Reply #54: According to the Records I have read [View All]

Iran tends to follow US Patterns (This goes back to the days of the Shah). On the other hand it is common for US pattern Countries (Especially third world countries like Iran) to reduce the size of the support unit at the Divisional level. For Example the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN, the South Vietnamese Army) follow US patterns on Company and Battalion levels but they eliminated some of the Support elements (i.e. supply, engineering etc). This tended to make the ARVN Divisions smaller than even the Soviet Style Divisions (About 10,000 men compare to the 12,000 for a Soviet Division and 15,000 for an US Divisions).

The Reason for this was the ARVN units really did not expect to move far from their bases thus the Supply and Engineering units were not needed at DIVISIONAL Level (And was one of the reason South Vietnam fell so fast in 1975, these units did not have the needed Supply and Engineering units to fight a war of maneuver that the Vietcong and North Vietnamese entered into in 1975).

As to Iran please note the main MILITARY formation since the time of Napoleon has been the DIVISION, not the Regiment, Battalion, Company or even Brigade. The reason for this can be seen in the Division's Name i.e. It is a DIVISION OF THE ARMY. Literally Just before Napoleon the French had divided their army into little armies called Divisions. The reason for this was that it was found that the most an army could be was 50,000 men. At that level the 50,000 stressed out the resources of the area it was operating in AND stressed out the supply line to supply such an army. The French solution to this problem was to divide their army into mini-armies of 10,000 men (The Original Division Strength). Each Division had supply elements, support elements, Artillery Elements, Calvary Elements, engineering elements, in addition to Infantry units.

Units smaller than a Division do not have these other elements. Regiments, Battalions, Companies, Platoons, Squads tend to be of one type of soldier i.e. Infantry, Artillery, Calvary, Engineering, Supply, Support etc. It is in the Division that these units come together to work together as a mini-army able to fight.

Now Divisions are formed in Corps (Which is derived from the French word for "Body" for the original name for a Corp was "Corp de Armee" i.e. "The Body of the Army". A Corp would be consist of three Divisions (Sometime more sometime less) and additional supply and support units (including Heavy and/or Siege Artillery). In the 1800 the units attached to the Corp would be less than the size of a Division (and the Corp was the more important unit than the Division) but by the time of WWI The Division was the more important unit with the Corp actually growing larger with the increases caused by addition of Heavier Artillery Pieces (And Missiles after WWII), aircraft (and Helicopters after WWII) and increase medical care in the form of MASH units etc (and lets us not forget repair facilities for Vehicles that can not be done at lower levels).

Since WWII an Army Corp generally consist of three Divisions (Roughly 45,000 men in three Divisions of 15,000 men each) AND Corp level support elements of Roughly one man per man in the Divisions. What I mean by that if when the Divisions total 45,000, the Corp tend to have another 45,000 in various units to support those Divisions.

Now you may ask why have I gone through the above? The reason is you do NOT move Battalions, you do not move Companies YOU MOVE DIVISIONS OR CORPS. It is only at the Divisional Level do you have a unit capable of fighting AND PROVIDING ITS OUR SUPPORT. Thus It is DIVISIONS that are moved. Now the actual fighting is done by Squads, Platoons and Companies but it is the Division that provides artillery support to these units, supplies food and Ammunition, Supplies Medical Care and even Helicopter support (Close Air Support tend to be a Corp Level Function).

Thus a division is made of 9 Battalions (Formed in three Brigades) But A Division is something more than 9 Battalions. It can fight and support and supply those Battalions. Thus the Fact that someone moved nine Battalions someplace is meaningless. Nine Battalions can not fight alone. On the other hand a DIVISION (Which has Nine Battalions) is something else. It is to be watched for it can attack and support that attack.

Thus the report that 4 Battalions have been placed at the frontier means nothing. 4 Battalions without supplies and support can just watch the Frontier, they can not even really cross it without running into supply problems (Problems that the Division was designed to solve).

I will try to get more details on the Iranian Army, but to fully understand the significance (Or more precise, the lack of Significance) the movement of 4 Battalions means I why I wrote the above. If the Iranians had moved a DIVISION or even 1/2 of a Division of Four Battalions to the Frontier that would be something to watch, but not 4 battalions.

Please note some counties use the concept of "Reinforced Brigades and Reinforced Regiments" as opposed to Divisions. The US even has some of these. "Reinforced Regiments" is a Regiment (or Brigade) with the addition of Divisional level units attached to such units. Tend to be in areas where a full size Division would be to large. The classic example is the "Reinforced Marine Battalion". It is a Battalion (about 800 men) WITH Attached Artillery, Engineering and other Divisional level units attached to it (Bring the Reinforced Battalion up to almost 1500 men). The Marines do this do to the limitation imposed on the Marines given the limited amount of Amphibious Transport Vehicles. Please note even the Marines drop such "Reinforced" Units if they can get a Whole Division involved in the Situation.