New Solaurora wrote:Okay I got another question. How the heck is the army divided up? So there are armies but then there are subdivisions and then people refer to the small groups by their numbers like 7th division or 201st platoon or something? Can someone explain this to me as if I was a child because I am not understanding how this works?
OK there are firstly two types of Army. There is the Army in reference to the Ground Warfare organization and then there is the Field Army (I.E. 6th Army (GER) or Third Army (US)) Field Armies will typically command several corps, divisions, and other units. For example, US First Army in July 1944 had under its command four Corps, two ranger battalions, an independent tank battalion, an independent infantry battalion, and several Anti-Aircraft, Engineer, Quartermaster, Ordnance, Medical, and Signal units. The Corps themselves commanded a total of 13 Infantry and 3 Armored Divisions as well as several more supporting companies and battalions.
Corps are collections of divisions, as few as two, sometimes many more than six. But, in general, a Corps will have 3 to 5 divisions to reduce the strain on the staff. It will also have a large number of independent battalions and companies providing additional support. These can be of any branch of service, such as infantry, armor, cavalry, medical, signals, supply, transportation, anti-aircraft, field artillery, and ordnance. If you look at the image attached, you'll see that V Corps, assigned to First Army, had under its command 3 Infantry Divisions, 8 Artillery Battalions, 3 Tank Battalions, 4 Tank Destroyer Battalions, 5 Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalions, 5 Engineer Battalions, 4 Engineer Companies, 2 Cavalry Squadrons, 1 Quartermaster Battalion, 4 Quartermaster Companies, 1 Medical Battalion, 3 Medical Companies, and 1 Signals Battalion. This comes to a total of 44 subordinate units. In the same army, though, you have VII Corps with 71 subordinate units. And then there is XIX Corps with 42 subordinate units. As you can see, even in the same Field Army, no two corps are the same. No two armies are the same, either.
That is because the Corps and the Army are task organized. They aren't fixed formations with fixed allotments of units. Rather they are administrative formations that are attached units as needed and will gain and lose units as the situation demands. A corps may start a campaign with 5 divisions, 16 combat battalions, 12 support battalions, and a dozen or so support companies and lose half of those units to other corps during the campaign because its sector of the front is not heavily contested. Or it might double in size after it runs into significant resistance. So you may have a corps go from the size of V Corps to the size of VII Corps to the size of XIX Corps over the course of a few months due to the changing tactical situation.
Fixed organization becomes important at the Division. For most armies, the Division is primary tactical formation. When you fight modern battles, you are fighting with divisions so it is important that every Armored Division be organized the same way as every other Armored Division and every Infantry Division be organized the same way as every other Infantry Division. This is where Tables of Organization come into play. They will dictate how many units are assigned to a specific division type and how many men should be in those units. For example, an armored division in 1944 in the US Army had about 11,000 officers and men in 15 units. 9 Combat Battalions, 4 Support Battalions, a Support Company, and a Support Platoon. There are then 5 Headquarters companies, bringing the total number of units in the division to 20. In practice, the Division commander has to coordinate the Headquarters units and the support units. The combat battalions are coordinated by their own headquarters in the form of the Division Artillery headquarters and the Combat Command Headquarters. In another way, these would be the Brigade Headquarters. Divisions are generally designed as relatively self-sufficient formations, able to sustain themselves in the field for several days on their own supplies before requiring resupply from higher echelons, such as Corps and Field Army. They also tend to be combined arms formations, with most of the Combat Arms present. For example, a modern Heavy Division will have Tanks, Mechanized Infantry, Self-Propelled Field Artillery, and helicopter aviation at its disposal to conduct combat operations. It will also have a liason from the Air Force and/or the Navy to coordinate support from those branches.
Now in combat, divisions will be maneuvering brigades. In most cases, these are from a single combat arm with some supporting elements attached (mainly maintenance and medical). A division will typically have 3 Maneuver Brigades, an Artillery Brigade, and possibly an Aviation Brigade. The Maneuver Brigades will depend on what type of division it is. Airborne, Air Assault, and Infantry Divisions will mostly have leg infantry brigades and towed artillery. Armored and Mechanized Divisions will have more mixed brigades, though the tank brigade will have more tank battalions than infantry battalions. The reason for this mixing of the arms in armored and mechanized units is World War II. During the Second World War, it was learned at great cost that tanks simply could not function without support. The British tried it for almost half the war and it cost them dearly. A British Tank Division had 2 tank brigades, some 340 tanks, but only 2 battalions of mechanized infantry to support them. This left the tanks vulnerable to the German divisions, which had 1 Tank Regiment and 1 Infantry Regiment working together. The tanks, having limited visibility due to the need to have armor, couldn't see infantry and anti-tank guns, meaning that British tanks, more often than not charging without any infantry around, would drive past German infantry and be hit in the flanks and rear by anti-tank guns or grenades from infantry they could not see before being engaged by German tanks. It was particularly devastating during Operation Crusader, where the British armored formations were finished as combat units within a few weeks of the operation beginning. The British inevitably added an Infantry Brigade to the division in 1942. Something that both the Germans AND Americans had already done.
So ignore anyone who says tanks don't need infantry. They are idiots.
Brigades are made up of 3 or 4 battalions, again mostly the same arm except for mechanized and armored brigades, and then have a headquarters company and a maintenance company in most cases. Heavy Brigades (Armor and Mech) will generally have most of their battalions from the branch which the brigade is named for. I.E. an armor brigade with three battalions will have 2 armor battalions and 1 infantry battalion while a mechanized brigade with three battalions will have 2 infantry and 1 armor battalion. So while divisions deploy their brigades to achieve objectives on the Divisional Level, the Brigades will deploy battalions to achieve smaller objectives to secure that larger objective.
Battalions will have 3 to 4 companies, sometimes more, depending on the battalion, but they will generally be the same arm. An infantry battalion will only have infantry companies, a tank battalion only tank companies, an engineer battalion only engineer companies, etc. The Battalions use these companies to achieve their own smaller objectives in pursuit of the larger objective the division is pursuing.
A company is 3 or 4 platoons, sometimes more, sometimes less, and typically the same arm. Exceptions are independent companies, who may have two or three arms present. For example, I'm a reserve mechanic in the US Army. I'm part of the US Army Ordnance Branch but I'm assigned to an Engineer Company in its maintenance platoon. There are two Engineer Platoons in charge of bridging operations (because my company is a Bridge Company) and then a Headquarters Platoon with some specialized people. Regardless of what type of company it is, the platoons will be deployed to achieve a company specific objective.
The Platoons have several squads, 3 or 4, maybe 5 if its a big platoon but most often 4. These squads will be used to achieve objectives set for the platoon in support of the company.
Then each squad has a couple of teams, 2 or 3, maybe more. The teams are more often than not ad-hoc units set up for specific missions. For example, if a squad is tasked to take out a machine gun, then one team might be set up around the machine gun and the rest of the squad assaults the position while the machine gun covers them. Or a squad might split up to clear two sides of a street during urban operations.
So, to bring it all back together, the Field Army will have a very general objective, I.E. take New York City. The Corps will then get slight more specific objectives, I.E. take Brooklyn. Then the Divisions will get more specific objectives, I.E. take Central Brooklyn. Then the Brigade gets a more specific objective, I.E take Flatbush. The Battalion gets even more specific, I.E. take Beverly Square. The Company gets even more specific, I.E. take Beverly Square East. The Platoon gets even more specific, I.E. take 16th Street. Then the Squad gets the most specific, I.E. take that house right in front of you.
Not exactly a simple explanation and probably incredibly rambly but its not really a simple topic. Military organization is a result of numerous converging influences and factors, technological, societal, political, economical, and even geographical. General John Pershing pointed out in the wake of World War 1 that no one divisional organization works for everything. I believe this holds true for basically every unit. No one organizational method will cover every single contingency. The best you can hope for is an structure that can handle as many of them as possible with as little change as possible and adjust what needs adjusted as it needs adjusted.