novelraw Chapter 133: Infantry Divisions And Guard Divisions
Chapter 133: Infantry Divisions And Guard Divisions
France in the Franco-Prussian War has already demonstrated the dangers brought by army formations that are too small, namely that when forming larger army formations in large-scale wars, units at all levels often reduce the overall combat effectiveness of the troops due to lack of tacit understanding.
Most of the French armies in the Franco-Prussian War were at the regiment level, and when forming larger-scale division-level troops, the combat effectiveness of each division was not as excellent as imagined, which was also one of the reasons for the defeat of the French.
Forming army formations on the scale of a division is a necessity for the development of the current era, and Spain must also follow suit.
The good news is that Prime Minister Primó and Grand Duke Serrano have already developed a preliminary plan for the reform of the Spanish Army’s formations, and a list of the new Spanish Army formations has also been born under the efforts of the two.
Spain’s infantry divisions will consist of five infantry regiments and one artillery regiment, with a full strength of 12,500 men, equipped with a total of 248 cannons, making the firepower aspect excellent.
In wartime status, the entire division can be expanded to 18,000 men, becoming a reinforced infantry division with both firepower and numbers.
12 cavalry regiments have also been integrated into 3 cavalry divisions, with each cavalry division subordinate to 3 cavalry regiments. Cavalry divisions do not have additional subordinate artillery units, which also results in only 60 cannons for the entire cavalry division.
However, considering the mobility of cavalry, having fewer cannons equipped is also beneficial.
Next is the brand-new troop formation, the artillery division. The Austro-Prussian War and the Franco-Prussian War have already proven the power of cannons in this era, and having a separate army formation is also a necessity for the development of the era.
If relying solely on the number of cannons in infantry and cavalry units, it would be difficult to detach cannons to fight a siege war. Artillery units are different. Artillery units are equipped with a large number of cannons, and casually detaching one artillery division can deliver a fatal blow to the enemy’s fortress. Spain’s artillery division subordinates four artillery regiments, each artillery regiment subordinates four artillery battalions, each artillery battalion subordinates four artillery companies, and each artillery company is equipped with seven cannons.
This also results in the entire artillery division possessing an exaggerated 448 cannons, and Spain, relying solely on the two artillery divisions about to be established, can possess an exaggerated nearly 1,000 cannons.
Engineer units and colonial defense regiments have not been adjusted. The expansion of colonial troop formations is already sufficient to cope with the situation in Spain’s various colonies, and there is no need to adjust them into divisions.
After all, after the current adjustment of Spanish Army formations, a large number of rifles and cannons are needed, which is already a huge burden for the royal arsenal, and there is no production capacity to support the reorganization of colonial armies.
After the cabinet meeting ended, Carlo specifically invited Grand Duke Serrano and Prime Minister Primó to hold a small-scale military meeting, confirmed the reorganization of the Spanish Army, and then ordered the defense department to implement the new Spanish Army formations.
No matter what the Spanish Army was like before, in the subsequent Spanish Royal Army, there will only be 6 infantry divisions, 3 cavalry divisions, 2 artillery divisions, and 2 engineer regiments, totaling 101,000 men.
20 colonial defense regiments with approximately 46,000 men, adding up to nearly 150,000 troops.
Don’t forget that Carlo also has his own guard troops, which also means that after the future military reform is completed, Spain’s army strength will receive significant reinforcement.
However, speaking of which, after the Royal Army undergoes reorganization, Carlo will also follow suit to reorganize his own guard army.
The previous guard troops were limited to the scale of one regiment due to insufficient royal family financial strength.
Now that the royal family has money, it is natural to expand this guard regiment into a guard division and train its own ace troops.
Moreover, the formation of the guard division will be even larger than Spain’s infantry division; rather than saying it is a pure infantry division, it is better to say it is a mixed reinforced division composed of infantry, cavalry, and artillery.
Anyway, the royal family’s funds are very ample, and currently only one guard division needs to be formed, so naturally equip it with whatever weapons are available.
After ending the brief military meeting with Prime Minister Primó and Grand Duke Serrano, Carlo returned to the royal palace and summoned Guard Regiment Commander Giuseppe of the Royal Guard Regiment to inquire about the matters regarding the guard army formation reform.
The guard army’s reform references the Spanish infantry division to a certain extent, but the formation is much more luxurious than the infantry division.
Considering that cavalry and artillery branches are very important in this era, the Royal Guard Division’s formation can naturally consider integrating them.
The finally determined Royal Guard Division formation will possess 4 guard infantry regiments, 1 guard cavalry regiment, and 2 guard artillery regiments, with a full strength exceeding 15,000 men, equipped with a total of 280 cannons.
Such a formation can advance to attack and retreat to defend, and to a certain extent, it is also versatile in both offense and defense.
The 4 guard infantry regiments will be the mainstay of the guard division, undertaking relatively arduous offensive and defensive tasks. The 2 artillery regiments will serve as important firepower support, compensating for the lack of additional artillery companies in the guard infantry regiments.
As for that single cavalry regiment, it will undertake relatively pure cavalry tasks, fully utilizing the mobility of cavalry.
In an era without machine guns and tanks, such a troop formation can basically bring out the combat effectiveness of each unit, counting as an integrated mixed formation troop.
The division commander of the guard division is naturally the hardworking and meritorious Giuseppe. Giuseppe has an indelible contribution to the formation of the guard regiment, and Carlo is quite reassured letting him become the division commander of the guard division.
As for the candidates for the other regimental commanders, after careful consideration, Carlo decided to promote some outstanding officers from the current scale of the guard regiment.
As for the large number of mid- and lower-level officer vacancies, anyway, a large number of potential officers graduate from the Royal Military Academy every year, so there is no worry about this issue.
Carlo had also considered transferring Andrew and Camann, who are currently serving in the Royal Army, back to serve as regimental commanders of the guard division.
But after thinking for a long time, Carlo ultimately decided to let them stay in the Royal Army.
After all, they have been tempered in the Royal Army for several years, Grand Duke Serrano has also paid attention to them and given high recognition.
Since they have already established a foothold in the Spanish Royal Army, Carlo naturally does not want to disrupt their efforts.
Anyway, with the upcoming expansion of the Royal Army, they will also face a lot of opportunities, and becoming regimental commanders or even higher-level officers is not impossible.
Although returning to the guard army would directly make them high-level officers at the regimental commander level, and they could even rely on Carlo’s trust to serve as positions like deputy division commander.
But the scale of the guard army is ultimately limited, and their upward channels will ultimately be restricted.
Regimental commander is relatively simple, but going further to become a division commander is extremely difficult. After all, the guard army has only one division, and division commander Giuseppe also enjoys Carlo’s trust.
In the Royal Army, there are 6 infantry divisions alone, plus 3 cavalry divisions and 2 artillery divisions, with broader upward channels and greater possibilities.
From Spain’s current formations, it can be seen that the importance of regimental commander-level officers has slightly decreased, but the importance of division commander-level senior officers has significantly increased.
After all, Spain has only about a dozen divisions in total, and each division is very important to Spain.
As a division commander, one can not only command nearly one-tenth of the Spanish mainland’s army under their command but also leap to become one of the high-level figures in the Spanish military.
In Spain, regimental commander-level officers have the lowest rank of colonel, while division commander-level officers have the lowest rank of major general, such a general.
Spain’s current military ranks are divided into: private, non-commissioned officers（ second class corporal, first class corporal, sergeant, staff sergeant）, company officers（ warrant officer, second lieutenant, lieutenant, captain）, field officers（ major, lieutenant colonel, colonel）, general officers（ brigadier general, major general, lieutenant general, general）.
General is the highest rank in the Spanish military rank system, generally mostly honorary in nature. Those who truly hold real power in the army are lieutenant generals and major generals; they generally command relatively elite troops or have considerable right to speak in the government’s defense department.
Prime Minister Primó and Grand Duke Serrano’s marshal ranks are relatively special in Spain’s military rank system.
Marshal theoretically is not a military rank, but a military position, generally granted to governors of various colonies, equivalent to the military jurisdiction of that colony.
After long development, marshal has also gained certain military rank significance and is only granted to military members in the cabinet.
For example, Prime Minister Primó and Grand Duke Serrano are both related to the army, so they have been granted marshal ranks.
There is also Carlo, as the King of Spain, he is innately the marshal of the Spanish navy and army, and Carlo’s marshal rank has actual significance.
According to Spain’s existing constitution, the King of Spain holds the supreme command of the Spanish navy and army and is the total marshal of the Spanish navy and army.
This also results in Carlo’s marshal rank being different from that of Prime Minister Primó and Grand Duke Serrano; they are just all called marshals.
After the Spanish Army undergoes reform, the total number of cannons equipped by all troops reaches as high as 2,This number has grown several times compared to before the reform, which is also one of the main purposes of the military reform.
Cannons have become a very important firepower output weapon, playing an extremely important role in war.
Two thousand cannons can also allow the Spanish Army to catch up with other European countries in terms of heavy firepower, and at least in land warfare, it will not fall into a firepower disadvantage.
Equipping so many cannons at once is also conducive to the development of Spain’s cannon industry sector.
Such weapons as cannons can not only be equipped by the army but also largely utilized in the navy.
Although Spain currently has no intention of developing the navy, it is still very necessary to research and develop cannons with larger calibers and longer ranges in advance.
When Spain resolves to develop the navy in the future, the experience accumulated in cannons can also be well utilized in naval guns, and design powerful warships belonging to Spain.
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