Organization of a Yonderian Great War Infantry Division

Infantry Division
Division d'Infanterie — Div-Inf — XX
LOTA tactical symbol of Infantry unit
Active	1920s-1950s
Country	Yonderre
Branch	Yonderian Defence Force
Type	Infantry
Size	Division, up to 15,000 soldiers
Part of	Yonderian Defence Force

The Infantry Division (Burgoignesc: Division d'Infanterie, short: Div-Inf) was the primary type of Division-sized formation of the Yonderian Defence Force throughout the Great War period until it was officially reorganized in the 1948 New Army Agreement, although in practice many infantry divisions remained largely unchanged until the late 1950s. The table below shows the organisation structure that the average Yonderian infantry division adhered to.

Organization

Equipment of the individual rifleman

The smallest denomination of the Infantry Division was the Conestable, the Private. Every soldier was issued 66 rounds of 7.75x60mm for his Fusil Arcaneux mle 1918. The Conestable also carried two loaded 30-round magazines for the squad's Masenne machine gun. Starting in 1932, soldiers were issued mle 1932 steel helmets, loosely based on Urcean SOI-1930 helmets. A more elaborate version was also introduced for officers. With the introduction of steel helmets, the Yonderian Defence Force did away with the various styles of divisional and regimental headgear, replacing the varied shakos and kepis with side caps that better folded away into a pocket when not in use. Each soldier also carried a steel mess tin with aluminium eating utensils, a small aluminium field stove, an aluminium canteen in a wool cover, a tent quarter of camouflage material with a tent pole, pegs and rope for tying multiple together, a bakelite butter dish, a greatcoat, a blanket and two field dressings. All of this was either carried inside a backpack or strapped to the outside of it. The mle 91 backpack, which was relatively small and made with a cow hide cover, was replaced by a larger, more practical cotton mle 36 backpack starting in 1936.

Organization explained, bottom to top

Squad

The standard infantry squad of the Yonderian Defence Force of the Great War period period was a ten man infantry formation led by a Sergent, a Sergeant. The squad’s primary source of firepower was its Masenne machine gun, for which every rifleman carried two magazines. By the late 1930s squad composition was changed and the number of Masenne machine guns was increased to two per squad, effectively doubling their firepower. The change was made at the recommendation of military attachés deployed to the various battlefields of the Great War. The additional machine gun afforded the squad a significant boost to its firepower at the cost of mobility, particularly on the offensive, although this in part played into the defensive nature of Yonderian doctrine. The rifle squad would split into two elements when moving, referred to as equipes, teams.

Platoon and company

Three such squads would make up a peloton (a platoon) led by a command team consisting of a platoon commander, typically a Lieutenant primer classe (a Lieutenant first class), his Adjutant, typically a Lieutenant or Sergent senior (a Senior sergeant), a radio operator, a batman, a light anti-tank rifle team of three and a light mortar team of three. The total strength of the average infantry platoon thus comes to 40. Three such platoons made up a compagnie (a company) together with a company command staff.

Battalion

Three infantry companies and a support company made up the infantry battalion. The support company was intended to be split into its constituent platoons and attached to the infantry companies as the situation demanded rather than fight as a cohesive unit. The composition of the support company changed several times throughout the Great War period. In the early 1920s, the support company consisted of a machine gun platoon, a mortar platoon, a field gun platoon and an anti-tank platoon;

• a machine gun platoon consisting of four tripod-mounted Masenne machine guns
• a mortar battery consisting of four 82mm mle 22 mortars
• a field gun battery consisting of four 75mm CFNC mle 1903
• an anti-tank gun platoon consisting of four 30mm CA-04 anti-tank guns