ARMY DIVISIONS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 22, 9 November 1943, Page 3

ARMY DIVISIONS

COMPLETELY EQUIPPED FIGHTING UNITS MEN AND EQUIPMENT The unit of calculation of the strength of land forces is almost invariably the "division."' Thus Mr Churchill may say the. Germans have 200 divisions on the Russian front. Unfortunately, the "division" as a form of measurement is not internationally uniform, and it may, moreover, vary from time to time, according to losses sustained and lack of replacement, but for rough reckoning the. division is usually counted as 1.'.000 men. It is a little army in itself, complete in all arms and services. . 'I'lllis a British, division contains units of infantry, artillery, engineers, reconnaissance corps, army service corps, electric and mechanical -engineers (now unit), military police, intelligence corpA and many other specialist groups. Each division now, as the result of experience, is beginning to have its own armoured corps-—tanks. etc. There are also the Army Co-opera-tion aircraft, and the tendency is to make the division a complete fighting unit in every respect. This may result in the full strength of a division mounting beyond l.">, 000. Development is a continuous process in the course of warfare., with improvements dictated by experience and. special armament designed to serve special purposes. The. equipment of a division for modern war is beyond description in limited space. It includes nearly 23.000 separate items. The individual unit; the infantry fighting man, carries GOlb of kit, including a pack containing personal necessities, tin hat. rifle,. two hand grenades, and 50 rounds of small arms ammunition. A division going overseas takes over 9000 vehicles with it, not including tanks. Five divisions may use daily 100 tons, of spare parts, some hundreds of tons of ammunition,, 1000 tons of engineering storey such as quarrying paint, huts, sheds-, bridging material, and 601) tons of food. In North Africa the fighting army was issued with 2000 tyres daily. It can be. imagined, from this rough sketch what a job it was to land the Fifth Army at Salerno and what a job it would be to land a million men on the Continent, quite apart from the hazards of enemy resistance.