Rise of Empires: Spain

Chapter 133 Infantry Division and Guards Division

Franco-Prussian War France has shown the harm of too small army organization, that is, when forming a larger army organization in a large-scale war, the troops at all levels often lack tacit understanding, thus reducing the combat effectiveness of the entire army.

Most of the French troops in the Franco-Prussian War were at the regiment level. When forming a larger division-level unit, the combat effectiveness of each division was not as good as expected, which was one of the reasons for the failure of the French.

The establishment of a division-scale army organization is a must for the development of the current era, and Spain must also follow the trend.

The good news is that Prime Minister Primo and Archduke Serrano have a preliminary plan for the reform of the Spanish army organization, and a new list of Spanish army organization has been born under the efforts of the two.

The Spanish infantry division will consist of five infantry regiments and one artillery regiment, with a full strength of 12,500 people and a total of 248 artillery pieces, which is excellent in firepower.

In wartime, the entire division can be expanded to 18,000 people, becoming a reinforced infantry division with firepower and numbers.

The 12 cavalry regiments have also been integrated into three cavalry divisions, each of which has three cavalry regiments. The cavalry division does not have an additional artillery unit, which also results in the entire cavalry division having only 60 artillery pieces.

However, considering the mobility of the cavalry, it is also beneficial to have less artillery equipment.

The next step is a brand new troop organization, the artillery division. The Austro-Prussian War and the Franco-Prussian War have proved the power of artillery in this era, and having a separate army organization is also a necessity for the development of the times.

If you only rely on the number of artillery pieces in the infantry and cavalry units, it is difficult to remove the artillery to fight a siege. The artillery unit is different. The artillery unit is equipped with a large number of artillery pieces. Any artillery division can cause a fatal blow to the enemy's fortress.

The Spanish artillery division has four artillery regiments, each artillery regiment has four artillery battalions, each artillery battalion has four artillery companies, and each artillery company is equipped with seven artillery pieces.

This also means that the entire artillery division will have an exaggerated 448 artillery pieces. Spain can have an exaggerated nearly 1,000 artillery pieces with just the two artillery divisions that are about to be established.

The engineering corps and colonial garrison regiments have not been adjusted. The expansion of the colonial corps is enough to cope with the situation in the Spanish colonies, and there is no need to adjust it to a division.

After all, the current Spanish army needs a large number of rifles and artillery after the adjustment of the organization, which is already a huge burden for the Royal Arsenal, and there is no production capacity to support the reorganization of the colonial army.

After the cabinet meeting, Carlo specially invited Archduke Serrano and Prime Minister Primo to hold a small-scale military meeting. After confirming the reorganization of the Spanish army, he ordered the defense department to implement the new Spanish army organization.

No matter what the Spanish army was like before, in the future Spanish Royal Army, there will only be 6 infantry divisions, 3 cavalry divisions, 2 artillery divisions and 2 engineering corps with a total of 101,000 troops.

The 20 Colonial Garrison Regiments have an army of about 46,000 people, and the two together are close to 150,000 troops.

Don't forget that Carlo also has his own guards, which also means that after the completion of the future military reform, the strength of the army will be greatly strengthened.

But then again, after the Royal Army was reorganized, Carlo also had to reorganize his own Guards.

The previous Guards were limited to a regiment because of the lack of financial resources of the royal family.

Now that the royal family has money, it is natural to expand this Guards Regiment into a Guards Division and train its own ace troops.

Moreover, the establishment of the Guards Division will be larger than that of the Spanish Infantry Division. Rather than being a pure infantry division, it is better to say that it is a mixed reinforcement division composed of infantry, cavalry and artillery.

Anyway, the royal family has abundant funds, and at present, only one Guards Division is needed, so naturally it will be equipped with whatever weapons it can be equipped with.

After a brief military meeting with Prime Minister Primo and Archduke Serrano, Carlo returned to the palace and summoned the head of the Royal Guards, Jordi, to inquire about the reform of the Guards establishment.

The reform of the Guards was based on the Spanish Infantry Division to a certain extent, but the establishment is much more luxurious than that of the Infantry Division.

Considering that both cavalry and artillery are important in this era, the organization of the Royal Guards Division can naturally consider integrating them.

The final organization of the Royal Guards Division will have 4 Guards Infantry Regiments, 1 Guards Cavalry Regiment and 2 Guards Artillery Regiments, with a full staff of more than 15,000 people and a total of 280 artillery pieces.

Such an organization can be said to be offensive and defensive, and to a certain extent, it can be regarded as both offensive and defensive.

The 4 Guards Infantry Regiments will be the main force of the Guards Division, undertaking more difficult offensive and defensive tasks. The 2 artillery regiments will serve as important firepower support to make up for the lack of additional artillery companies in the Guards Infantry Regiment.

As for the separate cavalry regiment, it will undertake more pure cavalry tasks and give full play to the mobility of the cavalry.

In the era when there were no machine guns and tanks, such a troop organization can basically exert the combat effectiveness of each unit, and it can be regarded as a fusion of mixed units.

The commander of the Guards Division is naturally Jyoti, who has made great contributions. Jyoti made an indelible contribution to the formation of the Guards Regiment, so Carlo was quite relieved to have him become the commander of the Guards Division.

As for the other candidates for the captains, after careful consideration, Carlo decided to promote some officers with outstanding performance above the current size of the Guards.     As for the large number of vacant middle and lower-level officers, there are a large number of potential officers graduating from the Royal Military Academy every year, so there is no need to worry about this problem.

Carlo did consider transferring Andrew and Kaman, who are currently serving in the Royal Army, back to serve as the captain of the Guards Division.

But after thinking for a long time, Carlo finally decided to let them stay in the Royal Army.

After all, they have been tempered in the Royal Army for several years, and Archduke Serrano has also paid attention to them and given them high recognition.

Since they have already established a foothold in the Spanish Royal Army, Carlo is naturally unwilling to undermine their efforts.

Anyway, with the expansion of the Royal Army, they will also face a lot of opportunities, and it may not be impossible to become a captain or even a higher-level officer.

Although returning to the Guards can directly become a senior officer at the level of a captain, they can even serve as a deputy division commander with Carlo's trust.

But the size of the Guards is limited after all, and their channels for promotion will eventually be restricted.

It is easy to be a regiment commander, but it is difficult to become a division commander. After all, the Guards only have one division, and the division commander, Jyoti, is also trusted by Carlo.

There are 6 infantry divisions in the Royal Army alone, as well as 3 cavalry divisions and 2 artillery divisions. The channels for promotion will be wider and there will be greater possibilities.

From the current Spanish organization, it can be seen that the importance of officers at the regiment level has been slightly reduced, but the importance of senior officers at the division level has been greatly increased.

After all, there are only a dozen divisions in the whole of Spain, and each division is very important to Spain.

As a division commander, he can not only command nearly one-tenth of the army in Spain, but also become one of the top leaders of the Spanish military.

In Spain, the lowest rank of officers at the regiment level is colonel, and the lowest rank of officers at the division level is major general.

At present, the military ranks in Spain are divided into: privates, non-commissioned officers (second-class corporal, first-class corporal, sergeant, sergeant), lieutenants (warrant officer, second lieutenant, lieutenant, captain), colonels (major, lieutenant colonel, colonel), generals (brigadier general, major general, lieutenant general, general).

General is the highest-ranking military rank in Spain, and is generally honorary. The real power in the army is the lieutenant general and major general. They generally command more elite troops or have a higher voice in the defense department of the government.

The marshal rank of Prime Minister Primo and Archduke Serrano is quite special in the Spanish military rank system.

In theory, the marshal is not a military rank, but a military position, which is generally awarded to the governor of each colony, equivalent to the military jurisdiction of the colony.

After a long period of development, the marshal also has a certain military rank significance, and is only awarded to military members in the cabinet.

For example, Prime Minister Primo and Archduke Serrano, they are also related to the army, so they were naturally awarded the rank of marshal.

There is also Carlo, as the king of Spain, he is born to be the marshal of the Spanish navy and army, and Carlo's rank of marshal has practical significance.

According to the current constitutional provisions of Spain, the King of Spain has the supreme command of the Spanish navy and army, and is the chief marshal of the Spanish navy and army.

This also leads to Carlo's rank of marshal being different from that of Prime Minister Primo and Archduke Serrano, but they are all called marshals.

After the reform of the Spanish army, the total number of artillery equipped by all armies is as high as 2008. This number has increased several times compared to before the reform, and it is also one of the main purposes of the military reform.

Artillery has become a very important firepower output weapon and plays an extremely important role in war.

Two thousand artillery can also allow the Spanish army to catch up with other European countries in terms of heavy firepower, and at least it will not fall into a firepower disadvantage in land wars.

Equipping so many cannons at one time is also conducive to the development of the Spanish artillery industry.

Artillery weapons can not only be equipped by the army, but also be used in large quantities by the navy.

Although Spain currently has no intention of developing a navy, it is necessary to develop artillery with larger caliber and longer range in advance.

When Spain is determined to develop its navy in the future, the experience accumulated in artillery can also be well utilized in naval guns, and powerful warships belonging to Spain can be designed.

The first update of 3,000 words, please support!

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