to butter it?
+Nevets t. Smith I can make you panis com.
Lindybeige, I just would like to say that I very much enjoy your WWII videos, as you explain yourself about these things so well!
Do you ever plan on making a video about Gurkhas? I'm American and I haven't heard much about them outside the mythical stories of them taking out entire enemy platoons and such.
Torneko In the Falklands, they prepared to take a particular hill. When the Argies heard whom they were going up against, they immediately surrendered. This saddened the Gurkhas, as they were ready for a good fight.
I whole-heartedly support this suggestion!
I think it was the Gurkhas who bayonet-charged the Taliban and got them to retreat.
My experience with Gurkhas is accidentally driving into the Royal Gurkha Rifle barracks in the 11th Inf Brigade - I can't speak for their skill or courage, but they were very helpful and drew a very nice map
Wow! Utterly spectacular! I subscribed to you a few months back but I never watch any videos, you had my utmost attention from start to end in this one, keep up the great work!
I'd be interested to know how army organization evolved from the feudal period to modern day. I know vassal lords would be expected to provide so many horse and foot based on the size of their holdings, and that only 1 or 2 men from each village would be called up as levee's but that seems like comparatively few men under the direct command of any one "officer"
I'm assuming you're talking about "levies" (singular "levy"). I doubt one or two men from each village would be called up to stop floods by lying in the way of the water...
one or two men and a couple masculine lesbians... perhaps Lloyd can do a video on the origin of bad puns and how simple words can come to mean two vastly different things.
I think Lloyd may have actually mentioned at least the lance at some point in his other videos. A lance was the basic medieval/feudal military unit, raised from a single manor. Classically it consisted of one knight or man at arms in heavy armor etc, his squire, equipped as light cavalry, and a few yeomen, split between archers and maybe some spearmen, pikemen or whatever. Similar in size to a modern section or squad.
In general, I think the company size, in particular, has stuck in the 80-150 range through the vast majority of history. Think of Roman centuries, 100-man units, for example. As Lloyd noted, somewhere around 150 (I've heard 100-200 before) is a natural size of group for humans to socialize and bond with: military companies, farming villages etc. are around that size. Hunter-gatherer groups tend to be more platoon-size, probably due to 1 decent-sized game animal feeding about that number of people, but they might associate a bit more with a few other groups to form different levels of clan, tribe, etc.
Feudal Period companies had more to do with having a Commander. There were many mercenary companies of various sizes and specialties. But a Company has a Commander who negotiates the contract and maintains administrative and tactical command. But there was not a set structure or number of subordinates.
+Snaake42 This is more just a matter of semantics but a Roman century actually only had 80 fighting men, divided in to 10 groups of 8. Each group would be assisted by 2 noncombatants who would carry extra gear, maintain the camp, etc.
Another fine video, I agree wholeheartedly with your comment that a Company Commander was known to his men. I served three company commanders of superb stuff, gentlemen, warriors and quite unhinged in their devotion to their men and to getting a horrific job done well. Of my three battalion commanders I would have to go through the records to find two of their names, the other was called Swanson, I remember because I knew his son well, he served in my Company.
Beyond the orbat details, communication, firepower projection etc. there is a strong tug of attachment to the Company. It just sounds right, feels right. In a company of men, even civies can hear the bond in that statement. Tell them you served in a multiple or battalion and their eyes glaze over. Only Regiment comes close. The only memento of my service to adorn my walls is a print of my Company colours, the Regimental cap badges, stable belts and medals are all stuffed in some drawer somewhere.
To finish off this series you may think about a video on wastage. It would come quite neatly into a description of the battalion. The reason a standard issue section, troop, platoon, company and battalion are the size they are is to accommodate the natural wastage of action. One can expect 1/3rd casualties to enemy action and accidents in every rotation through the front lines (again Im limiting myself to the WWI and WWII experience). To be effective these units only require 1/2 to 2/3rds of their strength. The rest are there to maintain as much of their front as possible.
This paradox - that Company Commanders are devoted to their men, live close with them and will know them personally and yet will be fully expectant of loosing a 1/3rd each time they go forward - is I think the most heartbreaking and fascinating in the field of soldiering. I got close enough to witness it but not to practise it, and if Im honest I genuinely regret that.
I only knew one or two company commanders who didn't cut the mustard, and they lasted weeks in the job before they were found out. It wasn't professionalism or experience it was that paradoxical balance between connecting with your men and accepting their deaths. Being forward enough to take the same risks is instrumental, character is key.
We were the loyal hounds to my Majors hunting party. The two Im thinking of were quite possibly unemployable in any other industry, a streak of madness, horrific glee and itch for the scent of battle ran through both that set them apart from ordinary blokes. They were close enough to be heard and known yes, but also they were close enough to the enemy to set the example. Theres a lot going on in a company.
I totally can say that what you're saying about loyality and trusting you commanders is true.
When I served in an infantry batalaion at the austrian army, I always was "Who the fuck are you bat.commander? go away pls." I only appaered a few times during manouvers (mostly at forming up or something) and then he vanished and wasn't seen again until the end of training.
Same goes for my former companie commander... The only officers we trusted, being always with us, fighting with us, were our platoon and section commanders.
Now, I'm at a self-reliant company (so, we technically don't have a battalion above us), and I know my company commander very well, so ... yes. it's true. :'D
I'm also a teacher, teaching 4 classes with about 25 students each. And it is already hard to recognize everyone of them... so... yeah. I don't know if I could manage to know one more class :D
(Also, my english is shit, I know :'D)
It's actually pretty good. :)
Claus Celeda Besser als mein deutsch muss ich sage
Pat G I'm glad that I didn't try to describe the structures of the austrian army... that would have been... complicated.
your english ist besser than half the people in the english speaking welt
I'm going to be completely honest. This, video. Is the most informative war video I've ever seen. I always wanted to know the teams in a company but I didn't know where to look. But now I know. Thank you. Really. Also make a battalion video. ;)
Can you do vids on Battalions, Regiments, Brigades, Divisions also?
Brigade, Regiment, Battalion, Division
This was one of your most informative , and interesting , videos ( in my opinion ) on battles and men that I have watched.
Thanks for your time and effort in setting up the models.
Were did you get the figures? Plz
I really enjoyed this video as well as the platoon one. Those toy soldiers that you made look really good and really helped tell your story. I enjoy this channel
You know that you gonna get requests to do a video of an entire army in the end right? :P
I've already had several. Then for each period...
Lindybeige You should do a Napoleonic one
Then Army Groups 8-)
Yes, I'd like to add my thanks. I am not a military history buff but have found your videos informative and entertaining. Good Luck.
Google "Dunbar number", that's the name for the concept that he's describing.
I read Dunbar's book before it was published, and met him at an evolution conference.
I have to say I absolutely love these videos. They are fascinating. Thanks for deepening my military knowledge. I'd love to see more of these sort of videos but all your content is great so keep doing what you're doing!
I know a lot of people already asked for it, but I'm going to add to the volume of fire: could you, please, make a video about the next level (battalion) and continue all the way up?
Also, could you talk about nowdays granade launchers (those that go under the rifle) and mortars? have the granade launcher made the mortar obsolete? or does it still have it's place in the fields, despite the advent of other forms of throwing explosive devices?
Marcelo Silveira grenade launchers are still direct fire launchers as you at least need line of sight on your target. mortars can engage well out to 3500 meters.
Levi Hillman
can't grenade launchers be aimed "upward" allowing for indirect fire?
It is a form of indirect fire but its not as long range as a mortar. Nor as large as a weapons company mortar(usually 60 to 80mm)
Levi Hillman
Thank you :)
Your welcome, i have a lot of friends in U.S. Army weapons squads and USMC weapons squads
2:42 Wait, I knew the British called them "Leftenants." But, you actually spell the rank "Lieutenant?" I didn't realize that.
Would that mean that human tribes would have had a natural size of 150?
I understand that 300 is the optimum size for a cohesive community of people.
I think that was mentioned on a programme about early colonial settlements in north America.
not sure how accurate that is mind!
Perhaps a maximum size of 150. It's a logical conclusion.
Yes
why not 150.69? or do periods just ruin 69?
well u will have to split a person onto 2 pieces and throw away one of them to get 150.69 people
As a former US Army Airborne Company Commander, Brilliant! Very well done. By the way, I only had 2 platoons! Another great job.
3:19 But im gonna go with 3, which is the communist number. :D
It's a good, solid working-class number. High enough to display the magnificience of the masses, but not too high to consider itsself part of the fancy-pants numbers.
Unless it's stripes on your tracksuit because this is not circus.
Wot? I thought we were an anarcho-syndicalist commune army
what is З? A cyrillic letter? © valve
In fact, it´s a number which you could, without any fear, introduce to your parents.
When I was in the FDF, we at the combat engineers had a squad of 12, four squads per platoon and three platoons in the company.
I might be a little off on the numbers, it's been well over 10 years, but typically Finnish combat engineers have larger squads and platoons than other units / branches in FDF.
However, the combat engineer battalion I served in, was divided into three; we had guerilla company (CEs who go behind enemy lines and blow them up), "rifle CEs" (CEs who were the first to attach to rifle platoons) and "heavy CEs" (we, who blow shit up anywhere we go; we don't dig in, we blow up). So, three specialized platoons in a single company.
We didn't really train together, so in my case, you could replace the "company" with "platoon" and you got things pretty right. :P
Great video, Lindy!
Please make more of these; they are very informative!
Come on, Lindy, I expect the outro-screen captions to be witty and funny, not bloody depressing :c
This is a really great series. It would be interesting to see a compare and contrast between a eight gun British battery and a American/German four gun battery
Lloyd, these figures look a bit chunky. Did you make them yourself? Are they made of wood, plastic or some gel? And why did you say you didn't want to make more of them than necessary? It's not like you did you do them just for the purpose of this video, did you?
I'll add figure credits to the description.