Mechanized infantry are infantry troops provided with trucks, armored personnel carriers (APCs), or infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) for transport and combat. Their support weapons are also provided with motorized transport, or else built directly into combat vehicles, in order to keep pace with the mechanized infantrymen in combat. For units equipped with most types of APC or any type of IFV, fire support weapons such as machineguns, autocannons, or small-bore direct-fire howitzers are often mounted directly on the infantry's own transport vehicles. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... East German BRDMs on parade during celebrations of the 40th anniversary of East Germany in 1989 Armoured personnel carriers (APCs) are light armoured fighting vehicles for the transport of infantry. ... A Warrior vehicle with UN markings, during the making of the eponymous film. ... Combat, or fighting, is purposeful conflict between one or more persons, often involving violence and intended to establish dominance over the opposition. ... A machine gun is a fully-automatic firearm that is capable of firing bullets in rapid succession. ... M242 Bushmaster autocannon on an M2 Bradley. ... Loading a WW1 British 15 in (381 mm) howitzer 155 mm M198 Howitzer A howitzer or hauwitzer is a type of field artillery. ...

History

Mechanized infantry was introduced between World War I and World War II, when French and later German infantry were first provided with trucks or custom built half-tracked and motorized transport for their support units, resulting in highly mobile formations that could keep pace with armored formations when exploiting breakthroughs in Blitzkrieg-style offensives. As World War II progressed, the Germans integrated tanks or assault guns with mechanized infantry as combined arms Panzergrenadier Divisions, providing mobile anti-tank defense and close-up direct fire support for the infantry. World War I was primarily a European conflict with many facets: immense human sacrifice, stalemate trench warfare, and the use of new, devastating weapons - tanks, aircraft, machineguns, and poison gas. ... World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons like the atom bomb World War II, also known as the Second World War, was by far the bloodiest, most expensive, and most significant war in... M3 Half-track A half-track is a civilian or military vehicle with regular wheels on the front for steering, and caterpillar tracks on the back to propel the vehicle and carry most of the load. ... Blitzkrieg relied on close co-operation between infantry and panzers (tanks). ... The Brummbar was a German assault gun used in World War II An assault gun is an armoured fighting vehicle similar to a tank, but typically does not have a traversable turret, and may have an open roof. ... Combined arms is an approach to warfare which seeks to integrate different arms of a military to achieve mutually complementary effects. ... This article needs cleanup. ... A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of around ten to fifteen thousand soldiers. ... Anti-tank, or simply AT, refers to any method of combating military armored fighting vehicles, notably tanks. ...

Most other armies of the period also fielded mechanized infantry in units up to brigade in size. Their armored divisions and some armored brigades also included a mechanized infantry element for combined arms support. Like the Germans, the Soviet army fielded division-sized mechanized infantry units which they called Mechanized Corps, usually consisting of one tank brigade and three mechanized infantry brigades, plus artillery and other support units. New Zealand fielded a division that was sent to Italy, with an organization intermediate between an armored division and a mechanized infantry division. Red Army flag The short forms Red Army and RKKA refer to the Workers and Peasants Red Army, (Рабоче-Крестьянская Красная Армия - Raboche-Krestyanskaya Krasnaya Armiya in Russian), the armed forces organised by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918. ...

In the post-war era, the Soviet Red Army and NATO further developed the equipment and doctrine for mechanized infantry. At present, almost all infantry units from industrialized nations are provided with some type of motor transport. Infantry units equipped with IFVs rather than lighter vehicles are commonly designated as "heavy", indicating more combat power but also more costly long-range transportation requirements. Red Army flag The short forms Red Army and RKKA refer to the Workers and Peasants Red Army, (Рабоче-Крестьянская Красная Армия - Raboche-Krestyanskaya Krasnaya Armiya in Russian), the armed forces organised by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918. ... The flag of NATO NATO 2002 Summit in Prague The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), sometimes called North Atlantic Alliance, Atlantic Alliance or the Western Alliance, is an international organisation for defence collaboration established in 1949, in support of the North Atlantic Treaty signed in Washington, D.C., on April...

In the British Army, the term Armoured Infantry is used to distinguish battalions equipped with the Warrior IFV from Mechanized Infantry equipped with the Saxon APC General characteristics Length 6. ... General characteristics Length 5. ...

As support for armored formations

It has been discovered repeatedly that armored formations are much less effective without the support of infantrymen; the pre-WWII notion of "tank fleets" has not proved to be sound. Though many nations' armored formations included an organic mechanized infantry component at the start of the war, the proportion of mechanized infantry in such combined arms formations was increased by most armies as the war progressed. In military terminology, organic refers to a military unit of one type within a larger unit predominantly of a different type. ...

The lesson was re-learned by the Israeli Defense Force in the 1973 war, when a doctrine that relied primarily on tanks, paratroopers, and aircraft proved inadequate. As a makeshift remedy paratroopers were provided with motorized transport and used as mechanized infantry in coordination with the armor; after the war the IDF reorganized its armored formations on the basis of the lesson learned. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) (Hebrew: צבא ההגנה לישראל Tsva Ha-Haganah Le-Yisrael ([Army] Force [for] the Defense of Israel), often abbreviated צהל Tsahal, alternative English spelling Tzahal, is the name of Israels armed forces (army, air force and navy). ... An American Paratrooper using a T-10C series parachute Paratroopers are soldiers trained in parachuting and formed into an airborne force. ...

The doctrine is now universal in nations capable of supporting armored formations. Recently the US Army has fielded both armored divisions and "heavy" infantry divisions; the organization of the two types was almost identical, except that the ratio of armored battalions to mechanized infantry battalions is slightly higher in the armored divisions and slightly lower in the heavy infantry divisions. The Army is the branch of the United States armed forces which has primary responsibility for land-based military operations. ...

See also

• Armoured combat