ed altogether. In order to develop
their full efficiency they require a carefully selected and ample
staff of men who can be trusted to pull well together, and who have at
their disposal all the auxiliary services necessary for greater
independent operations. For these both trains and columns are needed,
which must be larger than those of two or even three single Divisions;
for, on the one hand, the greater size of the Corps entails closer
concentration of its units, thus making heavier demands on the
provision columns; and, on the other, the Corps must be capable of
carrying out longer and more obstinate engagements than a single
Division.

It is, therefore, most essential that the several Staffs required for
the Corps to be created in War-time should be thoroughly trained so as
to insure their working together, and the trains and columns necessary
to complete these units should be held ready for them in time of
Peace.[17]

[Footnote 17: In a report addressed to H.M. the King in 1868
by General von Moltke on the experiences deduced from the
events of 1866, it is proposed that there should be at Army
Headquarters the Staff of a Cavalry Corps Command, together
with its necessary Administrative services, always ready for
the field. As Field Marshal he returns to the idea in another
place, adding, 'particularly when we have found the right
"Murat" to lead it' (Moltke's 'Militarische Werke,' II.,
Second Part, First Group, B).]

To hand over the functions of Corps Commander to the senior of the two
or three Divisional Commanders would hardly be an adequate means of
securing satisfactory results even for a single day of battle; still
less could it suffice in the case of an independent strategic
operation. On the other hand, it is not at all essential that the
Corps thus formed at the outset of operations should be retained
intact throughout their whole period. One can make detachments from
them, or reinforce them according to circumstances, and thus attain
that very flexibility of organization which I have endeavoured to
prove to be an absolutely indispensable factor to meet the conditions
of our times.

It appears to me also that the same advantage which it is hoped to
realize by the creation of permanent Divisions can be reached by other
roads, and with still better results.

I would divide the whole territory of the German Empire into a