On the morning of August 17th, 1870, the 40th Füsilier Regiment had two field officers and four captains present for duty. Two captains, two first lieutenants and eight second lieutenants (four of these belonging to the Reserve), led companies; only two lieutenants of the Reserve, one cadet, and four vice 1st sergeants remained available for duty as platoon commanders. The regiment participated in the battle of =Gravelotte= with this small number of officers.[68] The 6th Grenadier Regiment, which, in July, 1870, had marched out with four field officers, seven captains, six first, 14 second lieutenants, and four cadets, all on the active list, lost so many officers at =Wörth= and =Sedan= that a field officer of the 46th Infantry had to take command of the regiment; three first lieutenants of battalions; and four second lieutenants, two officers of the Reserve, and six vice 1st sergeants of the companies. The 12 companies had available five vice 1st sergeants as platoon commanders. The 1st Battalion of the 58th Infantry had only seven officers left (including its commander and the adjutant) after its losses at =Weiszenburg=.[69] [68] KUNZ, _Kriegsgeschichtliche Beispiele_, 8/9, p. 162. [69] _Geschichte des Regiments Nr. 58_, p. 56. The 7th Grenadier Regiment lost 40 officers at =Weiszenburg= and =Wörth=. On August 7th, three captains commanded the battalions and three officers of the 5th Jäger-Battalion were detailed to command companies in it.[70] At =Gravelotte= the Füsilier-Battalion of the 1st, the Ist Battalion of the 2nd, and the IInd Battalion of the 3rd Regiment of the Guard lost all of their officers. The French organizations, having more officers and less men than we, were by no means so badly off in 1870-71. Upon mobilizing in 1870, the German army had 13.7 officers to every 1,000 men, the French army, 32.2 officers. [70] KUNZ, _Kriegsgeschichtliche Beispiele_, 14, p. 122. On the other hand, it should be remembered that in armies consisting of militia it is considerably more difficult to command a platoon of 60-70 men than to command one of 40-50 men. A disadvantage inseparably connected with the four-platoon company is the small size of the platoons during peace exercises. On account of this circumstance most regulations permit the three-platoon formation when the company is small, because platoons consisting of less than ten files are of no instructional value. An advantage of the three-platoon company is the simplicity and rapidity with which changes from one formation to another may be effected.