How BRITISH Infantry Squads Evolved in 100 Years

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Chapters:
- Intro
- World War 1
- Interwar
- World War 2
- Malayan Emergency
- Ad
- Cold War
- Modern

Main Sources:
[1] Field Service Manual, 1914. Infantry Battalion. (Expeditionary Force.) W.O. 2061. Dated 1st October 1914.
[2] Instructions for the Training of Platoons for Offensive Action. SS143. Dated February 1917.
[3] Frederickson, Lewis (2015) "The Development of Australian Infantry on the Western Front 1916-1918: An Imperial model of training, tactics and technology"
[4] Rankin, Adam (2014). "Montbrehain, 5 October 1918: A case study in tactical operations and battlefield integration"
[5] Section Leading 1923
[6] Section Leading 1928
[7] Infantry Section Leading 1938

[8] WE II/1931/12B/3, Dated 6 April 1938
[9] WE II/1931/12F/1. Dated 10 April 1940.
[10] 26 Nov 1940 amendment
[11] WE II/1931/12F/2. Dated 4 June 1941.
[12] The Infantry Training, 1937, Supplement (Tactical Notes for Platoon Commanders), dated February 1941
[13] WE II/233/2. Dated 30 April 1943.

[14] Infantry Training, Part VII, Section and Platoon Tactics. Dated 1944.
[15] Infantry Training Volume IV—Tactics—Infantry Section Leading and Platoon Tactics. Dated 22 December 1950.
[16] Lt. T.A. Gibson, The Wiltshire Regiment. “The Malayan War: 1948-?” in Australian Army Journal No. 27, August 1951.
[17] Infantry Training Volume IV—Tactics—The Infantry Platoon in Battle (Provisional). Dated March 1960.
[18] Provisional Pamphlet for The General Purpose Machine Gun, Dated 1962
[19] Film: SECTION FIRE AND MANOEUVRE (1971)
[20] Pamphlet No. 6B, The General Purpose Machine Gun (Sustained Fire) (All Arms). Dated 1968.
[21] Pamphlet No. 45, Part 2. The Infantry Platoon. Dated 1980.
[22] Ford, Matthew (2008). "The British Army and the politics of rifle development, 1880 to 1986"
[23] Pamphlet No. 45, Part 2. The Infantry Platoon. Dated 1975.
[24] Infantry Training Volume IX, Pamphlet No. 45 Part 2 The Infantry Platoon (Basic Tactics). Dated 1986.
[25] Pamphlet No. 1, The Infantry Company Group (The Fundamentals). Dated 1998.
[26] Conversations with Servicemembers

[jonny-b]

6:11 My man just popped up out of nowhere. As you can see, showing off the British Mk1 light camo blanket. Draped over the soldier, it provides near perfect camouflaged from a forward perspective.

[DrLoverLover]

In the seventies the british squads were starting to be equipped with L1A1 mustasches

[_ob]

15:05 - pronounced as Ali ( Ally ) as in an alleyway. Originally it ment Airborne Light infantry. Army slang for cool or something with swagger 👍🏻 - look at that ally bastard, that’s some ally kit
But yes… 2x GPMG would be pretty ally

[Armitage]

The production value of these videos just keeps getting better and I love the retro futuristic aesthetic and level of polish. Outstanding work Brendan.

[ashleygoggs]

Wow holy shit!!! where did you get the photo at 12:28 this is my grandfather on the left. Was in the Royal Lancers, commanded a few tankies and was one of the people to help usher the challenger into service. Damn crazy

[metalmaniac]

Served with the Brits overseas! They treat their rifle sections like our MG sections with specific fire commands, so you always knew they were in contact when they were absolutely bellowing fire commands

[tridentuk]

As a Brit from NI, served here through to Iraq/Afghan, your breakdown is fantastic and factual. Please save me from the LSW. L129A1 saved the day. Although we used Sig Sauer P226 for a good while before the Glocks came in as side arms.

[peaceraybob]

The only thing I might add is a mention of how, once the Bren had been introduced and the Rifle Sections altered to adapt to it, every single rifleman in the Section carried two Bren magazines. You can see this is photos of the period, pretty much giving you a time-line of Bren adoption as their outwards appearance changed.

[filipinorutherford]

Hi as an Aussie I find the topic of UK infNtry section armement alway interesting as it influenses Australian army doctrine as well. As Aussies we look up to the UK as a standard for army ops and we generally follow with local tweaks. You should do an Australian Army vid.

[Joe-uzvd]

This is how edu-vids should be, relatively short whilst still keeping the important info, definitely earned a sub from me. Keep it up!

[iainbaker]

06:13 I didn’t know we had predator cloaks back then 😜

[Amin-jsen]

I am a simple man. I see a Battle Order video I click.

[HistoricalWeapons]

Would of been interesting to see from 1500 a.d till ww1

[greg_]

Minor point, mate; I was combat infantry from 2004 to 2020 and during that entire time the GPMG was unofficially but usually a section weapon... if an LMG was present so too was a GPMG, it wasn't just one or the other... but the GPMG was the more essential standard. so it didn't come back to make up for the lack of LMG so much as it was always there to begin with, but could be left behind in certain situations like mounted combat or when a dedicated guns group was preffered. maybe on paper it did 'replace' the LMG as section weapon, but the reality is it was never really absent from the section in any solid sense. after basic training I rarely went anywhere on exercise or on operations without every section having a GPMG gunner. hell, even the basic platoon setup for sleeping and admin has a GPMG on each of the three respective sentry positions at the corners of the triangular shaped harbour. I know that 'conventional warfare' doctrine had a Platoon guns group rather than one in each section for the attack, but we do only as much conventional training as we do all the other stuff too... and we mix them up. the point is it was flexible; the sections would each have one and if and when a guns group was required (usually it was for a deliberate and planned Platoon attack) they just pooled those guns and gunners for that attack.

In Afghanistan (supposedly not conventional) I rarely went anywhere in less than Multiple strength, except bsck in 2007 'cause we were still kind of cowboys then doing whatever came to mind. The Multiple weapons were; 1 GPMG, 2 LMGs, 1 Sniper, 1 Sharpshooter, and the rest Riflemen with UGL... personalities like the Commander, 2ic and Medic, usually had UGLS.... and those who did not have UGL carried the 2 LASMS.
Handguns were usually only carried by the Sniper and Sharpshooter for moving around alleyways and compounds.
handguns as protection against potential grey on blue was a behind the wire thing and usually only Officers and people on guard... 'cause let's face it the average British infantry squaddie or NCO is intimidating enough to disarm a would be grey on blue attacker with a stern look...
a company operation had 2 to 3 multiples + an HQ multiple, each of course with its own GPMG, and an optional seperate mobile FSG of even more GPMGs and/or Javelins or what have you...
bear in mind that was 16 Air Assault, and modern British airborne infantry, conventionally deemed 'light infantry', are ironically the heaviest footsloggers on any battlefield for the sake of staying power behind enemy lines or opening new fronts/going to new places.

bottom line; in my fairly long career when a British infantry section/multiple stepped outside the wire it had a GPMG and one or two LMGs.

[wessexdruid]

As a British Infantryman from the 70s, 80s and 90s, it was always Rifle Group and Gun Group (Gun was MG, either GPMG or LMG) until Fire Teams arrived. And, being tall, I frequently lugged a MAW with an SLR, not an SMG.

Good vid!

[johnheath]

Nicely done! This is a great breakdown of the British Rifle section. I can add to this that during the early 1980's (at least until 1985 - beyond that I don't know) the infantry section in rural operations in Northern Ireland used 2 GPMGs, one per brick. There was also an American M79 Grenade launcher issued to each brick for rural ops. This was not confined to the Parachute Regiment, although they might well have pioneered this idea. This was only for rural patrol ops. The weight was not really as great a factor as stated unless things were getting hairy and people started grabbing every strip of link they could find.

[chriswerb]

A wonderful video - just a couple of additions. Firstly are you sure EY No. 1s were used in Malaya? The No. 94 Energa may have temporarily replaced PIAT's capability, but I don't think PIAT was a section weapon. PiAT was replaced in the early 1950s by the American M20 3.5" launcher which was in turn replaced in the late 60s by the L14A1 Carl Gustav. Prior to Matador there was an interim anti structure munition based on the AT-4 in service. This served alongside Matador in Afghanistan together with I-LAW. I am not sure if M20 was a platoon or section weaponor transitioned from thd former to the latter. X-8 series FALs served in Malaya prior ro L1A1 adoption. Ar15s had been issued in counterinsurgency environments since c 1963, to regular infantry, not just SF. The Glock was preceded by a SIG which was found to be unsatisfactory and was literally scrapped. By the way ALLY is pronounced ALLEY :)

[bill-wdzs]

As a Royal Engineer from the late 70's early 80's a 432 carried a section of 8 men. 6 SLR's, 1 LMG and 2 SMG's. As the driver I carried a Stirling SMG and was also responsible for the mounted LMG, quite a burden. We also carried plenty of beer!

[godfroi]

I was Australian Infantry in the late 90's - early 2000's. We had 9 man Sections broken into three Groups of 3, The Scout Group with Styer AUGs + 1x underslung GL and a Full Cpl Sec Commander in order to have the Sec Comm behind the lead scouts to have better situation awareness and comms. Then there was the Rifle Group (3x Rifleman all Pte's, armed with 2 x AUG's One of which was the Num 2 Gun + 1x Minimi LMG) This was generally the assault group led by a senior Pte with a UGL. Lastly the Gun Group, which contained the Sec 2IC with 1x Minimi Gunner (later changed to the MAG58) + 1x Rifleman/number 2 Gun. I found it to be a good size for most situations we encountered and flexible in most situations. Oh, also there were 2-6 66mm LAWs spread between the Rifleman. Mechanized units sometimes had a slightly different configurations of 2x 4man teams.

[macthemec]

Fascinating, i served in Canada and was always made the C9 gunner (minimi/lmg) because i was the tallest, out doctine was i provided cover/supressing fire while the riflemen did the attack. I know the soviet doctrine was having basically 6-8 less accurate AK-47’s doing a section attack and one sniper doing precision attacks not unlike the later British doctrine. Ultimately the best solution is mission specific.