Column (formation)

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A military column is a formation of soldiers marching together in one or more files in which the file is significantly longer than the length of ranks in the formation.

Column formation has been used since ancient times and was introduced by the Romans^{[citation needed]}. Its advantage is that it permits an army to follow the form of a road, thus increasing its movement speed. However, column formations are very vulnerable to frontal and flank attack.

Contents 1 Napoleonic Wars 2 Column of companies 3 References 4 Further reading 5 Footnotes

[edit] Napoleonic Wars

During the early stages of the French Revolutionary Wars, battalions in French armies often attacked in column formation in an attempt to pile-drive through enemy lines by sheer weight of numbers. Against units with low morale already weakened by skirmishers or artillery, this was often successful. Later, during the Napoleonic Wars, they would approach in column formation and deploy into lines when close to the enemy. However, against the British they frequently failed to deploy into lines before being engaged.^[1] During the Peninsular War, after the Battle of Sabugal (3 April 1811), Duke of Wellington wrote "our loss is much less than one would have supposed possible, scarcely 200 men ... really these attacks against our lines with columns of men are contemptible." ^[2] These failings were still evident at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815,^[3] prompting Wellington to comment, "They came on in the same old way and we defeated them in the same old way." ^[4][5]

[edit] Column of companies

In the Peninsular War, if British soldiers of Craufurd's Light Division were marching to engage the enemy in a battle but were uncertain if there was enemy cavalry about, they could adopt a formation called column of companies. Each company would form into two ranks of about 30 files and march close to the company in front. If attacked by cavalry, they could easily bunch up, forming a schiltron of bayonets which would be proof against an unsupported cavalry attack.^[6]

[edit] References

• Urban, Mark; Rifles: Six years with Wellington's legendary sharpshooters; faber and faber (2004) ISBN 0571216803{

[edit] Further reading

• Deneu, Laurent First - Empire of Napoleon: General organisation of armies see section on "3. The formations of battalions" subsection "C. The column."
• Arnold, James R. "A Reappraisal of Column Versus Line in the Peninsular War Oman and Historiography", The Napoleon Series, August 2004.

[edit] Footnotes

1. ^ Arnold, James R. "A Reappraisal of Column Versus Line in the Peninsular War", The Napoleon Series, August 2004. See the section "Why the French Failed"
2. ^ Urban, Mark References Page 110 citing a letter of 4 April 1811 to Beresford in dispatches.
3. ^ Arnold, James R. "A Reappraisal of Column Versus Line in the Peninsular War" , The Napoleon Series, August 2004. See the section "A Row of Columns of the Heaviest Sort"
4. ^ Infantry Tactics and Combat during the Napoleonic Wars ~ Part 3 ~ Columns. This article argues that all armies of the period used column formations at times on the battlefield, the military historian Sir Charles Oman is credited with developing the theory that the French practically always attacked in heavy columns, and it is only now that this alleged error, propagated by other British and American authors, is being repudiated.
5. ^ Lord Montagu of Beaulieu speaking in the House of Lords Hansard: 24 Apr 1996 : Column 1172
6. ^ Urban, Mark References Page 105