Help with Royal Marine Commando Suez

[steve501]

After reading the excellent article in this months Wargames Illustrated on the Suez Conflict I have decided to put together a Royal Marine Commando troop however the only information I can discover is that a troop was made up of
HQ section x 13
4 10man Rifle Sections
1 10 man Support Section

Can anyone help with the weapons and composition of each section
Many thanks to all who can help
Steve

[carlos marighela]

Post-war the RM more or less retained their WW2 organisation up until about 1961 when they switched over to the army model, mostly for issues of interoperability, the marines, making up a sizeable component of the strategic reserve in the Far East.

The sections were essentially platoon equivalents, two per troop. There was a section HQ of an officer, SNCO and a couple of ORs plus two sub-sections, each of 12 or 13 men, nominally split into a Control Group with a JNCO, a Gun Group with the Bren, an assault group (the riflemen) and a Mortar Group with the 2” mortar.

Weapons were mostly as per WW2 at Suez, No1, Mk 4, Lee Enfields, Brens, Stens (Mk 5), Mills bombs and the old 2” mortar. About the only thing that wasn’t Second World War vintage was The 3.5” bazooka.

[steve501]

Thanks
I was reading about a support section would that have the bazooka and if so how many

[carlos marighela]

By the by you can use WW2 paras in berets to depict the booties at Suez. Just remember to paint their webbing black.

[steve501]

I've read that the sections were changed to 10 man after WW2 to 10 man skin a little confused has anyone got a War Eatablishment table or would it be a TO/e so at leat I know theoretical strength and organisation

Cheers
Steve

[Arlequín]

That actually sounds like the 1944 W/E which is as Carlos says, but each sub-section is a NCO, a six man assault group and a four man Bren group, rather than 12/13.

I do know the 3.5" RL was supposed to be in the troop HQ group.

Sadly I don't know of a W/E online, so I imagine your best bet is the RM Museum: http://www.royalmarinesmuseum.co.uk

The galleries are currently closed, but an enquiry to the curator might prove worthwhile.