Squadron (army)

Prior to the revisions in the US Army structure in the 1880s, US Cavalry regiments were divided into companies, and the battalion was an administrative designation used only in garrison.

[4] In some British Army units it is a tradition for squadrons to also be named after an important historical battle in which the regiment has taken part.

For example, the Royal Armoured Corps Training Regiment assigns trainees to "Waterloo" Squadron, named in honour of the significance the cavalry played in the Allied forces' victory over Napoleon.

[citation needed] The modern French Army is composed of troupes à pied (foot soldiers including infantry and combat engineers) and troupes à cheval (mounted soldiers such as armored cavalry units, and transportation units).

In the "mounted arms" a captain (three galons, or braids) in charge of an escadron is thus called a chef d'escadron (which is a title, not a rank).

In other mounted branches (such as gendarmerie and artillerie), chef d'escadron is still spelled without s. The Norwegian army operates with units called eskadroner (pl.

In the Swedish cavalry a skvadron means a unit with the same size as a kompani in the rest of the army (about a hundred men).