General Craufurd's ADC, LT James Shaw, wrote that at the assault on th lesser breach at Ciudad Rodrigo, the battalions:
"The 43rd and 52nd Regiments were formed in columns of sections and were abreast of each other; the 43rd formed the right-hand column of sections, the 52nd the left-hand column of sections."
The questions. . .
What is a section in the British Army?
What is a column of sections?
Thanks!
P.42 of the 1792 regulations is what you need;
Not frequently discussed even in the drill manuals, but I believe this follows on from a battalion being thought of a divided into 'divisions' - small d - usually of two companies as recall. Sections would be the next subdivision from that usually led by a corporal. As late as WW1 the British army had what they called 'artillery columns' which were an apparent attempt to disperse a battalion while keeping the men tightly under control in platoons under control of an nco. They abandoned the practice when they realized that artillery shells fired in the profligate fashion of the western front could destroy these as easily as a battalion in tight formation.