How did the manpower issues that plagued the commonwealth formations later in the war affect the practice of LOB?
Was it a matter of cutting back on the number of men held back, or did the reality on the ground make the practice untenable altogether?
LOB and manpower requirements
LOB and manpower requirements
The gods do not deduct from a man's allotted span the hours spent in fishing.
~Babylonian Proverb
~Babylonian Proverb
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Gary Kennedy
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- Joined: 28 Mar 2012, 19:56
Re: LOB and manpower requirements
I've always been intrigued by the LoB subject, problem is there isn't much readily available on the subject. There's this description from "With the Jocks" so circa late 1944 -
"In case casualties were steep, it was decided to institute a system called LOB – Left Out of Battle. One or two officers, a few NCOs and a handful of men would take a turn out of battle from each company, to form a nucleus around which a unit could be more easily rebuilt with replacements. However, after this, our first action (Walcheren Island), we were to find ourselves so continually short of men that the idea never could operate properly."
The suggestion there is the idea was sound, but faltered in the face of reality. I think sometimes it was just a matter of keeping back either the cmdr or 2-in-c for a subunit (Rifle Pl or Rifle Coy being the most likely) so both wouldn't become casualties in the same action. If you're already starting with a deficit of officers/NCOs though there's not much room for manoeuvre.
Gary
"In case casualties were steep, it was decided to institute a system called LOB – Left Out of Battle. One or two officers, a few NCOs and a handful of men would take a turn out of battle from each company, to form a nucleus around which a unit could be more easily rebuilt with replacements. However, after this, our first action (Walcheren Island), we were to find ourselves so continually short of men that the idea never could operate properly."
The suggestion there is the idea was sound, but faltered in the face of reality. I think sometimes it was just a matter of keeping back either the cmdr or 2-in-c for a subunit (Rifle Pl or Rifle Coy being the most likely) so both wouldn't become casualties in the same action. If you're already starting with a deficit of officers/NCOs though there's not much room for manoeuvre.
Gary