Organization: How Armies are Formed for War — John Shaqi
Organization: How Armies are Formed for WarFoster, Hubert
History
Organization: How Armies are Formed for War
Foster, Hubert
Armies -- Organization
It has been suggested that the duty of strategic reconnaissance, for
which the Cavalry Divisions are organized, might be better performed if
these were grouped under one Command; but such a permanent combination
of Cavalry Divisions into Corps has only been carried out in Russia,
where there is one Cavalry Corps of 2 Divisions (48 squadrons), or
7,000 sabres and 24 guns. The British Cavalry Division, however,
of 4 Brigades (36 squadrons and 24 guns) is virtually a Cavalry
Corps, except that its internal organization is by _Brigades_ and
not by _Divisions_, and so avoids the evil of bipartite division. An
improvised Corps of 2 Divisions has been tried in German manœuvres,
and it is expected that in war one or more of them will be formed.
They will perhaps be kept in the hands of the Supreme Command for
independent action, each Army Commander retaining a Division or two as
“Army Cavalry.”
To group 2 or 3 Divisions into a Cavalry Corps under one Command makes
it easier and quicker to concentrate them and break through the
enemy’s screen, as long as all the Divisions are moving in the same
direction, and engaged in the same task. But if they are covering a
broad front, and acting on separate objectives, it would be a mistake
to group them under one Commander, who must necessarily be acting
at some distance. In this case, the independence of the Divisional
Commanders will conduce to the quick tactical decisions on which
success depends.
It would seem sound not to distribute the whole of a large Cavalry
force equally among the Divisions, nor the latter equally among the
Armies, but to allot according to the capacity of the Commanders, and
the importance of the strategical work they have to accomplish. If this
be so, there may be something to be said for the French Divisions of
unequal strength, some of 2, some of 3 Brigades. But in the opinion
of von Bernhardi, the leading exponent of modern Cavalry views, even
the usual Continental Division of 3 Brigades is “much too weak,”
seeing that the Brigades are of two Regiments. He strongly advocates a
three-Regiment Brigade, which is that of the British Service.
4. THE ARMY AS A UNIT
The Military Forces of the Great Powers have now grown so large that
a further development of organization has become necessary. They are
therefore divided in war into separate _Armies_. _Army_, in this new
sense, does not mean, as it used to, the whole Force, for which,
indeed, some other word than “Army” is urgently needed. An _Army_ is
simply the highest Unit in the organization of a great host in the
field.
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