- Kameke's attack on the Rotherberg at Spicheren; Six battalions attacking on a front of 4 km. Decisively defeated. An 8-stand Prussian division spread across 16" actually looks OK. For 4 stands of a Brigade to do that they have to be 5" apart.
- This brings another question along with it. Can we better represent German tactical flexibility by letting them either (1) Operate in 4 stand brigades instead of 8 stand divisions (2) allow wider movement to the Germans say in 2-stand "regiment" units - but still operating within the divisional mission. This would let us get a bit more details in to smaller battles, would it cost too much in the big ones.
- In a couple of other points in Howard's account of Spicheren, attacks by 6 battalions are mentioned. This re-enforces the idea that the Brigade is a key tactical layer.
A sidebar about words. I have been thinking about phrases like "posture" or "intent" for what binds the actions which a division is allowed. Posture works well for me for the current state, and gets at phrases like "changing from a defensive to an offensive posture" -- but whatever the current posture, a division would have a mission from the corps commander. I think this should be concrete and tied to a geographic point; it should dictate the postures that the unit can voluntarily assume and provide a "leash" that ties it to the orders from higher authorities. And the German leash, in that analogy, should be longer.
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