Dutch East Indies
Infantry Company
1941
Background
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German Invasion of the Netherlands severely weakened the Dutch East Indies as they had no access to Dutch support. Western powers, particularly the US and the UK, had become more worried about Japanese expansionism during the Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937.
It became more worryingly as Japan attacked French Indochina and later became an actual victor in the Franco-Thai War through so-called mediation in which Japan asked Thailand to pay compensation in exchange for a quarter of the proposed territorial changes made by Thailand prior.
(Apart from that, Japan wanted to use both French Indochina and Thailand as a military base for future invasion against British colonies of Burma and Malaya and subsequently start the Pacific Theater of World War 2.)
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The Dutch were aware of the entire situation, and the Dutch began arming the East Indies Army through a series of weapon purchases such as Solothurn S18-1000 Anti-Tank Rifle, Johnson Auto Rifle, and Schmeisser MP-28-II SMG.
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Organization of the KNIL's Infantry Company, click to enlarge in new tab
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Organization
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Headquarter/Command:
1x Company Commander (Captain), Colt Model 1903 Pistol (most likely)
1x Company Sergeant Major (Sergeant Major), Geweer M95 or Karabijn M95
2x Telephone Operator (Private), Geweer M95 or Karabijn M95
2x Orderlies (Private), Geweer M95 or Karabijn M95
3x Buglers (Private), Geweer M95 or Karabijn M95
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Vehicles:
1x Bicycle (carried by 1 Orderly)
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Company Trains (Section):
1x Supply Sergeant/Fourier (Sergeant), Geweer M95 or Karabijn M95
11x Drivers​ (Private), Geweer M95 or Karabijn M95
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Vehicles:
1x Bicycle (carried by Supply Sergeant/Fourier)
4x 2 Horse-Drawn Wagons/Carts
8x Horses
(sources varied of what wagons carry, either full of ammunitions or mingled with other wagons like the field kitchen and equipment etc)
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3x Rifle Platoons:
1x Platoon Commander (Lieutenant) and (Sergeant Major or/till Onderluitenant, 3rd Platoon only)​, Colt Model 1903 Pistol (most likely)
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1st Rifle Troop/Section
1x Troop/Section Commander (Sergeant*), MP/28-II SMG
1st Rifle Group
1x Group Leader (Corporal or Sergeant 2nd Class), Geweer M95 or Karabijn M95
6x Riflemen (Private), Geweer M95 or Karabijn M95
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2nd Rifle Group
1x Group Leader (Corporal or Sergeant 2nd Class), Geweer M95 or Karabijn M95
6x Riflemen (Private), Geweer M95 or Karabijn M95
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2nd Rifle Troop/Section
1x Troop/Section Commander (Sergeant*), MP/28-II SMG
3rd Rifle Group
1x Group Leader (Corporal or Sergeant 2nd Class), Geweer M95 or Karabijn M95
6x Riflemen (Private), Geweer M95 or Karabijn M95
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4th Rifle Group
1x Group Leader (Corporal or Sergeant 2nd Class), Geweer M95 or Karabijn M95
6x Riflemen (Private), Geweer M95 or Karabijn M95
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LMG Troop/Section
1x Troop/Section Commander (Sergeant*), MP/28-II SMG
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1st LMG Group
1x Group Leader (Corporal or Sergeant 2nd Class), Geweer M95 or Karabijn M95
1x Machine Gunner (Private), Madsen M/15 LMG and Luger or Mauser C96 Pistol
1x Assistant Machine Gunner (Private), Geweer M95 or Karabijn M95
4x Riflemen/Ammo Bearers (Private), Geweer M95 or Karabijn M95
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2nd LMG Group
1x Group Leader (Corporal or Sergeant 2nd Class), Geweer M95 or Karabijn M95
1x Machine Gunner (Private), Madsen M/15 LMG and Luger or Mauser C96 Pistol
1x Assistant Machine Gunner (Private), Geweer M95 or Karabijn M95
4x Riflemen/Ammo Bearers (Private), Geweer M95 or Karabijn M95
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3rd LMG Group
1x Group Leader (Corporal or Sergeant 2nd Class), Geweer M95 or Karabijn M95
1x Machine Gunner (Private), Madsen M/15 LMG and Luger or Mauser C96 Pistol
1x Assistant Machine Gunner (Private), Geweer M95 or Karabijn M95
4x Riflemen/Ammo Bearers (Private), Geweer M95 or Karabijn M95
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* European Sergeant or Indonesian Sergeant 1st Class
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Organization: Explained
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The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army are the mainstay of the Colonial Army of Netherlands in Indonesia, serve to protect the Dutch East Indies from foreign invaders and also maintaining orders within the Dutch East Indies (used to suppress local rebellion until 1903).
The Infantry Company contains 173 Soldiers, but the size of Company varied from unit-to-unit and so the Organization saw some changes to accommodate the varying size, the sub-units remained the same but with different amount of personnel.
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The Infantry Company was led by a Company Commander, whos a Captain, and a Company Sergeant Major who act a bit more like Deputy Commander, both Company Commander and Sergeant Major are placed in the Company Headquarter. 2 Field Telephone Operators, 2 Orderlies, and 3 Buglers would form the Headquarter Section.
Captain were armed with a Pistol, the rest (Company Sergeant Major to Buglers) were armed with Rifles or Carbines
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A Fourier aka Supply Sergeant, 11 Horse-Cart Drivers, and 4 2-Horse Carts would form the Company Trains Section. Fourier and all 11 Drivers were armed with Rifles or Carbines.
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Each Rifle Platoon consisted of 53 personnel. The 1st and 2nd Platoon were led by a Subaltern Officer, ideally Lieutenant, meanwhile the 3rd Platoon is usually led by a Senior NCO, ideally Warrant Officer (Onderluitenant) or Sergeant Major. Platoon Commander were armed with Pistol.
Now, each Platoon has 2 Rifle Sections and 1 LMG Section (Troops), every Section were led by either European Sergeant (Dutch) or Indonesian Sergeant 1st Class (Pribumi/Native Indonesian), the size of Rifle Section were altered on several occasions prior to 1941, and by 1941 the size is usually 15 men.
Each Rifle Section consisted of 2 Rifle Groups of 7 men, a Group were led by a Corporal or sometimes Sergeant 2nd Class, and the rest of 6 men were Private.
An LMG Section consisted of 3 LMG Groups again with 7 men, also led by a Corporal or Sergeant 2nd Class with 6 men under the his command.
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In combat, the Organization of Rifle Platoon was changed into 3 Combat Sections (Gevechtsgroepen), it was led by a Sergeant (Section/Troop Commander) and 1 Rifle Group and 1 LMG Group, 4th Rifle Group were held in reserve under the Platoon Commander.
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The racial distinctions were presumably Dutch/White Officers and NCOs, and Native Indonesians/Pribumi Enlisted and sometimes NCOs.
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Organization of Rifle and LMG Troop/Section, click to enlarge.
Combat Group formation, click to enlarge.
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Infantry Weapons of KNIL
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Every soldiers, unless otherwise noted, were armed with either Long-Barrel Geweer M95 or Shortened Karabijn M95, if lucky enough, soldiers might have access to Johnson Automatic Rifle.
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Machine Gunners were armed with Madsen M/15 Light Machine Gun, there are 2 variants of Madsen LMG for KNIL, Geweermitrailleur (Long-Barrel) and Karabijnmitrailleur (Short-Barrel) (idk about the usage of Italian Breda M1930 by KNIL).
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Section Commanders used to be armed with M95 rifles. By 1939, Section Commander were issued with SMGs, usually Schmeisser MP/28-II or sometimes Thompson M1928A1.
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The Officers (Company Commander and Platoon Commander) and Machine Gunners were armed with Pistol, ideally the Officers used Colt Model 1903, and the Machine Gunners used either Luger or Mauser C96 Pistol. Sometimes the Officers were not restricted to one pistol model and likely to also use Luger or C96 pistols.
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