Company

COMPANY. The smallest administrative unit functioning in an infantry battalion; it is usually commanded by a captain or officer of equivalent rank, though in the British service junior majors also command companies (see MAJOR). The number of companies in a battalion varies according to the system favoured by each country, and the sub-division of a company into platoons, sections, etc., is dictated by the distribution, and consequently the tactical value, of the arms which it carries. Up to the mt. break of the World War the company was also the tactical unit of the battalion.

Although the expression now refers to a fixed number of officers and men, in the early days of all armies it, or its equivalent, re ferred loosely to the number of men a lord or knight brought into the field. About the middle of the 14th century "Free Companies" came into being. These were disbanded soldiers, who, having a greater love for war than peace, banded themselves together and plundered France at their pleasure. The greatest leader of these was John Hawkwood. In order to bring about their suppression, a certain number were taken into the service of France against Spain. As their distinctive mark they adopted the white cross, the old English colour of the Crusades, and one company, "The White Company," has been immortalized in literature by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

In the i6th century a company of German

landsknechts was 400 strong, and about the same period a company in the Spanish army varied from I so to 30o men, whilst in England 1 oo was the usual strength. In 16 5o Gustavus Adolphus made great reforms in military organization. As regards the infantry he made com panies of uniform strength, 106 men, distributed in twenty-one rots or files, and six corporalships. A corporalship of pikes con sisted of three files, and four files of musketeers. Each company had a reserve of eighteen supernumerary men. Eight companies constituted a regiment. Four companies, or half of such a regi ment, were called either a squadron or by the Italian name Bat taglia, from which the modern battalion is derived.

The infantry of the Commonwealth "New Model" army bore a close resemblance to the foregoing in that each regiment had ten companies of I10 men apiece. The colonel, lieutenant-colonel and major each had companies, the remaining commanders being seven captains. The privates were divided into an equal number of pike men and musketeers. At the Restoration in 166o the number of men in a company was reduced to 8o, and sometimes 5o, but the number of companies in a regiment was increased to twelve. At his accession in 1685, James II. added a company of grenadiers to every regiment. Towards the end of the i8th century the "Dundas System" (evolved by Colonel David Dundas) was intro duced into the British service, under which each company was divided into 2 platoons and each platoon into 2 sub-divisions, but in 1913 this organization was abolished for the present system.

At the present time (1928) the following is the organization of a company in some armies :—Great Britain-4 platoons, each platoon subdivided into 4 sections (2 Lewis gun and 2 rifle); U.S.A.—company headquarters and 3 platoons, each platoon con sisting of section headquarters and 3 squads; France—a head quarters section and 4 fighting sections (sections de combat), each corresponding to a British platoon ; Germany—company head quarters and 3 platoons, each divided into 2 light machine gun groups and one or more rifle groups ; Belgium-3 platoons each of 4 groupes de combat; Japan and Poland—company head quarters and 3 platoons; Netherlands—company headquarters and 4 platoons on British model; Baltic States: Estonia-3 pla toons of 4 sections each ; Latvia-3 platoons of 2 sections each; Lithuania-2 platoons of 3 sections each. Several countries also have "headquarter companies," "machine gun companies," etc., the name of which usually indicates their special purpose.