99-764: The I Indian Corps was an army corps of the British Indian Army in the World War I . It was formed at the outbreak of war under the title Indian Corps from troops sent to the Western Front . The British Indian Army did not have a pre-war corps structure, and it held this title until further corps were created. It was withdrawn from the Western Front in December 1915 and reconstituted as I Indian Corps in Mesopotamia until
198-564: A corps d'armée in 1815 for commanding his mixed allied force of four divisions against Napoleon I. When the British Army was expanded from an expeditionary force in the First World War, corps were created to manage the large numbers of divisions. The British corps in World War I included 23 infantry corps and a few mounted corps. The word was adopted for other special formations such as
297-557: A Canadian corps headquarters. This corps was renamed I Canadian Corps as a second corps headquarters was established in the UK, with the eventual formation of five Canadian divisions in England. I Canadian Corps eventually fought in Italy, II Canadian Corps in northwest Europe, and the two were reunited in early 1945. After the formations were disbanded after VE Day, Canada has never subsequently organized
396-452: A MEF headquarters group, a Marine division, a Marine aircraft wing, and a force service support group (re-designated as Marine logistics group in 2005). The pre– World War II Red Army of the former USSR had rifle corps much like in the Western sense with approximately three divisions to a corps. However, after the war started, the recently purged Soviet senior command ( Stavka ) structure
495-508: A communications regiment (or a separate battalion). In 1945, air defence corps could include 1 anti-aircraft artillery brigade or division. Air defence fighters operating within the limits of responsibility of the KPVO was transferred to the corps. By the end of the war, there were 14 KPVO in the Active Army, of which 5 corps continued to carry out the tasks assigned to them even after the war, and
594-473: A corps headquarters. Royal Canadian Army Cadets : A corps size in the RCAC is different everywhere, depending on the size. The commanding officer can be a captain (Previously, Commanding Officers of a large corps could have been a Major, but that capability has been removed with the creation of CJCR Group Order 5511-1) The National Revolutionary Army (NRA) corps ( 軍團 ) was a type of military organization used by
693-480: A corps is a battlefield formation composed of two or more divisions , and typically commanded by a lieutenant general . During World War I and World War II , due to the large scale of combat, multiple corps were combined into armies which then formed into army groups . In Western armies with numbered corps, the number is often indicated in Roman numerals (e.g., VII Corps ). The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps
792-407: A corps is also a grouping of personnel by common function, also known as an arm , service , mustering or branch . In the British Army, an administrative corps performs much the same role – for personnel that otherwise lack them – as a ceremonial regiment . An administrative corps therefore has its own cap badge , stable belt , and other insignia and traditions. In some cases, the term corps
891-496: A dedicated Cavalry Corps of three divisions and horse artillery assigned to the corps headquarters. In the early years of the war, field artillery was either part of an artillery reserve under direct army control or assigned to individual divisions. However, after the Battle of Chancellorsville the divisional artillery was placed under corps control, with each corps assigned a brigade of between four and six batteries commanded by
990-403: A fire), tea leaves and sawdust mixed, ginger cut into small lumps. Tea ran out and we had ginger instead (ginger crushed and steeped in boiling water). Milk and sugar had given out long ago, likewise beef and mutton and all the bully was gone with the exception of two days' emergency rations which kept back until the very last". Dysentery and scurvy became common. At the beginning of March 1916,
1089-488: A further 20,000 to 30,000 reinforcements. Following the defeat of Aylmer's expedition, General Nixon was replaced as supreme commander by Percy Lake on 19 January. More forces were sent to bolster Aylmer's troops. He tried again, attacking the Dujaila redoubt on 8 March. This attack failed, at a cost of 4,000 men. General Aylmer was dismissed and replaced with General George Gorringe on 12 March. In April, starvation within
SECTION 10
#17328474526891188-477: A general attack. Younghusband led the attack on the left bank and Major-General Kemball took the right. After heavy fighting all day, Kemball's troops had overrun Ottoman trenches on the right bank, taking prisoners and capturing two guns. However, the Ottoman left bank held firm and they carried out supporting manoeuvres from the north. After little change on 8 January, renewed British attacks on 9 January resulted in
1287-513: A mandatory requirement moved forward from Ali Al Gharbi towards Sheikh Sa'ad along both banks of the Tigris. Younghusband's column made contact with the Ottomans on the morning of 6 January 5.6 km ( 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 mi) east of Sheikh Sa'ad. British efforts to defeat the Ottomans were unsuccessful. The following day, on 7 January, Aylmer arrived with the main body of his forces and ordered
1386-540: A number of aides-de-camp and a general staff of other officers. This staff consisted of a chief of cavalry, a chief of artillery, and representatives of the War Department 's various bureaus: an assistant adjutant general , a quartermaster , an assistant inspector general , a commissary of subsistence, an ordnance officer (all with the rank of lieutenant colonel ), and a medical director. However, there were no dedicated combat service support formations as part of
1485-413: A numerically superior foe. This allowed Napoleon I to mass the bulk of his forces to effect a penetration into a weak section of enemy lines without risking his own communications or flank. This innovation stimulated other European powers to adopt similar military structures. The corps has remained an echelon of French Army organization to the modern day. As fixed military formation already in peace-time it
1584-597: A reduced level), but Townshend would not attempt an infantry retreat unprotected through hostile tribal lands without river transport. Nixon had ordered this with reinforcements, commanded by his son, but by December they were still only in the Suez Canal. The confusing communications would prove a critical delay. Medical facilities in Kut were headed by Major General Patrick Hehir . The first relief expedition comprised some 19,000 men under Lieutenant-General Aylmer and it headed up
1683-476: A river-borne relief. The Ottoman XVIII Corps that consisted of the 45th and 51st divisions were assigned to besiege Kut while the XIII Corps that consisted of the 35th and 52nd divisions were assigned down the Tigris river to block any relief force coming up from Basra. After a month of siege, Townshend wanted to break out and withdraw southwards but his commander, General Sir John Nixon saw value in tying down
1782-459: A siege of 147 days. Around 13,000 Allied soldiers survived to be made prisoners. The Turkish writer İlber Ortaylı states that "Halil Pasha acted like a gentleman to the surrendering British officers" and offered "to take the POWs up towards the north in river boats in case fuel could be provided from British bases nearby." The French historian Marc Ferro suggested a different image. According to Ferro,
1881-399: A soldier as part of a specific corps (or sometimes individual battalion). This lanyard is a woven piece of cord which is worn on ceremonial uniforms and dates back to the issue of clasp knives in the early 20th century which were secured to the uniform by a length of cord. If a soldier is posted to a unit outside of their parent corps, except in some circumstances the soldier continues to wear
1980-555: Is a moot point. It made little difference to the Armenians". One British POW, Sergeant Long, wrote about the march from Kut to the POW camps in Anatolia: "No words can adequately describe the appalling misery of that scene. Here were men who had suffered and fought the long months of the siege, although they were gradually starved and were not fit to do a day's march, yet they were being driven across
2079-496: Is also used informally, for looser groupings of independent regiments and other units – and without many or any unifying regalia , military traditions or other accoutrements – such as the Royal Armoured Corps or the "Corps of Infantry". In Australia, soldiers belong foremost to a corps which defines a common function or employment across the army. The Australian Army has a system of coloured lanyards, which each identify
SECTION 20
#17328474526892178-480: Is an operational-tactical formation (in the past - the highest tactical formation) of the former Soviet Air Defence Forces and now Russian Air Defence Forces /Aerospace Forces. The purpose of the such a corps is to protect important administrative, industrial and economic centers and regions of the country, groupings of troops (forces) and military facilities within the established limits of responsibility against air strikes. In organizational terms, an air defence corps
2277-494: Is composed of three or four divisions. There are three types of corps in the Indian Army: strike, holding and mixed. The corps HQ is the highest field formation in the army. The Pakistan Army has nine manoeuvre corps, each commanded by a lieutenant general . Each corps is composed of at least two divisions. The corps HQ is the highest field formation in the army. The Polish Armed Forces used independent operational groups in
2376-558: Is part of the district (or a separate army) of the Air Defence Forces. Also some air defence corps were separate. On the basis of individual corps, air defence zones or air defence corps areas could be created. The first KPVO were created in February 1938 for the air defence of Moscow , Leningrad and Baku (respectively 1st, 2nd and 3rd) based on anti-aircraft artillery divisions and air defence brigade ( 3rd KPVO ). The staff of
2475-484: Is the highest level of the forces that is concerned with actual combat and operational deployment. Higher levels of command are concerned with administration rather than operations, at least under current doctrine. The corps provides operational direction for the forces under its command. As of 2014, the active field corps in the US Army are I Corps , III Corps , and XVIII Airborne Corps ; their lineages derive from three of
2574-675: The ARVN corps areas. As of July 2016, the Army deactivated all corps headquarters save three CONUS based corps ( I Corps - Washington, III Corps - Texas, and XVIII Airborne Corps - North Carolina). In the 1960s, the Marine Corps activated the I Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF) on Okinawa (based in California since 1971) and II Marine Expeditionary Force (II MEF) in North Carolina, and re-activated
2673-641: The Allied Rapid Reaction Corps in 1994. It is no longer a purely British formation, although the UK is the "framework nation" and provides most of the staff for the headquarters. A purely national Corps headquarters could be quickly reconstituted if necessary. It took command of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan on 4 May 2006. Previously, it was deployed as the headquarters commanding land forces during
2772-638: The Australian Corps , on the Western Front , under Lieutenant General Sir John Monash . During World War II, the Australian I Corps was formed to co-ordinate three Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF) units: the 6th , 7th and 9th Divisions , as well as other Allied units on some occasions, in the North African campaign and Greek campaign . Following the commencement of the Pacific War , there
2871-537: The Chinese Republic , and usually exercised command over two to three NRA divisions and often a number of independent brigades or regiments and supporting units. The Chinese Republic had 133 corps during the Second Sino-Japanese War . After losses in the early part of the war, under the 1938 reforms, the remaining scarce artillery and the other support formations were withdrawn from the division and
2970-855: The Dental Branch (Canadian Forces) and the Canadian Forces Medical Service of the Canadian Forces Health Services Group (CF H Svcs Gp). The Royal Canadian Army Service Corps transport and supply elements were combined with the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps to form the Logistics Branch The Royal Canadian Army Service Corps clerical trades were merged with the Royal Canadian Army Pay Corps and
3069-786: The Fall of Baghdad on 11 March 1917. With Baghdad captured, the British administration undertook vital reconstruction of the war-torn country and Kut was slowly rebuilt. Some of the Indian prisoners of war from Kut later came to join the Ottoman Indian Volunteer Corps under the influence of Deobandis of the Silk Letter Movement and with the encouragement of the German High Command . These soldiers, along with those recruited from
I Corps (British India) - Misplaced Pages Continue
3168-438: The KPVO included: 4-6 anti-aircraft artillery regiments, 1 anti-aircraft machine-gun regiment, 1 searchlight regiment (or battalion), 1-2 regiments (or divisions) barrage balloons , 1- 2 regiments (or battalions) of visual observation, warning and communications ( VNOS ), and a separate communications battalion. From September 1938 to November 1940, the KPVO also included 1-2 regiments (battalions) of local air defence. During
3267-658: The Kosovo War in 1999 and also saw service in Bosnia and Herzegovina , commanding the initial stages of the IFOR deployment prior to that in 1996. Otherwise, the only time a British corps headquarters has been operationally deployed since 1945 was II Corps during the Suez Crisis . The structure of a field corps in the United States Army is not permanent. On the battlefield, the corps
3366-675: The Officers Training Corps . Military training of teenage boys is undertaken at secondary schools through the Combined Cadet Force , in which participation was compulsory at some schools in the 1950s. Schoolboy jargon called the CCF simply "Corps". The British Army still has a corps headquarters for operational control of forces. I Corps of the British Army of the Rhine was redesignated
3465-656: The Royal Canadian Postal Corps to form the Administration Branch (later merged with the Logistics Branch ) Other "corps", included: Canadian Engineer Corps , Signalling Corps , Corps of Guides , Canadian Women's Army Corps , Royal Canadian Army Veterinary Corps , Canadian Forestry Corps , Canadian Provost Corps and Canadian Intelligence Corps . Siege of Kut The siege of Kut Al Amara (7 December 1915 – 29 April 1916), also known as
3564-472: The first battle of Kut , was the besieging of an 8,000-strong British Army garrison in the town of Kut , 160 km (100 mi) south of Baghdad , by the Ottoman Army . In 1915, its population was around 6,500. Following the surrender of the garrison on 29 April 1916, the survivors of the siege were marched to imprisonment at Aleppo , during which many died. Historian Christopher Catherwood has called
3663-540: The 11 and 29 April were only enough for three days. All the relief efforts had failed, at a cost of around 30,000 Allied killed or wounded. Ottoman casualties are believed to have been around 10,000. The Ottomans also lost the aid of Baron von der Goltz. He died in April 1916, supposedly of typhoid about a week before the British surrendered on 29 April. After Goltz's death, no German commander took his place in Mesopotamia for
3762-681: The Armistice, the peacetime Canadian militia was nominally organized into corps and divisions but no full-time formations larger than a battalion were ever trained or exercised. Early in the Second World War, Canada's contribution to the British-French forces fighting the Germans was limited to a single division. After the fall of France in June 1940, a second division moved to England, coming under command of
3861-887: The Armour Branch continued to use the title Royal Canadian Armoured Corps , the Infantry Branch continued to use the Royal Canadian Infantry Corps designation, and the Artillery Branch uses the term Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery . When the Army, Royal Canadian Navy , and Royal Canadian Air Force were merged in 1968 to form the Canadian Forces, the Royal Canadian Dental Corps and Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps were deactivated and merged with their Naval and Air Force counterparts to form
3960-624: The Army and Marines diverged in their approach to the concept of the field corps. The Army continued to group its divisions into traditional corps organizations in the Continental United States (CONUS), West Germany ( V Corps and VII Corps ), and South Korea (I Corps). However, during the Vietnam War , the Army designated its corps-level headquarters in South Vietnam as I Field Force and II Field Force to avoid confusion with
4059-639: The Battles of La Bassée , 1st Messines and Armentières in October–November 1914. General Officer Commanding : Lieut-Gen Sir J. Willcocks, KCB , KCSI , KCMG , DSO Brig-Gen, General Staff: Brig-Gen H. Hudson , CB , CIE Brig-Gen, Royal Artillery : Brig-Gen H.F. Mercer, CB , ADC Colonel, Royal Engineers : Col H.C. Nanton On 13 August 1915, General Sir John Nixon , commanding Indian Expeditionary Force D in Mesopotamia , requested one of
I Corps (British India) - Misplaced Pages Continue
4158-429: The British garrison at Kut forced Indian troops to abandon the vegetarian diet of their religion and eat horse meat. The relief attempt by Gorringe is usually termed the first battle of Kut. The British Empire's forces numbered about 30,000 soldiers, roughly equal to the Ottomans. The battle began on 5 April and the British soon captured Fallahiya but with heavy losses, Bait Isa was taken on 17 April. The final effort
4257-672: The Civil War lacked standing organization at the corps and division levels, it moved swiftly to adopt these during the mobilization for the Spanish–American War in the spring of 1898. On 7 May, General Order 36 called for the establishment of seven "army corps" (repeating the nomenclature of the Civil War); an eighth was authorized later that month. Two of these saw action as a unit: the Fifth in Cuba and
4356-453: The Confederate corps at the Battle of Gettysburg , for instance, exceeded 20,000 men. However, for both armies, unit sizes varied dramatically with attrition throughout the war. In Civil War usages, by both sides, it was common to write out the number, thus "Twenty-first Army Corps", a practice that is usually ignored in modern histories of the war. Although the US Army in the years following
4455-739: The Eighth in the Philippines; elements of the First , Fourth , and Seventh made up the invasion force for Puerto Rico (the Second, Third , and Seventh provided replacements and occupation troops in Cuba, while the Sixth was never organized). The corps headquarters were disbanded during the months following the signing of the peace treaty (with the exception of the Eighth Army Corps, which remained active until 1900 due to
4554-452: The Great Patriotic War from November 1941 to April 1944 the air defence corps were renamed into air defence corps areas (such as the Stalingrad Corps Region ). The corps districts included up to 9 anti-aircraft artillery regiments and 14 separate anti-aircraft artillery battalions, up to 3 anti-aircraft machine-gun regiments, 1 searchlight regiment, 1 regiment (or division) of barrage balloons, up to 4 regiments (or separate battalions) VNOS, and
4653-447: The Gurkhas and Sikh POWs were abused for their religions. After reaching Mosul, the POWs entered into areas where the population was Kurdish while the desert terrain was replaced with the mountains of Anatolia. Long described the Kurds as being more kindly disposed to the POWs than the Arabs, which together the cool summer mountain air made conditions more bearable. At the Ras-el-Aim camp where Indian POWs were being held, Long described
4752-481: The III Amphibious Corps (which had been deactivated in 1946) as III Marine Expeditionary Force (III MEF) in South Vietnam (re-deployed to Okinawa in 1971). In 1965, all three MEFs were subsequently re-designated as Marine amphibious forces or MAFs, and in 1988 all three Marine Corps corps-level commands were again re-designated as Marine expeditionary forces (MEF). The MEF had evolved into a self-contained, corps-level, Marine air-ground task force (MAGTF) consisting of
4851-424: The Indian infantry divisions in France as reinforcements for his advance on Baghdad . Coincidentally, on the same day, the Secretary of State for India , Austen Chamberlain , told the Viceroy of India that he was anxious for the Indian infantry to be withdrawn from France before they had to endure another winter. The system for supplying drafts had broken down and the Indian battalions were becoming very weak after
4950-402: The Indians as being in a "...condition that was truly pitiful they resembled animated skeletons hung about with filthy rags. No tents or other shelter had been provided and they were living in holes in the grounds like pariah dogs". Townshend himself was taken to the island of Heybeliada on the Sea of Marmara , to sit out the war in relative luxury. The author Norman Dixon , in his book On
5049-491: The Ottoman forces in a siege. Nixon had ordered transports from London, but none had arrived. The War Office was in the process of reorganizing military command; previously the orders had come from the Viceroy and India Office. However, when Townshend—inaccurately—reported that only one month of food remained, a rescue force was hastily raised. It is not clear why Townshend reported he only had enough food for one month when he actually had food for more than four months (although at
SECTION 50
#17328474526895148-403: The Ottomans retiring from Sheikh Sa'ad. Over the following two days the Ottomans were followed by Aylmer's force but heavy rains made the roads virtually impassable. The Ottomans retreated for about 16 km (10 mi) from Sheikh Sa'ad to a tributary of the Tigris on the left bank known by the Arabic toponym simply as the Wadi (meaning "the river valley"). The Ottomans made their camp beyond
5247-507: The Ottomans used their Krupp artillery to open a heavy bombardment of Kut, which destroyed much of the town. At the same time, three German aircraft bombed Kut, though the damage inflicted was only slight as compared to the artillery bombardment. At the time, the Ottomans were seen unloading metal cylinders from a barge in the Tigris, which were assumed to contain chemical weapons from Germany. Townshend in his diary called chemical warfare "a cowardly barbarism worthy of Chinese pirates". As both
5346-427: The Psychology of Military Incompetence , described Townshend as being "amused" by the plight of the men he had deserted, as if he had pulled off some clever trick. Dixon says Townshend was unable to understand why his friends and comrades were ultimately censorious over his behaviour. In British Army battle honours , the siege of Kut is named as "Defence of Kut Al Amara". Jan Morris , a British historian, described
5445-443: The Soviet air defence corps were also created. In June–July 1960, all KPVO were enlarged and consisted of: anti-aircraft missile regiments and brigades, air defense fighter regiments, radio engineering regiments and brigades, separate electronic warfare battalions, regiments and battalions of communications and logistics institutions. In many English-speaking countries and other countries influenced by British military traditions,
5544-413: The Tigris River. The men of the 6th Division suffered terribly as Ottoman prisoners. On the day of the surrender, the Ottomans handed out biscuits for the POWs. The British historian Russell Braddon wrote that after eating the biscuits "The following morning, they began to die. Frothing at the mouth, their bowels and stomachs disintegrating into a greenish slime, dehydrated and moaning, they died one after
5643-427: The Tigris and the Suwaikiya Marshes. British losses at the Battle of Hanna amounted to 2,700 killed and wounded, which was disastrous for the garrison in Kut. As the siege continued, supplies started to run out for the besieged. Sergeant Munn reported: "About half-way through February the rations were sadly diminishing. Tobacco was first out, and we were smoking anything that would smoke, and green leaves (dried over
5742-414: The Wadi and on the other side of the Tigris opposite the Wadi. On 13 January, Aylmer attacked the Ottoman Wadi position on the left bank with all of his forces. After putting up a stiff resistance the Ottomans retreated 8 km (5 mi) to the west and they were followed by Aylmer's troops. The Ottomans then made their camp upstream of the Wadi at the Hanna defile , a narrow strip of dry land between
5841-414: The army. Major General George B. McClellan , for example, planned to organize the Army of the Potomac into corps of two or more divisions and about 25,000 soldiers. However, he delayed doing so, partly for lack of experienced officers, and partly for political reasons, until March 1862 when President Lincoln ordered their creation. The exact composition of a corps in the Union Army varied during
5940-463: The brigade pattern were created in the Belorussian Military District (Western TVD/Strategic Direction) and the 48th Separate Guards Army Corps in the Transbaikal Military District , but abandoned after a few years. The Soviet Air Forces used ground terminology for its formations down to squadron level. As intermediates between the aviation division and the air army were corps—these also had three air divisions each. An Air Defence Corps ('KPVO')
6039-435: The corps formed during World War I (I and III Corps) and World War II (XVIII Airborne Corps). On 12 February 2020, it was announced that the Army was reactivating V Corps to bolster the presence of US forces in Europe. The first field corps in the United States Army were legalized during the American Civil War by an act of Congress on 17 July 1862, although the term had been used previously to refer to any large portion of
SECTION 60
#17328474526896138-432: The corps. This meant that either civilian workers had to be hired or line soldiers detailed from their units to carry out the necessary tasks. Initially, corps were numbered in relation to their field army, such as I Army Corps, Army of the Potomac. After a while these numerical designations became unique to each corps regardless of the army to which they were assigned. Although designated with numbers that are sometimes
6237-434: The end of the war. In 1914 Indian Expeditionary Force A was sent to reinforce the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) fighting in France. In France it formed the Indian Cavalry Corps and Indian Corps composed of 3rd (Lahore) and 7th (Meerut) Divisions. (In France, these formations were simply known as 'Lahore' and 'Meerut' Divisions, to distinguish them from the 3rd and 7th British divisions.) Despatch from India
6336-443: The eruption of the Philippine–American War ), and like the corps of the Civil War, their lineage ends at that point. During World War I, the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) adopted the common European usage of designating field corps by Roman numerals . Several " corps areas " were designated under the authority of the National Defense Act of 1920 , but played little role until the Army's buildup for World War II. While some of
6435-441: The evidence came into the Committee of Imperial Defence; which was further complicated by a restructuring involving the setup of a new sub-committee system and transfer of military responsibilities. At least three urgent memoranda were sent from General Nixon demanding transports to evacuate Townshend's division. By Christmas his health had broken down, and he requested a return to Bombay. Nixon's replacements with additional staff as
6534-478: The first formal combined-arms groupings of divisions with reasonably stable manning and equipment establishments. Napoleon I first used the corps d'armée in 1805. The use of the corps d'armée was a military innovation that provided Napoleon I with a significant battlefield advantage in the early phases of the Napoleonic Wars . The corps was designed to be an independent military group containing cavalry, artillery and infantry, and capable of defending against
6633-428: The formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies greatly, but two to five divisions and anywhere from 40,000 to 80,000 are the numbers stated by the US Department of Defense. Within military terminology a corps may be: These usages often overlap. Corps may also be a generic term for a non-military organization , such as the US Peace Corps and European Solidarity Corps . In many armies,
6732-424: The garrison and population of Kut began to starve while the Ottoman guns continued to blast Kut, Townshend sent out a series of messages on the radio asking for a promotion from major-general to colonel-general on the account of his success advancing the Tigris in 1915, requests that reflected badly on him. At this point, Khalil Pasha (the Ottoman commander of the whole region) came to the battle, bringing with him
6831-548: The hat badge and lanyard of their corps (e.g. a clerk posted to an infantry battalion would wear the hat badge of the Royal Australian Ordnance Corps but would wear the lanyard of the battalion they are posted to). In Canada , with the integration of the Canadian Army into the Canadian Forces , the British corps model was replaced with personnel branches , defined in Canadian Forces Administrative Orders (CFAOs) as "...cohesive professional groups...based on similarity of military roles, customs and traditions." CFAO 2-10) However,
6930-471: The heavy casualties they had suffered. Although the Secretary of State for War , Lord Kitchener , objected to their withdrawal from the Western Front , orders were issued on 31 October for the two divisions of Indian Corps (3rd (Lahore) and 7th (Meerut) Division) to embark at Marseilles for Mesopotamia. Indian Corps was relieved in the front line on 6 November by XI Corps and the two divisions were due at Basra in December, but their departure from Marseilles
7029-405: The loss of Kut as "the most abject capitulation in Britain's military history." After this humiliating loss, General Lake and General Gorringe were removed from command. The new commander was General Maude , who trained and organized his army and then launched a successful campaign. Ten months after the Siege of Kut, the British Indian Army conquered the whole region from Kut to Baghdad as part of
7128-468: The lower numbered corps were used for various exercises, the inter-war years corps served mostly as a pool of units. During that war, the Marine Corps organized corps headquarters for the first time, the I Marine (later III Amphibious Corps ) and V Amphibious Corps . The Army ultimately designated 25 field corps (I–XVI, XVIII–XXIV, XXXVI, and I Armored Corps ) during World War II. After the Korean War ,
7227-553: The offer as a final humiliation to the British. The British also asked for help from the Russians. General Nikolai Baratov , with his largely Cossack force of 20,000, was in Persia at the time. Following the request he advanced towards Baghdad in April 1916, but he turned back when news reached him of the surrender. General Townshend arranged a ceasefire on the 26th and, after failed negotiations, he simply surrendered on 29 April 1916 after
7326-603: The other". The British and Indian POWs were afflicted by enteritis from contaminated biscuits. The British historian Paul Knight wrote: "The treatment of the Kuttities was similar to those of the Allied prisoners of war taken by the Japanese, which is of course a far more familiar story to a modern audience. Whether or not there was a deliberate state policy to murder the Kuttities through overwork, underfeeding, or both, or whether murder
7425-487: The pitiless waste under a scorching sun, herded along by a brutal and callous escort of Arab conscripts. Limping and staggering along they all finally arrived, some of them being assisted along by comrades, who themselves were in dire need of assistance". To encourage the POWs to move faster, the Ottoman guards constantly whipped them. The Indian Muslims were able to bring themselves some protection by saying " Islami, Islami " while
7524-495: The place of the corps before and during World War II . An example would be Independent Operational Group Polesie . The groups, as the name indicates, were more flexible and showed greater capacity to absorb and integrate elements of broken units over a period of just a couple days and keep cohesion during the September Campaign than more traditional army units such as divisions, regiments, or even brigades. Wellington formed
7623-612: The position at Kut instead of continuing the march downriver towards Basra . Contained within a long river loop, Kut offered a good defensive position although supply lines from distant Basra were stretched. The pursuing Ottoman forces under Halil Pasha arrived on 7 December 1915. Once it became clear the Ottomans had enough forces to lay siege to Kut, Townshend ordered his cavalry to escape south, which it did, led by Lieut. Colonel Gerard Leachman . The Ottoman forces numbered around 11,000 men and were increasing steadily with additional reinforcements arriving constantly. They were commanded by
7722-542: The prisoners from the European battlefields, fought alongside Ottoman forces on a number of fronts. The Indians were led by Amba Prasad Sufi , who during the war was joined by Kedar Nath Sondhi, Rishikesh Letha, and Amin Chaudhry. These Indian troops were involved in the capture of the frontier city of Karman and the detention of the British consul there, and they also successfully harassed Sir Percy Sykes ' Persian campaign against
7821-481: The respected but elderly German general and military historian Baron von der Goltz . Goltz knew the Ottoman army well, as he had spent 12 years working on modernizing it, from 1883 to 1895. After three attacks in December, Goltz directed the building of siege fortifications facing Kut. He prepared for an attack from Basra, using the Tigris River , by building defensive positions further down the river designed to cut off
7920-462: The rest of the corps were disbanded. In July 1947, all KPVO were renamed anti-aircraft artillery corps. In January 1949, part of these corps was reorganized into air defence areas. From December 1948 to January 1949, all anti-aircraft artillery corps were disbanded. In June 1954, for the defense of the main industrial and economic centers and regions of the USSR, 10 air defence corps were re-created. At
8019-463: The rest of the war. British leaders attempted to buy their troops out. Aubrey Herbert and T. E. Lawrence were part of a team of officers sent to negotiate a secret deal with the Ottomans. The British offered £2 million (equivalent to £190 million in 2023 ) and promised those soldiers would not fight the Ottomans again, in exchange for Townshend's troops. Enver Pasha at first pretended to negotiate in good faith, then publicized and rejected
8118-744: The river from Ali Gharbi in January 1916. The first attempt to relieve Kut (the Battle of Sheikh Sa'ad) came on 6 January by troops under the command of Major-General George Younghusband . Troops under Lieut. Gen. Aylmer's command joined the British forces with two brigades the next day following which Aylmer took over the command. Part of the cause of delay was the debate in Cabinet over whether one division would be an adequate force, or whether two divisions should be sent. Deliberations were painfully slow. The ageing General Maurice insisted on being informed at every turn as
8217-879: The same as those found in the modern US Army, there is no direct lineage between the 43 Union field corps of the Civil War and those with similar names in the modern era, due to congressional legislation caused by the outcry from veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic during the Spanish–American War . In the Confederate States Army , field corps were authorized in November 1862. They were commanded by lieutenant generals, and were usually larger than their Union Army counterparts because their divisions contained more brigades, each of which could contain more regiments. All of
8316-452: The same time, in addition to anti-aircraft artillery formations, fighter aviation regiments and divisions were included in the corps. Since the late 1950s, anti-aircraft artillery units have been replaced by anti-aircraft missile formations and formations of radio engineering troops. Searchlight and barrage balloon units were also abolished. In the Warsaw Pact countries, groupings similar to
8415-462: The senior-most artillery officer. In general, the other field armies tended to model their organization after the Army of the Potomac, including the gradual development of corps. Corps were commanded by major generals because Congress refused to promote officers past that grade (with the exception of Ulysses S. Grant to lieutenant general in 1864). To assist with their command, generals were allowed
8514-713: The siege "the worst defeat of the Allies in World War I ". Ten months later, the British Indian Army , consisting almost entirely of newly recruited troops from Western India, conquered Kut, Baghdad and other regions in between in the Fall of Baghdad . The 6th (Poona) Division of the Indian Army , under Major-General Charles Townshend , had fallen back to the town of Kut after retreating from Ctesiphon . The British Empire forces arrived at Kut around 3 December 1915. They had suffered significant losses, numbering only 11,000 soldiers (plus cavalry). General Townshend chose to stay and hold
8613-520: The surrendered British and Indian forces were forced to march around the city of Baghdad while being maltreated by the Ottoman troops supervising their march. After the surrender, the Ottomans agreed to an exchange of sick and wounded soldiers for an equal number of POWs of the Ottoman Empire that were held by the British. Around 1,500 incapacitated prisoners were exchanged. The Anglo-Indian sick and wounded were taken to hospitals by ships and barges of
8712-471: The war, the tank and mechanized corps were re-rated as divisions. During the reforms of 1956–58, most of the corps were again disbanded to create the new combined arms and tank armies. A few corps were nevertheless retained. The Vyborg and Archangel Corps of the Leningrad Military District were smaller armies with three low-readiness motorized rifle divisions each. In the 1980s "Unified Corps" on
8811-413: The war, though it usually consisted of between two and six division (on average three) for approximately 36,000 soldiers. After Ambrose Burnside was given command of the Army of the Potomac in November 1862, he reorganized it into three "grand divisions" of two corps and a cavalry division each, but this structure was abolished when Joseph Hooker took over February 1863. This also led to the creation of
8910-477: Was a by-produce of negligence, neglect and official incompetence is a moot point. It made little different to the Kuttities. Their captivity took place against the backdrop of the Armenian massacres, which are still denied by the modern Turkish state. Again, whether or not the death of thousands of Armenians was the result of a state policy, or whether it was the by-produce of negligence, neglect and official incompetence
9009-604: Was a phased withdrawal of I Corps to Australia, and the transfer of its headquarters to the Brisbane area, to control Allied army units in Queensland and northern New South Wales (NSW). II Corps was also formed, with Militia units, to defend south-eastern Australia, and III Corps controlled land forces in Western Australia . Sub-corps formations controlled Allied land forces in the remainder of Australia. I Corps headquarters
9108-537: Was against Sannaiyat on 22 April. The Allies were unable to take Sannaiyat and suffered some 1,200 casualties in the process. In April 1916 No. 30 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps carried out the first air supply operation in history. Food and ammunition were dropped to the defenders of Kut, but "as often as not their parcels go into the Tigris or into the Turkish trenches!" and the food rations provided between
9207-574: Was apparently unable to handle the formations, and the armies and corps were integrated. Rifle corps were re-established during the war after Red Army commanders had gained experience handling larger formations. Before and during World War II, however, Soviet armoured units were organized into corps. The pre-war mechanized corps were made up of divisions. In the reorganizations, these "corps" were reorganized into tank brigades and support units, with no division structure. Owing to this, they are sometimes, informally, referred to as "brigade buckets". After
9306-497: Was delayed because of fear of submarine attack. 3rd (Lahore) Division finally arrived in Mesopotamia in April 1916 and joined Tigris Corps , too late to relieve 6th (Poona) Division at Kut-al-Amara . Army corps Corps ( / k ɔːr / ; plural corps / k ɔːr z / ; from French corps , from the Latin corpus "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I ,
9405-543: Was delayed by the activities of the German raiders Emden and Königsberg operating in the Indian Ocean, and by the slow speed of the transport vessels. Lahore Division began landing at Marseilles on 26 September 1914, but there were further delays while the troops were re-armed with the latest pattern rifle, and the supply train could be improvised, using tradesmens' vans procured locally. The corps finally got into action at
9504-745: Was held at corps, or army level or higher. The corps became the basic tactical unit of the NRA having strength nearly equivalent to an allied division . The modern People's Liberation Army Ground Force group army ( 集团军 ) is the closest equivalent of a corps. After the military reforms of the early 2010s, a typical PLA group army consists of six combined arms brigades, plus additional artillery, air defence, engineering, sustainment, special operations and army aviation assets. Each formation contains approximately 30,000 combat troops and several thousands more supporting personnel. The French Army under Napoleon I used corps-sized formations ( French : corps d'armée ) as
9603-664: Was later assigned control of the New Guinea campaign . In early 1945, when I Corps was assigned the task of re-taking Borneo , II Corps took over in New Guinea. Canada first fielded a corps-sized formation in the First World War; the Canadian Corps was unique in that its composition did not change from inception to the war's end, in contrast to British corps in France and Flanders. The Canadian Corps consisted of four Canadian divisions. After
9702-514: Was raised in 1914, consisting of Australian and New Zealand troops, who went on to fight at Gallipoli in 1915. In early 1916, the original corps was reorganized and two corps were raised: I ANZAC Corps and II ANZAC Corps . In the later stages of World War I, the five infantry divisions of the First Australian Imperial Force (AIF)—consisting entirely of personnel who had volunteered for service overseas—were united as
9801-413: Was used almost in all European armies after Battle of Ulm in 1805. In Prussia it was introduced by Order of His Majesty ( German : Allerhöchste Kabinetts-Order ) from 5 November 1816, in order to strengthen the readiness to war. The Indian Army has 14 corps , each commanded by a general officer commanding (GOC), known as the corps commander, who holds the rank of lieutenant general . Each corps
#688311