What was the organization structure of one hundred and first airborne division World War 2 IE squads platoons companies brigades regiments etc?

Answer 1

As originally constituted when activated in August 1942 the 101st Airborne Division had three regiments, two Glider Infantry Regiments (the 327th and 401st) and one Parachute Infantry Regiment (the 502nd). While the paratroopers of the 502nd PIR were volunteers, the "glider riders" of the GIRs were not. Nor did the glider infantry receive any extra pay such as the "jump pay" of the PIR, and also no fancy jump boots and no right to blouse the trousers over the boot tops, and no snazzy wings for the chest (though eventually they did get an insignia - but it had only one wing, looking something like paratrooper wings broken in half). All the glider riders got was the opportunity to crash land into combat in a plywood glider, with a guy who washed out of powered flight training at the controls.

Since the dawn of organized warfare and linear tactics the goal had been to turn the enemy flank, to get around the end of his line, to "envelope" his flanks, where from beside his line enfilading fire could be delivered along his front, or on into his rear, where he could be attacked from behind as well as from in front simultaneously. Airborne divisions were intended to add a new wrinkle, "vertical envelopment". The idea was they would take and hold objectives in the immediate rear of the enemy until a relieving force of heavy infantry could arrive. So the concept did not include operations deep in the enemy rear, as the relieving force was crucial, because the airborne divisions had few organic heavy weapons of their own. They were equipped with the standard light infantry arsenal, and had "parachute artillery" and "glider artillery" battalions on the Table of Organization, but these artillery units were equipped with the 75mm pack howitzer as their heaviest weapon. This was an artillery piece originally designed to be broken down in several parts and hauled in packs by mules up and down steep mountains, where wheeled artillery could operate only with great difficulty, if at all. Since airborne divisions could not oppose enemy heavy units for long, the relieving force had to get there swiftly, before the unopposed heavy weapons of the enemy annihilated the airborne troops, or before they ran out of supplies and ammunition. The 101st AD included the 321st and 907th Glider Field Artillery Battalions, and the 377th, and later also the 463rd Parachute Field Artillery battalions.

In 1943 the 501st and the 506th PIRs were "attached" to the 101st AD. The 501st continued as an attached unit throughout the war, while in March, 1945 for the 506th PIR was permanently "assigned" to the 101st AD. At the same time the 401st GIR was disbanded and its remaining assets transferred to the 327th GIR. So from its start with two GIRs and one PIR, the 101st AD by the end of the war had one GIR and two PIRs, with an additional PIR "attached".

Other subunits of the 101st AD included the 81st Airborne Anti-aircraft Battalion, the 101st Parachute Maintenance Company, the 101st Airborne Signal Company, the 801st Airborne Ordnance Company, the 426th Airborne Quartermaster Company, the 326th Airborne Engineer Battalion, and the 326th Airborne Medical Company.

A regular infantry battalion of WWII had four companies, three rifle companies and one heavy weapons company. An airborne battalion had only three companies, lacking the heavy weapons company. A regular infantry company had four platoon, three rifle platoons and a heavy weapons platoon. Airborne companies had only three platoons, again dispensing with the heavy weapons platoons. A regular infantry platoon had four squads, three rifle squads and a heavy weapons squad. Airborne platoons had only three squads, each of 12 men. So an airborne company was considerably smaller than a leg infantry company. By the end of the war ground infantry had 187 men to a rifle company, while airborne infantry companies had around 118. Thus airborne divisions were noticeably smaller than infantry divisions. Infantry divisions - which admittedly were thin on rifle strength, relying on artillery for firepower - had close to 15,000 men at full strength, while airborne divisions had about 12,000.

The other WWII airborne divisions (11th, 13th, 17th, 82nd) had slightly differing Tables of Organization, as the organization was never completely standardized during the war.