Chapter 134: Infantry Division and Guard Division

France in the Franco-Prussian War had already demonstrated the dangers of having too small a military organization; that is, when forming larger military units during large-scale warfare, units at various levels often lacked synergy, thereby reducing the combat effectiveness of the entire force.

Most of the French army during the Franco-Prussian War was at the regimental level. When forming larger division-level units, the combat effectiveness of each division was not as excellent as imagined, which was one of the reasons that led to the French defeat.

Forming division-scale military units is a necessity for the development of the current era, and Spain must also follow the trend.

The good news is that Prime Minister Primo and Grand Duke Serrano already had a preliminary plan for the reform of the Spanish military organization, and a list of the new Spanish military organization was born through their efforts.

The Spanish infantry division will consist of five infantry regiments and one artillery regiment, with a full strength of 12, 00 men and a total of 248 artillery pieces, which can be considered excellent in terms of firepower.

In wartime, the entire division can be expanded to 18, 00 men, becoming a reinforced infantry division with both firepower and numbers.

The 12 cavalry regiments were also integrated into 3 cavalry divisions, with each cavalry division having 3 cavalry regiments under its command. The cavalry division does not have additional artillery units under its command, which also results in the entire cavalry division having only 60 artillery pieces.

However, considering the mobility of cavalry, having fewer artillery pieces also has its advantages.

Further on is the brand-new military unit, the artillery division. The Austro-Prussian War and the Franco-Prussian War have already proven the power of artillery in this era, and having a separate military unit is also a necessity for the development of the times.

If one were to rely solely on the number of artillery pieces from infantry and cavalry units, it would be difficult to withdraw artillery to fight a siege battle. But artillery units are different. Artillery units are heavily equipped with artillery; simply withdrawing one artillery division can cause a fatal blow to the enemy's fortresses.

The Spanish artillery division has four artillery regiments under its command, 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 results in the entire artillery division having an exaggerated 448 artillery pieces; Spain, relying solely on the two artillery divisions about to be established, can possess an exaggerated nearly 1, 00 artillery pieces.

The engineer units and colonial garrison regiments were not adjusted. The expansion of the colonial units is enough to cope with the situation in Spain's various colonies; there is no need to adjust them into divisions.

After all, the current Spanish army needs a large number of rifles and artillery after adjusting its 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 ended, Carlo specifically invited Grand Duke 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 military organization.

Regardless of 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, 00 troops.

With the 20 colonial garrison regiments of about 46, 00 troops, the two combined already approach 150, 00 troops.

Don't forget that Carlo also has his own guards, which also means that after the future military reform is completed, Spain's army strength will be significantly strengthened.

However, having said that, after the Royal Army has been reorganized, Carlo also has to follow up by reorganizing his own guards.

The previous guard unit was limited to the regimental level due to the lack of royal funds.

Now that the royal family has money, it is natural to expand this guard regiment into a guard division and train his own ace unit.

Moreover, the organization of the guard division will be larger than that of the Spanish infantry division; rather than calling it a simple infantry division, it is better to call it a mixed reinforced division composed of infantry, cavalry, and artillery.

Anyway, the royal family's funds are very abundant, and currently, only one guard division needs to be formed, so naturally, it can be equipped with whatever weapons it can be equipped with.

After ending the brief military meeting with Prime Minister Primo and Grand Duke Serrano, Carlo returned to the Wang Gong and summoned the commander of the Royal Guard Regiment, Qiaodi, to inquire about the reform of the guard organization.

The reform of the guards was to a certain extent based on the Spanish infantry division, but the organization is much more luxurious than the infantry division.

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

The final determined Royal Guard Division organization will have 4 guard infantry regiments, 1 guard cavalry regiment, and 2 guard artillery regiments, with a full strength of over 15, 00 men and a total of 280 artillery pieces.

Such an organization can be said to be capable of both offense and defense, and to a certain extent, it can be considered to have both offensive and defensive capabilities.

The 4 guard infantry regiments will be the main force of the guard division, undertaking relatively arduous offensive and defensive tasks. And the 2 artillery regiments will serve as important fire support, making up for the lack of additional artillery companies in the guard infantry regiments.

As for that separate cavalry regiment, it will undertake relatively pure cavalry tasks, fully exerting the mobility of the cavalry.

In an era without machine guns and tanks, such a military organization can also basically exert the combat effectiveness of each unit, which can be considered a fused mixed unit.

The commander of the guard division is naturally the hardworking Qiaodi. Qiaodi has made indelible contributions to the formation of the guard regiment, and Carlo is quite relieved to let him be the commander of the guard division.

As for the candidates for the other regimental commanders, after careful consideration, Carlo decided to promote some outstanding officers based on the scale of the existing guard regiment.

As for the large number of vacancies for 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 had also considered transferring Andrew and Kaman, 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 finally decided to let them stay in the Royal Army.

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

Since they have already gained a firm foothold in the Spanish Royal Army, Carlo naturally does not want to destroy their efforts.

Anyway, with the expansion of the Royal Army, they will also face many opportunities, and it is not impossible for them to become regimental commanders or even higher-level officers.

Although returning to the guards would allow them to become high-level officers at the regimental commander level immediately, and even rely on Carlo's trust to serve as deputy division commanders.

But the scale of the guards is limited after all, and their channels for advancement will eventually be restricted.

Being a regimental commander is simple, but it is difficult to become a division commander further up. After all, the guards only have one division, and the division commander Qiaodi is also trusted by Carlo.

In the Royal Army, there are 6 infantry divisions alone, as well as 3 cavalry divisions and 2 artillery divisions, so the advancement channels will be broader and there will be greater possibilities.

From the current Spanish organization, it can be seen that the importance of regimental-level officers has decreased slightly, but the importance of division-level high-ranking officers has increased significantly.

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

As a division commander, one can not only command nearly one-tenth of the troops in Spain, but also leap to become one of the high-level figures in the Spanish military.

In Spain, the rank of a regimental-level officer is at least a Colonel, while the rank of a division-level officer must be at least a Major General.

Currently, Spanish military ranks are divided into: Private, Non-commissioned Officer (Second Corporal, First Corporal, Sergeant, Staff Sergeant), Junior Officer (Warrant Officer, Second Lieutenant, Lieutenant, Captain), Field Officer (Major, Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel), General Officer (Brigadier General, Major General, Lieutenant General, General).

General is the highest level of Spanish military rank, and it is generally honorary. Those who truly hold real power in the army are Lieutenant Generals and Major Generals; they generally command relatively elite troops or have a high say in the defense department of the government.

And the Marshal rank of Prime Minister Primo and Grand Duke Serrano is quite special in the Spanish military rank system.

Theoretically, Marshal is not a military rank, but a military position, generally granted to the Viceroy of each colony, equivalent to the military jurisdiction of that colony.

After long development, Marshal also has a certain military rank significance, and it is only granted to military members in the cabinet.

For example, Prime Minister Primo and Grand Duke Serrano, they are also related to the military, so they were naturally granted the rank of Marshal.

Then there is Carlo, as the King of Spain, he is naturally the Marshal of the Spanish Navy and Army, and Carlo's Marshal rank has practical significance.

According to the existing Spanish constitution, the King of Spain has the supreme command of the Spanish Navy and Army and is the Grand Marshal of the Spanish Navy and Army.

This also leads to the fact that Carlo's Marshal rank is not the same as that of Prime Minister Primo and Grand Duke Serrano, they are just both called Marshal.

After the reform of the Spanish army, the total number of artillery pieces equipped by all troops reached 2, 08. This figure has increased several times compared to before the reform, which 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 pieces 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 warfare.

Equipping so many cannons at once is also conducive to the development of Spain's artillery industry.

Artillery as a weapon can not only be equipped by the army, but also be widely used in the navy.

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

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

Three thousand words, first update, seeking support!

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(End of this chapter)