polar bear on polar ice as seen from Polar Star
 Norway, 2008

Army Component Sizes

 
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by Zweibieren
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Newspapers, books, articles, and web sites often refer to so-and-so-many Brigades, Divisions, or Armies deployed to such and such a place by such and such a country.  This has always bugged me since I couldn't understand from it how many men were invovled.

When David Storrie lectured us on the German occupation of Norway in WWII, he did it again. The Germans, he said were obliged to keep 5 Divisions in Norway just in case the British decided to invade through there.  (The more you conquer the bigger the perimeter you must defend.)

So I asked David what a Division might be. And what are the sizes of other components of armies. He came up with the following. Each level expands one of the components on the level above.  In practice, every Army has Corps, every Corps has Divisions, and so on.



5th Army
|
|



  
6th Corps
10th Corps
|
|
15th Corps


5th Division
24th Division
Headquarters
|
|
36th Division 45th Division

10th Brigade
22nd Brigade
Headquarters
|
|
28th Brigade


1st Battalion
2nd Battalion
Headquarters
|
|
22nd Artillery Regiment 5th Engineer Company
 22nd Logistic Regiment

Headquarters Company
'A' Company
|
|
'B' Company
 'C' Company
 Support Company

1 Platoon
2 Platoon
|
|
3 Platoon


1 Section
 2 Section
 3 Section


Approximate sizes:
Rifle Section Corporal and 9 men
Platoon Lieutenant, Sergeant, and 3 platoons
Rifle Company Captain, Warrant Officer, CSgt, and 3  platoons ~120 men
Battalion Lieutenant Colonel, Maj, HQ company, Support Company, 3 or 4 rifle companies 600-800 men
Brigade
 Colonel or Brigadier General, 3 Battalions, Artillery Regiment, Engineer Company, Logistics Regiment
 2800+ men
Division
 Major General, 3 Brigades, Divisional Artillery Regiment (Heavy guns), Engineer Regiment, Briage Headquarters, Staff
 say 15,000 men
Corps
 Lieutenant General, 4 Divisions and a Headquarters
 ~70,000 men
Army
 General, 3 or 4 Corps
 200-300 thousand men
(Note that in this man's army there are no women.)

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3 Jul 2008  09:15 PM
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