RM Vol 3: For a World without Boundary – Interlude: 501st Airborne Division
501st Airborne Division Organization Structure:
501st Airborne Division consists of a division headquarters and headquarters battalion, three brigade combat teams, a division artillery, a combat aviation brigade, and a division sustainnt brigade. The 501st DIVARTY commands all artillery battalions. The 501st Airborne Sustainnt Brigade commands all brigade support battalions.
Each Brigade Combat Team consists of a Brigade Headquarters and Headquarters company, an armored battalion, three chanized infantry battalions, and one brigade engineer battalion.
Divisional artillery includes a Headquarters and Headquarters battery, with one artillery regint consisting of three battalions.
501st Combat Aviation Brigade has a Headquarters and Headquarters company and an additional UAV recon company. Five battalions ford up the bulk of the brigade: an Attack/Reconnaissance battalion, another Attack battalion, an Assault battalion, a General Support battalion, and lastly an Aviation Support battalion.
To keep everything running, the 501st Airborne relies on its Airborne Division Sustainnt Brigade. Forming up of a Headquarters and Headquarters company, a Special Troop battalion, three Brigade Support battalions, and a Division Sustainnt Battalion.
The 501st Airborne Division is ford from the remnants of Belka's 1st Airborne Regint, the latter being a casualty of the Reich Marshal's military reform when she ca to power. Specializing in parachute assault operations into hostile areas, the division's mandate is to be "on-call to fight any ti, anywhere" at "the knife's edge of technology and readiness." Currently and for years to co, the 501st Airborne Division is the Belkan Ard Force's most strategically mobile division.
Coincidentally, the division employs soldiers from all known races and across the entire country of Belka. This led to the adoption of the All-Belkan nickna, the basis for the AB shoulder patch of the division.
As a division that is over 18000 n and won strong, the 501st is poised as the most elite airborne division the Reich has to offer. Consequently, the unit is ford up of well-trained loyalists, many of them are battle-hardened and over 1/3 of the division is recruited from the infantry component of the Marshal's personal 404th Armored Division or have experienced working with them. This ensures that the 501st will bear its deadliest fangs to the enemy and no one else.
A typical 12-person 501st airborne squad consists of one squad leader, a single JTAC, one combat dic, one combat engineer, an LMG gunner and the accompanying ammo bearer, a squad marksman, and five riflen. Squad-level firepower cos in the form of the derivatives of the 8 mm Mauser G1 rifle.
The machine gunner of the squad is equipped with an MG1 with 100-round C-Mag, a detachable bipod, a collapsible buttstock, a dium magnification combat optical gunsight, and a free-floating, heavy, quick-change barrel.
The squad marksman is given the PSG1, offering a longer barrel than even its relative which is the light machine gun MG1. The marksman rifle cos equipped with a detachable bipod, an adjustable stock, an adjustable zoom dium to long-range optic, and a free-floating contoured barrel that is weighted at the tip to aid harmonic stabilization of barrel whip to enhance accuracy.
The other ten mbers of the squad will be using G1 rifles. For the airbornes, the G1 rifles co standard with collapsible stocks. However, the team leader is given a dium magnification gunsight, much like the one used by the machine gunner. While other mbers are either using red dot sights or iron sights. All mbers can choose to mount either foregrip or bipod at their own behest.
Of the five riflen, one will be carrying a G1 with an under-barrel 40mm grenade launcher. Two will be carrying disposable Panzerfaust with standard HEAT warheads. And another will be the squad's demolition expert.
It has to be noted that the modern G1 family of weapons cos standard with rail systems and the ability to freely mount or demount suppressor, compensator, or flash hider. For night combat, a laser/flashlight module can be mounted to be used in conjunction with a night vision device.
Each mber is given a sidearm in the form of a 9x25 mm USP pistol.
Handheld grenades co in many shapes and utilities.
Breakthrough in night vision technologies allows panoramic night vision to be fielded for all branches of the ard forces, thus each mber is given a GPNVG.
On the vehicular aspect, motorized vehicles, ranging from the Survivable Combat Tactical Vehicle Humvee made by rcedes to the HX family of tactical military trucks, served as the backbone of the 501st's protected ground logistics. Going up the scale, MRAPs are used by the division for reconnaissance or to provide its troops with a swift and protected transport option and short-range defense against tactical-level threats. Most commonly seen are the Fennek multipurpose scout car and the Dingo squad-MRAP. For a bigger punch or a stronger combat logistical ability, the eight-wheeled and modular Boxer Armored Fighting Vehicle is outfitted for the division to use in hot zones. They can be employed in a multitude of roles, whether it's battlefield DEVAC, ERV, or combat milk runs.
Tracked vehicles that are used to spearhead the second stage of the 501st's ground operation include but are not limited to Leopard MBTs and Puma IFVs. The forr is in non-autoloader configuration due to weight issues and can be seen mostly in the armored battalions of the 501st, serving at the tip of the spear against hostile strongholds. Working in conjunction with the Leopards would be the Puma IFVs, capable of keeping up with the MBTs and still able to carry eight fully-ard airbornes. Infantry-carrying variants of the Puma, the class B Mk1 and Mk2, are either equipped with a 30 mm or 57 mm autocannon with optional ATGM and can track low-flying aircraft while providing better protection than the Boxer wheeled AFV.
The Class C Puma, however, is ard with the sa smoothbore 105 mm of the Leopard, but with an autoloader. The tank destroyer Class C is tasked specifically with battlefield recon and control, seeking out and destroying enemy tanks and armored fighting vehicles, whether from an entrenched position or actively hunting. The relatively large gun provided with such a mobile, airborne chassis allows paratroopers both significant fire support and sustained contact when engaging hard targets, such as entrenchnts, fortifications, and concrete structures (an often difficult task for airborne or light infantry). The higher mobility allows the Class C to quickly response to a deteriorating situation while a Leopard may not be able to.
All ground vehicles of the 501st are air-deployable, with the Puma family also being amphibious, suitable for river crossing or beach assault.
Moving on to the 501st divisional artillery. Its three battalions are divided into a towed artillery battalion, a self-propelled artillery battalion, and a rocket artillery battalion.
The first battalion fields modern dium-sized 150 mm L/55 howitzers, the M777 otherwise known as Jackpot by the gun crews.
The second battalion is outfitted with the sa artillery pieces as the first battalion, however, they're placed in a turret and built on the Boxer chassis, with the platform nad Saturn. The platform has autoloading capability, the turret is remote-controlled, and the entire vehicle needs only two crew mbers to operate. Multiple Rounds Simultaneous Impacts (MRSI) mode of operation is possible and the Saturn is the world's first howitzer that can fire on the move. This feature is a necessity to avoid counter-artillery fire. For self-defense, Saturn has a remote-controlled weapon station and the ability of hunter-killer mode for direct fire against enemy units.
Last but not least for the 501st artillery is the rocket artillery battalion, jokingly referred to as "Fireworkers' by other mbers of the 501st. Employed in their use are two vehicles. The first is a wheeled MLRS system on the chassis of a rcedes HX truck, nad Lynx. Depending on battlefield requirents, the Lynx can launch either thirty-six 122 mm or thirty-two 160 mm rockets with GPS/INS guidance. The crown jewel of the Fireworkers battalion though is the Sunburst thermobaric MLRS system. Mounted on the chassis of a Leopard tank, the system can unleash Hellfire on an enemy, thanks to the thirty 220 mm thermobaric rockets it has. The Sunburst is the 501st's final answer for a breakthrough weapon.
It's important to know that depending on mission requirents, the second and third artillery battalion can forego their trademark but heavier equipnt to simplify logistics.
Non-divisional artillery includes 82 mm or 120 mortar systems that are infantry-deployable or mounted on the back of vehicles.
Coming up on the last but mighty important combat branch of the 501st would be the Combat Aviation Brigade. For recon purposes, the brigade has a dedicated UAV company, operating a fleet of Barracuda drones from the backline to provide the frontline with up-to-date battlefield intelligent and precision airstrikes. Across the other battalions of the brigade, the Fi-22 Osprey sees widespread usage, enjoying its status as Belka's sole, but reliable, multirole airlift.
For pure combat and recon, a heavily ard variant of the Osprey, the Fi-22G Guns-a-go-go is made, sacrificing troop-carrying capability for ordnances... Lots of ordnances. Moving away from the absurdity of firepower though, the Osprey truly shines when it can be fitted for aerial recon, DEVAC, electronic warfare, or base logistics... There's sothing to be said about using a dium-large aircraft for everything... But Belka will cross that bridge later.
With everything the 501st has to offer, they're just simply over-qualified for their task in Sardegna. But then again, their motto is this.
"All the way!"
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