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Military division

Military organization
Latvian platoon at Camp Lejune.jpg
Typical units Typical numbers Typical commander
fireteam 3–4 corporal
squad/
section
8–12 sergeant
platoon 15–30 lieutenant
company 80–150 captain/major
battalion/
cohort
300–800 lieutenant colonel
regiment/
brigade
2,000–4,000 colonel/
brigadier general
division/
legion
10,000–15,000 major general
corps 20,000–40,000 lieutenant general
field army 80,000+ general
army group 2+ field armies field marshal/
five-star general
region/
theater
4+ army groups Six-star rank/Head of state

A division is a large military unit or formation, usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. Infantry divisions during the World Wars ranged between 10,000 and 30,000 in nominal strength.

In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades; in turn, several divisions typically make up a corps. In most modern militaries, a division tends to be the smallest combined arms unit capable of independent operations; this is due to its self-sustaining role as a unit with a range of combat troops and suitable combat support forces, which can be arranged into various organic combinations.

While the focus of this article is on army divisions, in naval usage division has a completely different meaning, referring to either an administrative/functional sub-unit of a department (e.g., fire control division of the weapons department) aboard naval and coast guard ships, shore commands, and in naval aviation units (including navy, marine corps, and coast guard aviation), 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 administrative/functional sub-unit usage unit size varies widely, though typically divisions number far less than 100 people and are roughly equivalent in function and organizational hierarchy/command relationship to a platoon or flight (military unit).

In the West, the first general to think of organising 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 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.


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