The organization of the coast artillery is territorial and not by battalions or regiments. A coast artillery battery is manned by a com pany. Battery commands are organized into fire commands or mine commands under the charge of a major. These, together with such troops of the mobile army as may be used for purposes of support, are grouped into fort commands under majors or lieutenant colonels. Several fort commands make a coast defense command under colonels. These again are grouped into coast artillery districts. As the coast artillery is a highly technical service, a large number of commissioned and non-commissioned staff officers are required at every stage of organization.
Foreign Countries.— The general features of army organization are much the same throughout the world and conform very close ly to the scheme adopted by the United States on 22 September 1917. The range of varia tion is fairly indicated by the two schemes of this table. In particular, the size of an infantry company is usually from 200 to 250 men, and that of a battalion in the neighbor hood of 1,000 men. The nomenclature and administration of cavalry units in the United States army is not reproduced exactly else where; the usual arrangement is by squadrons of about 150 sabres, corresponding to infantry companies and grouped into regiments of four or five squadrons. The troop in the British army corresponds to a platoon and is led by a subaltern. Artillery administration is also very variable; batteries of field artillery, how ever, usually consist, as in the United States, of four guns. The organization known in America as a battalion of field artillery is known abroad variously as an Abteilung, group, brigade, or division. The organization of the technical troops, such as the engineers, train and signal corps men, is different in each army. In general, the aviators are rec ognized as a separate arm and are not sub ordinated to the Signal Corps. The army police is usually a separate organization and not, as until recently in our army, made up by details from other troops. In the British army it contains no privates— every man ranks at least as lance-corporal. In most Continental nations part or the whole of the municipal police and fire departments receive a military organization and is regarded as part of the army.
England.—The military services in the British Empire comprise the Regular Army, the Army Reserve, the Special Reserve, the Territorials, the Indian Army and the Militia forces of the various colonies. The Regular
Army is organized into an expeditionary force, serving in the British Isles, and a colonial force, serving in the various colonies and India. Enlistment is normally for 12 years, which is variously divided in different branches of the army between the Regular Army and the Army Reserve. At present the terms of enlistment for active service are the duration of the war, with a minimum term of three years. The Special Reserve, for all service, and the Territorial force, for service in the United Kingdom, correspond to the organized militia in the United States, and are organized into divisions in a way in general similar to that in the Regular Army. The na tive Indian Army is composed of native troops under British officers and is a distinct service from that part of the Regular Army which also serves in India. All colonies also main tain bodies of troops organized in a manner similar to that in the Regular Army. In Aus tralia and New Zealand military service is compulsory.
The British infantry is not organized into regiments as administrative units and a regi ment is a mere collection of battalions of various sorts usually recruited within a speci fied. area. The battalions are grouped directly into brigades. The whole artillery force is known as the Royal Regiment of Artillery and is not divided into tactical regiments. Regiments as administrative and tactical or ganizations are found in the cavalry. The train and pay services are separate, whereas in the United States both are under the Quartermaster Corps.
France.— The military services in France comprise the Metropolitan Army, the Colonial Forces and the Territorial Army. Service in the Metropolitan Army is compulsofy and that in the Colonial Forces is by voluntary enlistment. All males between the ages of 18 and 45 are liable to military service, which is divided into (a) that with the colors (3 years); (b) that in the Metropolitan Army Reserve (10years) ; (c) that in the Terri torial Army (5 years) ; and that (final serv ice) in the Territorial Army Reserve (9 years). The Metropolitan Army is organized into the Army of the Interior and the Al gerian-Tunisian Army. The Colonial Forces are partly French and partly native troops.