Infantry divisions in 1914.

[clandestino]

I'm interested what was the typical composition and strength of infantry divisions at the beginning of the World War I according to the existing tables of organizations? I found a lot of data about tables of organizations but usually they don't have numbers of men and equipment or the types of artillery pieces, for example I found excellent book on German divisions with their organization but without numbers I can't create whole picture, it only gives number of infantry, cavalry and artillery regiments but it doesn't say how many battalions were in infantry regiments or how many batteries were in artillery regiment, also I can't say how much soldiers were in battalion and how many artillery pieces ( and of what type i.e caliber, which is very important for my research ) were in batteries, or how many machine guns were in division in total and in individual regiments. So essentially I need numbers of men for regiments and battalions and numbers and types of cannons and machine-guns, for German and other ( especially French and Russian ) infantry divisions. Since the army organization underwent numerous changes during the war I would like to focus on the very beginning of the war when the divisions still had their formal table of organization.

[Yorkshireman]

The average British army battalion in 1914 would have consisted of about 1,000 men (if it was at full strength), equiped with at that time only 2 machine guns.

Regiments consisted of 2 regular battalions which could be in different places in the anywhere in the world at the outbreak of war. Each regiment had a 3rd (Reserve) battalion based at home that handled recruitment and training. After the outbreak of war when the reservists were called up and the massive recruitment drive began they expanded. For example my local regiment Prince of Wale's Own (West Yorkshire) finally had 22 battalions.

4 infantry battalions formed an infantry brigade.

3 Infantry Brigades went into a Division along with brigades of the Royal Field Artillery, Engineers, Divisional train (transport), medical/vetinary.

Divisional strength about 18,000 men.

Royal Field Artillery brigade.

http://www.1914-1918.net/whatartbrig.htm

[Lysimachus]

A German infantry division consisted of 17,500 officers and men, 72 artillery pieces, and 24 machine guns. A French infantry division was comprised of 15,000 officers and men, 36 artillery pieces and 24 machine guns. The British divisions had 18,073 officers and men, 36 artillery pieces and 24 machine guns. On the other hand, the American divisions deployed 1917-1918 had a strength of c. 28,000 officers and men. Infantry divisions would be divided in to brigades (4,000-5,000 men), regiments (2,000-3,000 men), battalions (600-1,000 men), companies (100-200 men), platoons, (30-50 men) and squads/sections (8-11 men).

A German cavalry division would have 5,200 officers & men, 5,600 horses, 12 artillery pieces and 6 machine guns and a British cavalry division would have 9,269 officers & men, 9,815 horses, 24 artillery pieces and 24 machine guns.

Army Corps at the time would normally consist of two divisions and an army would have two or more of these. An army group (this applies for French, German and Russian armies) consisted of a number of armies with numbers ranging from 500,000 to 1,000,000 men.

Artillery pieces were divided in to cannons (long barrel with flat/horizontal trajectory) and howitzers/mortars (short barrel and curved plunging trajectory). They were also categorised by calibre (diameter of barrel bore) though British guns based their designations off the weight of the ammunition. The standard light guns used by the powers would be the 75mm (French), 77mm (German) and the 18-pounder (British). Medium howitzers included the 120mm and 150mm (German), the 155mm (French) and the British 6in. Field cannons were mostly over 170mm in calibre, with heavier howitzers ranging from 200mm to 400mm. Guns designed to level fortresses included the Austrian 305mm and the German 420mm.

Machine guns were divided in to heavier and lighter models. Only heavy machineguns were available in 1914 (weighing 40-60kg and requiring a crew of 3-6 men). Later on, lighter guns (9-14kg) were developed and could be carried by merely one man and mounted in aircraft.

Source: 1914-1918 - The History of the First World War (David Stevenson).

[clandestino]

Thanks for the info Yorkshireman. It seems that British divisions didn't have uniformed table of organization, the number of battalions in the brigade varied from 5 to 10 as well as number of batteries in the artillery brigade, but generally I'm more interested in continental armies especially in the strongest ones: German, French, Russian, but also A-H and Italian. Belgian, Bulgarian and Greek would be also interesting. I would like to compare strength and fire power of the various divisions, for example in WW I Serbian infantry division of the first line had 36 field artillery pieces and 20 machine-guns, and total of some 27-28,000 men ( including the non-combatant personal ). It seems to me that in other armies, especially the '' big '' ones like German, French etc, divisions had less personal but more cannons and machine-guns.

[Yorkshireman]

This might help, free to read online Google books.

Imperial German Army 1914-1918 - Organisation, structure, order of battle.

The links massive, if you just put that title in Google books, it seems quite comprehensive.

The Belgian Army 1914.

http://users.skynet.be/fonck/barmy1.html

[67th Tigers]

Thanks for the info Yorkshireman. It seems that British divisions didn't have uniformed table of organization, the number of battalions in the brigade varied from 5 to 10 as well as number of batteries in the artillery brigade, but generally I'm more interested in continental armies especially in the strongest ones: German, French, Russian, but also A-H and Italian. Belgian, Bulgarian and Greek would be also interesting. I would like to compare strength and fire power of the various divisions, for example in WW I Serbian infantry division of the first line had 36 field artillery pieces and 20 machine-guns, and total of some 27-28,000 men ( including the non-combatant personal ). It seems to me that in other armies, especially the '' big '' ones like German, French etc, divisions had less personal but more cannons and machine-guns.

Yes they did. Every British brigade consisted of 4 battalions. Every division had 3 brigades.

The existing regular Divisions (1-6) had 78 guns, the newly formed 7th and 8th divisions had 84 whilst the newly formed 27th and 28th regular divisions only had 54 (only 3 field brigades, no heavy batteries etc.), Territorial Divisions had 72 guns whilst New Army divisions had 66 guns.

The British, German and French Division was in all cases roughly 12,000 bayonets, 24 machine guns and ca. 72 guns (slightly less than this in the German division at 66).

[clandestino]

Excellent, that's exactly I was looking for, rep for you. So it seems that German first class infantry regiment had only 3 instead typical 4 battalions, that explains smaller numbers in total.

[Azog 150]

I am surprised at the small amount of Machine Guns per Battalion. I know those things could go on all day and lay down a hell of a lot of firepower- but I expected more to be honest.

[clandestino]

I think that number of machine-guns was much larger latter during the war when both sides got entrenched, before the war everyone believed that war would be fast and maneuver-based so the number of machine-guns was adapted to this concept.

[Lysimachus]

On top of that, being quite bulky, which means they would probably have been deployed in more quantities in fortifications which may have been constructed pre-war.

[clandestino]

The size was of importance, early machine-guns were quite heavy and unwieldy, they were usually transported on the horseback or were towed which made them slow to deploy and move around, especially on the rough terrain.

[removeduser_4536284751384]

what was the small-unit organisation? Squad, platoon, company?

[67th Tigers]

what was the small-unit organisation? Squad, platoon, company?

No major army used anything below the 250 man company in 1914, the squad and platoon were inventions during the war, and we can attribute these innovations largely to Maj Gen Maxse, GOC 18th (British) Division.

[Cyreidel]

Are there additional materials relating to the developement of the platoon and squad units?

[67th Tigers]

Are there additional materials relating to the developement of the platoon and squad units?

Paddy Griffith wrote about the development of small unit tactics extensive in his Battle Tactics of the Western Front, a superb book.