Military division

A division is a large military unit made up of several brigades or regiments, to which are added smaller units of artillery, General Staff, specialized units and communications engineers. A division is a large unit or military formation, which generally consists of 10,000 to 15,000 soldiers, an Army Corps is made up of several military divisions.

In modern warfare, the division tends to be the smallest combined arms unit capable of conducting long-duration operations independently; the divisions have been designed and structured to be independent units, without the need for support of any kind (for this reason they have their own support, communications, health, etc. units). However, in many combat scenarios it is rarely necessary to put so many soldiers together on the ground, so smaller sets of troops called battle groups or task forces, drawn from one or more divisions, are often used.

In some navies the term is used to refer to administrative departments aboard a surface ship, in coastal commands, or sub-units of ships within a flotilla. In those circumstances, division refers to a much smaller set of people, usually under 100, and is generally commanded by a lieutenant or ensign.

Characteristics of the division

The Division is considered the largest unit of an army and is commanded by a division general, who is the highest ranking officer except the commander-in-chief of each army (Land, Sea and Air).

On numerous occasions, and in large armies, the divisions are grouped into a unit called an army corps, made up of two or more divisions and a corps within a group of armies, such as those formed by the Germans for the Operation Barbarossa. However, in other armed forces, these units have only existed on paper and even the validity of the division is in question compared to the brigade, which is more flexible and better prepared to serve in scenarios of asymmetric warfare.

Nomenclature

Divisions are commonly designated by combining an ordinal number and a type name (for example: "13th Infantry Division"). Nicknames are often assigned or adopted, although these are often not considered an official part of the unit's nomenclature, Italian Army divisions being one of the exceptions. In some cases, divisional titles lack an ordinal number, often in the case of unique units or units serving as elite or special troops. For clarity in stories and reports, the nation is identified before the number. This also helps in historical studies, but due to the nature of battlefield intelligence, division names and assignments are sometimes obscured. However, the size of the division rarely makes such obfuscation necessary.

In the years leading up to the end of the cold war and beyond, the type names of various divisions became less important. Most US infantry divisions were now mechanized and had significant numbers of tanks and IFVs, becoming de facto armored divisions. The US armored divisions had more tanks but less infantry than these infantry divisions. Also, the single cavalry division was structured in the same way as an armored division.

With the introduction of modular brigade combat teams (BCTs) in modern divisions, the type of nomenclature is even less important, as a division can now consist of any combination of light infantry, Stryker, and armored BCTs. For example, the US 1st Infantry Division currently consists of two armored BCTs along with support troops, with no light infantry units. By contrast, the current 1st Armored Division consists of two Armored BCTs and one Stryker BCT along with their supporting troops.

However, some US division types will retain their mission: the 82nd and 11th Airborne divisions have airborne infantry BCTs, while the 10th Mountain Division only has light infantry BCT units.

Famous Divisions

Some of the most famous divisions have been:

• 101.a Airborne Division is one of the most famous divisions of the United States Army as well as one of the first aeromobile divisions created. He was the main protagonist of the battle of the Ardennes on the allied front in the European theatre of World War II operations.

• 316.a Division of Soviet Fusileros, then renamed to 8th Division of Guards 'Iván Panfilov' had a leading role in the defense of Moscow, bearing the weight of the German offensive in the battle of the road of Volokolamsk, after which the unit was reformed as a division of guards and was condecoted with the Order of the Red Flag.
• The 13th Division of Soldiers of the Guard played a leading role in the battle of Stalingrad especially by stopping the German advance in the city center and on the hill Mamayev Kurgan, thus avoiding the fall of the city.

• The Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler was sent in 1943 to avoid the collapse of the Russian front after the defeat in the Battle of Stalingrad and to resist the recovered Red Army.

• The Leclerc Division was the unit responsible for freeing Paris from the Germans in the Second World War and integrated, among others, by many Spaniards.

• The U.S. Cavalry Division fought in the Vietnam War as a new concept of cavalry unit transported, extracted and supplied by helicopters; shortly thereafter also armed with combat helicopters. It meant the entry of this new weapon as one of the fundamental pieces of any army and the complete implementation of the concept of aeromobile platform.

• The Northern Division, led by Pancho Villa during the Mexican Revolution, is to date the most famous division that the Mexican army has had. Reduced to less than a thousand men after the Battle of Celaya, the people of Columbus, New Mexico attacked, this being the only invasion that armed forces have made to the continental territory of the United States of America in the century.XX..

• 1.a Infantry Division (United States) (Big Red One). It took part in all the wars of the United States since the Great War, except the Korean War and the War of Afghanistan (American Civil War, First World War, Second World War, Vietnam War, Gulf War and Iraq War).

• The 250 Einheit Spanischer Freiwilliger of the Wehrmacht, better known as the Blue Division was formed by Francisco Franco and sent to serve the front of the East, during the Second World War, in order to resurrect the Franco debt with Nazi Germany after the Spanish Civil War and at the same time to remove from the country, on the one hand the most germanophilous elements of the Regime and on the other to eliminate all possible politics. It is considered to be the most famous unity of the Francoist Spain.
• The 11th Division, also known as the "Lester" Division, was a division belonging to the People's Army of the Republic and fought in the Spanish Civil War. Being one of the most popular divisions of the Popular Army, participating as a clash unit in most of the offensives and battles of the contest like those of Madrid, Guadalajara, Brunete, Belchite or the Ebro.