Squadron
An squadron (from the French word for squadron ) is the smallest tactical unit of the cavalry . In a number of modern armies , the term continues to be used , especially in the field of armored forces .
Similar to most other countries, the war strength in Germany in the 19th century was around 150 horses and 5 officers . The once common division of squadrons into two companies was retained in Prussia around 1890 with the regiment of the Gardes du Corps , but was no longer tactical. Five squadrons ( six in Russia ) formed a regiment . The squadrons were tactically divided into four equally strong two-part platoons , each platoon again in marches with three side by side for the marching formation. For internal administration, it was divided into ranks, which corresponded to the corporations of the foot troops. At the head of the squadrons was a squadron chief, captain, or sometimes a major . In the French army there was a degree of Chefs d'escadrons corresponding to the German major . He commanded a division of two squadrons in the cavalry. The leader of the squadron was a capitaine commandant .
In the 16th century designated squadron (from the Latin exquadra pike square ) shape a position of the infantry and the cavalry, in the 17th century for the latter the squadron, from the former for the battalion emerged.
Squadrons were also used to put down civil unrest. In the Berlin tailor revolution in 1830, for example, a squadron rode at full gallop into a crowd. A company of infantry then seized the ridden and dragged them to the station.
Squadron in line
Squadron on the march
Squadron in train column
French army
In the French army, the term escadron is still used for the cavalry, the armored troops, the artillery, the national gendarmerie and the train . This is an association in company strength . The commandant has the rank of Commandant , who, however, carries the designation Chef d'escadron during the time in which he holds this command.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ with the cavalry always in the plural
- ↑ Ilja Mieck : From the reform period to the revolution (1806-1847) . In: Wolfgang Ribbe (ed.): History of Berlin, first volume . CH Beck, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-406-31591-7 , p. 527.
