Bolt Action Panzer Grenadiers Infantry 01

Instead of making and painting the 28mm scale Panzer Grenadiers from the Band of Brothers starter boxed set, I chose this set of 10 Panzer Grenadiers as my first infantry squad. These could be split into two five-men squads but I prefer using them as a full ten-man squad. These were all one-piece metal castings and they look great.

Each squad consists of an NCO (shown at far left) and from four to nine additional men. One of the weapons options for them is to have the entire squad armed with StG44 Assault Rifles and this is what this squad are using. It is an excellent choice even though their range is only 18" compared to the 24" range of Bolt Action Rifles but with a ten man squad they can fire 20 shots per turn instead of the 10 shots per turn from Rifle armed infantry. That is a huge advantage!

In 1943 the title of "Infantry" was changed to "Grenadier" to improve esprit de corps and give the poor infantry some of the vaunted panzer grenadier's reputation and kudos. German grenadiers were provided with the best light machine gun (the MG42) of the war and some veteran squads carried two. By the late war, most German grenadier squads were carrying a proportion of StG44 Assault Rifles or sub-machine guns instead of rifles to increase their firepower against an enemy increasingly equipped with SMGs and Semi-Automatic Rifles. However, the exact weaponry could vary greatly in practice.

I will be counting my panzer grenadier squads and teams as veterans unless otherwise dictated by the scenario. If I were to split this ten-man squad into two five-man squads the figure at the far left would be  my second NCO and the rest of the men as shown in the photos above and below.

Those men that survived quickly learnt the art of fieldcraft and became formidable opponents, battle-hardened and well-equipped - a match for any enemy infantry. Panzer grenadiers, the infantry of the panzer divisions, rode to battle in half-tracked armoured carriers. Well, they did on paper, but in reality a shortage of half-tracks meant that only about 10 per cent of panzer battalions had their carriers, and the other 90 per cent relied upon trucks and fought on foot.