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From: efrethei@blackbird.afit.af.mil (Erik J. Fretheim)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: U.S. Army Division TO&Es (LONG)
Message-ID: <1990Nov6.044434.1391@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 6 Nov 90 04:44:34 GMT
References: <1990Oct24.115039.4212@cbnews.att.com> <1990Oct25.145938.287@cbnews.att.com> <1990Nov2.200245.25954@cbnews.att.com> <1990Nov4.210449.4182@cbnews.att.com>
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From: efrethei@blackbird.afit.af.mil (Erik J. Fretheim)

geoffm@EBay.Sun.COM (Geoff Miller) writes:



>From: geoffm@EBay.Sun.COM (Geoff Miller)


>A couple of questions:


>(1)  What exactly is "mechanized infantry?"  Is it the same as standard
>     infantry, except for the fact that that the troops get to ride to 
>     the battle in armored personnel carriers?  Or are there tanks and/or
>     artillery that are integral with the infantry unit?

>(2)  I've noticed that the U.S. has "mechanized infantry" divisions and the
>     USSR has "motorized rifle" divisions.  Are these simply different names
>     for the same thing, or are there substantial differences between the
>     two?

Mechainzed infantry is indeed just plain old infantry which gets to ride
into battle in an APC.  The only problem is that once you convert to APC's
you have to change your infantry squad's configuration so that it will fit
into the APC you are using.  This means dropping a few and changing others
to drivers, gunners and such.  All of this means that you get to the same
place faster and with more fire power, but fewer people.  Which of course
can be a problem at times as the final assault and all that matters in the
end is ground mounted anyway.  In the US, the "mech's" are organized in units
that include tanks, artillery and such which can keep up with the APC's
This generally means self propelled guns.  The tanks are there to provide 
some punch against the other guy's APC's and of course to take care of 
his tanks.  To make sure this is all effective, things are mixed together 
at the battalion level into a combined arms team.  Regular infantry (light)
on the other hand doesn't get quit the mix.  But they could, though ground
pounders generally can't run as fast as an M-1, or even an M-60 for that 
matter.

The difference between mech and motorized rifle is generally one of 
intention.  The idea of a motorized rifle unit is to cover as much ground
as possible in as short of a time as possible.  They usually don't mix in
combined arms at quite such a low level (regimental or higher).   And aren't
as concerned about firepower as with speed and overwhelming numbers.  Of 
course all this is changing, but they will probably keep the motorized 
rifle designation for traditional reasons.  We had our own motorized 
division - the 9th.  It worried more about speed and high tech stuff too.
It wasn't as heavy as the mech divisions, but could move faster and pack
more firepower than the light divisions (one third less filling).  But it
committed the double sins of being unconventional and effective so it is
being laid to rest.

ejf



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>Geoff Miller                    + + + + + + + +        Sun Microsystems
>geoffm@purplehaze.sun.com       + + + + + + + +       Milpitas, California
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-- 
--
Erik J Fretheim
efrethei@afit.af.mil			AFIT/ENA Box 4151 (ATTN: CPT FRETHEIM)
(513)255-5276 AVN785-5276 		WPAFB, OH 45431  USA