Infantry battalion

“ 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. ”

“ A Division consists of three Infantry Brigades, Divisional Artillery, three Field Companies of Engineers, three Field Ambulances, a Pioneer Battalion, a Machine Gun Battalion, together with Supply, Sanitary and Veterinary Services. Its nominal strength is 20,000.
An Infantry Brigade consists of four Infantry Battalions, each of 1,000 men, and a Light Trench Mortar Battery. ”

“ The battalion will march past, the old Colours following in rear of the column.
209. FIRING A FEU-DE-JOIE.
1. The troops will be drawn up in line, at the slope, officers at the Carry; bayonets will not be fixed. The commander of the parade and his staff will be posted in front of the line, at such distance as he may decide, and turned towards it if desired; all other mounted officers will be in rear of the line. Three rounds of blank cartridge will be fired. If artillery are present and are ordered to fire twenty-one guns, seven will be fired before each round. ”

“ The base of operations in case of retreat is always kept open to fall back upon.
Battalion—An infantry unit. A British battalion is composed of 1010 of all ranks and one machine-gun. It is usually constituted thus: Lieutenant-colonel in command, majors 4, captains 5, lieutenants (first and second) 16.
Battery.—Signifies, first, generally guns grouped and in position for action; second, the unit of an artillery command, as a battalion of infantry or a squadron of cavalry; thirdly, any work, permanent or temporary, considered as a position for a group of guns. ”

“ The mechanism of extended order should first be thoroughly learned, then the attack against an outlined enemy, then battalion against battalion. The enlisted men have little new to learn, the work for them is merely practice in what they have learned in the company training. For the captains it is instruction in team work and in tactics.
The battalion is the attack unit and as a [Pg 65] tactical unit is most important. An infantry attack is largely a combination of battalion attacks. Every exercise should be a problem which teaches some lesson as well as affords practice. ”

“ In England it was decided to form mounted infantry charged with the additional duty of augmenting the fire of a cavalry division, and of furnishing the commander-in-chief with a reserve possessing the requisite mobility to permit its being thrown to any threatened point of the long battle lines of today. But of what importance is the fire of a single battalion in the large armies of the present day? The principal drawback to the employment of mounted infantry is, however, that, when mounted, it is defenseless against cavalry, and that, while in motion, it really needs a supporting force. ”

“ When acting in battalion, a company told off to furnish a portion of the firing-line will usually keep a part in support. But it will often be advisable to extend only a few men at first, and to retain the remainder in rear until the enemy’s infantry advance to the attack, but they should be able to reach their places in the firing line without being observed by the enemy. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In exceptional cases, the brigade commander designates the position to be taken up by the machine guns, and gives directions to them in regard to supporting the advance by long range fire. A base battalion is to be designated. When the enemy’s position is visible, a point of attack is assigned to every unit. When this is not practicable, the base battalion is led forward by officers familiar with the ground, or it is given a compass direction. Every leader is to provide independently for reconnaissance and for communication by signal flags and also by telephone ”

“ In sum, then, the infantry battalion is in almost every country about 1000 rifles strong in four companies. In the United States it is 600 strong in four companies, and in Great Britain it is 1000 strong in eight. The captain’s command is usually 200 to 250 men, in the United States 150, and in Great Britain 120. The lieutenant or second lieutenant commands in Germany 80 rifles, in France 50, in the United States 75, as a unit of fire and manœuvre. ”

“ There are two infantry regiments, composed of from six to eight battalions, to the brigade, in the French army, with two brigades to a division and two divisions to an army corps. A field artillery regiment, consisting of nine batteries of four guns each, is attached to each division. With nine field and three howitzer batteries and six reinforcing batteries added under mobilization, each corps on a war footing has 144 guns. There is also added to every army corps in the field one cavalry brigade of two regiments, one cavalry battalion, engineer companies and sanitary and service troops. ”

“ The tactical unit of Infantry is the platoon. The action of a whole battalion is compounded merely of the separate actions of its sixteen platoons, each performing the separate rôle, in a general plan, that may be laid down by the Battalion Commanders, some to advance and fight, some to act in support, some to lie [231] in reserve, some to engage in a flank attack, others to fetch and carry food, water and munitions. ”

“ It will seldom be proper for the battalion to form for attack in the regular manner. When this can be done the battalion should form in three lines in conformity with its task of initiating, carrying out, and deciding the fight. In this case the leading company is reinforced by the second company as soon as the situation has become sufficiently clear. More frequently, the battalion commander will send only a single company into action, retaining the others for the time being under cover. ”

“ Those who could handle a gun and make light marches were put in the 1st Battalion and were used for guard duty. The worse crippled formed the 2nd Battalion and were used as nurses and cooks around hospitals. ”

“ A battalion, or any body of troops, which is not perfect [Pg 67] in the exercises and duties of light infantry as well as in the less rapid movements of the line, should be looked upon as unfit for modern warfare. All regiments of infantry ought therefore to be like the old 43d and 52d; and I must, at whatever risk, presume to say, that officers unable to make their corps, if not altogether, at least almost as efficient as these were when they came from the hands of Sir John Moore, ought to be considered incapable of commanding them. ”

“ When the light company is with the regiment it must be formed twenty paces on the right on the parade, but must not interfere with the exercise of the battalion, but exercise by itself; and when the light infantry are embodied, every four companies will form a battalion, and exercise in the same manner as the battalion in the line. ”

“ Better leadership, better troops, and more favorable terrain enable one battalion to advance more rapidly in attack than another less fortunate, and such a battalion will insure the further advance of the others. The leading battalion should not, however, become isolated; isolation may lead to its destruction.
307. The deployment having been made, the firing line advances without firing. The predominant idea must be to close with the enemy as soon as possible without ruinous losses. ”

“ A battery officer, on the other hand, is of a different stamp. Of the three arms, the artillery demands most in the way of efficiency and knowledge; the mechanism of the guns creates an atmosphere in which officers study and train to a far greater extent than cavalry and infantry officers. The battery officer, in nine cases out of ten, is quite as competent to take charge of an artillery brigade as the cavalry or infantry lieutenant-colonel is to take charge of his regiment or battalion. ”

“ You want this artillery to support the attack in the best way it can. The 1st Battalion of the 2d Infantry should take up such formation and movement as will best provide protection for the left of your whole line. The whole of the 2d Infantry, of course, excepting the first battalion, will advance by 452. It will then take a cut across country and then by the road which goes by 546 and 548. The 2d Infantry will attack the enemy’s right flank. The cavalry should cover the left of your own troops and make strong reconnaissance of the country to the north and also to the west. ”

“ In consequence, the rapidity and smartness of manœuvre, the strong self-reliance and individuality of the Riflemen, and the excellent feeling existing between officers and men were conspicuously the attributes of the rejuvenated 3rd Battalion. The Battalion, therefore, not only won for itself a great reputation as a fighting unit, but conveyed later the same spirit to the Mounted Infantry, for the inception and success of which its officers and Riflemen were largely responsible. ”

“ The leading regiment in each brigade is to have two battalions in the firing line and supports, the third to be echeloned in the rear of the outer flank. All of the battalions are to be protected by infantry patrols and by a small detachment of cavalry. The second regiment is to have one battalion echeloned in rear of the inner flank of the leading regiment, and the divisional cavalry is to be held in rear of the division, in readiness to advance to the right or the left. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The brigade commander of this brigade ought to detail a battalion of infantry; the special duty of this battalion will be to form an escort for the 1st Field Artillery which it will accompany. One wagon company of artillery ammunition will go down to the mouth of Hampton Valley. You have heard that there is a great party of the enemy, which has been estimated at say two-thirds of a division, and that this big force is assembling and concentrating in rear of the outlying timber. ”

“ You are acting as a support during the Outpost duty of your battalion. You are at 592, northwest of the Good Intent School House, D-7, and are engaged in driving back a company of infantrymen which is attacking you from the stream to the west. At twenty-five minutes to ten in the morning you are suddenly attacked also by a platoon of infantry from the direction of Herman. The nearest friendly troops are those at battalion headquarters. You are in a serious predicament. You at once send a verbal message by an intelligent sergeant. ”

“ 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. ”

“ On the day of the battle of Orleans, the strength of the German battalions varied from 459 men in the 1st Bavarian Army Corps to 747 men in the 40th Infantry Brigade. During the pursuit after the battle of Le Mans, the strength of the 56th Füsilier-Battalion was even reduced to 280 men.
The actual training of troops must be completed in the company. Combat by an independent company is the exception; combat by battalion the rule. By the consolidation of four companies into one unit, the battalion, consisting of 800-1,000 rifles, is formed. ”

“ The Empire is divided into 16 army corps districts, each presumed to furnish a complete army corps of two divisions to the active army. Every infantry division is composed of two brigades of 8 battalions each, 1 artillery brigade and 10 batteries of six guns, a regiment of cavalry, and a rifle battalion. The army corps also contains a regiment of field artillery or howitzers, a pioneer battalion and a pontoon company, and numbers about 34,000 combatants. ”

“ If the divisional commander finds it necessary to detach a battalion, or in an unforeseen contingency to give an individual battalion direct orders for the execution of some movement, he should at once inform the brigadier to whom the battalion belongs. ”

“ With regiments of two battalions there would be required one hundred and twenty battalions, or ninety-six thousand infantry; but if each regiment contains but two battalions, each battalion should be one thousand men strong, and this would increase the infantry to one hundred and twenty thousand men and the entire army to one hundred and sixty thousand men. These calculations show that the strength of the minor subdivisions must be carefully considered in arranging into corps and divisions. ”

“ The Battalion came out to France with the 99th Infantry Brigade in November, 1915. Since then it has taken a leading part in all the many and strenuous battles in which the Brigade has been engaged. In these eventful three years we have seen together good times and bad, but whether things were good or evil the 23rd Royal Fusiliers have ever shown the same high discipline, esprit de corps, and indomitable spirit which eventually beat down all resistance and won the war. ”

“ We were, however, sufficiently in the picture to have guns constantly firing around us and aeroplanes flying overhead, and could watch our friends being shelled in the front line and the daily anti-aeroplane shoots, both by our own and by the enemy's "Archies." Here we were able to carry out a certain amount of training, and to organize the battalion upon the lines of the new "normal formation," giving the platoon commander control over each kind of weapon with which the infantry are armed—rifle, bayonet, bomb, rifle-bomb and Lewis gun. ”