Organization: How Armies are Formed for WarFoster, Hubert
History
Organization: How Armies are Formed for War
Foster, Hubert
Armies -- Organization
An attempt to remedy these drawbacks was made in 1800 by Moreau, when
planning his invasion of South Germany. He grouped his Divisions into
two Wings and a Centre, which he placed under three senior Generals,
while retaining a Reserve of four Divisions in his own hand. Each
Division was either 5,000 or 10,000 strong, and 3 or 4 of them, with 6
guns per 5,000 men, and a Cavalry Division of 2,000 or 3,000, formed
virtually a Corps d’Armée, 20,000 to 30,000 strong.
Bonaparte, when First Consul, grasping the desirability of this
arrangement for large armies, introduced a permanent organization by
Corps d’Armée.
In this manner was organized the army assembled at Boulogne, in 1804,
for the invasion of England. This formed the famous “Grande Armée,”
which overcame Austria, Prussia, and Russia in three great wars during
the succeeding three years, and formed the model of organization for
the later armies of France, and eventually for those of all the great
Powers of Europe.
The Napoleonic Army Corps was commanded by a Lieutenant-General or a
Marshal. Its size depended on the capacity of its Commander, and varied
from 2 to 4 Divisions, each of 2 or 3 Brigades of 2 Regiments of 3
Battalions. A Battalion had 6 Companies, or sometimes 9, and was 700 to
1,000 strong. A Cavalry Regiment had 4 or 5 Squadrons, of 150 to 200
men.
DETAILS OF NAPOLEON’S ORGANIZATION
In 1805, light companies, or _Voltigeurs_, were added to Battalions
for skirmishing duties, thus relieving the Grenadier Companies from
this work. Napoleon then detached the latter from their Battalions to
form a _Grenadier Corps_ as an Army Reserve, to which all the Voltigeur
companies were afterwards added.
In 1808, in the first French army sent to Spain, the Brigades were of 2
or sometimes 3 Regiments, or 6,000 to 10,000 strong. The Companies had
become increased up to 140 men, but their number was only six when the
Grenadier and the two Voltigeur Companies had been detached.
The Cavalry not allotted to Divisions of Infantry was formed into
Divisions of 2 or 3 Brigades, those of Light Cavalry being attached
to Army Corps, while the Heavy Cavalry Divisions formed the _Cavalry
Reserve_. This was practically a Cavalry Corps of 4 Divisions, with 2
Batteries of Horse Artillery, or 20,000 in all. Its function was to
enable Napoleon to influence the battle by the decisive effect of an
overwhelming mass of Cavalry, as well as to furnish a body of Cavalry
under one command for action well to the front of the Army during its
advance--in fact, to perform the duty of Independent Cavalry of to-day.
The Artillery not allotted to Army Corps was similarly formed into one
body called the _Reserve Artillery_, under Napoleon’s own Orders. This
was used in one mass against the centre of the enemy’s line, where
Napoleon intended to launch his main attack.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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