CHAPTER II
THE FIGHTING TROOPS
Military Forces are of two distinct categories: Fighting Troops, which carry out the actual operations; Administrative Services, whose function is to provide the Fighting Troops with all that they require to keep up their strength and efficiency.
The Arms of the Service
The Fighting Troops consist mainly, as they have for centuries, of what are known as “The Three Arms of the Service”—Cavalry, Artillery, and Infantry. Besides these, however, the introduction of warlike inventions and the increased complexity of modern war have brought into being a fourth Arm—Engineers—as well as varieties of fighting troops for special purposes, which are virtually new Arms, such as Mountain Artillery, Machine Guns, Cyclists, and Mounted Infantry.
Characteristics of the Arms
The continued existence of the Arms of the Service for centuries is due to a gradual differentiation of their mode of fighting, owing to changes in weapons, and progress in the Art of War. Each Arm has its peculiar fighting characteristics and its own sphere of action in war, which will be discussed in this chapter. In the next will be described the organization which each Arm has evolved in order to enable it to carry out its functions in war.