Editing Mechanized infantry (section)

==History==
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-P1013-316, Westfront, deutscher Panzer in Roye.jpg|thumb|German [[A7V]] tanks in [[Roye, Somme]] during [[Operation Michael]] of [[World War I]] in 1918]]

As early as 1915 the [[British Army during the First World War|British]] instigated a [[tracked vehicle]] that could carry 50 equipped troops under armour but the project got no further than trials before cancellation. Some of the first mechanized infantry were [[Imperial German Army|German]] assault teams mounted on [[A7V]] tanks during [[World War I]]. The vehicles were extra-large to let them carry sizeable assault teams and would regularly carry infantry on board in addition to their already large crews that were trained as [[Stormtroopers (Imperial Germany)|stormtroopers]]. All machine-gun-armed [[A7V tank|A7V tanks]] carried two small [[Flamethrower|flamethrowers]] for their dismounts to use. A7V tank would often carry a second [[Officer (armed forces)|officer]] to lead the assault team.

During the [[Operation Michael#St. Quentin|Battle of St. Quentin]] in late March 1918, A7Vs were accompanied by twenty stormtroopers from Rohr Assault Battalion, but it is unspecified if they were acting as dismounts or were accompanying the tanks on foot. During the battle, tank crews were reported to have dismounted and attacked enemy positions with [[Grenade|grenades]] and flamethrowers on numerous occasions.

Another example is the [[First Battle of Villers-Bretonneux|capture of Villers-Bretonneux]], in which A7Vs suppressed the defenders with machine gun fire and assault teams dismounted to attack them with grenades.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ławrynowicz|first=Witold|title=A7V i Prekursorzy Niemieckiej Broni Pancernej|publisher=Napoleon V|year=2016}}</ref>

The British heavy tank design was given an extended [[Chassis|hull]] to cross wide German [[Trench warfare|trenches]].  This [[Mark_V_tank#Mark_V.2A|Mark V**]] had space for fourteen troops. The [[Mark IX tank|Mark IX]] tank based on the [[Mark V tank|Mark V]] was designed solely for carrying troops with space for 30 but the war ended before the order was complete and they could be used.

Towards the end of [[World War I]], all the armies involved were faced with the problem of maintaining the momentum of an attack. Tanks, artillery, or [[infiltration tactics]] could all be used to break through an enemy defense, but almost all offensives launched in 1918 ground to a halt after a few days. The following infantry quickly became exhausted, and artillery, supplies and fresh formations could not be brought forward over the battlefields quickly enough to maintain the pressure on the regrouping enemy forces.

It was widely acknowledged that [[cavalry]] was too vulnerable to be used on most European battlefields, but many armies continued to deploy them. [[Motorized infantry]] could maintain rapid movement, but their trucks required either a good road network or firm open terrain, such as [[desert]]. They were unable to traverse a battlefield obstructed by [[Crater#Explosion_crater|craters]], [[barbed wire]], and trenches. Tracked or all-wheel drive vehicles were to be the solution.

Following the war, development of mechanized forces was largely theoretical for some time, but many nations began rearming in the 1930s. The [[British Army]] had established an [[Experimental Mechanized Force]] in 1927, but it failed to pursue that line because of budget constraints and the prior need to [[garrison]] the frontiers of the [[British Empire]].

Although some proponents of mobile warfare, such as [[J. F. C. Fuller]], advocated building "tank fleets", other, such as [[Heinz Guderian]] in Germany, [[Adna R. Chaffee Jr.]] in the United States, and [[Mikhail Tukhachevsky]] in the [[Soviet Union]], recognized that tank units required close support from infantry and other arms and that such supporting arms needed to maintain the same pace as the tanks.

As the Germans rearmed in the 1930s, they equipped some infantry units in their new [[Panzer division]]s with the [[half-track]] [[Sd.Kfz. 251]], which could keep up with tanks on most terrain. The [[French Army]] also created "light mechanized" (''légère mécanisée'') divisions in which some of the infantry units possessed small tracked carriers. Together with the motorization of the other infantry and support units, this gave both armies highly mobile combined-arms formations. The German doctrine was to use them to exploit breakthroughs in ''[[Blitzkrieg]]'' offensives, whereas the French envisaged them being used to shift reserves rapidly in a defensive battle.

===World War II===
[[Image:A column of halftrac armored cars waits for orders to proceed to a practice engagement at Fort Knox, Ky. - NARA - 196277.jpg|thumb|right|U.S. [[M3 half-track]]s and infantry on exercises, [[Fort Knox]], June 1942]]

As [[World War II]] progressed, most major armies integrated [[tank]]s or [[assault gun]]s with mechanized infantry, as well as other supporting arms, such as artillery and [[Combat engineer|combat engineers]], as [[combined arms]] units.

Allied armored formations included a mechanized infantry element for combined arms teamwork. For example, US armored divisions had a balance of three battalions each of tanks, armored infantry, and [[self-propelled artillery]]. The US armored infantry was fully equipped with [[M2 half-track car|M2]] and [[M3 halftrack]]s. In the British and [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] armies, "Type A armoured brigades," intended for independent operations or to form part of armored divisions, had a "motor infantry" battalion mounted in [[Universal Carrier]]s or later in lend-lease halftracks. "Type B" brigades lacked a motor infantry component and were subordinated to infantry formations.

The [[Canadian Army]] and, subsequently the British Army, used expedients such as the [[Kangaroo (armoured personnel carrier)|Kangaroo APC]], usually for specific operations rather than to create permanent mechanized infantry formations. The first such operation was [[Operation Totalize]] in the [[Battle of Normandy]], which failed to achieve its ultimate objectives but showed that mechanized infantry could incur far fewer casualties than dismounted troops in set-piece operations.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wilmot|first= Chester|author-link=Chester Wilmot|title=Struggle for Europe|publisher=Collins|location=London|year= 1952|page=413}}</ref>

The German Army, having introduced mechanized infantry in its ''Panzer'' divisions, later named them {{Lang|de|[[Panzergrenadier]]}} units. In the middle of the war, it created entire mechanized infantry divisions and named {{Lang|de|Panzergrenadier|italic=no}} divisions.

Because the German economy could not produce adequate numbers of its half-track APC, barely a quarter or a third of the infantry in Panzer or {{Lang|de|Panzergrenadier|italic=no}} divisions were mechanized, except in a few favored formations. The rest were moved by truck. However, most German reconnaissance units in such formations were also primarily mechanized infantry and could undertake infantry missions when it was needed. The [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] generally used jeeps, armored cars, or [[Light tank|light tanks]] for reconnaissance.

The [[Red Army]] began the war while still in the process of reorganizing its armored and mechanized formations, most of which were destroyed during the first months of the German Invasion of the Soviet Union. About a year later, the Soviets recreated division-sized mechanized infantry units, termed [[mechanized corps (Soviet)|mechanized corps]], usually with one tank brigade and three mechanized infantry brigades, with motorized supporting arms. They were generally used in the exploitation phase of offensives, as part of the prewar Soviet concept of [[deep operations]].

The Soviet Army also created several [[cavalry mechanized group]]s in which tanks, mechanized infantry and [[Horse cavalry|horsed cavalry]] were mixed. They were also used in the exploitation and pursuit phases of offensives. Red Army mechanized infantry were generally [[tank desant|carried on tanks]] or trucks, with only a few dedicated lend-lease half-track APCs.

The [[New Zealand Army]] ultimately fielded [[2nd New Zealand Division|a division]] of a roughly similar composition to a Soviet mechanized corps, which fought in the [[Italian Campaign (World War II)|Italian Campaign]], but it had little scope for mobile operations until near the end of the war.

The [[Romanian Army]] fielded a mixed assortment of vehicles. These amounted to 126 French-designed [[Renault UE Chenillette]]s which were licence-built locally, 34 captured and refurbished [[Komsomolets armored tractor|Soviet armored tractors]], 27 German-made armored half-tracks of the [[Sd.Kfz. 250]] and [[Sd.Kfz. 251]] types, over 200 Czechoslovak [[Tatra (company)|Tatra]], [[Praga (company)|Praga]] and [[Škoda Auto|Skoda]] trucks (the Tatra trucks were a [[Tatra 92|model]] which was specifically built for the Romanian Army) as well as 300 German [[Horch]] 901 4x4 field cars.<ref>Ronald L. Tarnstrom, ''Balkan Battles'', Trogen Books, 1998, pp. 341–342 and 407</ref> [[Sd.Kfz. 8]] and [[Sd.Kfz. 9]] half-tracks were also acquired,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Sj9OCAAAQBAJ&dq=sdkfz+8+half+track+romanian&pg=PT468 Manuel Granillo, ''Legiunea Romana: Romanian General's Handbook'' Lulu Press, 2013]</ref> as well as nine vehicles of the [[Sd.Kfz. 10]] type and 100 [[Raupenschlepper Ost|RSO/01]] fully tracked tractors.<ref>Mark Axworthy, Cornel I. Scafeș, Cristian Crăciunoiu, ''Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945'', Arms and Armour, 1995, pp. 87 and 124</ref> The Romanians also produced five prototypes of an [[T-1 tractor|indigenous]] artillery tractor.

===Cold War===
[[File:Swiss Mechanized Forces Deploy During Exercise at Thun, Allmend Panzerübungsplatz 1979.jpg|thumb|right|[[Swiss Armed Forces]] [[Panzer 61]] and [[M113 armored personnel carrier|SPz 63/73]] armored vehicles deploying mounted infantry in 1979]]

On July 9, 1945, Decree of the [[State Defence Committee]] No. GKO-9488ss,  "On the Resupply of Armored and Mechanized Forces of the Red Army"<ref> {{Cite web |url=https://ru.wikisource.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B5_%D0%93%D0%9A%D0%9E_%E2%84%96_9488%D1%81%D1%81_%D0%BE%D1%82_9.07.45 |title=Decree of the State Defense Committee No. 9488ss dated 07.09.45 |access-date=2022-07-17 |archive-date=2020-09-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200903011020/https://ru.wikisource.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B5_%D0%93%D0%9A%D0%9E_%E2%84%96_9488%D1%81%D1%81_%D0%BE%D1%82_9.07.45 |url-status=live }}</ref> was issued. It ordered the creation of mechanised divisions from many rifle divisions, included in the Armored and Mechanised Troops. In some cases, cavalry divisions and airborne divisions also became mechanised divisions<ref>Tank Sword of the Country of the Soviets. Drogovoz Igor Grigorievich. Publisher: AST, Harvest. Year of publication: 2004. ISBN 985-13-2133-8</ref> The Soviet ''motorised rifle troops'' officially appeared in accordance with the Directive of the Minister of Defense of the USSR No. org. / 3/62540 of February 27, 1957. This directive ordered part of the mechanized divisions and all rifle units and formations reorganized into 'motorised rifle' in the period 1957 to 1964.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090120100833/http://cris9.narod.ru/infanteri.htm The history of the development of the Russian infantry armed forces in the 20th century]</ref> Creation of the motorised rifle troops was facilitated by large-scale mechanisation of the whole [[Soviet Ground Forces]].

This became possible due to the increase in the production of [[armored personnel carrier]]s, self-propelled guns and so on. For example, in the period before the formation and in the initial period of the formation of the ''motorized rifle troops'':
* [[BTR-40]] – in the period from 1950 to 1960s, 8,500 units were produced<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://btr40.ru/ |title=BTR-40 |accessdate=2019-12-05 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20181129191638/http://btr40.ru/ |archivedate=2018-11-29 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* [[BTR-50]] — 1954 to 1970s – 6,500 pieces<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120711213358/http://cris9.narod.ru/infanteri_btr50p.htm Armored personnel carrier BTR-50P]</ref>
* [[BTR-152]] — 1947 to 1962 – 12,421 pieces
* [[BRDM-1]] — 1957 to 1966 – 10,000 units

One or two motorised rifle regiments were also present in each tank division, and many tank regiments included one motorised rifle battalion.<ref>{{cite web |title=1 гвардейская танковая Краснознаменная армия (Дрезден) вч пп 08608 позывной-Лира | url=http://www.gsvg.ru/gsvg_1.htm |date=November 22, 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111122032236/http://www.gsvg.ru/gsvg_1.htm | archive-date=November 22, 2011 }}</ref>

After 1945, the Soviet Armed Forces and [[NATO]] further developed the equipment and doctrine for mechanized infantry. With the exception of [[Russian Airborne Troops|airborne formations]], the Red Army mechanized all its infantry formations. Initially, wheeled APCs, like the [[BTR-152]], were used, some of which lacked overhead protection and were therefore vulnerable to artillery fire. It still gave the Soviet Army greater strategic flexibility because of the large land area and the long borders of the Soviet Union and its allies in the [[Warsaw Pact]]. [[Armored vehicles]] meant infantry were capable of overcoming water barriers and having means of protection against [[Weapons of Mass Destruction]].

The US Army established the basic configuration of the tracked APC with the [[M75 armored personnel carrier|M75]] and [[M59 armored personnel carrier|M59]] before it adopted the lighter [[M113 armored personnel carrier|M113]], which could be carried by [[Lockheed C-130 Hercules]] and other transport aircraft. The vehicle gave infantry the same mobility as tanks but with much less effective armor protection (it still had nuclear, biological, and chemical protection).

In the [[Vietnam War]], the M113 was often fitted with extra armament and used as an ''ad hoc'' infantry fighting vehicle. Early operations by the [[Army of the Republic of Vietnam]] using the vehicle showed that troops were far more effective while they were mounted in the vehicles than when they dismounted.{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}} American doctrine subsequently emphasized mounted tactics.{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}} The Americans ultimately deployed a mechanized brigade and ten mechanized battalions to Vietnam.

The ''motorized rifle troops'' of the [[Soviet Armed Forces]] were the world's first infantry units that adopted a new class of combat vehicles in 1966 – [[Infantry fighting vehicle]]s. [[BMP-1]] began entering service in 1966. In the [[Federal Republic of Germany]], an approximate analogue, the [[Marder (infantry fighting vehicle)|Marder]], appeared only in 1970. Unlike the APC, which was intended merely to transport the infantry from place to place under armor, the IFV had heavy firepower that could support infantry. The [[Infantry fighting vehicle]] concept was subsequently copied by almost all countries of the world.<ref>[http://all-tanks.ru/content/boevaya-mashina-pekhoty-bmp-2 Infantry fighting vehicle BMP-2] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203032710/http://all-tanks.ru/content/boevaya-mashina-pekhoty-bmp-2 |date=December 3, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://armor.kiev.ua/Tanks/Modern/BMP3/BMP3_3.php |title=Viktor Korablin. Shield and Sword of the Infantry (Weapon No. 10, 1999) |access-date=2018-02-27 |archive-date=2011-10-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007103558/http://armor.kiev.ua/Tanks/Modern/BMP3/BMP3_3.php |url-status=live }}</ref>

The introduction of the [[BMP-1]] prompted the development of similar vehicles in Western armies, such as the [[West Germany|West German]] [[Marder (IFV)|Marder]] and American [[M2 Bradley]]. Many IFVs were also equipped with firing ports from which their infantry could fire their weapons from inside, but they were generally not successful and have been dropped from modern IFVs.

Soviet organization led to different tactics between the "light" and the "heavy" varieties of mechanized infantry. In the Soviet Army, a first-line "motor rifle" division from the 1970s onward usually had two regiments equipped with wheeled [[BTR-60]] APCs and one with the tracked BMP-1 IFV. The "light" regiments were intended to make dismounted attacks on the division's flanks, while the BMP-equipped "heavy" regiment remained mounted and supported the division's tank regiment on the main axis of advance. Both types of infantry regiment still were officially titled "motor rifle" units.<ref>{{cite book|last=Suvorov|first=Viktor|author-link=Viktor Suvorov|title= Inside the Soviet Army|publisher=Book Club Associates|year=1982|page=112}}</ref>

A line of development in the Soviet Armed Forces from the 1980s was the provision of specialized IFVs for use by the [[Russian Airborne Troops]]. The first of them was the [[BMD-1]], which had the same firepower as the [[BMP-1]] but could be carried in or even parachuted from the standard Soviet transport aircraft. That made airborne formations into mechanized infantry at the cost of reducing their "bayonet" strength, as the BMD could carry only three or at most four paratroopers in addition to its three-man crew. They were used in that role in the [[Soviet–Afghan War|Soviet invasion of Afghanistan]] in 1979.