Greetings!
I have tried to find information about this online, but frankly I have no idea where to look and as such my searches have been pretty futile.
I am curious what levels of losses - in particular to infantry units - harmed them so badly that they no longer could be expected fulfill their task, both at a tactical and operational level.
I have read numbers such as that 10% actual casualties (platoon or company level) was enough to disrupt function and require consolidation, and that 30% losses effectively destroyed the unit for the time being and required substantial effort to consolidate. Doesn't seem unreasonable since 30% losses would be to lose an entire platoon in a company, and you'd probably need a whole platoon's effort just to initially take care of the wounded and regroup. On top of that your effective frontage would either be cut by a third even after consolidation, or it'd retain its width but become weaker overall.
However I fail to find any sources for these numbers other than if I want to start reading dozens and hundreds of actual military reports, so I wonder if anyone here know the answer, or at least can point me in the right direction?
EDIT: I realize that there simply is no clear-cut answer to the question, but there ought to be some rules of thumb that the different nations used to calculate the effectiveness and strength of a company, battalion, or division? Or maybe there is some post-war research that has been done in this area that I've simply been unable to find?
A good resource that can partially fill in what you want to know regarding the experience of a typical (I say "typical" as it is not one from a very well-known unit like the 1st Infantry "Big Red One" or 101st Airborne) infantry unit is G Company's War, taken directly from the diaries of Lee Macmillan Otts and Bruce E. Egger of Company G, 328th Infantry Regiment, 26th Infantry Division, the "draftee regiment" in a National Guard division originally from Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
During WWII, the US Army commonly used the strategy of "two up, one down", as in one company of each battalion, one battalion of each regiment, or one regiment of the entire division, or a combination of these would be in reserve at any one time. After being beaten badly in an attack near Moncourt, France, on November 8, 1944, the 2nd Battalion, 328th Infantry was shifted into regimental reserve from November 15-20. In the US Army, if units could not "break off" conveniently, their strength would often be whittled down severely when they came off the line for rest and replacements.
There were about 150 men left in E, F, and G Companies out of a normal complement of some 525 men....There were seventy-five men left in G Company, twenty-five of whom were headquarters personnel.
Bruce Egger's 1st squad of the 3rd platoon was hit badly during the attack on Moncourt after being caught in a German artillery barrage; Company G lost sixty men in total, 22 of them killed.
| Man | Fate |
|---|---|
| S/Sgt John Saulenas | KIA |
| Sgt George Kearny | WIA (not hospitalized) |
| Pfc. Carl Anderson | WIA (not hospitalized) |
| Pfc. Bruce Egger | |
| Pfc. Edward Evans | KIA |
| Pfc. Charles Foster | WIA |
| Pfc. Frank Kuchyt | WIA (not hospitalized) |
| Pfc. Allan Parlee | WIA |
| Pfc. Joseph Treml | WIA |
| Pfc. Thomas Twardziewski | KIA |
| Pfc. Ernest Viscio |
Company G, out of the line, later received about 79 replacements on November 10 to reconstitute. Companies E and F had also been hit particularly badly in the actions of early November; the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 328th Infantry needed most of the replacements, a total of 14 officers and 782 enlisted men including Second Lieutenant Lee M. Otts (he would later be transferred to Company G) Company E received about 120 of the replacements. Company G, before moving back to the front lines, later received about 114 more replacements along with several new officers in preparation for the battles of late November 1944.
Even with replacements, squads, platoons, and the like mostly operated perpetually understrength after entering combat;
3rd Platoon Personnel Between March 5 and March 15:
Platoon Headquarters:
1st Squad:
Changes as of March 15:
2nd Squad:
Changes as of March 15:
3rd Squad:
Squad Strength:
| Date | 1st Squad | 2nd Squad | 3rd Squad |
|---|---|---|---|
| As of March 5 | 9 | 12 | 10 |
| As of March 15 | 7 | 8 | 8 |
Platoon Strength:
| Date | Strength |
|---|---|
| As of March 5 | 35 |
| As of March 15 | 27 |
A normal rifle squad had 12 enlisted men, while a rifle platoon had 1 officer and 40 enlisted men
G Company's Losses by Period:
| Period | KIA | WIA | Trench Foot | Frostbite | SIW | Misc. | Transferred | Total lost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before Nov. 8 | 2 | 5 | 6 | -- | 2 | 4* | 7 | 26 |
| On Nov. 8 | 22 | 38 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 60 |
| Nov. 9-18 | 7 | 26 | 72 | -- | 1 | 4 | 2 | 112 |
| Nov. 19-Dec. 18 | 4 | 24 | 38 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 77 |
| Dec. 19-Jan. 26 | 9 | 44 | -- | 45 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 114 |
| Jan. 27-Mar. 1 | 8 | 27 | -- | 3 | 1 | 4 | 12 | 55 |
| Mar. 2-13 | 4 | 23 | -- | -- | 1 | 5 | 1 | 34 |
| Mar. 14-May 8 | 1 | 6 | -- | -- | -- | 5 | 19 | 31 |
| Totals | 57 | 193 | 116 | 51 | 8 | 32* | 52 | 509** |
Asterisk: Includes two men taken prisoner by the Germans on 7 Nov 44
Double asterisk: By 8 May 45, 76 of these men had returned to duty, leaving a net loss of 433
Losses of Original G Company Personnel by Period:
| Period | KIA | WIA | Trench Foot & Frostbite | SIW | Misc. | Transferred | Total lost | On Rolls at End of Period** |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before Nov. 8 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 4* | 7 | 26 | 167 |
| On Nov. 8 | 20 | 34 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 54 | 113 |
| Nov. 9-18 | 3 | 13 | 31 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 51 | 63 |
| Nov. 19-Dec. 18 | 2 | 4 | 8 | -- | -- | 1 | 15 | 53 |
| Dec. 19-Jan. 26 | 1 | 8 | 1 | -- | 1 | 2 | 13 | 43 |
| Jan. 27-Mar. 1 | 2 | 6 | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 9 | 39 |
| Mar. 2-13 | -- | 4 | -- | -- | 2 | -- | 6 | 40 |
| Mar. 14-May 8 | -- | 1 | -- | -- | 1 | 8 | 10 | 40 |
| Totals | 30 | 75 | 46 | 3 | 9 | 21 | 184 | -- |
Asterisk: Includes two men taken prisoner by the Germans on 7 Nov 44
Double asterisk: After Nov 8 the figures in this column include men who had returned to duty. There were a total of 31 returnees--25 WIAs, five trench foot cases, and one SIW--who rejoined G Company before May 8. five of the WIAs were wounded a second time; they count twice in the total of 75 wounded.
G Company's Losses by Replacement Draft:
| Replacement Group | No. of Men | KIA | WIA | WIA twice | Net Lost to Enemy Action | Trench Foot | Frosbite | SIW | Misc | Transfer | Total lost | Left on Rolls 8 May 45 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original Co. | 193 | 30 | 70 (25) | 5 | 82* | 45 (5) | 1 | 3 (1) | 7 | 21 | 153 | 40 |
| Oct. (2 grps) | 11 | 2 | 6 (1) | -- | 7 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 7 | 4 |
| Nov. 10 | 82 | 6 | 20 (1) | -- | 25 | 47 (5) | 2 | -- | 1 | 4 | 74 | 8 |
| Nov. 19 | 117 | 6 | 39 (10) | 4 | 39 | 22 (1) | 21 (3) | 3 | 2 | 9 | 92 | 25 |
| Dec. 19 | 82 | 7 | 25 (9) | 1 | 24 | 1 (1) | 24 (8) | -- | 6 | 14 | 60 | 22 |
| Jan. (4 grps) | 78 | 8 | 21 (5) | -- | 22 | 1 | 3 (1) | 2 | 11 | 4 | 42 | 36 |
| Mar. (3 grps) | 55 | -- | 2 | -- | 2 | -- | -- | -- | 3 | -- | 5 | 50 |
| Apr. & May | 7 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 0 | 7 |
| Totals | 625 | 57 | 183 (51) | 10 | 201 | 116 (12) | 51 (12) | 8 (1) | 30 | 52 | 433 | 192 |
The numbers in parentheses indicate the number of men who eventually returned to duty after being wounded in action or hospitalized with trench foot or frostbite. One SIW also returned to duty.
Asterisk: Includes two men taken prisoner by the Germans on 7 Nov 44
Source:
G Company's War: Two Personal Accounts of the Campaigns in Europe 1944-1945, by Bruce E. Egger and Lee MacMillan Otts
VT-8 was a US Navy torpedo bomber squadron that was mauled during the battle of Midway, June 4th 1942. VT-8 was flying fifteen TBD Devestators from CV-8, the USS Hornet. The squadron was supposed to get the new TBF torpedo bomber, but only six of the planes had been delivered to Hawaii. The Hornet also moved around a lot from April 1942 to June 4th 1942. It did make one call at Pearl Harbor, but they did not have the time to load the new TBF Avengers. When the commander of the six Avengers found out he was being left behind, he requested permission to fly to Midway island. On June 4th, his small air group was the first to strike out at the Japanese carriers. Five of the Avengers were shot down and the only plane that made it back to Midway had a dead rear gunner.
After four B-26 Mauraders, 18 B-17 Flying Fortresses and thirty six Marine dive bombers attack, ineffectively, the US Navy carrier bombers arrive. Their attack was not coordinated. VT-8 in particular was left hung out to dry. With no fighter support, or dive bombers above. John C Waldron led the 15 Devestators to their doom. They were all shot down. One ensign, George Gay, survived the attack.
So, it would seem like sixty of the sixty three men in VT-8 were KIA at Midway, surely that unit disbanded. There were 27 other men in VT-8, back on the West Coast. They were soon joined by 18 new recruits and began to train with TBF Avengers. VT-8 was assigned to CV-3 USS Saratoga, which was under repair. VT-3, which was the torpedo squadron that was based on the Saratoga was moved over to CV-8 Hornet.
When Operation Watchtower started in August 1942, VT-8 was based on the Saratoga. After that ship was torpedoed and went back to the West Coast, VT-8 was moved to Henderson Field on Guadacanal. It operated there until November 15th 1942, when the unit was disbanded. In April 1943, a new VT-8 was created and it was assigned to CV-17 USS Bunker Hill. There was no direct connection between the personnel of the 1942 VT-8 and the roster of the 1943 VT-8.