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Army Units &
Sizes
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The table below is an attempt to summarise the
relationships between and the sizes of various military
units. These sizes (and sometimes names) will vary
not only from country to country, but also by the
nature of the unit and its particular circumstances.
The numbers given for men in each unit is more representative
of infantry units than armoured units.
|
| Unit Name |
Consists of [1]: |
Approx Number of men: |
Commanded
by: |
| Army |
2 or more Corps |
100,000 to 150,000 |
Field Marshal or General |
| Corps |
2 or more Divisions |
25,000 to 50,000 |
General or Lt. Gen. |
| Division |
3 or more Brigades or Regiments |
10,000 to 15,000 |
Lt. Gen or Maj. Gen. |
| Brigade |
3 or more Battalions |
1500 to 3500 |
Maj. Gen, Brigadier or Col. |
| Regiment[2] |
2 or more Battalions |
1000 to 2000 |
Col. |
| Battalion |
4 or more Companies |
400 to 1000 |
Lt. Col. |
| Company |
2 or more Platoons |
100 to 250 |
Captain or Maj |
| Platoon (Troop) |
2 or more Squads |
16 to 50 |
1st Lt. |
| Squad |
2 or more Sections |
8 to 24 |
Sgt. |
| Section |
|
4 to 12 |
Sgt. |
|
| Notes: |
| [1] This column indicates what usually
makes up the core of the unit - with larger formations
there will be more supporting units as well such as
units for headquarters, admin, signals, air-defence
etc etc which will increase the overall number of men
involved. |
| [2] Regiment is not usually a deployed
unit as a whole, but is more of an "administrative
family" or permanent label of a group's identity.
So units from a particular regiment may be spread around
within an army. |
| |
| Sources: |
| The information above was cobbled
together from many sources, encyclopedia, dictionaries,
newsgroups and anywhere else I could find, including
these web sites: |
| Battalion
Organisation during the Second World War |
| Land
Forces of Britain, Empire & Commonwealth |
| World
War II Armed Forces Orders of Battle and Organizations
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This site ©1995-2005
Phil Stokes
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