British infantry are great, but they need to be used in a larger context.
(Considering the Infantry Battalion)
The squad divides into three in CM terms - a three man Bren team and a manoeuvre element, which itself can subdivide into two 3/4 man sections when needed.
The Bren is probably the best light machine gun of the war - fantastic accuracy, and a 30 round magazine means that it can put out effective suppression at range.
The SMLE is probably the best bolt action rifle of the war. Outclassed by the Garand naturally, but decent, especially at range.
The platoon has three of these, two up and one in reserve. The HQ has the two inch mortar, which is vital for providing HE and especially smoke in support of an attack.
The PIAT is kinda fantastic, within it's quite specific niche. It's effective range is short, but the warhead is massive, and far more effective at taking out armour than the US bazooka. It can reliably kill any German armour flank, usually on the first hit. Being able to use it inside is nice, and it doesn't give away the firing position as much as anything rocket propelled.
Moving up to the company level, you gain HQ, 2IC and a sniper section, along with a Bedford truck, jeep and universal carrier, with a total carrying capacity of 23, so not quite a platoon. The carrier is a really useful bit of general kit - low-level mechanisation that can be used to do anything and everything you need. There's rarely a bad time to have a carrier available.
Splitting the HQ into HQ and 2IC gives you some flexibility in C2. The 2IC doesn't carry a radio, but can use one of the transports to act as a runner, sharing spotting contacts and relaying them back. None of the organic transport has radios.
The sniper section is an incredibly useful asset, even only as a scout, and is buried far further down the TO&E than is typical. They can take advantage of the organic transportation to get to a useful observation point. The lack of radios means that contact info needs to be relayed manually, but that's not unheard of at this point.
Four of those companies in a battalion, then you add the support company.
Battalion HQ is an HQ unit and 2IC, in similar support to the Company HQ, but with radios in the vehicles.
Support company is:
6x 6pdr AT Gun - a light, flexible gun which can't deal with the big cats frontally, but is pretty capable from the flank. That means that effective use is dispersal and using their mobility to set up deep, overlapping positions. Having AT assets buried this deep is unusual.
Engineer platoon (3x jeeps)
Mortar platoon (6x 3inch mortars, mounted in carriers)
Carrier platoon
- This is worth discussing, since it's unique. The carrier platoon is three sections of three carriers. Each carrier has a three man team, with a bren gun and a sten gun. One of the carriers has an acquirable PIAT, and one has an acquirable 2 inch airborne mortar, that can be fired from the back of the carrier. Each carrier itself has a bren gun as well.
That means that a single carrier section has 6x light machine guns, 1x mortar, 1x PIAT, 3x submachine gun. That's a ludicrous amount of firepower in one place, without the bodies to sustain a long fight.
The carrier platoon, then, is flexible mechanised infantry, organic to the structure. Typical tasks include recon, fire support and acting as a mobile reserve. A really useful unit in general.
Artillery support is really important, but it comes from a higher level. 25 pdrs are your standard support, and is a great suppressive tool.
The Cromwell is a little suspect, since the Sherman is pretty much just better, but the Churchill has a really useful role in supporting the above - the "infantry tank" doctrine isn't stupid. They have very little situational awareness, so careful co-ordination with infantry is vitally important.
