Spanish infantry company organization in 1898

[DarthRobbhi]

Does anyone have any information about how Spanish infantry companies were organized in 1898, especially the composition of platoons, sections, squads, etc?

I have very good information on the American side (including the relevant drill instructions for infantry and cavalry), but it’s hard to find how the Spanish were organized and fought.

Thanks in advance!

[carlos marighela]

Here's the broad structure of Spanish infantry battalion in 1898.
 
"Plana Mayor: 1 teniente coronel, 2 comandantes, 1 capitán ayudante, 1 capitán cajero,1 capitán de almacén, 1 teniente abanderado, 2 médicos, 1 capellán, 1 cabo de cornetasy 1 armero.
 
6 Compañías: cada una con 1 capitán, 4 subalternos, 5 sargentos, 10 cabos, 4 cornetas,4 soldados de 1ª y 160 soldados de 2ª; en total 1140 hombres." (De Miguel, 2011).

So headquarters and 6 companies, each company with 5 officers, fifteen NCOs, four buglers, four senior ORs (Private First Class) and 160 ORs .

While I doubt there was a break down into squads for anything other than administrative purposes, I'd infer from the break down of officers and NCOs that there would an internal division of the company into four parts. Now do bear in mind that most Western armies of the period rarely thought in terms of tactical units below company or perhaps a 'half-company' at best. That said if you wanted to arrange them into four platoons it's not an unreasonable assumption.


I would further surmise, on the basis of the number of corporals present, that each platoon could further subdivide into 2 groups or sections of around 20 men each. I don't know enough about the Spanish army of the period to conclusively say so but I would suspect that any section/squad breakdown would be administrative in view of what other nations were doing. The Spanish Army was right into the late 20th C very conservative in its approach to tactical doctrine.

[carlos marighela]

Oh and welcome to LAF!

[carlos marighela]

Forgot to add the source for the above. It's from a rather useful doctoral thesis on the Cuban campaign. If you read Spanish or have the facility to translate PDFs it's well worth the read, stuffed with maps and diagrams. The organistional stuff is on p.148.

https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/326039753.pdf

[DarthRobbhi]

Thanks! I have enough Spanish to reasonably estimate ehen a Google translation is off the rails, so I will definitely utilize that doctoral dissertation.

It’s interesting that the Spanish didn’t really develop subcompany units tactically the way other powers did, especially given their vast small war experience and other demonstrated modernity such as field fortifications, barbed wire, etc.

Unless Spanish infantry companies were sufficiently understrength in the field that they were a useful tactical unit?

[carlos marighela]

The British and German armies in 1914 had platoons or zugs. They didn't really function as separate tactical entities much. That devolution took place later in the war and largely in response to the exigencies of trench warfare and a need to find breakthrough solutions. In 1914, it would be common to view the company as the lowest sub-unit deployed as a firing line and supports. At least that was the British approach and bear in mind that the all volunteer British Regular Army had both much more recent combat experience than its opponent as well as a highly developed musketry doctrine and practice.

None of this is to say that a company commander could not detach a group of say 30 or 40 men, whether or not they were an administrative element and say 'Hold that flank' or 'Assault that position'.  It just mean that the platoon as a more or less semi-independent tactical entiity, doesn't really start to feature until they become sufficiently well armed to support their own fire and movement. In most armies this parrallels the adoption of light machineguns, grenades and rifle grenades.

There exist a number of photos of German infantry advancing in 1914 (IIRC a quite well known one was featured in Keegan's Face of Battle).  You could be mistaken for believing they were taken in the Franco-Prussian War or American Civil War. The deployment is close order and almost Napoleonic in fashion. Extant photos of field exercises show similar scenes.