How many men in a modern infantry platoon in the us infantry?

Answer 1

At full strength, around 45. There were four platoons to an infantry company, and the Table of Organization and Equipment (TO & E) changed, from 225 men to a company when the war started to 187 by the end. After the first contact with the enemy, no platoon was ever at full strength, unless and until it got some time out of the line to absorb replacements. Generally replacements (never enough to make good all losses) came up at night and were placed into a combat situation in the dark, among complete strangers. Not a fortunate lot for the replacements, many of whom themselves swiftly became casualties.

An infantry platoon was usually commanded by a second or first lieutenant and had four squads. Each squad was led by a sergeant or staff sergeant. Three of the squads were rifle squads, of twelve men each, and the fourth squad was the "weapons" squad, which might be a few men smaler than a rife squad. The weapons squad had the two .30 caliber air-cooled machine guns of the platoon, and sometimes the bazookas (anti-tank rocket launchers), but at other times the bazookas might be distributed among the rifle squads. The weapons squad might also have 60 mm mortars.

The three rife squads were divided into three four-man fire teams. This allowed the squad leader to use one or two teams to try to pin down the enemy and the other one or two to try to "flank" the enemy - to get around to the side or rear of the enemy position and "take them in the flank" with enfilading fire.

Similarly, the platoon leader could do the same - he had three "maneuver squads" plus his weapons squad, and could use one or two squads to pin down the enemy and the other to maneuver around the enemy into a good firing position. This is called a "holding attack", and was the ONLY tactic taught to the thousands of junior officers the US had to train to command its small infantry units in the war. There was not time to try to teach officer candidates anything more fancy or complicated.

The WWII army is sometimes said to have been "triangular", becuase this pattern of three maneuver units available persists all the way up the chain of command. A company had three rifle platoons, plus a weapons platoon. A battalion had three rifle companies, plus a weapons company. A regiment had three infantry battalion, plus artillery. A division had three regiments, plus more artillery. So as an officer was promoted, what he knew how to do would still apply.

Answer 2

There are between 35-71 troops in an infantry platoon.