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Old March 1st, 2008, 12:49 AM
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Default the divisional system

Well ,actually, the divisional system is not really at its peak. They are only spearheads (the iraq war where they were only a few division).

The system was at is peak during world war I (192 divisions for Germany in 1917) but in world war II it was a bit more complex. The german army still used it importantly (but the german division is smaller than the american, no ?) as did the soviets (agains small divisions, les than 12000 men for the biggest) and the american.

But the british have very few division, no (35 I saw)? And the french used 85 divisions in 1940 and only 19 in 1945 (yes the army was smaller but numbered 1,300,000 personnel, the half of 1940 army, but it is true that many units were still on training). When you analyze the composition of french army on the front (412,000 in 1945 i saw in an other topic) or british army, you see that they are many non-divisional units.

What do you think about this and what do you think about the divisional system?
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Old March 1st, 2008, 07:20 AM
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Default Re: the divisional system

Well Britain doesn't really use the 'divisional system' in the same way the US, Germany and the USSR did. Instead most units are identified by their regiment and various regiments will contribute however many of their battallions to a brigade which will be part of a division with all it's associated resources.

The system has various pros and cons, since most of the regiments have a long and impressive history often dating back hundreds of years, usually associated with a particular area of the nation which helps to build cameraderie and pride. It also means that entire regiments will train in a particular role without having to provide resources such as artillery, signallers, engineers or logistics, all of which are provided from outside by the various corps. It works well enough for us I reckon and is good for giving soldiers a sense of identity, I've yet to meet anyone (outside HQ) who identified themself by their division over their regiment. Incidentally, I just noticed that my Brigade (15 North East, part of 2 Div) is the biggest in the British army at the mo and has 10,500 members, which I suppose makes a British division quite big.
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