Organization: How Armies are Formed for War
ORGANIZATION HOW ARMIES ARE FORMED FOR WAR
BY COLONEL HUBERT FOSTER ROYAL ENGINEERS
LONDON HUGH REES, Ltd. 119 PALL MALL, S.W. 1911 (ALL RIGHTS RESERVED)
PRINTED AND BOUND BY HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LD., LONDON AND AYLESBURY.
The Author was led to compile this account of Army Organization owing to his inability to discover any book dealing systematically with that subject. Military writers do, of course, make frequent allusions to Organization, but a previous acquaintance with the subject is generally assumed. One looks in vain for an explicit account, either of the principles underlying organization, or of the development of its forms and methods.
It is true that the word Organization figures in the title of more than one Military treatise, but the subject is handled unsystematically and empirically, so that the ordinary reader is unable to realize the significance of the facts. In some cases the term Organization is interpreted in so wide a sense as to include not only Tactics, Staff Duties, and Administration, but any matters of moment to an army. Thus, in the volume of essays recently published, an author of weight states that “Organization for War means thorough and sound preparation for war in all its branches,” and goes on to say, “the raising of men, their physical and moral improvement ... their education and training ... are the fruits of a sound organization.”
In the present work, Organization is taken in a more literal and limited sense. The book would otherwise have tended to become a discussion of every question affecting the efficiency of armies. The intention of the Author is to give in broad outline a general account of Organization for War, and of the psychological principles underlying the exercise of Command, which it is the main purpose of Organization to facilitate.
At the same time the organization discussed is not restricted to that of the British Army, but is that of modern armies in general, as well as of individual armies in particular, that of the British Army being described in greater detail, in Part II.
Hubert Foster
ORGANIZATION
PREFACE
CONTENTS
ERRATA
ABBREVIATIONS
INTRODUCTION
Command
Definition of Organization
The Chain of Command
Units or Formations of Troops
The Arms of the Service
Characteristics of the Arms
1. INFANTRY
2. CAVALRY
3. ARTILLERY
4. ENGINEERS
1. Mounted Infantry
2. Mountain Infantry
3. Mountain Artillery
4. Machine Guns
5. Cavalry Pioneers
6. Cyclists and Motor Cars
7. Scouts
8. Field Orderlies
9. Military Police
1. The Division
2. The Army Corps
3. Cavalry Corps
4. The Army as a Unit
THE ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES
Head-Quarters
Varieties of Staff
Importance of the Staff
Number of Officers Allotted to the Staff
Their Object and Utility
States and Returns
Reinforcements
Evils of Improvised Organizations
Importance of Preserving Original Organization
The Ordre de Bataille
The Expeditionary Force
Strength of Field Force and of its Main Subdivisions
Total by Arms
Strength of Units of Fighting Troops
Composition of Head-Quarters
Organization of the Lines Of Communication
1. Service of Inter-communication
2. Transport
3. Supply
4. The Medical Services
5. The Veterinary Service
6. The Ordnance Services
7. The Railway Services
8. The Works Service
9. The Postal Service
10. The Accounts Department
11. The Records Branch
12. Depôts for Personnel
The Territorial Force
The Army of India
Indian Army Organization
Organization by Divisions
Facility of Subdivision
Staff
Cavalry Organization
Machine Guns
Field Artillery
Ammunition Supply
Engineers
Organization of the Division
Inter-communication
Lines of Communication
Finance and Clerical Work
Postal Service
Reinforcements
Normal War Organization of Foreign Armies
Rank of the Officers commanding the above Formations
GERMANY
FRANCE
RUSSIA
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY
ITALY
JAPAN
Field Artillery
SWITZERLAND
UNITED STATES
Armies of First Line
Armies of Second Line (Reserve or Territorial Armies)
Reserves
Table of War Strengths of the Various Powers
INTRODUCTION
A Sketch of the Origin of Organization as seen in the Early Standing Armies of Europe
The Regiment
The Halberd and Pike
Infantry under Maurice of Nassau
Brigades
Battalions
Spanish Infantry—Sixteenth Century
Infantry under Gustavus
French Infantry
Fusiliers
Grenadiers
Light Infantry
Light Infantry and Rifles
Origin of true Cavalry in the “Reiters”
Light Horse
The Artillery
The Evolution of the Engineers
The “New Model” Army
The Armies of the Eighteenth Century
Organization in the Wars following the French Revolution
Prussian Organization in the Nineteenth Century
Proportions of the Arms
1. The Staff
2. The Supply and Transport Services
3. The Medical Organization for War
Mode of exercising Command
Instructions
Limits of Initiative in Staff Officers
1. RANKS AND OFFICES
2. VARIETIES OF TROOPS, AND THEIR UNITS AND FORMATIONS
3. ARMS AND ACCOUTREMENTS
4. MISCELLANEOUS
Transcriber’s Notes
