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40-581: Toussaint-Henry-Joseph Fafchamps (1783-1868), sometimes spelled Fafschamps , was a Belgian Army captain. In 1851, with the Belgian gunsmith Joseph Montigny and the Fusnot company, he developed what is sometimes considered the first machine gun in history, 10 years before the advent of the Gatling gun . Fafchamps made a prototype of his machine, as well as drawings, which were remitted to Montigny. The Fafschamps gun

80-583: A Royal Decree abolished the function of Chief of Staff of the army. In this way the King secured his control of the command. In addition, there were garrisons at Antwerp, Liège and Namur, each placed under the command of the local divisional commander. Each division contained three mixed brigades (of two infantry regiments and one artillery regiment), one cavalry regiment, and one artillery regiment, as well as various support units. Each infantry regiment contained three battalions, with one regiment in each brigade having

120-410: A combined front of riders over 50 men strong. If the horse artillery was mistaken for cavalry, the enemy might receive an unpleasant surprise when the towed batteries wheeled around, unlimbered, loaded, sighted and opened fire. Highly proficient batteries could do so in less than a minute. Essentially a hybrid of cavalry and artillery , irregular horse artillery units were first used by Sweden in

160-667: A cyclist battalion, along with support units; it had a total strength of 4,500 all ranks with 12 guns, and was, in effect, little more than a reinforced brigade. In 1940, the King of Belgium was the commander in chief of the Belgian Army which had a mobilised strength of 610,000 troops. The army was composed of seven infantry corps and one cavalry corps. The corps were as follows: Each army corps had its own headquarters staff, medical and logistic support units, engineers and signal troops and corps-level artillery support. Each infantry division had

200-560: A divisional staff, reconnaissance unit, medical and logistic support units, engineers and signal troops. Active and first tier reserve divisions had two additional antitank companies. Infantry regiments numbered approximately 3,000 troops. Each active and first tier reserve regiment had 108 light machine guns, 52 heavy machine guns, 8 mortars and 12 antitank guns. Within the Free Belgian Forces that were formed in Great Britain during

240-621: A limited amount of "cavalry artillery" in 1778 where most of the gun crew rode specially designed, padded gun carriages called Wursts ("sausages"), rather than on separate horses, into battle. Hanover formed its first cavalry batteries in 1786 and the Hanoverian general Victor von Trew performed several trials in 1791 which proved the great speed and efficiency by which an all-mounted crew could operate. At this time Denmark had also formed mounted artillery units and by 1792 Sweden had formed its first regular riding batteries, followed by Great Britain and

280-491: A machine-gun company of six guns. An artillery regiment had three batteries of four guns. The nominal strength of a division varied from 25,500 to 32,000 all ranks, with a total strength of eighteen infantry battalions, a cavalry regiment, eighteen machine-guns, and forty-eight guns. Two divisions (the 2nd and 6th) each had an additional artillery regiment, for a total of sixty guns. The Cavalry Division had two brigades of two regiments each, three horse artillery batteries, and

320-589: A major re-equipment programme for most of its vehicles. The aim was to phase out all tracked vehicles in favour of wheeled vehicles. As of 2010, the tank units were to be disbanded or amalgamated with the Armored Infantry (two infantry companies and one tank squadron per battalion). Forty Leopard 1 tanks were to be sold. As of 2013, only some M113 variants (Radar, recovery, command posts, and driving school vehicles) and Leopard variants (Recovery, AVLB, Pionier, driving tanks) will remain in service. The Leopard 1A5 tank

360-439: A team of twelve horses. With the individual riding horses required for officers, surgeons and other support staff, as well as those pulling the artillery guns and supply wagons, an artillery battery of six guns could require 160 to 200 horses. Horse artillery usually came under the command of cavalry divisions, but in some battles, such as Waterloo , horse artillery was used as a rapid response force, repulsing attacks and assisting

400-592: The Franco-Prussian War (1870–71). Belgian Army Dating back to Belgium's establishment in 1830, the Land Component is the oldest service branch of the Belgian Armed Forces, and is also the largest of the four branches, with approximately 10,000 active military personnel and over 2,000 reservists as of 2022. The Belgian Army was established in 1830 after Belgium gained independence from

440-514: The Netherlands after the Belgian Revolution . It was initially expected that as neutral buffer state with borders guaranteed by France , Britain , and Prussia , Belgium could avoid the need for an expensive permanent military, relying instead on the part-time militia of the existing Garde Civique (Civil Guard); however, the need of a regular full-time army was soon acknowledged, and

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480-692: The Ordnance QF 13 pounder , respectively.) Subsequently, the cavalry and horse artillery units were rearmed with tanks and self-propelled artillery . As with the cavalry, though, certain artillery units, for instance the Royal Horse Artillery , retain their old designations. Horse artillery was last used in a few units in World War II , including the Wehrmacht's cavalry divisions on the Eastern Front,

520-569: The Seven Years' War . After that war he made numerous technical improvements to French cannons which made them lighter, faster and much easier to aim. These improvements proved a great advantage to horse artillery as well. Later, the British army officer Henry Shrapnel invented a deadly new type of ammunition that was put to effective use by horse artillery units. The popularity of the new type of unit caught on quickly with other armies. Austria organized

560-562: The U.S. Horse Artillery Brigade . In the U.S., units of horse artillery were generally referred to officially as "light artillery". During the 19th and early 20th century, European-style horse artillery was used in South American countries such as Chile and Peru , quite prominently during the War of the Pacific . As technology advanced and the firepower of infantry and foot artillery increased,

600-458: The 17th century during the Thirty Years' War by Lennart Torstenson . Torstenson was the artillery expert of Gustavus Adolphus , and used them to provide cavalry with the fire support it needed to deal with massed infantry formations without sacrificing their speed and mobility. Gustavus Adolphus had previously tried intermixing infantry units with cavalry, and this was somewhat successful since

640-457: The Belgian Army was promptly established. According to the Law of 16 August 1873, the Belgian Army was to consist of: Note: A battalion (864 men) consists of four companies of 216 men Note: A squadron had approximately 130 horses Note: A battery has 6 guns A major reorganisation of the army had been authorised by the government in 1912, providing for a total army of 350,000 men by 1926: 150,000 in

680-565: The Dutch Republic in 1793, Russia in 1794 and Portugal in 1796. During the Napoleonic Wars , horse artillery would be used extensively and effectively in every major battle and campaign. The largest and probably most efficient horse artillery of any nation was that of the French revolutionary army which was first formed in 1792. The French units were especially well-trained and disciplined since

720-464: The Great to form the first regular horse artillery unit in 1759. Frederick understood that the greatest threat to massed infantry was concentrated artillery fire. He realized that even small and relatively light guns could severely disrupt or destroy infantry units if they could be brought in close enough and fire often enough. But since even light foot artillery travelled at the speed of a marching soldier,

760-1006: The Italian "fast divisions" (e.g. in the Isbuscenskij charge ), and the Imperial Japanese Army in the Malayan campaign . A form of riding artillery using heavy machine guns called tachankas were used by the Poles and Russians in World War I , the Russian Civil War , the German Invasion of Poland and the 1941 Battle of Moscow . In the United Kingdom, the King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery retains six traditional teams of six horses each and 13-pounder guns for ceremonial duties to this day. In

800-520: The Land Component consists of almost 10,000 active military personnel (as of 2019). After the 2018 reforms, the ground forces are organised as follows: Belgian Army Staff (the HQ of the Land Component) It oversees and plans all activities and operations of the land component. The service capacity comprises the following units: Some of the regiments in the Land Component, such as the 12/13th Battalion of

840-555: The Line , have names consisting of multiple elements. This is the result of a series of amalgamations that took place over the years. The 12/13th Battalion was created in 1993 as a result of the merger of the 12th Regiment of the Line Prince Leopold and the 13th Regiment of the Line . The rank insignia of commissioned officers . The rank insignia of non-commissioned officers and enlisted personnel . The Belgian Army went through

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880-545: The cavalry at that time did not charge the enemy at full gallop. Others tried to combine firepower with mobility by using novel cavalry tactics such as the caracole , but these slowed the cavalry down and proved largely ineffective. The best solutions involved creating hybrid units of mounted infantry, most notably dragoons . Although they proved highly useful and versatile troops, whether they fired mounted or dismounted, they still had to slow down or at least stop temporarily, thereby losing their main advantages as cavalry. In

920-713: The defence of West Germany. There were also two reserve brigades (10th Mechanised Brigade, Limbourg , and the 12th Motorised Brigade, Liège ), slightly bigger than the four active brigades, which were intended as reinforcements for the two divisions. Interior forces comprised the Para-Commando Regiment in Heverlee , three national defence light infantry battalions (5th Chasseurs Ardennais, 3rd Carabiniers-cyclists, and 4th Carabiniers-cyclists), four engineer battalions, and nine provincial regiments with two to five light infantry battalions each. (Isby and Kamps, 1985, 64, 72) After

960-542: The development of the French Reffye mitrailleuse, designed by Jean-Baptiste Verchère de Reffye with the collaboration of Montigny, and which was adopted by the French Army in 1865. The invention of Fafschamps thus became the basis of the " mitrailleuse ", which was used by the French in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Initially kept under wraps as a secret weapon, it became widely used in battle by French artillery during

1000-468: The early 17th to the mid-20th century. Once in position, horse artillery crews were trained to quickly dismount, deploy or unlimber their guns (detach them from their caissons), then rapidly fire grapeshot , shells or round shot at the enemy. They could then just as rapidly limber-up (reattach the guns to the caissons), remount, and be ready to move to a new position, similar to the shoot-and-scoot tactics of their modern counterparts. Horse artillery

1040-449: The early 18th century the Russian army began equipping cavalry formations with small units of light horse artillery equipped with 2-pound cannons, and portable 3-pound mortars which were transported on horseback (the weights refer to the size of the projectiles, not the artillery pieces.) Though not decisive by themselves, these units inflicted losses on Prussian troops and influenced Frederick

1080-512: The end of the Cold War, forces were reduced. Initial planning in 1991 called for a Belgian-led corps with 2 or 4 Belgian brigades, a German brigade, and possibly a U.S. brigade. However, by 1992 this plan was looking unlikely, and in 1993 a single Belgian division with two brigades became part of the Eurocorps . The Land Component is organised as 1 Brigade and 1 Special Operations Regiment. In total,

1120-557: The field forces, 130,000 in fortress garrisons and 70,000 reserves and auxiliaries. At the outbreak of war this reorganisation was nowhere near complete and only 117,000 men could be mobilised for the field forces, with the other branches equally deficient. The Commander-in-Chief was King Albert I , with Lieutenant-General Chevalier Antonin de Selliers de Moranville as the Chief of the General Staff from 25 May 1914 until 6 September 1914 when

1160-507: The individual crewmen riding on horses. This was in contrast to other forms of field artillery which may also be horse-drawn but were heavier and whose gunners either marched on foot or were transported seated on the gun carriage, wagons or limbers. Horse artillery units provided highly mobile fire support especially to cavalry units, and existed in armies in Europe , the Americas , and Asia , from

1200-655: The infantry. Agility was important; the ideal artillery horse was around 15-16 hands high (150–160 cm, 60 to 64 inches), strongly built, but able to move quickly. In the Mexican–American War , the U.S. Army horse artillery, or "flying artillery" played a decisive role in several key battles. In the American Civil War , various elements of the horse artillery of the Army of the Potomac were at times grouped together in

1240-485: The new arm had proved so successful that it was quickly reorganized and by the start of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1792 consisted of three companies of 605 men, with batteries consisting of eight 6-pound guns and one 7-pound mortar each. French artilleryman, engineer and general Jean-Baptiste de Gribeauval had served with the military mission to Prussia , as well as fighting against Frederick in

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1280-409: The newly formed arm had proved very popular and could draw on a considerable number of recruits. By 1795 it had grown to eight regiments of six six-gun batteries each, making it the largest horse artillery force ever assembled. Horse artillery units generally used lighter pieces (6-pounders), pulled by six horses. 9-pounders were pulled by eight horses, and heavier artillery pieces (12-pounders) needed

1320-616: The occupation of Belgium between 1940 and 1945, there was a land force formation, the 1st Belgian Infantry Brigade . An additional three divisions were raised and trained in Northern Ireland , but the war ended before they could see action. However, they joined the initial Belgian occupation force in Germany, I Belgian Corps, whose headquarters moved to Luedenscheid in October 1946. Of the 75,000 troops that found themselves in Germany on 8 May 1945,

1360-499: The role of cavalry, and thus the horse artillery, began to decline. It continued to be used and improved into the early 20th century, seeing action during and in between both world wars. In World War I, Russia and some other countries equipped the artillery batteries of their cavalry divisions with the same field gun used by other units. France and the United Kingdom, however, used specialist horse guns (the Canon de 75 modèle 1912 Schneider and

1400-460: The solution was to make every artilleryman a part-time horseman. Through relentless drill and discipline Frederick emphasized mobility and speed in all phases of their operations. The unit consisted of a battery of six 6-pound cannons with 48 men, including 3 officers. The battery was wiped out and reformed twice in that same year at the Battle of Kunersdorf and the Battle of Maxen . Despite the setbacks,

1440-723: The vast majority had been recruited after the liberation of Belgium. During the Korean War , Belgium provided combat troops for South Korea and became part of the United Nations Forces . During the Cold War , Belgium provided the I Belgian Corps (HQ Haelen Kaserne, Junkersdorf, Lindenthal (Cologne) ), consisting of the 1st Infantry Division in Liège and 16th Mechanised Division in Neheim-Hüsten , to NATO 's Northern Army Group for

1480-466: Was a manually fired 50-barrels volley gun using needle fire and paper cartridges, and was only intended as a stationary artillery piece for defensive fortifications. Fafchamps named it the "carabine multiple". Joseph Montigny further improved the weapon, completing the transportable 37-barrels Montigny mitrailleuse (also known as the "Fafschamps-Montigny mitrailleuse") in 1863. From 1859, Joseph Montigny proposed his design to Napoleon III , which led to

1520-432: Was highly versatile and often supported friendly cavalry units by disrupting enemy infantry formations such as infantry squares with rapid concentrated fire. This would leave the enemy infantry vulnerable to cavalry charges. Their mobility also enabled them to outmaneuver enemy foot artillery units, and to act as a rearguard (in concert with friendly cavalry) to cover the retreat of slower units. A full battery could have

1560-420: Was retired on 10 September 2014. 56 of the tanks were sold, about 24 will stay as historic monuments or serve as a museum pieces; the rest will be phased out or used for target practice. In 2008 a sale of 43 Leopard 1A5(BE) to Lebanon was concluded, but as of 2018 was not finalized due to "the absence of licensing for export from Germany." In the strategical defense vision report of the Belgian government, it

1600-405: Was stated that by 2030 the Belgian land component will invest in new modern equipment such as weapons, vehicles, communication assets, body armor and more. Horse artillery Horse artillery was a type of light, fast-moving, and fast-firing field artillery that consisted of light cannons or howitzers attached to light but sturdy two-wheeled carriages called caissons or limbers, with

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