Steven’s Russian Naval Infantry Battalion

Russian Naval Infantry feature heavily in accounts of Stalingrad and Sevastopol, so I couldn’t resist when BattleFront put out a pack. I got enough for a Crossfire battalion. I painted them in two weeks which I now regret as it would have helped to have new glasses before I did it. Then it took a year before I finally found a flocking style to use. I use the Black Undercoat Method.


The Full Array

For my Soviet Naval Infantry I combined the two TO&E from Rifle Brigade; Oct 1941 – Mar 1942; TO 04/730-744 with the standard Crossfire Russian Rifle Battalion.

The men in the rifle companies of the brigade actually had a higher proportion of SMG than their divisional counterparts, but this doesn’t translate to SMG squads. The Platoon had 51 men with 10 SMG and 2 LMG, and presumably the rest with Rifles. I’ve based my Naval infantry with three stands with two rifles and one SMG and one squad with two rifles and one LMG, plus the PC. I treat all the squads as normal Rifle Squads despite the high proportion of SMG.

Naval-101 Everything
Naval-101 Everything

The order of battle for my full array is:

Russian Naval Infantry Battalion – Steven’s Full Array

  • 1 x BC (+1)
  • 1 x Machine Gun Company: 3 x HMG [4 guns each]
  • 1 x Mortars and Artillery
    • 1 x FO for off table 76mm field guns (12 FM) [4 guns each]
    • 3 x FO for off table 82mm Mortar (12 FM) [4 tubes each]
    • 3 x on-table 50mm Mortar (12 FM) [4 tubes each]
  • 1 x Specialist Company
    • 1 x CC (+1)
    • 1 x Infantry Reconnaissance Platoon: PC (+1/0), 4 x RiflesNRB,NIB,Recon
    • 1 x Assault Platoon: PC (+1/0), 4 x Assault Engineer Rifles (2 stands with Flamethrowers and 2 stands with LMG)NIB,Recon,Assault
    • 1 x SMG Platoon: PC (+1/0), 3 x SMGNRB
  • 3 x Rifle Companies
    • 1 x CC (+1)
    • 1 x HMG
    • 3 x Rifle Platoons: PC (+1/0), 4 x Rifle
  • Morale: Regular
  • Command & Control: Dependent (i.e. Russian)

Notes:

This means I can field any of the following configurations.


Naval Rifle Battalion (Brigada morskoi strelkovy)

A Naval Rifle Battalion (Brigada morskoi strelkovy) has some supporting elements missing from a regular army Rifle Battalion: Infantry Reconnaissance Platoon, SMG Platoon, Anti-tank Mortar Platoon (no kidding!), and Anti-tank Rifle Platoon.

Naval-102 Configured as Naval Rifle Battalion
Naval-102 Configured as Naval Rifle Battalion

When configured as a Naval Rifle Battalion the order of battle is:

Naval Rifle Battalion

  • 1 x BC (+1)
  • 1 x Infantry Reconnaissance Platoon: PC (+1/0), 4 x Rifles
  • 1 x SMG Platoon: PC (+1/0), 3 x SMG
  • 1 x Anti-tank Mortar Platoon: 2 x on-table 50mm Mortar (12 FM) [4 tubes each] *
  • 0-1 x Anti-tank Rifle Platoon: 3 x Anti-tank Rifles which can be attached to any Rifle Squad. [8 AT-Rifles in total] **
  • 1 x Machine Gun Company: 3 x HMG [4 guns each]
  • 3 x Rifle Companies
    • 1 x CC (+1)
    • 3 x Rifle Platoons: PC (+1/0), 4 x Rifle

* Actually 7 anti-tank mortars; presumably this is the “Ampulomet” which fired a globe shaped molotov cocktail, which I rate the same as a 50mm Mortar.

** Added to the TO&E on 17 Apr 1942.


Naval Infantry Battalion (Brigada morskoi pekhoty)

A Naval Infantry Battalion (Brigada morskoi pekhoty) has a number of supporting elements missing from a regular army Rifle Battalion: Infantry Reconnaissance Platoon, Flamethrower Platoon, and Artillery Battery.

Naval-103 Configured as Naval Infantry Battalion
Naval-103 Configured as Naval Infantry Battalion

When configured as a Naval Infantry Battalion the order of battle is:

Naval Infantry Battalion

  • 1 x BC (+1)
  • 1 x Infantry Reconnaissance Platoon: PC (+1/0), 4 x Rifles
  • 1 x Flamethrower Platoon: PC (+1/0), 4 x Assault Engineer Rifles
  • 1 x Machine Gun Company: 3 x HMG [4 guns each]
  • 1 x Artillery Battery: 1 x FO for off table 76mm field guns (12 FM) [4 guns each]
  • 1 x Mortar Company
    • 2 x FO for off table 82mm Mortar (12 FM) [4 tubes each]
    • 2 x on-table 50mm Mortar (12 FM) [4 tubes each]
  • 3 x Rifle Companies
    • 1 x CC (+1)
    • 3 x Rifle Platoons: PC (+1/0), 4 x Rifle

Regular Army Rifle Battalion

Many Naval infantry formations were organised as a Regular Army Rifle Battalion. This might have been when the unit was formed, or in a reorganisation later in the war.

Naval-104 Configured as Rifle Battalion
Naval-104 Configured as Rifle Battalion

When configured as a regular army Rifle Battalion the order of battle is:

Rifle Battalion

  • 1 x BC (+1)
  • 1 x Heavy Weapons Company
    • 3 x HMG [4 guns each]
    • 3 x FO for off table 82mm Mortar (12 FM) [4 tubes each]
    • 1 x 45mm ATG with optional tow
  • 3 x Rifle Companies
    • 1 x CC (+1)
    • 1 x HMG
    • 1 x on-table 50mm Mortar (12 FM) [4 tubes each]
    • 3 x Rifle Platoons: PC (+1/0), 4 x Rifle

Regimental Reconnaissance Company

The Naval Regimental Recon Company uses the CC from the Specialist Company, and 2 stands from each of the Infantry Reconnaissance Platoon and the Assault Platoon.

Naval-107 Recon company
Naval-107 Recon company

the order of battle for the Naval Regimental Recon Company is:

Naval Regimental Recon Company

  • 1 x CC (+1)
  • 2 x Infantry Reconnaissance Platoon: PC (+1/0), 2 x Rifles

Storm Group: An adhoc assault group as used at Stalingrad

Storm Groups were common in Stalingrad. My adhoc assault group uses 2 stands have Flamethrowers and 2 stands have LMG although I don’t distinguish between them in terms of game effect.

Naval-108 Storm party
Naval-108 Storm party

The order of battle for the Naval Assault Group is:

Naval Assault Group

  • 1 x Assault Platoon: PC (+1/0), 4 x Assault Engineer Rifles

Flags

The Naval Infantry in the Flames of War range come with standard bearers. So I found and printed some Soviet Military Banners, printed them and attached.

Naval-105 Battalion Commander
Naval-105 Battalion Commander
Naval-106 Battalion Commander
Naval-106 Battalion Commander
Naval-109 1st Company - Company Commander
Naval-109 1st Company – Company Commander

Figures

I used a combination of Battle Front and Peter Pig for my Russian Naval Infantry. Battle Front only has one pack = a Naval Platoon. The Peter Pig figures are split between WW2 (SMG) and WW1 (Rifle and HMG). I also had to do a head swap on a few figures – the flame thrower guys and the 50mm mortar crews (perhaps others, but I’ve forgotten now). Peter Pig conveniently provide separate Naval Infantry heads.


Painting

I painted them following my Painting Guide for Russian Naval Infantry. They were flocked using a variation on my flocking with Flat Earth and Dry Brushing. I had already plastered the bases when I decided to use this approach to flocking. As a result I didn’t bother gluing on sand and just painted the plaster. This is quite similar to how Roland Davis bases.


Unit ID

Battalion Code = “N” for Naval Infantry, in my Unit ID for Crossfire.


Other Soviet Naval Infantry Stuff

See also:


References

BattleFront: Brigada Morskoi Pekhoty

Order of Battle: Rifle Brigade; Oct 1941 – Mar 1942; TO 04/730-744

WW2: Operations of Naval Infantry Brigades

Zaloga, S. J., and Ness, L. S. (2003). Red Army Handbook 1939-1945. Sutton.

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