company, in military service, the smallest body of troops that functions as a complete administrative and tactical unit. A military company consists of a headquarters and two or more platoons organized and equipped to perform the company’s operational functions. It is usually commanded by a captain, who discharges the basic responsibilities for training, discipline, and providing for the welfare of the personnel.
In medieval armies the term company referred loosely to the body of men accompanying a lord or knight into the field. As the organization of European armies developed, individual companies were brought together in larger tactical formations and eventually became subdivisions of brigades or regiments. King Gustav II Adolf in 1631 organized the Swedish infantry into 150-man companies, with eight companies to a regiment, but for tactical purposes he regrouped them into “squadrons” and brigades. By the 18th century, Prussian regiments included 12 companies, organized into two battalions. British and early U.S. infantry regiments usually consisted of 10 companies of about 100 men each. As the rifle replaced the musket in the 19th century, infantry companies adopted more dispersed tactical formations and were organized in battalions within the regiment for control. Two comparable bodies—battery of artillery and troop of cavalry—became in most armies equivalent to a company; the artillery battery and the cavalry troop are usually commanded by a captain.
During World War I all armies experimented with the tactical use of supporting weapons in infantry companies, but such weapons were generally too heavy to be carried by foot soldiers. Not until World War II, when lighter machine guns, mortars, and antitank weapons had been developed, did crew-served weapons become a normal part of the infantry rifle company. In the U.S. Army the rifle company in 1945 had a strength of 6 officers and 187 men and was composed of a company headquarters, three rifle platoons of three squads each, and a weapons platoon in which were placed light, crew-served weapons for close-fire support. Although some modifications in personnel and weapons took place after World War II, the structure of the rifle company remained basically the same through several U.S. Army reorganizations that drastically altered the size, composition, and even the names of other types of units. Rifle companies of other nations are similarly organized.
Companies in modern armies vary widely in size and equipment, usually being built around a function or mission (e.g., signal repair, medical ambulance, engineer bridge, reconnaissance, or military police companies) or around a weapon or class of weapons (e.g., tank, rifle or infantry, or mortar companies). One characteristic all companies have in common, however, is basic administrative unity so that they can be absorbed as required into larger military formations, such as the battalion.