Division slice

During the Cold War the division slice was used by some commentators to criticise the US Army for "extravagances" in resourcing compared to Soviet forces.

[2] The number of zone-of-interior troops can fluctuate significantly as it includes personnel who are sick or wounded and those in training or travelling.

The Soviets, who anticipated that any confrontation with NATO would be a short and violent war, structured their divisions to have a proportionately larger combat element with minimal logistics support.

[8] American divisions were structured with larger logistics and combat support elements, which it was felt contributed to a more effective fighting unit.

[9] American and European divisions were designed to be continually reinforced to replace losses and so were backed up with reserve troops and those still in training.

The Soviet forces also generally maintained fewer medical units and, having shorter lines of communication to a potential conflict in Europe, lower logistics requirements.

Soviet forces also made greater use of civilians to provide labour and to man anti-aircraft artillery, who were not counted in division slice calculations.

[8] At the end of the Cold War in 1990 the Netherlands Army had the largest division slice size of any in NATO, standing at 68,000, with the figures being skewed by large numbers of reservists and replacements in that force.