Organisation
The Chilean army was divided into divisions. Each division comprised two brigades of infantry, each of around seven battalions of infantry; a regiment of cavalry; and a regiment of artillery, with attached machine guns.
At the beginning of the war, the Chileans could muster one slightly under-strength division; by the end of the war, their army fielded three full divisions. A diagram of the divisional structure appears below.
Infantry
Chilean regular infantry regiments had a paper strength of 1200 troops, and were divided into two battalions of four companies each. The National Guard infantry was organised into single battalions of four companies. Battalions technically comprised 600 men but, in practice, battalion strength averaged only 400 men.
At the beginning of the war, there were five full strength Line Infantry regiments (1st Line "Bruin"; 2nd Line "Rimac"; 3rd Line "Limari"; 4th Line; and the Regiment "Santiago") plus a regiment of 800 Zapadores (light troops), with the National Guard being around 6,600 strong (11 battalions).
By the end of the war, the following battalions had been raised, with those in italics being increased in size to regiments, and their division/brigade allocation in brackets: Aconcagua (3:1); Atacama (1:1); Bulnes (3:2); Caupolican (3:2); Chacabuco (1:2); Chillan (2:1); Colchagua (1:1); Concepcion (3:2); Coquimbo (1:2); Curico (2:2); Esmerelda (2:1); Lautaro (2:2); Melipilla (1:1); Navales (3:1); Quillota (1:2); Talca (1:1); Valdiva (3:2); Valparaiso (3:1); Victoria (2:2).
Cavalry
Chilean regular cavalry regiments consisted of two squadrons of two companies each, with each company having a strength of about 100 men. There were three cavalry regiments mustered during the Pacific War: the Cazadores a Caballo; the Granaderos a Caballo, and the later Carabineros de Yungay.
Artillery
Chilean regular artillery regiments consisted oftwo brigades: one comprising two to four batteries of field artillery; the other comprising two to four batteries of mountain artillery; with each battery comprising six guns. Heavy machine guns batteries, also of six guns, were sometimes attached to field gun batteries, and used in a more general support role.
At the beginning of the war, there was one regiment and one brigade of artillery available. By the end of the war, there were three full artillery regiments available.
Other
One Sapper regiment of four battalions each of two companies. Trained and equipped as infantry but provided specialist engineering/sapper work.
Equipment
Infantry
Although the Comblain single-shot breechloader was standard issue, Chilean infantry in practice carried a wide variety of different rifles (Gras, Minie, Beaumont and Remington). Any army list should therefore contain the option to downgrade to muzzle-loaders or upgrade to later breechloaders.
Cavalry
Chilean regular cavalry were armed with Winchester Model 1877 breechloading carbines, with French cavalry sabres.
Artillery
Field batteries used horse-drawn Krupp 75mm and 87mm guns, and Armstrong 66mm guns. Mountain batteries used Krupp 75mm guns loaded onto mules. The heavy machine gun used was the 11mm Gatling Gun.
Uniforms
All uniforms were based on 2nd Empire French styles.
Infantry
Dark blue tunic with crimson piping. Crimson trousers. Dark blue kepi with red crown and light blue band and piping; or blue shako with crimson piping, blue pom-pom and loops, and a national cockade in red/blue/white. Equipment was black or canvas/leather; with a white metal waterbottle; a white haversack slung over the right shoulder; and a blanket of blue grey or brown slung over the other.
Cavalry
Dark blue doman. Crimson trousers. Dark blue kepi. Each regiment had its own colour distinctions (trouser stripe, collar and cuffs, kepi band): they were dark green for the Cazadores; red for the Granaderos; and light blue for the Carabineros de Yungay. Equipment was white leather with black pouches. Boots were brown.
Artillery
Dark blue doman with crimson piping. Dark blue trousers with crimson double stripe. Black leather boots. Equipment was white leather with black pouches.
Quality
The Chilean army should be treated as average quality.
