German infantry division in 1914 was organized into 2 brigades. Each brigade had 2 regiments; each regiment had 3 battalions (26 officers and 1050 men per battalion); and each battalion had 4 companies. Thus, the division had 12 battalions. Beside its rifle power, the division had 24 machine guns, and the field artillery numbered 72 guns (54 guns of 77mm and 18 guns of 105mm) The German corps, in addition to containing supply, communication, and hospital units, provided heavier artillery for the support of the divisions, with either 32 150mm howitzers or 16 210mm howitzers. Schilling, Warner R. "Weapons, Strategy, & War: The Organization of Armies". ccnmtl.columbia.edu. Columbia Center for Teaching & Learning. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
A British infantry division in 1914 was composed of 3 brigades. Each brigade had 4 battalions (35 officers and 1000 men per battalion); each battalion had four companies; and each company had 4 platoons. Thus, the division had 12 battalions. In addition to rifle power of its battalions, the division was armed with 24 machine guns, and its field artillery numbered 76 guns (54 guns of 18-pdrs.; 18 howitzers of 4.5-inch ; and 4 of 60-pdrs.). Schilling, Warner R. "Weapons, Strategy, & War: The Organization of Armies". ccnmtl.columbia.edu. Columbia Center for Teaching & Learning. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
By 1918, many British infantry divisions were down to about 15,000 men. Partially because in 1918 the number of battalions per brigade was reduced from 4 to 3, and in part because reinforcements did not fully replace losses (battalions might number 800 or 900 men, significantly below the authorized 1000). In 1917, the Germans eliminated their brigade structure and reduced the number of regiments per division to 3, each regiment having 3 battalions. Furthermore, the Germans, also reduced the number of companies in a battalion from 4 to 3. As such, the number of riflemen in the division dropped from 11,520 to 6,460; however, it more than gained in other weapons. Schilling, Warner R. "Weapons, Strategy, & War: The Organization of Armies". ccnmtl.columbia.edu. Columbia Center for Teaching & Learning. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
For example, a German 1917 division now had 48 mortars, a weapon not in its 1914 inventory, and by the winter of 1917-18, the number of machine guns had increased from the initial 24 to 358 (142 heavy and 216 light) Schilling, Warner R. "Weapons, Strategy, & War: The Organization of Armies". ccnmtl.columbia.edu. Columbia Center for Teaching & Learning. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
Beside rifle power, the US division had 260 machine guns, and 72 guns (48 75mm and 24 155mm), along with various units for engineering, communication, and supply Schilling, Warner R. "Weapons, Strategy, & War: The Organization of Armies". ccnmtl.columbia.edu. Columbia Center for Teaching & Learning. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
doi.org
Robinson, Colin. “Suvorov’s ‘Invisible’ Divisions: A Preliminary Assessment.” The Journal of Slavic Military Studies 30, no. 3 (July 3, 2017): 399–409. https://doi.org/10.1080/13518046.2017.1341771.
The Austro-Hungarian infantry division numbered between 12,000 and 18,000 men, while the cavalry divisions averaged 5,000 fewer soldiers. Each division had a brigade of artillery (with 54 guns, but few divisions had that many guns) and two brigades of infantry or cavalry; with two regiments of infantry or cavalry per brigade. Each regiment of infantry had 4 battalions of 1,100 men at full strength, although, in practice, many regiments deployed with just three battalions. Each cavalry regiment had to divisions (a battalion-sized unit) of about 700 each. At the outbreak of war, the Austro-Hungarian army had 48 infantry divisions (including seven Landweher and eight Honved) and eleven cavalry divisions (of which two were Honved). In 1914, the Austro-Hungarian division had less artillery than most other European divisions, save the Italian. The German division had as many as 72 pieces, the Russian sixty.Schindler, John Richard (1995). A Hopeless Struggle: The Austro-Hungarian Army and Total War, 1914-1918. McMaster University. pp. 38–43. ISBN978-0-612-05866-8.
seine-et-marne.fr
archives.seine-et-marne.fr
The French division of 1914 was made of two brigades, each of two regiments with three battalions, plus a reserve regiment of two battalions, an artillery regiment of nine batteries (36 x 75 mm guns), a cavalry squadron and a company of engineers. The reserve division had two infantry brigades, each with three regiments of two battalions, two cavalry squadrons and three artillery groups of three batteries."The army of 1914 in Seine-et-Marne". Archives départementales de Seine-et-Marne (in French). 20 October 2023. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
