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104-593: Unlike army corps formed by Germany and the Western Allies , Soviet rifle corps were composed primarily of combat troops and had only a small logistical component. Because the rifle divisions themselves were also primarily made up of combat troops, the rifle corps were numerically smaller than corps of other nations. The Soviets also formed Guards rifle corps during World War II, although these were often assigned control of regular rifle divisions and sometimes controlled no Guards rifle divisions. The Red Army as

208-582: A corps d'armée in 1815 for commanding his mixed allied force of four divisions against Napoleon I. When the British Army was expanded from an expeditionary force in the First World War, corps were created to manage the large numbers of divisions. The British corps in World War I included 23 infantry corps and a few mounted corps. The word was adopted for other special formations such as

312-510: A Table of Organization and Equipment (TO&E) which specifies exact assignments of units, personnel, and equipment for a division. The modern division became the primary identifiable combat unit in many militaries during the second half of the 20th century, supplanting the brigade ; however, the trend started to reverse since the end of the Cold War . The peak use of the division as the primary combat unit occurred during World War II , when

416-569: A Canadian corps headquarters. This corps was renamed I Canadian Corps as a second corps headquarters was established in the UK, with the eventual formation of five Canadian divisions in England. I Canadian Corps eventually fought in Italy, II Canadian Corps in northwest Europe, and the two were reunited in early 1945. After the formations were disbanded after VE Day, Canada has never subsequently organized

520-457: A MEF headquarters group, a Marine division, a Marine aircraft wing, and a force service support group (re-designated as Marine logistics group in 2005). The pre– World War II Red Army of the former USSR had rifle corps much like in the Western sense with approximately three divisions to a corps. However, after the war started, the recently purged Soviet senior command ( Stavka ) structure

624-550: A combined arms force used in modern brigades and divisions, and are no longer granted divisional status. "Light divisions" were German horse cavalry divisions organized early in World War II which included motorized units. The development of the tank during World War I prompted some nations to experiment with forming them into division-size units. Many did this the same way as they did cavalry divisions, by merely replacing cavalry with AFVs (including tanks) and motorizing

728-518: A communications regiment (or a separate battalion). In 1945, air defence corps could include 1 anti-aircraft artillery brigade or division. Air defence fighters operating within the limits of responsibility of the KPVO was transferred to the corps. By the end of the war, there were 14 KPVO in the Active Army, of which 5 corps continued to carry out the tasks assigned to them even after the war, and

832-477: A corps headquarters. Royal Canadian Army Cadets : A corps size in the RCAC is different everywhere, depending on the size. The commanding officer can be a captain (Previously, Commanding Officers of a large corps could have been a Major, but that capability has been removed with the creation of CJCR Group Order 5511-1) The National Revolutionary Army (NRA) corps ( 軍團 ) was a type of military organization used by

936-484: A corps is a battlefield formation composed of two or more divisions , and typically commanded by a lieutenant general . During World War I and World War II , due to the large scale of combat, multiple corps were combined into armies which then formed into army groups . In Western armies with numbered corps, the number is often indicated in Roman numerals (e.g., VII Corps ). The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps

1040-407: A corps is also a grouping of personnel by common function, also known as an arm , service , mustering or branch . In the British Army, an administrative corps performs much the same role – for personnel that otherwise lack them – as a ceremonial regiment . An administrative corps therefore has its own cap badge , stable belt , and other insignia and traditions. In some cases, the term corps

1144-500: A dedicated Cavalry Corps of three divisions and horse artillery assigned to the corps headquarters. In the early years of the war, field artillery was either part of an artillery reserve under direct army control or assigned to individual divisions. However, after the Battle of Chancellorsville the divisional artillery was placed under corps control, with each corps assigned a brigade of between four and six batteries commanded by

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1248-547: A number of aides-de-camp and a general staff of other officers. This staff consisted of a chief of cavalry, a chief of artillery, and representatives of the War Department 's various bureaus: an assistant adjutant general , a quartermaster , an assistant inspector general , a commissary of subsistence, an ordnance officer (all with the rank of lieutenant colonel ), and a medical director. However, there were no dedicated combat service support formations as part of

1352-447: A number of cavalry divisions were formed. They were most often similar to the nations' infantry divisions in structure, although they usually had fewer and lighter support elements, with cavalry brigades or regiments replacing the infantry units, and supporting units, such as artillery and supply, being horse-drawn. For the most part, large cavalry units did not remain after World War II . While horse cavalry had been found to be obsolete,

1456-413: A numerically superior foe. This allowed Napoleon I to mass the bulk of his forces to effect a penetration into a weak section of enemy lines without risking his own communications or flank. This innovation stimulated other European powers to adopt similar military structures. The corps has remained an echelon of French Army organization to the modern day. As fixed military formation already in peace-time it

1560-399: A soldier as part of a specific corps (or sometimes individual battalion). This lanyard is a woven piece of cord which is worn on ceremonial uniforms and dates back to the issue of clasp knives in the early 20th century which were secured to the uniform by a length of cord. If a soldier is posted to a unit outside of their parent corps, except in some circumstances the soldier continues to wear

1664-538: A total of six infantry divisions were raised as part of the all-volunteer Australian Imperial Force : 1st , 2nd , 3rd , 4th , 5th and 6th . The 1st Division and part of the 2nd saw service during the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915 before later taking part in the fighting on the Western Front between 1916 and 1918 along with the 3rd, 4th and 5th. The 6th Division existed only briefly in 1917, but

1768-630: A whole had 27 rifle corps headquarters in its order of battle on 1 June 1938; this had been expanded to 62 by June 1941. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, the Red Army initially had some 32 rifle corps headquarters as part of their order of battle in action against the Germans. Because Joseph Stalin 's prewar purge of the Red Army had removed so many experienced leaders,

1872-605: Is a division with a majority of infantry subunits transported on soft-skinned motor vehicles . A " mechanized infantry " division is a division with a majority of infantry subunits transported on armored personnel carriers (APCs) or infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) or both, or even some other class of armored fighting vehicles designed for the transportation of infantry. Mechanized infantry divisions in Nazi Germany were called " Panzergrenadier divisions". In Russia, they were known as "motor rifle divisions". Because of

1976-601: Is a large military unit or formation , usually consisting of between 10,000 to 25,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades ; in turn, several divisions typically make up a corps . Historically, the division has been the default combined arms unit capable of independent operations . Smaller combined arms units, such as the American regimental combat team (RCT) during World War II, were used when conditions favored them. In recent times, modern Western militaries have begun adopting

2080-505: Is also used informally, for looser groupings of independent regiments and other units – and without many or any unifying regalia , military traditions or other accoutrements – such as the Royal Armoured Corps or the "Corps of Infantry". In Australia, soldiers belong foremost to a corps which defines a common function or employment across the army. The Australian Army has a system of coloured lanyards, which each identify

2184-480: Is an operational-tactical formation (in the past - the highest tactical formation) of the former Soviet Air Defence Forces and now Russian Air Defence Forces /Aerospace Forces. The purpose of the such a corps is to protect important administrative, industrial and economic centers and regions of the country, groupings of troops (forces) and military facilities within the established limits of responsibility against air strikes. In organizational terms, an air defence corps

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2288-500: Is composed of three or four divisions. There are three types of corps in the Indian Army: strike, holding and mixed. The corps HQ is the highest field formation in the army. The Pakistan Army has nine manoeuvre corps, each commanded by a lieutenant general . Each corps is composed of at least two divisions. The corps HQ is the highest field formation in the army. The Polish Armed Forces used independent operational groups in

2392-571: Is part of the district (or a separate army) of the Air Defence Forces. Also some air defence corps were separate. On the basis of individual corps, air defence zones or air defence corps areas could be created. The first KPVO were created in February 1938 for the air defence of Moscow , Leningrad and Baku (respectively 1st, 2nd and 3rd) based on anti-aircraft artillery divisions and air defence brigade ( 3rd KPVO ). The staff of

2496-489: Is the highest level of the forces that is concerned with actual combat and operational deployment. Higher levels of command are concerned with administration rather than operations, at least under current doctrine. The corps provides operational direction for the forces under its command. As of 2014, the active field corps in the US Army are I Corps , III Corps , and XVIII Airborne Corps ; their lineages derive from three of

2600-702: The ARVN corps areas. As of July 2016, the Army deactivated all corps headquarters save three CONUS based corps ( I Corps - Washington, III Corps - Texas, and XVIII Airborne Corps - North Carolina). In the 1960s, the Marine Corps activated the I Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF) on Okinawa (based in California since 1971) and II Marine Expeditionary Force (II MEF) in North Carolina, and re-activated

2704-673: The Allied Rapid Reaction Corps in 1994. It is no longer a purely British formation, although the UK is the "framework nation" and provides most of the staff for the headquarters. A purely national Corps headquarters could be quickly reconstituted if necessary. It took command of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan on 4 May 2006. Previously, it was deployed as the headquarters commanding land forces during

2808-665: The Australian Corps , on the Western Front , under Lieutenant General Sir John Monash . During World War II, the Australian I Corps was formed to co-ordinate three Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF) units: the 6th , 7th and 9th Divisions , as well as other Allied units on some occasions, in the North African campaign and Greek campaign . Following the commencement of the Pacific War , there

2912-555: The Chinese Republic , and usually exercised command over two to three NRA divisions and often a number of independent brigades or regiments and supporting units. The Chinese Republic had 133 corps during the Second Sino-Japanese War . After losses in the early part of the war, under the 1938 reforms, the remaining scarce artillery and the other support formations were withdrawn from the division and

3016-934: The Dental Branch (Canadian Forces) and the Canadian Forces Medical Service of the Canadian Forces Health Services Group (CF H Svcs Gp). The Royal Canadian Army Service Corps transport and supply elements were combined with the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps to form the Logistics Branch The Royal Canadian Army Service Corps clerical trades were merged with the Royal Canadian Army Pay Corps and

3120-438: The KPVO included: 4-6 anti-aircraft artillery regiments, 1 anti-aircraft machine-gun regiment, 1 searchlight regiment (or battalion), 1-2 regiments (or divisions) barrage balloons , 1- 2 regiments (or battalions) of visual observation, warning and communications ( VNOS ), and a separate communications battalion. From September 1938 to November 1940, the KPVO also included 1-2 regiments (battalions) of local air defence. During

3224-686: The Kosovo War in 1999 and also saw service in Bosnia and Herzegovina , commanding the initial stages of the IFOR deployment prior to that in 1996. Otherwise, the only time a British corps headquarters has been operationally deployed since 1945 was II Corps during the Suez Crisis . The structure of a field corps in the United States Army is not permanent. On the battlefield, the corps

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3328-707: The Officers Training Corps . Military training of teenage boys is undertaken at secondary schools through the Combined Cadet Force , in which participation was compulsory at some schools in the 1950s. Schoolboy jargon called the CCF simply "Corps". The British Army still has a corps headquarters for operational control of forces. I Corps of the British Army of the Rhine was redesignated

3432-629: The Royal Canadian Postal Corps to form the Administration Branch (later merged with the Logistics Branch ) Other "corps", included: Canadian Engineer Corps , Signalling Corps , Corps of Guides , Canadian Women's Army Corps , Royal Canadian Army Veterinary Corps , Canadian Forestry Corps , Canadian Provost Corps and Canadian Intelligence Corps . Division (military) A division

3536-660: The Second World War in 1942, although plans were in place since the later stages of the Russian Civil War . An artillery division serves as a specialized division using only artillery howitzers, anti-tank guns, rocket artillery (MRLs and tactical missiles) and mortars (both towed and self-propelled) (and historically siege artillery) and are usually tasked with providing concentrated firepower support to higher combined arms formations. They are mainly combat support formations most performing operations in support of

3640-617: The Second World War . Beside the infantry and cavalry divisions created since Napoleonic era, new division types appeared during the Second World War, such as airborne, tank, mechanized, motorized. The Soviet Union's Red Army consisted of more than a thousand division-sized units at any one time, and the number of rifle divisions raised during the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945 is estimated at 2,000. Nazi Germany had hundreds of numbered or named divisions, while

3744-926: The US 10th Mountain Division , the German 1st Ski Division or the French 27th Alpine Infantry Division . Nazi Germany also organized " Jäger divisions" to operate in more adverse terrain. Italian Mountain divisions are called " Alpini divisions". An airborne division is an infantry division given special training and equipment for arrival on the battlefield by air (typically via parachute or glider-borne). The US, Britain, and Germany experimented during World War II with specialized light infantry divisions capable of being quickly transported by transport aircraft or dropped into an area by parachute or glider. This required both high-quality equipment and training, creating elite units in

3848-474: The 1944 Operation Market Garden and the 1945 Operation Varsity . When not being used for a specific airborne mission, airborne divisions usually functioned as light infantry divisions. An " air assault division" is an airborne division that mainly uses helicopters to transport its troops. The Soviet Union developed the concept of the specialized "artillery division" during the Eastern Front of

3952-588: The Armistice, the peacetime Canadian militia was nominally organized into corps and divisions but no full-time formations larger than a battalion were ever trained or exercised. Early in the Second World War, Canada's contribution to the British-French forces fighting the Germans was limited to a single division. After the fall of France in June 1940, a second division moved to England, coming under command of

4056-939: The Armour Branch continued to use the title Royal Canadian Armoured Corps , the Infantry Branch continued to use the Royal Canadian Infantry Corps designation, and the Artillery Branch uses the term Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery . When the Army, Royal Canadian Navy , and Royal Canadian Air Force were merged in 1968 to form the Canadian Forces, the Royal Canadian Dental Corps and Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps were deactivated and merged with their Naval and Air Force counterparts to form

4160-648: The Army and Marines diverged in their approach to the concept of the field corps. The Army continued to group its divisions into traditional corps organizations in the Continental United States (CONUS), West Germany ( V Corps and VII Corps ), and South Korea (I Corps). However, during the Vietnam War , the Army designated its corps-level headquarters in South Vietnam as I Field Force and II Field Force to avoid confusion with

4264-690: The Civil War lacked standing organization at the corps and division levels, it moved swiftly to adopt these during the mobilization for the Spanish–American War in the spring of 1898. On 7 May, General Order 36 called for the establishment of seven "army corps" (repeating the nomenclature of the Civil War); an eighth was authorized later that month. Two of these saw action as a unit: the Fifth in Cuba and

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4368-459: The Confederate corps at the Battle of Gettysburg , for instance, exceeded 20,000 men. However, for both armies, unit sizes varied dramatically with attrition throughout the war. In Civil War usages, by both sides, it was common to write out the number, thus "Twenty-first Army Corps", a practice that is usually ignored in modern histories of the war. Although the US Army in the years following

4472-769: The Eighth in the Philippines; elements of the First , Fourth , and Seventh made up the invasion force for Puerto Rico (the Second, Third , and Seventh provided replacements and occupation troops in Cuba, while the Sixth was never organized). The corps headquarters were disbanded during the months following the signing of the peace treaty (with the exception of the Eighth Army Corps, which remained active until 1900 due to

4576-673: The German imperial army and about 18,000 in Austro-Hungarian and British armies. As World War I went on, the size of divisions decreased significantly from those of 1914, with both British and Germans reducing the number of divisions' sub-units. But, while the number of soldiers was lower, by 1917, divisions were much better armed. On the other hand, in 1917, the American infantry divisions that arrived in France numbered 28,061 officers and men, of which 17,666 were riflemen. The divisional system reached its numerical height during

4680-598: The Great Patriotic War from November 1941 to April 1944 the air defence corps were renamed into air defence corps areas (such as the Stalingrad Corps Region ). The corps districts included up to 9 anti-aircraft artillery regiments and 14 separate anti-aircraft artillery battalions, up to 3 anti-aircraft machine-gun regiments, 1 searchlight regiment, 1 regiment (or division) of barrage balloons, up to 4 regiments (or separate battalions) VNOS, and

4784-553: The III Amphibious Corps (which had been deactivated in 1946) as III Marine Expeditionary Force (III MEF) in South Vietnam (re-deployed to Okinawa in 1971). In 1965, all three MEFs were subsequently re-designated as Marine amphibious forces or MAFs, and in 1988 all three Marine Corps corps-level commands were again re-designated as Marine expeditionary forces (MEF). The MEF had evolved into a self-contained, corps-level, Marine air-ground task force (MAGTF) consisting of

4888-474: The NKVD in World War II ). In a few cases, NKVD divisions were employed in front-line combat as rifle divisions. Naming examples 1st Division 2nd Infantry Division Division 60 101st Airborne Division Panzer Lehr Division Divisions are commonly designated by combining an ordinal number and a type name (e.g.: "13th Infantry Division"). Nicknames are often assigned or adopted, although these often are not considered an official part of

4992-409: The Red Army desired to reintroduce the rifle corps headquarters once enough experienced commanders and staff officers were available. By the end of 1942, 21 rifle corps headquarters were in action with Soviet forces engaging the Germans. This grew to over 100 by the end of 1943, and reached a peak of 174 either in action against the Germans or as part of the strategic reserve of the Stavka by the end of

5096-419: The Red Army during World War II, as field armies in areas not fighting the Germans (such as the Far East ) maintained their use of rifle corps headquarters during the entire war. An example of wartime rifle corps organization is that of the 8th Estonian Rifle Corps in 1942: Of the 8th Rifle Corps' 1942 strength of 26,466 men, only 2,599 (less than 10 per cent) made up the corps headquarters and corps assets,

5200-443: The Soviet air defence corps were also created. In June–July 1960, all KPVO were enlarged and consisted of: anti-aircraft missile regiments and brigades, air defense fighter regiments, radio engineering regiments and brigades, separate electronic warfare battalions, regiments and battalions of communications and logistics institutions. In many English-speaking countries and other countries influenced by British military traditions,

5304-474: The United States employed up to 91 divisions. A notable change to divisional structures during the war was completion of the shift from square divisions (composed of two brigades each with two regiments) to triangular divisions (composed of three regiments with no brigade level) that many European armies had started using in World War I . This was done to increase flexibility and to pare down chain-of-command overhead. The triangular division structure allowed

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5408-459: The Urals. A 1997 report said they were generally composed of four brigades, though later data suggests this was inaccurate. For most nations, cavalry was deployed in smaller units and was not therefore organized into divisions, but for larger militaries, such as that of the British Empire , United States, First French Empire , France, German Empire , Nazi Germany , Russian Empire , Empire of Japan , Second Polish Republic and Soviet Union ,

5512-414: The age of 54, without having implemented his idea. Victor-François de Broglie put the ideas into practice. He conducted successful practical experiments of the divisional system in the Seven Years' War . The first war in which the divisional system was used systematically was the French Revolutionary War . Lazare Carnot of the Committee of Public Safety , who was in charge of military affairs, came to

5616-414: The army. Major General George B. McClellan , for example, planned to organize the Army of the Potomac into corps of two or more divisions and about 25,000 soldiers. However, he delayed doing so, partly for lack of experienced officers, and partly for political reasons, until March 1862 when President Lincoln ordered their creation. The exact composition of a corps in the Union Army varied during

5720-439: The belligerents deployed over a thousand divisions. With technological advances since then, the combat power of each division has increased. Divisions are often formed to organize units of a particular type together with appropriate support units to allow independent operations. In more recent times, divisions have mainly been organized as combined arms units with subordinate units representing various combat arms. In this case,

5824-463: The brigade pattern were created in the Belorussian Military District (Western TVD/Strategic Direction) and the 48th Separate Guards Army Corps in the Transbaikal Military District , but abandoned after a few years. The Soviet Air Forces used ground terminology for its formations down to squadron level. As intermediates between the aviation division and the air army were corps—these also had three air divisions each. An Air Defence Corps ('KPVO')

5928-472: The concept of cavalry as a fast force capable of missions traditionally fulfilled by horse cavalry made a return to military thinking during the Cold War. In general, two new types of cavalry were developed: air cavalry or airmobile, relying on helicopter mobility, and armored cavalry , based on an autonomous armored formation. The former was pioneered by the 11th Air Assault Division (Test) , formed on 1 February 1963 at Fort Benning , Georgia. On 29 June 1965,

6032-435: The corps formed during World War I (I and III Corps) and World War II (XVIII Airborne Corps). On 12 February 2020, it was announced that the Army was reactivating V Corps to bolster the presence of US forces in Europe. The first field corps in the United States Army were legalized during the American Civil War by an act of Congress on 17 July 1862, although the term had been used previously to refer to any large portion of

6136-432: The corps. This meant that either civilian workers had to be hired or line soldiers detailed from their units to carry out the necessary tasks. Initially, corps were numbered in relation to their field army, such as I Army Corps, Army of the Potomac. After a while these numerical designations became unique to each corps regardless of the army to which they were assigned. Although designated with numbers that are sometimes

6240-455: The course of time. For instance, in 1944, Nazi Germany designated some of their infantry formations as Volksgrenadier divisions, which were slightly smaller than the regular divisions, with wider issue of sub-machine guns, automatic and anti-tank weapons to reflect the reality that they were to be used in defensive warfare. In 1945, Nazi Germany seconded members of the Kriegsmarine to create "naval divisions", which were of lower quality than

6344-406: The current 1st Armored Division consists of two armored BCTs and a Stryker BCT along with its support troops. Nevertheless, some US division types will retain their mission: The 82nd and 11th airborne divisions have airborne infantry BCTs, while the 10th Mountain Division has only light infantry BCTs. Historically, the Australian Army has fielded a number of divisions. During World War I,

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6448-458: The direct organization of the division consists of one to four brigades or battle groups of its primary combat arm, along with a brigade or regiment of combat support (usually artillery ) and a number of direct-reporting battalions for necessary specialized support tasks, such as intelligence , logistics , reconnaissance , and combat engineers . Most militaries standardize ideal organization strength for each type of division, encapsulated in

6552-416: The division often retains the name of a more specialized division, and may still be tasked with a primary role suited to that specialization. An "infantry division" is a military formation composed primarily of infantry units , also supported by units from other combat arms . In the Soviet Union and Russia, an infantry division is often referred to as a "rifle division". A " motorised infantry " division

6656-402: The division was renamed the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) , before its departure for the Vietnam War . After the end of the Vietnam War, the 1st Cavalry Division was reorganised and re-equipped with tanks and armored scout vehicles to form armored cavalry. The concept of a fast-moving, armored reconnaissance force has remained in modern armies, but these units are now smaller and make up

6760-407: The ease and simplicity involved in forming divisions of infantry compared to other formations, infantry divisions have often been the most numerous in historical warfare. Most US divisions during World War II were infantry divisions. Infantry divisions were also expected to travel by foot from place to place, with transport vehicles or pack horses used to augment their travel. Divisions evolved over

6864-414: The end of the Napoleonic Wars , all armies in Europe had adopted it. The composition of divisions varied significantly during the two world wars and, in addition, there was no uniformity of quality, even when divisions had the same composition. The size of infantry divisions deployed by the major belligerents at start of the Great War ranged from about 16,000 in the French and Russian armies to 17,500 in

6968-497: The end of the war, most armoured and infantry divisions have had significant numbers of both tank and infantry units within them. The difference has usually been in the mix of battalions assigned. Additionally, in some militaries, armoured divisions are equipped with more advanced or powerful tanks than other divisions. Mountain divisions are infantry divisions given special training and equipment to operate in hilly, mountainous or arctic areas . Some examples of these formations include

7072-443: The eruption of the Philippine–American War ), and like the corps of the Civil War, their lineage ends at that point. During World War I, the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) adopted the common European usage of designating field corps by Roman numerals . Several " corps areas " were designated under the authority of the National Defense Act of 1920 , but played little role until the Army's buildup for World War II. While some of

7176-478: The first formal combined-arms groupings of divisions with reasonably stable manning and equipment establishments. Napoleon I first used the corps d'armée in 1805. The use of the corps d'armée was a military innovation that provided Napoleon I with a significant battlefield advantage in the early phases of the Napoleonic Wars . The corps was designed to be an independent military group containing cavalry, artillery and infantry, and capable of defending against

7280-423: The first several months of the war and reformed as the Stavka gained experience in commanding large numbers of forces. 1st–40th Guards Rifle Corps formed after June 22, 1941: Corps Corps ( / k ɔːr / ; plural corps / k ɔːr z / ; from French corps , from the Latin corpus "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I ,

7384-428: The formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies greatly, but two to five divisions and anywhere from 40,000 to 80,000 are the numbers stated by the US Department of Defense. Within military terminology a corps may be: These usages often overlap. Corps may also be a generic term for a non-military organization , such as the US Peace Corps and European Solidarity Corps . In many armies,

7488-911: The hat badge and lanyard of their corps (e.g. a clerk posted to an infantry battalion would wear the hat badge of the Royal Australian Ordnance Corps but would wear the lanyard of the battalion they are posted to). In Canada , with the integration of the Canadian Army into the Canadian Forces , the British corps model was replaced with personnel branches , defined in Canadian Forces Administrative Orders (CFAOs) as "...cohesive professional groups...based on similarity of military roles, customs and traditions." CFAO 2-10) However,

7592-592: The infantry and armor. Nazi Germany organized Security divisions to operate in captured territory to provide rear-echelon security against partisans and maintain order among civilians. Structured like an infantry division, a security division was more likely to contain lower quality troops and was not intended to serve directly at the front. SS units of this type were called "SS Polizei divisions". The Soviet Union's People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (the NKVD ) organized security divisions (see Category:Divisions of

7696-583: The infantry divisions of the Heer . They also created " Luftwaffe field divisions" from members of the Luftwaffe . Infantry divisions were sometimes given the responsibility of garrison work. These were named "frontier guard divisions", "static infantry divisions" and "fortress divisions", and were used often by Nazi Germany. The Soviet Union organised Machine-Gun Artillery Divisions of artillery, multiple rocket launchers, and static gun positions for use East of

7800-474: The lower numbered corps were used for various exercises, the inter-war years corps served mostly as a pool of units. During that war, the Marine Corps organized corps headquarters for the first time, the I Marine (later III Amphibious Corps ) and V Amphibious Corps . The Army ultimately designated 25 field corps (I–XVI, XVIII–XXIV, XXXVI, and I Armored Corps ) during World War II. After the Korean War ,

7904-503: The place of the corps before and during World War II . An example would be Independent Operational Group Polesie . The groups, as the name indicates, were more flexible and showed greater capacity to absorb and integrate elements of broken units over a period of just a couple days and keep cohesion during the September Campaign than more traditional army units such as divisions, regiments, or even brigades. Wellington formed

8008-554: The process and usually crewed by volunteers rather than conscripts. The German 1st Parachute Division , which was part of the Luftwaffe and not the Heer , was instrumental in the 1941 Battle of Crete . US and British airborne troops first participated during the 1943 invasion of Sicily . The use of airborne divisions during the Invasion of Normandy was crucial to its success. Further allied paratroop operations were made during

8112-755: The regiments. These units were mainly support units in nature, and included signal companies, medical battalions, supply trains and administration. Attached units were smaller units that were placed under divisional command temporarily for the purpose of completing a particular mission. These units were usually combat units such as tank battalions, tank-destroyer battalions or cavalry-reconnaissance squadrons. In modern times, most military forces have standardized their divisional structures. This does not mean that divisions are equal in size or structure from country to country, but divisions have, in most cases, come to be units of 10,000 to 15,000 soldiers with enough organic support to be capable of independent operations. Usually,

8216-611: The remainder being assigned to the two rifle divisions. By November 1941, the Soviet order of battle showed only one rifle corps headquarters still active among the forces fighting the German invasion. By early 1942, however, the Soviets began to reactivate rifle corps headquarters for use as an intermediate command echelon between the rifle armies and rifle divisions. Doubtlessly, the direct command of divisions by army headquarters resulted in too-large spans of control for army commanders and

8320-466: The rest of the corps were disbanded. In July 1947, all KPVO were renamed anti-aircraft artillery corps. In January 1949, part of these corps was reorganized into air defence areas. From December 1948 to January 1949, all anti-aircraft artillery corps were disbanded. In June 1954, for the defense of the main industrial and economic centers and regions of the USSR, 10 air defence corps were re-created. At

8424-399: The rifle corps echelon of command in Soviet forces engaged against the Germans dwindled in the face of massive Red Army losses of 1941. The stark shortage of experienced leaders forced the Red Army to have rifle army headquarters directly supervising rifle divisions without the assistance of intervening rifle corps headquarters. The use of rifle corps headquarters never disappeared entirely from

8528-905: The same as those found in the modern US Army, there is no direct lineage between the 43 Union field corps of the Civil War and those with similar names in the modern era, due to congressional legislation caused by the outcry from veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic during the Spanish–American War . In the Confederate States Army , field corps were authorized in November 1862. They were commanded by lieutenant generals, and were usually larger than their Union Army counterparts because their divisions contained more brigades, each of which could contain more regiments. All of

8632-418: The same conclusion about it as the previous royal government, and the army was organised into divisions. It made the armies more flexible and easy to maneuver, and it also made the large French Revolutionary Army manageable. Under Napoleon , the divisions were grouped together into corps , because of their increasing size. Napoleon's military success spread the divisional and corps system all over Europe; by

8736-458: The same time, in addition to anti-aircraft artillery formations, fighter aviation regiments and divisions were included in the corps. Since the late 1950s, anti-aircraft artillery units have been replaced by anti-aircraft missile formations and formations of radio engineering troops. Searchlight and barrage balloon units were also abolished. In the Warsaw Pact countries, groupings similar to

8840-467: The senior-most artillery officer. In general, the other field armies tended to model their organization after the Army of the Potomac, including the gradual development of corps. Corps were commanded by major generals because Congress refused to promote officers past that grade (with the exception of Ulysses S. Grant to lieutenant general in 1864). To assist with their command, generals were allowed

8944-426: The size of the division rarely makes such obfuscation necessary. In the years leading up to the end of the cold war and beyond, the type names of various divisions became less important. The majority of US Infantry divisions were now mechanized and had significant numbers of tanks and IFVs, becoming de facto armored divisions. US armored divisions had more tanks but less infantry than these infantry divisions. Moreover,

9048-495: The smaller brigade combat team (similar to the RCT) as the default combined arms unit, with the division to which they belong, being less important. A similar word, divizion/divizijun/dywizjon , is also used in languages such as Russian, Serbian, Croatian and Polish, for a battalion -size artillery or cavalry unit. In naval usage " division " has a completely different range of meanings. Aboard ships of British Royal Navy tradition,

9152-516: The sole cavalry division was structured the same way as an armored division. With the introduction of modular brigade combat teams (BCT) in modern divisions, the nomenclature type is even less important, since a division can now be made of up any combination of light infantry, Stryker and armored BCTs. For example, the US 1st Infantry Division currently consists of two armored BCTs along with support troops, with no light infantry units at all. By contrast,

9256-562: The supporting units. This proved unwieldy in combat, as the units had many tanks but few infantry units. Instead, a more balanced approach was taken by adjusting the number of tank, infantry, artillery, and support units. The terms "tank division" or "mechanized division" are alternative names for armored divisions. A " Panzer division " was an armoured division of the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS of Germany during World War II . Since

9360-399: The tactic of "two forward, one back", where two of the division's regiments could engage the enemy with one regiment in reserve. All divisions in World War II were expected to have their own artillery formations, usually (depending upon the nation) the size of a regiment. Divisional artillery was occasionally seconded by corps-level command to increase firepower in larger engagements. During

9464-401: The terms "division" or "department" are often used interchangeably and refer to the administrative organization used to manage personnel. Aboard US navy ships (including US coastguard vessels), in shore commands and in US naval aviation units (including US navy, marine corps, and coastguard aviation) it refers to an administrative/functional sub-unit of a department (e.g., fire control division of

9568-530: The unit's nomenclature , with divisions of the Italian Army being one of the exceptions. In some cases, divisional titles lack an ordinal number, often in the case of unique units or units serving as elite or special troops. For clarity in histories and reports, the nation is identified before the number. This also helps in historical studies, but due to the nature of intelligence on the battlefield, division names and assignments are at times obscured. However,

9672-473: The war the US also used regimental combat teams , whereby attached and/or organic divisional units were parceled out to infantry regiments, creating smaller combined-arms units with their own armor and artillery and support units. These combat teams would still be under divisional command but had some level of autonomy on the battlefield. Organic units within divisions were units which operated directly under divisional command and were not normally controlled by

9776-628: The war with Germany in May 1945. Circa September 1945, the 11, 15, 16, 21, 22, 25, 28, 36, 42, 43, 44, 47, 51, 52, 55, 61, 62, 64, 67, 68, 70, 71, 74, 77, 80, 89, 91, 93, 95, 96, 98, 100, 106, 115, 117, 118, 120, 121, 133, and 135th Rifle Corps were disbanded. A limited number of Rifle Corps remained as part of the Ground Forces post 1945. They were converted to 'Army Corps' in 1955 though they still mostly consisted of Rifle and then Motor Rifle Divisions. Almost all Soviet Rifle Corps were disbanded in

9880-482: The war, the tank and mechanized corps were re-rated as divisions. During the reforms of 1956–58, most of the corps were again disbanded to create the new combined arms and tank armies. A few corps were nevertheless retained. The Vyborg and Archangel Corps of the Leningrad Military District were smaller armies with three low-readiness motorized rifle divisions each. In the 1980s "Unified Corps" on

9984-413: The war, though it usually consisted of between two and six division (on average three) for approximately 36,000 soldiers. After Ambrose Burnside was given command of the Army of the Potomac in November 1862, he reorganized it into three "grand divisions" of two corps and a cavalry division each, but this structure was abolished when Joseph Hooker took over February 1863. This also led to the creation of

10088-452: The weapons department). Alternatively it refers to a sub-unit of several ships within a flotilla or squadron , or to two or three sections of aircraft operating under a designated division leader. In the West, the first general to think of organizing an army into smaller combined-arms units was Maurice de Saxe (d. 1750), Marshal General of France , in his book Mes Rêveries . He died at

10192-623: Was a phased withdrawal of I Corps to Australia, and the transfer of its headquarters to the Brisbane area, to control Allied army units in Queensland and northern New South Wales (NSW). II Corps was also formed, with Militia units, to defend south-eastern Australia, and III Corps controlled land forces in Western Australia . Sub-corps formations controlled Allied land forces in the remainder of Australia. I Corps headquarters

10296-574: Was apparently unable to handle the formations, and the armies and corps were integrated. Rifle corps were re-established during the war after Red Army commanders had gained experience handling larger formations. Before and during World War II, however, Soviet armoured units were organized into corps. The pre-war mechanized corps were made up of divisions. In the reorganizations, these "corps" were reorganized into tank brigades and support units, with no division structure. Owing to this, they are sometimes, informally, referred to as "brigade buckets". After

10400-554: Was disbanded without seeing combat to make up for manpower shortages in the other divisions. Another infantry division, known as the New Zealand and Australian Division , was also formed from Australian and New Zealand troops and saw service at Gallipoli. Two divisions of Australian Light Horse were also formed – the Australian Mounted Division (which also included some British and French units) and

10504-748: Was held at corps, or army level or higher. The corps became the basic tactical unit of the NRA having strength nearly equivalent to an allied division . The modern People's Liberation Army Ground Force group army ( 集团军 ) is the closest equivalent of a corps. After the military reforms of the early 2010s, a typical PLA group army consists of six combined arms brigades, plus additional artillery, air defence, engineering, sustainment, special operations and army aviation assets. Each formation contains approximately 30,000 combat troops and several thousands more supporting personnel. The French Army under Napoleon I used corps-sized formations ( French : corps d'armée ) as

10608-634: Was later assigned control of the New Guinea campaign . In early 1945, when I Corps was assigned the task of re-taking Borneo , II Corps took over in New Guinea. Canada first fielded a corps-sized formation in the First World War; the Canadian Corps was unique in that its composition did not change from inception to the war's end, in contrast to British corps in France and Flanders. The Canadian Corps consisted of four Canadian divisions. After

10712-527: Was raised in 1914, consisting of Australian and New Zealand troops, who went on to fight at Gallipoli in 1915. In early 1916, the original corps was reorganized and two corps were raised: I ANZAC Corps and II ANZAC Corps . In the later stages of World War I, the five infantry divisions of the First Australian Imperial Force (AIF)—consisting entirely of personnel who had volunteered for service overseas—were united as

10816-413: Was used almost in all European armies after Battle of Ulm in 1805. In Prussia it was introduced by Order of His Majesty ( German : Allerhöchste Kabinetts-Order ) from 5 November 1816, in order to strengthen the readiness to war. The Indian Army has 14 corps , each commanded by a general officer commanding (GOC), known as the corps commander, who holds the rank of lieutenant general . Each corps

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