Organization: How Armies are Formed for WarFoster, Hubert
History
Organization: How Armies are Formed for War
Foster, Hubert
Armies -- Organization
There was no grouping of the units of the army into larger
organizations, except on the battlefield, when fractions of the battle
array were sometimes temporarily placed under a named Commander. The
whole army marched, camped, and fought as one body, covering but
little ground compared with the armies of to-day, owing to its smaller
numbers. It was thus always under the eye of the Commander, whether on
the march, in camp, or in battle.
The march columns were shortened, when possible, by moving the Infantry
in column of sections down the broader roads, or even in battalion
column across the open fields alongside. At night, to prevent desertion
and marauding, billets were never used, and bivouacs seldom, but the
army lay concentrated in a formal camp in order of battle, so that it
could, without delay, form up in front of the camp ready for the combat.
In battle, the disposition of the army was in two lines of Infantry,
among which some of the lighter guns were dispersed in pairs, while the
heavier ones were massed on the wings and at the centre. The Cavalry
were on each flank. The wagon train was parked in rear under a strong
escort for its protection against marauding cavalry. The marshalling
of the army in due precedence of each unit, and placing the army in
correct position without overlapping or crooked lines, was a delicate
process, which would often take hours to perform.
Whether in camp, or in battle, each of the Regiments was separate and
unconnected, and each received its Orders direct from the Commander,
who himself personally watched their execution. He thus _commanded_
in the strictest sense, and needed little assistance from his Staff
Officers, who were chiefly used to gallop to the troops with his Orders.
The above gives a picture of the earliest regular armies in Europe,
such as those commanded by Gustavus Adolphus, Turenne, Marlborough, and
Frederick the Great. The latter, however, introduced, during his long
wars, several improvements in his army, which became, during the Seven
Years’ War, the model of Europe owing to its extraordinary success,
opposed though it was to the larger but inferior armies of Austria,
Russia, and France. Some of the details of Frederick’s organization
have been mentioned in previous pages dealing with each Arm.
Frederick himself generally acted against the two first-mentioned
enemies, and detached a very able General, Ferdinand of Brunswick, to
oppose the French. Ferdinand had under his command an allied force,
formed of small separate armies of all Arms, provided by Prussia,
Britain, Holland, Brunswick, and Hesse. These remained under their own
Commanders, and were virtually what were later known as _Divisions_.
In Frederick’s army the only trace of higher organization is found in
his dividing the whole for battle into two Wings and a body of Cavalry,
and allotting separate Commanders to each portion. In this, we perhaps
find the germ of the Army Corps system adopted in the next century.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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