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Dots, vertical bars and X marks above a unit frame, showing its size.
Also known as: Unit size marks, Xs above a unit symbol
A row of small marks above the frame gives the unit's size: dots for squads and sections, vertical bars for platoons through battalions, and X marks for brigades and upward. Three Xs is a corps.
Marks placed centred above a unit frame indicate the echelon — the size of the formation — independently of what the unit does.
Dots denote the smallest echelons: one dot a squad, two a section, three a platoon in the general scheme. Vertical bars denote company, battalion and regiment. X marks denote brigade, division, corps and army, so three Xs above a frame is a corps.
Reading the echelon marks is what turns a map symbol from 'infantry' into 'an infantry battalion', and it is the part most often omitted when the notation is reproduced casually.
A short row of small marks — round dots, short vertical lines, or X shapes — set centred above a rectangle.
Echelon marks sit above the affiliation frame and qualify it.