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British Army Structure
The British Army consists of the General Staff and the
deployable Field Army
and the Regional Forces that support them, as well as Joint
elements that work
with the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force.
The Army carries out tasks given to it by the democratically
elected Government
of the United Kingdom (UK).
Its primary task is to help defend the interests of the UK,
which consists of England,
Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. This may involve service
overseas as part of a
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Force or any other
multi-national
deployment. Soldiers may also be deployed on United Nations (UN)
operations and
used to help in other emergencies.
The regimental system
The increasing demands of imperial expansion together with
inefficiencies
highlighted during the Napoleonic Wars led to the Cardwell and
Childers Reforms of
the late 19th century. These gave the British Army its modern
shape, and defined its
regimental system. The Haldane Reforms of 1907, formally created
the Territorial
Force which still exists as the Army's volunteer reserve
component.
On 1 April 2008 the two top level structures of the Army, Land
Command and
Adjutant General, joined to become HQ Land Forces, commanded by
the
Commander-in-Chief, Land Forces (CINCLAND).
Command structure
The command structure is hierarchical with divisions and
brigades responsible for
administering groupings of smaller units. Major Units are
regiment or battalion-sized
with minor units being smaller, either company sized sub-units
or platoons. All units
within the service are either Regular (full-time) or Territorial
Army (part-time), or a
combination with sub-units of each type.
Naming conventions
Units names differ for historical reasons. An infantry regiment
is an administrative
and ceremonial organisation only and may include several
battalions. An infantrybattalion is equivalent to a cavalry
regiment. For operational tasks a battle group will
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be formed around a combat unit, supported by units or sub-units
from other areas.
Such an example would be a squadron of tanks attached to an
armoured infantry battle
group, together with a reconnaissance troop, artillery battery
and engineering support.
How is the Army organised?
Divisions & Brigades
Commander Field Army and Commander Regional Forces control
groupings of
units based around Divisions and their Brigades.
1st (UK) Armoured Division
2nd Division
3rd (UK) Division
Deployable division based throughout the south of England
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