Battle Order

Archive: Attack Helicopter Ops & Air Cavalry Combat Brigade

New manuals on the website

1. FM 17-47 "Air Cavalry Combat Brigade" (1977) - Details the ACCB, an attack helicopter maneuver unit. I purchased and scanned this one.
2. FM 17-50 "Attack Helicopter Operations" (1977) - Gives details on attack helicopter tactics and employment of the Attack Helicopter Battalion/Company. I got this one off a website I have a paid account on and made the pdf text searchable

New in the Shop: Mugs

Got some new mugs in the Battle Order shop if that's your thing: https://battleorder.myshopify.com/collections/mugs

Video: The Aerial Tank Destroyer Brigade? (Part 1)

New video on the U.S. Army's Air Cavalry Combat Brigade when it was formed, its doctrinal role as a mobile anti-armor force, organization at the time of its creation down to the company-level, and how attack helicopter companies in general task organized and cycled helicopters for combat (taking into account projected readiness, travel, refueling, etc)

Part 2 will be a more in-depth look at the evolution of the ACCB from Howze Board to its deactivation in 2005, and tactics/em...

Manual Order: U.S. Air Cavalry Combat Brigade

I've ordered a U.S. Army manual for a video, FM 17-47 "Air Cavalry Combat Brigade" (1977). When it comes (maybe in October) I'll try to photocopy and publicly provide it as a pdf

Video: How U.S. Air Cavalry Evolved in 60 Years

New video on the evolution of U.S. Army Air Cavalry from the early 1960s to today. The air cavalry talked about are attack/recon helicopter formations that conduct reconnaissance and security for maneuver divisions.

Graphics: US Army Apache Companies, Heavy Watercraft & Air Defense

New graphics on:

1. Attack Company (AH-64 Apache), current

2. Air Cavalry Troop (AH-64 Apache/RQ-7BV2 Shadow), current

3. Heavy Watercraft Platoon (LCU-2000/Runnymede-class), currentish

4. Air Defense Battery (M6 Linebacker/Missile), ~2004 (immediately before the Modular Reform that made BCTs permanent units and de-aligned divisional support)

Here is a little Twitter thread I did explaining the LCU-2000 watercraft unit: 2023-07-29 00:09:50 +0000 UTC View Post

Graphic: U.S. Army Long-Range Surveillance (LRS) Company

New graphic depicting the U.S. Army's LRS Company before their deactivation in the mid/late-2010s. Their main jobs were surveillance, zone and area reconnaissance, target acquisition, and target interdiction. This might call for operations deep behind enemy lines, with airborne, air assault, overland and seaborne infiltration options (or stay behind operations). Unlike normal cavalry/scouts, LRS were not capable of security missions due to their limited weaponry and small size. Although the 7...

Video: How the U.S. Army uses its Biggest Drone (Gray Eagle)

New video on the U.S. Army's MQ-1C Gray Eagle, a high endurance drone used for recon, surveillance, strike, communications relaying, and SIGINT/EW. Video include tactics, strengths, limitations and a detailed organization of their companies

Short: How the Red Army used British APCs (WW2)

New short on what types of Soviet units employed British/Canadian Universal Carriers.

Short: Innovative 🇺🇸 U.S. Paramarine Squads of WW2

New short looking at U.S. Paramarine Rifle Squads and armaments in early 1943

Side note, there are full videos coming. Just doing some shorts back-to-back to get them out there

Short: Australian Infantry Section (Squad) Layout

New short on the Australian Army's infantry section organization and weapons

Short: Why the USMC Didn’t Have M1 Garands in 1942

New short on why US Marine infantry didn't have the M1 Garand during the Battle of Guadalcanal (it was their own fault)

Video: Quick Guide to U.S. Army Logistics Units

New video that just gives a brief overview of the U.S. Army's main logistics units. This is meant to familiarize you with some key terms, unit names, acronyms, and their basic composition in preparation for a more in-depth video that will come out on the main channel.

Patreon Billing Paused for July (Battle Order)

Hi everyone. I am pausing billing for 1 month due to the lack of content, other than the interview with Stuart Lyle, that came out in June. Production slowed down because I was dedicating a lot of my time and brain power to getting healthier, as I put my physical health and fitness on the back burner since I started the channel basically (at the height of COVID). I've done billing pauses in the past when I was in grad school and had final projects due and what not.

I'm still working on ...

Video: Britain's Experimental Urban Warfare Units (Stuart Lyle Interview)

New 1-hour interview I did with Stuart Lyle, the Urban Operations Lead at Britain's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory. He designed an experimental section, platoon and company structure optimized for urban warfare the British Army is currently trialling. I asked him some questions about it with some info I haven't seen published

Q&A No. 2 (250k subs)

New question & answers video

Video: Inside Israel’s Weird Tank Units (Merkava)

New video on the organization of Israeli armor units from the platoon to brigade level, based on conversations I've had with Israeli tankers. There is also a segment on how to identify a tank's unit from platoon to brigade level based on their tactical markings

Sneak Peek: Israeli Tank Platoon

Work-in-progress animation on Israeli tank units. Full video will come out on 30 May 

Video: Ukraine’s Armored Raid to Free Trapped Troops

New video on the "Raid of the 95th Brigade", where a combined force of Ukrainian paratroopers and mechanized forces conducted a long-range armored raid through rebel-held territory to free thousands of troops being targetted by Russian artillery.

This one has been in the works for a while. Storytelling-wise I think the 200th Motor Rifle Brigade and Operation Serval videos may be better, but I think this one has the best production.

Update: Website Refresh and new articles

Hi everyone, I've been taking some time to update my website. There are some new things and a new-ish look.

First, there are several new articles. Some I have already posted on here, but the last 4 I have not. These include:

• French foot infantry (including converted cavalry units) during...
  2023-05-01 00:25:35 +0000 UTC View Post

Video: Using M113 APCs as Tanks? The Vietnam Story

New video on South Vietnam's (ARVN) Armored Cavalry during the Vietnam War, with a focus on their M113 ACAV units that employed modified M113 APCs like tank tanks. The American 11th ACR did something similar, having been influenced by ARVN SOPs before their deployment.

Articles: Evolution of French Divisions in the Atomic Age + EBR Armored Car Squadrons in the 50s

I wrote two relatively in-depth articles on the French Army in the Cold War.

https://www.battleorder.org/post/__ebr covers:

• French Panhard EBR Armored Car Squadron organization in the late 1950s 
• Overall organization of units modified for service in Algeria at the time 
• The history of integrated security/dismount elements in French armor/cavalry units (with some screens...
  2023-04-20 08:08:01 +0000 UTC View Post

Primary Sources: US Army Interwar Infantry/Cavalry Organization Tables

https://www.battleorder.org/post/usa-30s-refdata

I've uploaded complete Tables of Organization for US Army Infantry Divisions, Cavalry Divisions and other non-divisional units (including Air Corps squadrons and Tank Regiments) from the early 1930s. In the 1933 one, there is also a bunch of tables of supply carrying capacity and supply requirements by subunit (particularly ammo and rations) in the C...

Article/Graphics: Future US Army Divisions (UPDATE)

https://www.battleorder.org/post/waypoint-divisions I've made a big update to the article on the U.S. Army's division reorganization effort. It has:

1. A lot of new detail published in 2022, as the original article was based on vague 2021 info. There are links and images to source material and long talks on the matter

2. New graphics for each division template based on the most recent late ...

Graphics: South Vietnamese Armored Cavalry Squadron (English/Vietnamese)

In prep for a video, did some graphics of the ARVN Armored Cavalry Squadron variant with M113s and M41 Walker Bulldogs. They're the same graphic, but the second is in the Vietnamese, because the tables of organization were bilingual. I got a Vietnamese community member to give it a look over to point out any glaring errors since I'm not used to the diacritics

Russia’s “New” Assault Units are 80 Years Old

New video on Russia's Assault Detachments (task organized units for assaulting trenches and city blocks), their tactics against linear defenses in the open, and historical context

Update to US Army 2030 Pen+Heavy Divisions

New graphic of the current TRADOC proposal Armor Division (Reinforced), which was originally the Pen etration Division back when Army 2030 was Waypoint 2028. [Also just added the regular Armor Division]. Aside from integrating the changes between proposals, this is a much improved graphic with more accurate symbology that drills down into certain subunits we know about. There are more detailed breakdowns of the Cav Troops (which were talked about by the 1st Cav Div Commander at the Maneuver W...

Video: Armored Infantry Leadership: 6 Nations’ Approaches

New mini-episode looking at different approaches to command and control in armored/mechanized infantry platoons (like who controls vehicles, who controls dismounts, major leadership positions) for the following countries:

- Denmark

- Sweden

- Netherlands

- France

- United States

- United Kingdom

Graphics: Israeli Tank Company; Lithuanian, Swedish, Dutch Armored Infantry

Got the opportunity to talk with some soldiers from different countries (making graphics is good advertising) and put together some more graphics:

1. Israeli Tank Company (Merkava Mk.4) in active brigades. Pretty novel, 2 tanks per platoon (I'm told because of low availability from the newer Merkava Mk 4 but the Israelis have been experimenting with small tank companies for a while now). Everyone in the company is a conscript including the NCOs, although beyond the Second Lieutenant ran...

Graphics: British, Swedish & Belgian Armored Infantry Platoons

Did a Belgian graphic as research for an upcoming video, and decided to do British and Swedish ones with info I already had on hand. These are:

- British Army Armoured Infantry Platoon, FV510 Warrior, 1990s

- Belgian Motorized Rifle Platoon, Piranha IIIC, Today

- Swedish Armored Infantry Platoon, Strf 9040C / CV90, ~2020