Motorised infantry
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Motorised infantry is an infantry unit which is transported by trucks or other fast motor vehicles. It is distinguished from mechanized infantry, which is carried in half-tracks or armoured personnel carriers.
Motorising infantry is the first stage towards the mechanisation of an army. Civilian trucks and lorries are readily adaptable to military uses of transporting soldiers, towing guns, and carrying equipment and supplies. This greatly increases the strategic mobility of infantry units, which would otherwise rely on marches or railroads.
Motorised units have no tactical advantage, because trucks and jeeps are vulnerable to small arms fire. Formations with a high proportion of armoured vehicles, in particular troop transports, are referred to as mechanized.
The disadvantages of motorisation is that the formation becomes dependent on supplies of fuel.
Motorised infantry first became important in WW2 in the German Blitzkrieg.