Of squads and sections

[Hoplophile]

In another thread (one dealing with the German 125th Infantry Regiment), some Pals asked a question about the German institution of the Korporalschaft, but did not get a proper answer. As that thread has moved on to other subjects, I thought it meet, right and salutory to start a new thread to answer that question.

In keeping with a Prussian tradition going back (at least) to the days of Frederick the Great, the German infantry of World War I had two different ways of organising a company. One way, which was used for administration, divided the company into Korporalschaften ('corporalships'), each of which was headed by a corporal. (Until 1890 or so, a corporal in the German Army was called a Korporal. Then, in keeping with a scheme to 'Germanise' German military vocabulary, the title was changed to Unteroffizier. The other way, which was used for combat, divided the company into squads (Gruppen), each of which was led by senior man. (In a full strength company, about half of the squads would be lead by Unteroffiziere and half by men who held the rank of Gefreiter.)

(A Gefreiter was the rough equivalent of a lance-corporal. Where the Unteroffiziere was someone who had re-enlisted after the end of his term of service 'with the colours', the Gefreiter might be a senior conscript.)

I've seen some examples where German officers tried to blend the two organisations by putting two Gruppen in each Korporalschaft. However, I've also seen cases where the two organisations were entirely independent of each other. This was made possible by the fact that platoon commanders played no role in the chain of command that connected Korporalschaften to their companies. That is to say, the leaders of Korporalschaften reported directly to the Feldwebel - the company sergeant major (in British terms) or the first sergeant (in American terms.)