TTRPG Roll 24-7 ~ Infantry & Reconnaissance Platoon for War Stories: A World War 2 RPG (Firelock Games, 2022)

While the roleplaying game War Stories: A World War 2 RPG (Firelock Games, 2022) uses a U.S. parachute regiment in the default setting, I recently went looking for an alternative military formation to use for my solo campaigns. I needed a relatively small unit that would have reasons to go on special missions near or into the enemy rear area. Somehow I stumbled across the Intelligence & Reconnaissance Platoon (I&R Platoon). Intrigued, I dug deeper.

“The Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon, 1935-1965: Lost in Time”

The source I stumbled across is a Master’s thesis by then Maj. Richard J. Runde, Jr. written in 1994 for the Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. “The Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon, 1935-1965: Lost in Time”¹ chronicles the history of I&R platoons in the U.S. Army. Fortunately for us, Maj. Runde provides details of the I&R Platoon for the period of War Stories, i.e. mid to late 1944 in Europe.

Your mission

Runde explains the mission of the I&R Platoon thusly:

The collection of combat intelligence about the enemy, and other friendly tactical formations was the heart of daily operations for the I&R platoon of the period. They provided the human eyes and ears for the regimental commander. They went where he could not. The I&R platoon’s operations were based on the principle that the commander’s reconnaissance had to extend far enough to his front, flanks and rear in order to prevent the regiment from being surprised.

Runde, 26

Runde goes on to detail the doctrinal functions of an I&R Platoon as found in FM 7-25. Any of these would make for a good War Stories plot seed.

• Gathering detailed information about the enemy and terrain in locations that were not readily accessible to the rifle companies and battalions of the regiment.
• Assemble, evaluate and distribute information and intelligence gathered by the platoon and by subordinate, higher, and adjacent friendly units.
• Provide early warning to the regiment on the presence, disposition, composition and approach of enemy forces of all types; operate well in advance of the regiment in order to gain and maintain contact with the enemy.
• Maintain contact with reconnaissance and security formations of other, larger tactical formations, (i.e.: the division reconnaissance company, and later regiment) that is operating forward or to the flanks of the regiment; the regimental I&R platoon was tasked to maintain contact with these formations.
• Gather items of information and indications about enemy movement in order to allow the regimental commander to develop tactically sound and feasible ground military operations.
• Regain lost contact with adjacent, attached and assigned friendly units; locate and maintain contact with the flanks of an enemy force, when contact is gained by dismounted combat elements of the regiment.
• Reconnoiter avenues of approach, routes, river crossings and complex enemy obstacles; search suspicious, dominating and critical areas along the route of march to identify possible ambush sites, defended road blocks, route classification and contaminated areas.
• Establish and operate 24 hour observation and listening posts.
• Conduct dismounted patrolling to the front, flanks or rear of the regiment when the terrain or enemy situation precludes the use of mounted patrolling.
• Assist the regimental S-2 at the command post or at a tactical observation/tactical command post by maintaining the intelligence situation map, and or keeping an intelligence log, taking and preparing reports, messages and sketches.
• Carry out such counter-intelligence measures or surveillance as directed by the regimental commander or S-2. Provide instruction on the subject to other units of the regiment; search undefended or captured towns and villages and captured enemy equipment and positions.²

Runde also lists other missions not codified in doctrine:

• Liaison between the other infantry regiments of the division.
• Messenger duties between the other infantry battalions and the regiment.
• Serving as the escort and security element for the regimental commander when he went forward of the main command post.
• Serving as the radio-telephone operators for the regimental command group in dismounted offensive operations.
• Marking a route of march for the regiment and providing guides along the route at traffic control points (TCPs).
• Accompanying a combat or reconnaissance patrol conducted by the rifle platoons or companies from the subordinate infantry battalions of the regiment in order to report on tactical progress or intelligence acquired directly to the regimental commander; conduct economy of force operations on a flank of the regiment in order to provide early warning and prevent the regiment from being surprised.³

This is pretty much what I was looking for in a small unit for solo campaigning in War Stories. The I&R Platoon has plenty of reasons to range far and wide across the battlefield, usually using stealth and evasion to accomplish their mission but also not being above the occasional combat engagement.

TO&E

According to Runde, the organization of the I&R Platoon was standardized in Table of Organization 7-12 dated 01 October 1940 which specified that:

…the I&R platoon was authorized eighteen enlisted personnel, with a Technical Sergeant (E6) in charge…The platoon consisted of two squads. Each squad was led by a Staff Sergeant (E-5), who was also trained as a draftsman. The squad leader had two E-4s (sergeants), each in charge of a scout team. Six corporals (E3s), were divided between the two teams, and served as scouts.

Runde, 22-23

Following the Louisiana Maneuvers of 1941 the TO&E was modified to place an infantry officer (O2) in charge of the platoon in place of the technical sergeant. Further, “The I&R platoon was equipped with eight M151 1/4 ton (JEEP) vehicles: two were for the platoon headquarters and three for each of the two reconnaissance squads.”⁴

Each of the Jeeps was equipped with a .30 cal MG for air defense. The Platoon and Squad Leader Jeeps also also carried, “SRC 284 radios for inter-platoon communication” and “SRC 300 radios for communication between the I&R platoon headquarters and the regimental command post.”⁵

Runde explains the individual kit of each I&R soldier:

Individual combat equipment for members of the I&R platoon included standard infantry issue and small arms for armament. Additionally, each squad had a prismatic compass or aiming circle, a 20 power single-eye telescope and/or a pair of field glasses (for observation over extended distances), and a watch. Materials for recording the observations also included prepared range-cards, overlay paper, colored pencils, maps, photographs, and or sketches of the terrain or enemy. All members of the platoon carried notebooks and pencils for sketching and diagramming terrain and enemy positions.

Runde, 24

Initiative, adaptability, and bravery 

The most famous I&R Platoon in U.S. Army history has to be the I&R Platoon of the 394th Infantry Regiment, 99th Infantry Division. This small unit fought the Battle of Lazarath Ridge as part of the Battle of the Bulge.⁶ This I&R Platoon, led by First Lieutenant Lyle J. Brouck, is the most heavily decorated platoon in a single action in all of World War II. Although 17 of 18 would be captured (the last was KIA) Brouck’s I&R Platoon inflicted 400-500 casualties on a battalion of the German 3rd Parachute Division.⁷

The men of Brouck’s I&R Platoon were already exceptional. As Captain John Della-Giustina writes, “Some units sent their I&R platoons through the Division Intelligence Course at the Military Intelligence Training Center, Camp Ritchie, Maryland. The platoon often consisted of the brightest and most physically fit soldiers in the regiment. In 1944, many soldiers from the Army Specialized Training Program filled the ranks of I&R platoons throughout the Army.”⁸

It is impossible to understate the impact the heroic stand of Brouck’s I&R Platoon had at the Battle of the Bulge:

The tiny I&R platoon had been the anchor of the 394th Regiment’s and 99th Division’s front-line defense on 16 December. Without their heroic stand, the battalion of German paratroopers they defeated would have attacked into the flank of the 1st Battalion, 394th Infantry Regiment, which was defending the vital road junction at Losheimergraben. Perhaps they would have turned northwest against the regiment’s understrength 3d Battalion instead. This would have reinforced the 12th Volksgrenadier Division’s offensive against these positions and probably overwhelmed the southern flank of the 99th Division on the first day. Panzer exploitations of this opening in a quick drive to the Meuse River thus would have been possible.⁹

“The Heroic Stand of an Intelligence Platoon”

If one is going to play a campaign in War Stories, you can do no wrong drawing upon the stories of one of the most heavily decorated combat units in World War II.

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1. Runde, Jr., Richard J., Major, U.S. Army, “The Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon, 1935-1965: Lost in Time,” Master’s thesis 2 Aug 1993-3 Jun 1994, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 1994-06-30, DTIC Accession Number ADA284551. ↩︎
2. Runde, 26-27. ↩︎
3. Runde, 27-28. ↩︎
4. Runde, 23-24. ↩︎
5. Runde, 24. ↩︎
6. The battle is the setting for the 2022 wargame Lanzarath Ridge by designer David Thompson and published by Dan Verssen Games as the fourth game in the Valiant Defense series. ↩︎
7. See “A Symbol of the Combat Ability of MI Soldiers: The Heroic Stand of an Intelligence Platoon.” Accessed December 23, 2023. https://irp.fas.org/agency/army/mipb/1996-1/delagius.htm.  ↩︎
8. Ibid. ↩︎
9. Ibid. ↩︎

Feature image “Looking from the I&R Platoons memorial towards the woodline they defended” courtesy The Boardgames Chronicle.

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