The Prussians in 1806
Dispelling the Myths

Part III: Logistics and Organization

Higher Organization

by James Gaite, UK

This section deals with the all-important apparatus that separated the soldier in the field from the Commander-in-Chief at his headquarters. In the French army, this function was carried out by Marshal Berthier and his subordinates, a team that, although criticised by some historians, others have applauded for performing admirably well in the confusion and rapidly shifting conditions of the Napoleonic arena. The other major change incorporated into the structure of the French army was the formation of army corps, as Petre explains: “Up to Frederick’s time comparatively small armies were closely united under the eyes of the commander … By the close of the eighteenth century armies had vastly increased in size … [Hence] as his armies increased with conscription [Napoleon] found it necessary [to create] corps d’Armée consisting of two or three divisions. Each corps he designed to be a complete small army in itself, capable of acting independently.” [NCP. 25-7] In addition to the above: “The marshals whom Napoleon appointed to command his corps were men thoroughly capable of dealing with them, under his own general direction … With his army thus organised, Napoleon ordinarily required only to issue instructions as to the movements of each corps as a whole. The corps commander could be trusted to direct his divisions, whilst the divisional generals dealt with brigades, the brigadiers with regiments, and so on.” [NCP. 27] The structure of the Prussian forces of 1806, however, differed greatly from Napoleon’s well-oiled machine. “Having no corps, nor even a complete organisation by divisions, the commander-in-chief often found himself compelled to issue lengthy orders, going into details of regiments, even of battalions, squadrons, batteries, outposts and other matters … These orders took long to write, long to distribute from headquarters to all the separate units concerned, long even to read.” [NCP. 27] Reform had been attempted in the Prussian army in 1804 in an effort to combat the new French formations. Maude writes: “Under the circumstances the Kreigs Collegium [3] did the best they could to meet the spirit of their times, be re-arranging existing units in imitation of the fashions of the day. The French having introduced Army Corps…the same idea was applied by the Prussians to their Divisions… [which] were further subdivided into Brigades, Regiments and Battalions.” [TJC. 15-16] However, Maude, too, believes there were many problems with the structure of Prussian organisation, the greatest being deficiencies in the staffing of these new formations. “But the Regiment was the highest existing unit in peace and the Staff Officers intended to ensure the harmonious working of the whole, though individually highly educated, had enjoyed no previous opportunities of working with their units in manoeuvres.” [TJC. 16] So it would appear from the writings of both Maude and Petre that the reorganisation of the Prussian army into ‘Divisions’, although well intended, caused more problems than it solved. The Commander-in-Chief still found it necessary to compose individual orders for each of his units, which Petre claims “often reached their destination when the rapid movement of events had already rendered them inapplicable”, [NCP. 27] whilst the divisional formations were supported by only a rudimentary staff, as were the brigade formations, whose personnel were unaccustomed to handling any unit larger than their own individual regiments. The Prussians in 1806 Dispelling the Myths Part III [FE63] Introduction Supply Reconnaissance Higher Organization Logistical Conclusion Other Parts Prussians in 1806 Dispelling the Myths Part Vb: Jena [FE68] Prussians in 1806 Dispelling the Myths Part Va: Tactics [FE66] The Prussians in 1806 Dispelling the Myths Part IV [FE65] Introduction Infantry Cavalry Artillery The Prussians in 1806 Dispelling the Myths Part II [FE61] Strategy and Prussian Leadership The Duke of Peace Prussian Despair French Superiority Strategic Summary The Prussians in 1806 Dispelling the Myths Part I [FE60] Prologue Introduction A Discussion on Strategy The Traditional Theories The Prussian Commanders Footnotes and Bibliographical Notes Related 1806: A Precis [FE59] Introduction The Collapse of the Third Coalition Napoleon, France and the Building of an Empire The Turning of the Tide The Lightning Campaign Prussian Defiance at the End of the Year Back to Table of Contents -- First Empire #63 Back to First Empire List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2002 by First Empire. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com