Need help understanding battalion composition

[RCraig]

I am interested in a guy who was in WW2 in the 11th Infantry Regiment of the 5th Division.

 

I know what Company he was in.

 

From the internet, it is stated that the Battalions were as follows:

1st Battalion: Company A, B, C, D

2nd Battalion: Company E, F, G, H

3rd Battalion: Companies I, K, L, M http://perso.numericable.fr/~yvesjbel/org2.html

 

 

I am reading a book on the 11th Infantry in WW2 (at the NY Public Library). The book was written in 1945. It mentions that, in October 1944, the third Battalion was composed on Companies C, B, and L rifle companies and heavy weapons from M Company.

 

My question: Could the composition of a battalion change over the course of the war? One source I have consulted gives a different composition, for example for the 3rd Battalion, than another source. The latter was written at the time. I am not sure which battalion is the correct one for me to follow. I know the guy was in the same company throughout the war. I am just trying to figure out which battalion he was part of.

 

Thanks for any clues!

 

[gwb123]

I think you've actually found proof of battalions reorganizing in the book that you mention.

 

I believe this happened for a number of reasons. While these organizations started off all neatly organized, things would happen to cause them to restructure.

 

Let's say the previous third battalion had been in a lot of heavy fighting and sustained losses in either men or equipment. The battalion may have reordered the companies based on available strength.

 

Other situations happened as well. Due to logistics, perhaps not all of the companies arrived to the battle front together. Or in the course of battle, some companies ended up closer to each other and it made sense to regroup them.

[patches]

Any sort of reorganization in this manner would temporary if it happened, would not be permanent, TO&Es as strict in this regard. Now there's the possibility that this book that claims the 3rd Battalion consisted of a C and B Company could of been a typo, because what this essentially means to my mind is that I and K Companies were destroyed, or at the very least, rendered combat ineffective, and the strength had to be made up by assigning or attaching two companies from the 1st Battalion to it, if this is the case and is not a typo, again something temporary.

 

Then there would be the case of a regimental attack, individual companies from the other battalions are assigned to the assault battalion to reinforce it's strength for the attack, but here while being under the direct command and control of the battalion in the attack, we would imagine they would be attached rather than directly a part of the battalion, and would soon be back in their normal battalions.

[patches]

In the case of the first mentioned, the temporarily attached companies to a battalion, there would be something know as a composite battalion, this being individual companies of a regiment brought together for a specific mission, or as pointed out bt gwb, because of casualties, but don't believe they were called by a number, just titled, Composite. This just might be the case, for October 44, the 5th Div was involved in the Battle of Metz, a very hard fight. In any event, the "Composite Battalion" formed in either cases would as mentioned be of a temporary nature.

 

Here's an example in the 77th Div on Okinawa.

 

https://books.google.com/books?id=EokgAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA332&lpg=PA332&dq=composite+battalions+ww2&source=bl&ots=ESeWdACDYf&sig=RvA46twAOj1EY_JfvTrs9amIoXs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwisnMfGtMXZAhVvtlkKHeCdB6U4ChDoAQhPMAk#v=onepage&q=composite%20battalions%20ww2&f=false