Quote Originally Posted by Fuchs View Post
The old limit for practical corps size was 25,000 to 30,000 and was defined by march duration and pass time. Think of men marching in column. Width is 5 men on one road, average spacing is 1.5m. Total column length for 30,000 men:
6000 * 1,5m = 9 km. Pass time at 4 km/h: 2.25 hours.

Now keep in mind all those frictions and it becomes visible why larger formations were unwieldy.

Another reason for corps size limitation was overview over a battlefield (few km width can be controlled by a single commander with telescope, flag signals and courier horsemen).

None of this is relevant today.


(Btw, a pre-radio army or corps commander had much more direct subordinates than three!).
OK. Thanks for the lecture. But what does it have to do with my original post?