WHAT A DIVISION MEANS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXX, Issue 40, 3 October 1914, Page 3

WHAT A DIVISION MEANS.

SOME USEFUL INFORMATION.

It might be helpful to the ordinary newspaper correspondent,' as well as to the “man in the street,” says an English military correspondent, if a glossary of military terms and titles were published. We might noi then get such stupid descriptions as “immense losses in action between patrols,” or, as 1 read in a daily paper, “a number of French cavalry divisions have crossed the frontier.” Evidently the writer had ‘'patrols” in his mind when ho wrote “divisions”; but f° } tho enlightenment of the general public 1 may as well outline the size and strength of a division, for the word will be used and misused very frequently during the next few weeks.

In an expeditionary force a cava 1 17 division consists of cavalry headquarters and twelve regiments, artillery quarters and six batteries of horse artillery, engineer headquarters and four field troops of Royal Engineers a signals company, four field ambulances, and a baggage train. That perhaps does not. convey a great deal to the uninitiated, but in horses, men, and vehicles it is as follows :

Horses and men . ... 9778 Horses ... 9945 Machine guns ... 24 Thirteen-pounders ... 24 Ammunition waggons... 72 Motor-cars ... ... 20 Two-horso vehicles ... 158 Four-horse vehicles ... 284 Six-horse vehicles ... 81 Bicycles , ... 197 -

It will be recognised at once that to speak casually of a number of such divisions crossing the frontier is the height of absurdity. In case similar mistakes regarding Army Divisions should be made, I will set out in full the war strength of a British Army Division.

u j It will contain divisional headquarters and twelve infantry regiments, artillery headquarters, nine batteries of 18-pounders, two batteries of Sin. howitzers, or three batteries of 4.5 in., a heavy battery of siege guns, a divisional ammunition column, headquarters and two field companies of Royal Engineers, a signals company, two mounted infantry companies, three field ambulances of sixteen waggons each, arid the inevitable baggage train. On the road, with the infantry in columns of “fours,” and the guns at statutory intervals, a division would measure twelve miles from van to rearguard. Its components are:—

Officers and men ... 19,111 Horses ... .?. 6,773 Machine-grins ... 21 Field guns (181 b) • ... 54 Howitzers ... ... 12 “Long Toms” ... 4 Ammunition waggons 198 Motor cars ... .8 Two-horse waggons ... 274 Four-horse waggons 232 Six-horse waggons ... ,241 Bicycles, ... ... 135

“Division,” however, is an elastic, term. The figures above' show the prescribed'war “establishment,” but on active .service there are many departures from the text-books.

The details, however, may suffice to stay public clamour, when it begins to ask why our Generals, or the Generals of our allies, do not move faster. It may also help the,public in the calculation of the movements of troops if it will remember that on the average an Army Division marches sixteen miles a day, although occasionally its units cover twice that distance.