Market Garden British Mortars platoon or section asset?

Hi all,

Fairly new to Battlegroup, currently putting together a platoon of British airborne for Market Garden themed games.

In the Market Garden supplement it mentions a Brit Airborne platoon would consist of HQ + 3 rifle sections + 2" mortar team + PIAT team.

However the battle order website states "one man per section was armed with an airborne variant of the 2-inch which would be used mostly for providing smoke cover".

Wouldn't this leave each platoon with x3 mortars, not just the one?

Thanks in advance if anyone can help with my confusion.

For what I know the 2" mortar was only in the HQ section, not in all sections. Often was detached to provide support smoke/fire to the advancing sections.

Thanks for the reply Maggico. That was my original understanding, and certainly true in normal rifle companies.

However online it says: "The mortar was moved from the platoon headquarters to the rifle sections themselves in parachute companies (as opposed to regular infantry companies) to reduce the total amount of men in the platoon by 3 men"

Perhaps Battlegroup have just simplified it, I imagine it was rare for more than one mortar to be used at any one time by a platoon anyway.

Probably you are right. I read on the book series "Normandy then and now" that British infantry platoons often change the assignment of the mortar to the combat sections, to increase the support fire. I think that it's normal to see changes in the OoB, to best reflect the experience of the battlefield.