[FH]Attach and Detach - how far does it go

Some people, and I'm one of them, create tables of organisation and equipment
for their units, I also often create them for the next two levels up (at least
in outline) but recently I have been wondering if this is a pointless exercise
and all I should be doing is having some sort of idea what proportion of a
particular troop type a force deploys.

One reason for this is I have been reading about the battle of Meggido (yes I
know it's WW1 but bear with me). One thing that struck me was the
amount of occasions where formations had sub-units attached or detached.
Here are some examples:

Detachments:

A cavalry division - nominally of 3 brigades, having 1 complete brigade
detached to another division and a second brigade having all three of it's
regiments detached (1 to guard Corp HQ, 1 to Guard the divisional transport
and 1 to Guard the divisional transport of another division) leaving the
Division with 1 Brigade, the Brigade HQ of a second and the Divisional units.

A Cavalry Brigade - nominally of three regiments but with one regiment
detached to POW handling duties.

A Mounted Brigade - nominally of three regiments but with one regiment
detached completely and the other with 2 of its four squadrons detached.

Attachments:

An infantry division - with a cavalry brigade attached giving it 3
infantry brigades and a Cavalry brigade.

A mounted division - with an infantry brigade and 4 independent infantry
battalions attached.

So the question is how low does this kind of thing get now? and how low will
it get in the future. I know that platoons and companies get shuffled around
now to make task forces and battlegroups, but I'm not sure if it makes any
sense to go lower (attaching an individual MBT to an infantry platoon).

--- Christopher Downes-Ward
> <Christopher_Downes-Ward@acuma.co.uk> wrote:

> Some people, and I'm one of them, create tables of

Having an idea of the bigger picture is never
valueless.  Higher-level organization, doctrine, and
an idea of a nation's military culture all drive what gets done at lower
levels.

> So the question is how low does this kind of thing

Yes, but.

According to my sources... OK, source, it happens on occasion, and he cited an
example of a radio retransmission site guarded by two tanks and a squad of
infantry (that's a scenario waiting to happen if I
ever saw it).  They are mission-specific
crossattachments, not habitual relationships, and are pretty unusual.

Engineers and other supporting troops are regularly pimped out by the squad.