The “Train” (corresponding to our Army Service Corps) is for the transport of supplies, ammunition, and war-material of all sorts. The drivers and men of the corps are trained in peace-time in the Train battalions, and the wagons are stored in Train depôts.
There are 19 Train battalions and 1 company, thus divided:
14 battalions, each of 2 to 3 companies, and a depôt (the Guard battalion, and Nos. 1–11, 15 and 16), in Prussia; one (No. 14), in Baden, and 1 Train company in Hesse; one (No. 12) in Saxony, one in Württemberg (No. 13), and 2 in Bavaria.
To the depôt of each battalion belong: 5 provision sections, 3 medical detachments with field hospitals and bearers, 1 remount-depôt, 1 field bakery section, and 5 sections of transport.
Tactical Organisation.
The above account gives a general résumé of the fighting force of Germany. It now remains to give the tactical organisation of the different branches of the Army.
In the Infantry, the smallest independent body of troops, or “tactical unit,” is a battalion (except in the case of the independent Rifle battalions, where the unit is represented by the company). In the Cavalry it is a squadron, and in the Artillery a battery. The war strength of a battalion is, at the outside, 1,000 men; that of a squadron is about 150 mounted men; and that of a battery is 6 guns, with 12 wagons and men in proportion. The peace-strength of each unit is dependent, on the one hand, on the numbers required for its full strength in time of war; and, on the other hand, on the amount of training requisite for its efficiency. In a less degree also, it is dependent on the state of the Treasury.
The peace-strength of a Prussian Line battalion (4 companies) is:—