Military battalion

“ 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. ”

“ Take the training of patrol leaders and scouts for the single phase of infantry combat that we have just been discussing. I leave it to you if there is anything more technical and difficult in the training of soldiers. If these men fail the whole military operation falls down and may be an utter failure. A half dozen machine guns on a battalion front that have moved forward a few yards and escaped the barrage will be able to hold up a whole battalion. ”

“ 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. ”

“ General rule—with very few variations, the guns should attend in all the movements of the battalion, that division of it, to which they are particularly attached; and every attention should be paid in thus adapting the movements of the guns to those of the regiment, that they be not entangled with the divisions of the line, and never so placed as to obstruct the view of the pivots, and thereby the just formation of the line; but should always seek those positions, from which the enemy can be most annoyed, and the troops to which they are attached, protected. ”

“ When the light infantry is ordered to cover the line to the front, the divisions will move from their inner flanks round the flanks of the battalions, and when at the distance of fifty paces, the leading flanks will wheel towards each other, so as to meet opposite the centre of the battalion, opening their files gradually from the rear, so as to cover the whole extent of the battalion. ”

“ I am gratified to learn that a battalion of cadets 250 strong, with a section of artillery, will be ready to move on a moment’s notice. This force will be very effective in assisting to repel or capture destructive raiding parties. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Spare appointments and arms of every kind must of course remain with the heavy baggage.
The battalion guns will always march at the head of the regiment, which ever flank leads. The ammunition waggons and carts will immediately follow the troops of the column. ”

“ This battalion being placed, from which distances and dressings are taken, the others will instantly proceed to line their pivot flanks upon it: those that are behind it, will readily do this; those that are before it will find more difficulty, as they must take their distances from the rear; to facilitate this necessary object, their platoon officers will face to the directing battalion, and will then successively take their distances and covering from their then front; as soon as each has acquired his true position, he will face about and make his platoon join to and dress to him. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In manœuvring many battalions there should be a regulating battalion named, by the half battalions of which each line may move, halt, and fire: the commander of each line to be with such half battalion and in giving his several commands, to have an attention to the general readiness of the line, especially after loading, that the whole be prepared to step off together at the word march. The firing of the advanced wing succeeds the march, or the halt, front, of the retired wing instantly ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ 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 laborious work of road-making with its daily toll of casualties continued, until one day, a note from Battalion Headquarters announced that we would not become a fighting unit as heretofore decided, but that we would be made into a pioneer battalion and be attached permanently to the 8th Brigade. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ All men in the battalion must stand under arms until further orders. No soldier is to leave his billet; boots are not to be taken off, and best marching pairs are to be worn. Every unit of the company who lacks any part of the necessary equipment must immediately report at quartermaster's stores, where all wants will be supplied. Identity discs to be worn, swords must be cleaned and polished, and twenty-four hours' haversack rations are to be carried. The battalion has to entrain for some unknown destination when called upon. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Seen from a flank at the rear, the moving battalion, bending round the curve or straining to a hill, looks like the plesiosaur of the picture shown in the act of dragging its cumbrous length [pg 72] along. The silence is full of mystery, the gigantic mass, of which you form so minute a unit, is entirely voiceless, a dumb thing without a tongue, brooding, as it were, over some eternal sorrow or ancient wrong to which it cannot give expression. Marching thus at night, a battalion is doubly impressive. The silent monster is full of restrained power ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The royal artillery, led by M'Leod, and supported by the light infantry of the guards and the yagers, moved along the road in the center. Lieutenant-colonel Norton, with the first battalion of the guards, supported the right, and Brigadier O'Hara, with the grenadiers and second battalion of guards, supported the left. ”

“ The cavalry division has departed, with its artillery, its bicycle corps, its Jaegers, and its machine guns. New problems are in store on the right wing for the brave division which has already distinguished itself throughout the entire campaign. We remain alone with our battery—the third battalion of the active regiment and our provincial Landwehr battalion.
It is going to be a heavy, heavy, heavy day of fighting.
Patrols establish the fact that F. is free of the enemy's forces. But as we enter the road toward L. the French machine guns at once announce themselves. ”