Battalion

“ The cavalry regiment that does not on this instant, on orders given, dash full plunge into the enemy, I will, directly after the battle, unhorse and make it a garrison regiment. The infantry battalion which, meet with what it may, shows the least sign of hesitancy, loses its colors and its sabers, and I cut the trimmings from its uniform! Now, good night, gentlemen: shortly we have either beaten the enemy, or we never see one another again. ”

“ A man can only know his own department, and in mine the standard of a battalion is shown by its attitude to religious observances. A bad battalion finds too many engagements to turn out in any strength on Sunday. I used to feel so proud as the old Royals, every available man on parade, would march up behind their pipes and drums, alert, well-groomed, punctilious in all the minor forms that are so important an evidence of a battalion's condition. ”

“ When the battalion reappears, a few moments later, every man is in his overcoat, and here and there little knots of upper classmen gather, and there is eager and excited talk.
A soldierly, dark-eyed young fellow, with the red sash of the officer of the day over his shoulder, comes briskly out of the hall of the fourth division. ”

“ A brigade of infantry, consisting of four battalions, looks a perfectly uniform mass of men on, say, a service, dress parade, but intimate knowledge of the characteristics of the men in each battalion reveals a world of difference; each regiment has its own traditions, and each battalion differs widely from the rest in its methods of working, its way of issuing commands, and its internal arrangements. There is a standard of bugle calls for the whole Army, but practically every infantry battalion infuses a certain amount of individuality into the method of sounding the call. ”

“ And when the battalion stood in line we heard the
welcome warning:
"Breckinridge needs the help o' the corps; be
ready to march in the morning."
And many a boastful tale was told, through the
lingering hours of night,
And the teller fenced with airy foes and showed
how heroes fight. ”

“ It is a fine tribute to the British race that a newly-raised battalion, without any previous traditions, which are such assets to regular battalions, should have outfought the German battalions, trained to war for generations. ”

“ Whenever the battalion is formed in line and halted, the front directing serjeant or guide, after having placed himself perfectly and squarely in the rank, must instantly cast his eyes down the centre of his body, from the junction of his two heels, and by repeated trials endeavor to, take up and prolong a line perpendicular to himself, and to the battalion; for this purpose he is by no means to begin with looking out for a distant object, but if such by chance should present itself in the prolongation of the line, extending from his own person, he may remark it. ”

“ He therefore, when called upon to organise a young battalion, threw his whole soul into the task, and his vigorous mind rested not until he had collected around him a body of men in every way worthy of their predecessors. ”

“ The bronze figure of the battalion man is dignified, strong and reverential. He excellently typifies that band of pioneer soldiers which broke away through the rugged mountains and over trackless wastes. ”

“ In the British regular service the infantry battalion is commanded by a lieut.-colonel, who is assisted by an adjutant, and consists at war strength of about 1000 bayonets in eight companies. Engineers, train, certain kinds of artillery, and more rarely cavalry are also organized in battalions in some countries. ”

“ Such attacks are marked by absolute disorder and lack of leadership. Take a battalion fresh from barracks, in light marching order; intent only on the maneuver to be executed. It marches in close column in good order; its subdivisions are full four paces apart. The non-commissioned officers control the men. But it is true that if the terrain is slightly accidented, if the guide does not march with mathematical precision, the battalion in close column becomes in the twinkling of an eye a flock of sheep. What would happen to a battalion in such a formation, at one hundred paces from the enemy? ”

“ Those who follow the banners of Reason are like the well-disciplined battalion, which, wearing a more sober uniform and making a less dazzling show than the light troops commanded by imagination, enjoy more safety, and even more honour, in the conflicts of human life. ”

“ The story of the 23rd Battalion Royal Fusiliers cannot fail to be a fine one. Every soldier who, like myself, had the honour of fighting, I may say, shoulder to shoulder with it, will read its history with the deepest interest. ”

“ In the fighting of the week they had made it clear that the British Infantry battalion is the backbone of every mixed brigade, and they shared with the Guides Infantry one of those enviable reputations for steadiness which are so hard to gain and so easy to lose on active service. ”

“ When the battalion which has marched in perfect order, arrives on its ground, it keeps the marked time until it is dressed, and receives the word halt, the step which is then taking is finished, and the whole halt. Eyes are cast to the centre, and the commanding officer places himself close to the rear rank, in order to see whether the battalion be sufficiently dressed, and in a direction perfectly parallel to the one it quitted. ”

“ They describe “this horde of battalion companies—unofficered, clad in all kinds of different uniform, diversely equipped, perfectly ignorant of the principles of military obedience and concerted action,”—for so I hear it described by United States officers themselves—as being “the greatest army the world ever saw; perfect in officers and discipline; unsurpassed in devotion and courage; furnished with every requisite; and destined on its first march to sweep into Richmond, and to obliterate from the Potomac to New Orleans every trace of rebellion.” ”

“ Bridges are thrown across rivers with astonishing activity and dispatch; every thing in a word which relates to the movement of the army, is so well digested before-hand, and subsequently so well executed, that all the different corps co-operate, and readily succour each other should the enemy attack. The natural formation of the battalion is preserved, whether the grenadiers are disposed in front, or the light companies lead; and the several piquets come regularly up with the rear during the march, and are as readily stationed in the front when their corps halt. ”

“ Nothing less than a battalion possesses the requisite fighting power, strength, and capacity for subdivision, to sustain an action independently, to solve minor problems of combat, and to remain a body full of fighting efficiency even after sustaining serious losses such as are unavoidable in every modern infantry action. ”

“ The drummers behind me, the battalion next. Sergeant, you will command the battalion."
He took the head of the column, and, while the cannonading continued on both sides, these twenty men, gliding along like ghosts, plunged into the deserted lanes. ”

“ The battalion is the tactical unit, both for instruction in tactics and in the execution of its movements. The battalion is sometimes made a unit of administration, and forms a complete organization under the command of a commissioned officer of the grade of major or lieutenant-colonel. The more usual rule is to increase the number of companies so as to have enough to form at least two battalions, and with these companies to form the organization known as a regiment. ”

“ This is a free country, and each soldier on his own terms, in his own good time, obeys the adjutant's command. In the aggregate, every movement in the manual of arms, and many more, are attempted; in the ultimate, the entire battalion gets there. ”

“ The conduct of the second battalion of the Fifth regiment, commanded by Major Ridge, in particular, affords a memorable example of what the steadiness and discipline of the troops, and their confidence in their officers, can effect, in the most difficult and trying situations. ”

“ They have no criticism to offer if a line battalion surrenders after a most gallant stand against overpowering odds, but if you probe their minds you will find that they would naturally expect a Guards battalion in similar circumstances to fight to the last man. ”

“ A battalion with cased colours or without colours, or a detachment, guard, or relief, meeting the King’s Life Guard or the King’s Guard with uncased standard or colour, will be ordered to halt, turn in the required direction, and present arms ”

“ A regular battalion will be inspected in some of the movements prescribed for savage warfare, particular attention being paid to fire discipline when in close order. The inspection of a regular battalion in close order formations will be more searching than for a battalion of auxiliary forces. ”

“ In the conversion of a regiment, and during the various manœvres, the divisions, &c. frequently appear rear front. They are restored to their natural order by the countermarch. Thus a battalion standing in open column, the right in front, when faced about stands rear front; when countermarched it resumes its original or natural formation, and stands left in front with its proper leading files. When a battalion retiring in line, fires by wings or alternate companies, every retrograde movement is made rear front. ”

“ The battalion which is the point of formation stands fast. The remaining battalions will be moved by their commanding officers by the shortest line to the spot where their inner flank will rest, this spot being marked by the second in command.
If the deployment is in an oblique direction, the battalion of formation will be formed on the required alignment by its commanding officer, in accordance with the instructions of the brigadier. ”

“ The Battalion of 1,000 men is universally recognized as the Tactical Unit of Infantry. Operations are ordered, carried out, and recorded by Battalions. The Battalion is in modern armies provided with transport to carry its ammunition and entrenching tools, as well as its baggage and immediate supply of food, so as to render it independent. ”

“ Dear Charles,—Half-a-dozen officers of the battalion, including your own pet terrier, have got cut off from the main body, but are all alive and well, as you shall hear. We have come down from our war to our peace station in order to gather together the few hundred recruits who have been enrolled to bring up the brigade to its proper establishment, and fill the places of those luckless fellows whose flesh was too weak for Imperial service, however willing their spirit might have been. ”

“ It is not unlikely that the gallant and considerate old soldier may have intended not alone to give to his young subaltern his baptism of fire, but also to brace the nerves of the men of a battalion which, although part of a regiment subsequently distinguished in many campaigns and battles, was now for the first time in its military life to confront an enemy and endure hostile fire. ”

“ If the battalion is operating alone, the support may, according to circumstances, be held in one or two bodies and placed behind the center, or one or both flanks of the firing line, or echeloned beyond a flank. If the battalion is part of a larger force, the support is generally held in one body. ”

“ A battalion does not think beyond its immediate interests—even officers are discouraged from trying to run the war by themselves—but it did not need to be told that it had not been fattened up the last few weeks for Headquarters’ pleasure in its appearance. Men know when they are “for it,” and if they forget, are reminded from the doors of crowded estaminets and [211] canteens, or from the tail-boards of loaded lorries as their comrades fleet by in the dusk. ”

“ Yet, to the eye which can discern the excellence of soldiership, and the completeness of soldierly equipment, the few in line before the Emperor on this day, were enough to gratify the intelligent eye which this active monarch turns upon every thing. The infantry were—the second battalion of the grenadier guards, the second battalion of the Coldstream guards, the second battalion of the fusilier guards, and the forty-seventh regiment. The cavalry were—two troops of the royal horse guards, (blue,) the first regiment of the life guards, and the seventeenth lancers. ”

“ Your main body in order of march will be, one section of the signal company, the first battalion of the fourth regiment of infantry, the first brigade of Field Artillery without its first battalion, all but the first battalion of the second brigade, all but one company of the first battalion of Engineers, Signal Company A without its detachment, the field artillery combat train, and three ambulance companies. You want the river crossings of the Monocacy and the roads, railroads, and in fact all approaches to them from the east to be especially observed by the Advance Guard. ”

“ After a thorough consideration of Allied organizations it was decided that our combat division should consist of four regiments of infantry of 3,000 men, with three battalions to a regiment and four companies of 250 men each to a battalion, and of an artillery brigade of three regiments, a machine gun battalion, an engineer regiment, a trench-mortar battery, a signal battalion, wagon trains, and the headquarters staffs and military police. ”

“ But this man had actually bought into cavalry, and what made his outrecuidance the more marked was that he had come from a London militia regiment. No doubt times are changed, and the salt of the earth do their mimic soldiery in the corps which now swaggers as the 10th battalion of the Royal Fusiliers or the 21st battalion of the Rifle Brigade. ”