The distribution of the other officers of different ranks, when it has not been made by the minister of war, is regulated by the chief of the general staff.
In every division of the army an officer of the staff is specially charged with the office work; the others assist him when necessary, but they are more usually employed in general staff duties, in reconnaissances, drawing plans of ground, missions, the arrangement of camps and cantonments, superintending the distribution of the rations, &c.
The officers of the staff may further be charged with the direction of field-works thrown up to cover camps and cantonments.
Staff officers of all ranks may be employed on posts and detachments. On special missions they command all other officers of the same rank employed with them. When a staff officer is charged with the direction of an expedition or a reconnaissance, without having the command of the troops, the officer in command concerts with him in all the dispositions it may be necessary to make to ensure the success of the operation.
The staff of generals of artillery and of engineers is composed of officers of their respective arms.
[The war depot] (Dépôt de la Guerre) was founded for the purpose of collecting and preserving military historical papers, reconnaissances, memoirs, and plans of battles; to preserve plans and MSS. maps useful for military purposes, and to have them copied and published.
It is divided into two s—one charged with trigonometrical surveying, topography, plan drawing, and engraving; the other with historical composition, military statistics, the care of the library, the archives, plans, and maps. Each of these s is under the direction of a colonel of the staff corps, who has under his orders several officers of his corps.
The war depot has taken a large share in the preparation of the map of France. The first idea of undertaking this important work dates from 1808. After various delays and difficulties, the trigonometrical survey, which had been for a time suspended, was recommenced in 1818. The work was placed under the war depot, intrusted to the corps of geographical engineers. Since this period the geographical engineers have been incorporated in the staff corps, by the officers of which the work has been continued. The primary triangulation was finished in 1845; the secondary is now finished; the filling in the details will occupy several years to come. The number of officers of the staff corps employed on the survey has varied from twenty-six to ninety.
[THE STAFF CORPS.]
The officers of the French staff constitute a distinct and separate corps, numbering thirty-five colonels, thirty-five lieutenant-colonels, one hundred and ten majors, three hundred and thirty captains, and one hundred lieutenants. None but officers of this corps can be employed on the staff. When, by accident, there is not a sufficient number present, regimental officers may be temporarily employed, but they return to their regiments as soon as officers of the staff corps arrive to replace them. The division of the staff into adjutant-general’s and quartermaster-general’s department does not exist in the French service.