British Army During The Napoleonic Wars - Infantry

Infantry

There were three regiments of Foot Guards, each of which had 2 or 3 battalions. In background and natural attributes, recruits to the Foot Guards differed little from those recruited into other regiments, but they received superior training, were better paid, highly motivated and expected to maintain rigorous discipline.

There were eventually 104 regiments of the line. They were numbered and, from 1781, were given territorial designations, which roughly represented the area from which troops were drawn. This was not entirely rigid, and most regiments had a significant proportion of English, Irish, Scots and Welsh together, except for certain deliberately exclusive regiments. The majority of regiments contained two battalions, while some had only one. One special case, the 60th Foot, ultimately had seven battalions. Battalions were dispersed throughout the army; it was rare for two battalions of any regiment to serve in the same brigade.

A line infantry battalion was commanded by its regimental colonel or a lieutenant colonel, and was composed of ten companies, of which eight were "centre" companies, and two were "flank" companies: one a grenadier and one a specialist light company. Companies were commanded by captains, with lieutenants and ensigns (or subalterns) beneath him. Ideally, a battalion consisted of 1000 men (excluding NCOs, musicians and officers), but active service generally saw the numbers depleted; the 1st (or senior) battalion of a regiment would draw fit recruits from the 2nd battalion to maintain its strength. If also sent on active service, the 2nd battalion would consequently be weaker. In periods of long service, battalions were generally operating under strength. The majority of discharges and death were due to disease, rather than battle casualties. During the Peninsular Campaign, the army lost almost 25,000 men from disease but fewer than 9,000 from enemy action. Seriously under-strength battalions might be dissolved, merged with other remnants into "Provisional battalions" or temporarily drafted into other regiments.