Division

In 1914 an infantry division in most armies had two brigades of two regiments each, and a British one three brigades of four battalions; to these were added field artillery, divisional cavalry, engineers and transport. Besides the active divisions there were reserve, Landwehr and Landsturm divisions, less well armed, and cavalry divisions.

The war changed them greatly. Losses and shortages of men led most armies to adopt three-regiment divisions, and early in 1918 the British cut their brigades to three battalions. Divisions grew smaller but carried far more machine guns, trench mortars and guns. The exception was the American divisions, with some 28,000 men. The number of divisions was the basic measure of the strength each side had on a given front.