Editing Mechanized infantry (section)

===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.