Читать книгу American Civil War For Dummies - Keith D. Dickson - Страница 117

In a campaign, armies and corps conduct large-scale maneuvers to gain an advantage and set the conditions for battle. Divisions are assigned objectives to attack — usually a piece of terrain (a hill, ridge, trench line, woods) occupied by an enemy force. Capturing this piece of terrain would give the attacker a significant advantage and cause the defender to be exposed to other attacks. In the defense, a division is given a stretch of ground to cover with its brigades, usually a critical piece of terrain that must be protected if the army is to survive. The division commander passes orders to his brigade commanders, who in turn pass the orders down to the colonels in the regiments. And anywhere from 400 to 1,000 men grimly take their places shoulder to shoulder on line. After all the strategy, campaigning, and maneuver, after all the generals have made their decisions, the battle is fought, and won or lost, at the regimental level.