kompanie- and batallionstab

charlie don't surf · Post by **charlie don't surf** » Mon Sep 30, 2002 3:48 pm

how did the staff of a tank company look like? were there any motorcycle dispatch riders?

regards

Wolfkin · Post by **Wolfkin** » Mon Sep 30, 2002 9:15 pm

Hey Charlie!

I am just going by memory here and I will have to check some books. I think that for sure they might have had dispatch riders. I say this because many times the orders were not said in the open on the radio. With the officers speaking to the Panzer Crews themselves or orders being passed on via dispatch riders. I may be incorrect though, maybe they did use the radio quite often.

As for the Kompanie and Abteilung Staff, again I will have to check my books but I am sure that the C.O. travelled with the Adjutant and Signals Officer along with some other staff in the Kompanie Headquarters Section which was equipped with Command Panzers, SPW's, Kubelwagens, Motorcycles and staff cars.

I apologize as this is all very vague. I will have to go through some of my books. I am sure there is more detailed information somewhere in one of them.

Cheers,

Wolfkin

charlie don't surf · Post by **charlie don't surf** » Tue Oct 01, 2002 12:03 am

thanks for taking your time, I think dispatch riders are mostly used i.e. to cooperate with tank and refuel troops.

regards

Wolfkin · Post by **Wolfkin** » Wed Oct 02, 2002 2:51 pm

Hey Charlie!

I haven't found any detailed info yet. That is ok though, I still have a few more books to check, plus I also have lots of pages of notes that I can also go through. I am sure I saw something about this somewhere.

Cheers,

Wolfkin

charlie don't surf · Post by **charlie don't surf** » Wed Oct 02, 2002 2:57 pm

I'll wait with excitement, thanks for helping out!

regards

Wolfkin · Post by **Wolfkin** » Wed Oct 02, 2002 5:10 pm

Hey Charlie!

Found some info, but it is for an Abteilung not a company. This might be close to a Staff for a company but I believe that a Staff for a company was very much smaller. A company Staff, I believe, only had a few NCO's and no Adjutant, Ordonnanz Officer, Signals Officer or Administration Officer as well as no technical officers. Company Staffs, from what I gather, were very small and may have consisted of only the Company commander, a few NCO's (like the Hauptfeldwebel) and a few orderlies or aides.

This is an amalgamation of some notes that I took, from a response to a question I asked on another forum a long time ago, and info from the book "The Panzers And The Battle of Normandy" by Georges Bernage.

Staff and Staff Company of a Panzer Abteilung

Staff: w/5 of 8 PzKpfw IV or PzKpfw V allocated to staff

Abteilung Commander
Abteilung Adjutant
Ordonnanz Officer (special mission staff officer, like an operations officer or Aide-De-Camp)
Signals officer
Administration officer
Doctor
TFK- Motor vehicles technical officer
TFW- Weapons technical officer
1 messenger leader NCO and 4 messengers- 1 motorcycle, 1 Kettenkrad
3 drivers-3 4seat passenger vehicles
Various orderlies and aides
Various cars, haltracks and trucks

Staff Company: w/ 3 of 8 PzKpfw IV or V allocated to staff

Stabskompnie Chef
Stabskompanie Hauptfeldwebel
Weapons NCO
Signals NCO
Messenger
Telephone operator
13 crew members for the 3 Panzers
Medical staff
Various motorcycles, cars, trucks, halftracks and armoured cars for the staff company and the Flak, Aufklarung and Pioneer Platoons

The Abteilung also included a Workshop Company which travelled with the Staff.

It may be that a Company staff did not have their own messengers/dispatch riders and relied on the Abteilung messengers/dispatch riders. I wish I could help more, I thought that I had more information but this is all I could find. I am always looking through my books and papers, so if I find more information I will let you know.

I hope this helps,

Cheers,

Wolfkin

charlie don't surf · Post by **charlie don't surf** » Wed Oct 02, 2002 11:34 pm

Thanks for the reply, this gives me a better picture of it.

regards

Wolfkin · Post by **Wolfkin** » Thu Oct 03, 2002 2:07 pm

Not a problem!

I am glad that I could help!

Cheers,

Wolfkin

Tom Houlihan · Post by **Tom Houlihan** » Thu Dec 21, 2006 9:38 pm

Find Christoph Awender's World War II Day by Day site, specifically the KStN page. That should help you.