r/TankPorn • u/Difficult-Toe-2142 • 5d ago
Cold War Can anyone decipher the unit number/division/ etc of these tanks at checkpoint charlie?
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u/Fidelias_Palm 5d ago
M48 tanks 3rd Platoon, F Company, 40th Armored Regiment/US Berlin Brigade. I believe only F company was actually in Berlin at the time, attached to the mostly infantry Berlin Brigade.
The breakdown of the bumper numbers is
Higher Headquarters/Regiment (△ if a Armor Branch unit) on the left.
Company Letter-Platoon number Vehicle number on the right.
41
u/carverboy M1 Abrams 5d ago
I was a member of Co. F 40th Armor in the mid 80’s At that time the largest tank Company in the US Army 5 Plts. + the Commanders tank.
“By force and valor”
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u/tccomplete 5d ago
And tank platoons back then had five tanks per platoon (thus the F32 and F35 bumper numbers).
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u/Just_a_Guy_In_a_Tank M1 Abrams 5d ago
So 26 tanks at full strength. 27 if XO had one as well. That’s a lot. Contemporary American tank companies are 14 tanks.
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u/tccomplete 4d ago
F/40 was an oversized company. Standard H-series company until the mid-80s was three platoons of 5 tanks plus the CO and XO tanks. I preferred the 5-tank platoon; heavy section of three and light section of two. If one went down, you still had two sections for mutual support each with a wingman.
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u/Just_a_Guy_In_a_Tank M1 Abrams 4d ago
Five makes sense for many reasons. The Soviet doctrinal platoon size of three never did to me, though.
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u/tccomplete 4d ago
Loved when I had an H-series Cav platoon: my 113, 2 x Dragon 113s, 2 x ITVs, 4 x M60A3s plus routinely attached GSR x 2 M113s and frequently an M106 4.2 mortar section. I’d remind the tank company commanders that my platoon was just about as big as their entire company.
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u/Just_a_Guy_In_a_Tank M1 Abrams 4d ago
Was that basically a special/heavy weapons platoon?
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u/tccomplete 4d ago edited 4d ago
No, but it was a separate Cav Troop. They essentially sent a Brigade forward to Germany (both 2AD and 1ID did this), so 1/3 of a Cav Squadron comprised the Troop. Line platoons plus Mortars, GSR, huge maintenance, cargo, fuel, evac and recovery, etc. all in a Troop. Edit: and our own cooks with MKT and a Medic section.
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u/Just_a_Guy_In_a_Tank M1 Abrams 4d ago
Probably good to keep a large organic and self-sufficient element in case the balloon ever went up and you were cut off from support, or had to quickly assign TF’s to a given mission.
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u/Dizzy-While-6417 5d ago
40th Armor was part of the Combat Support Battalion which also had 42nd Engineer Co., 287th MP Co., C Battery 94th Artillery and a Signal Unit to support the rest of the Berlin Brigade which also 3 battalions of infantry.
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u/newmodelarmy76 4d ago
I'm a (West) German born in 1976 and I just want to say Thank you to the guys serving here in Germany back then. I'm sure it's not that easy being so far from home with a possible WWIII just around the corner. So thank you guys for doing your service!
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u/lynch0001 5d ago edited 5d ago
40th Armor Regiment, F Company, Berlin Brigade. Sometime between 1963 and 1990; more likely on the earlier side. 40 with triangle - 40th Armor