Regiment

[retiredgysgt]

Is a Regiment the basic size of a Bn or Brigade or In different Countries armies one might be true and in other the other true?

[zovs66]

Generally it goes like this.

Soldier/Marine
Squad
Platoon
Company
Battalion
Regiment/Brigade
Division
Corps
Army
Army Group

So 'generally' a:
squad is 8-12 men
platoon is 2-4 squads
company is 2-4 platoons
battalion is 2-4 companies
regiment is 2-4 battalions
brigade is 2-6 or 8 battalions
division is 2-3 regiments or 2 brigades
corps is 2-4 divisions
army is 2-4 corps
army group is 2-4 armies

generally,

[Mobhack]

A regiment is a collection of batallions.

In some armies, the regiment is the deployable unit (the continental or unitary regimental system) and in others the batallions are the deployable units (e.g. the British system). The latter seems to be taking over from the unitary system worldwide.

In some armies, the regiment (a large one of 4 batallions) takes the place of the brigade, some armies deploy 2 regiments to form a brigade, and the British system appoints 3-4 batallions (not often ones from the same parent regiment) to a brigade. The US system of WW2 was to add divisional support units to a regiment to form a Regimental Combat Team - thier equivalent of a brigade.

[zovs66]

My post (#2) was generally for WW2 combatants, plus Korea and to some extent Vietnam. But as Andy points out from around Vietnam onwards most countries have made (due to the changing nature of combat and warfare) combat units more manageable and flexible.

Sort of like using both combined arms but a lot smarter now with the changing nature of warfare (counter terrorism).

The USMC has free stuff on the Iraq War and Afghanistan War which has some very detailed and useful info on how the US and USMC in particular deploy now.

[Mobhack]

Some French units are still termed "demi brigades" - a term that took off after the revolution as a replacement for regiment which was seen as being tained with the old monarchism. In thier case, 2 regiments formed a brigade, hence the name demi-brigade. For some reason, some regiments have kept that revolutionary title up to the present day.

[retiredgysgt]

On NATO Symbols is the 2 slashes over a unit a battalion? The reason I ask is because I looked at South Africa's order of battle and it has some named Battalions and some named regiments.

[Mobhack]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_J...tary_Symbology

[retiredgysgt]

So a common wealth regiment is the same as everyone else's battalion.

[Mobhack]

A commonwealth regiment could be one batallion or maybe 3 - depending on recruitment in its cachement area. Plus as well as regular bns, there were sometimes Territorial bns of weekend volunteers.

In the 2 world wars, then there were 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc regiments of say the Black Watch created - each regiment being around 3 bns. Shrunk back to the original size post war.

But the individual batallion is what was deployed - not the entire regiment, unlike the Continentals.

[retiredgysgt]

The south African "regiments" are Battalions as shown on the graphic display for the unit structure. They are 2 slashes over the combat symbol. Thanks for the help.