Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-01-11
Describes Theory Of
'Choin Of Command
Military Critic ExpIoins
How Authority Descends
To Combat Officers at Front
BIZ Mai. George Fielding Eliot.

By Maj. George Fielding Eliot
The exercise OF the function OF COM
mand in war is not always well under
stood even by soldiers. Command and
responsibility 60 hand in hand. The
higher the command, the greater the
responsibility of the commander, and
the greater must be the latitude allowed
him by his superiors in carrying out his
| orders.
At the top of the chain of command
| IN the strictly military sense, is the
commander in chief in given theater
| Of WARRIOR example, Eisenhower. in
North Africa, Alexander in the Middle
East, Macarthur in the Southwest Pa
cific, Nimitz in the remainder of the
Pacific area. Under him are the COM
manders of the highest units-armies,
areas, fleets, air commands. Thus under
/ Eisenhower there are the 5th American
Army, under Clark; the 1st British
Army. under Anderson; the North Afri-
can Air Command under Spaatz, and
the Western Mediterranean Fleet, under
| Cunningham. These are fighting units.
| Usually commander in chief will also
have communications zone, under a
| separate commander, and one or more
base zones.
A commander in chief Is directly re-
| sponsible to his government, or to the
organs of military direction set up by
two or more allied governments working
in coordination. He receives from this
superior authority no detailed instruc-
tons, but only general directive, in
dicating the objective which he is sup
posed to attain, and giving him usually
the widest freedom of action as to the
methods he will use in attaining it..
Ordinarily, when q certain operation
has been determined on, a commander
in chief is selected and his advice is
sought as to the forces needed and the
means to be. adopted. A commander in
chief ought to be allowed full freedom of
choice In the selection of the principal
members of his staff, and as far as pos
sible Of his immediate subordinate COM
manders all of whom should partici-
pate in the planning of the operation.
(To simplify the description, the
remainder of this article will deal
with the command Of ground forces
only
Under the direction of the commander
in chief the army commanders each are
assigned definite portion Of the task
allotted to the whole force. The au-
thority of an army commander Is there
fore at the outset much more limited in
scope than that of q commander in
chief. Nevertheless it is rare that an
army commander Is limited as to meth
DDS, though his task is much more rig
idly defined. The army commander, in
turn, deals with the commanders OF his
corps (of which he has usually two or
three and with the commanders of his
army troops; that is, artillery, en-
gineers and other units attached directly
to army headquarters and available for
use in support of any of the corps, or for
temporary attachment thereto If re-
quired. An army commander in our
service is usually a lieutenant general.
A corps is a unit whose size and COM
position Is less fluid than that of an
army. It consists, of two or three di-
visions, with certain elements of corps
troops, and is commanded by a major
general. The army commander assigns
each OF his corps to accomplish a part
Of the army's task and is able to give
considerable direct supervision to the
manner In which the corps commanders
carry out their jobs. The corps Is for
{hA SNUf NoytA "a Av,I fsv,rr
unit in order to avoid burdening corps
commanders with administrative duties.
A division is the smallest regularly
constituted unit which is q complete
self contained fighting entity. A normal
infantry division consists of three regi-
ments Of infantry, four battalions Of
artillery, reconnaissance unit, bat
talon of engineers and the necessary
signal. medical and supply elements.
There are other types of divisions Ear
mored, motorized, cavalry. mountain,
| etc..
A division commander Is responsible
for the training and command Of his
division, but he does not have q great
deal of latitude in carrying out the
rather precise instructions which he
receives from his corps commander. He
is usually major general, sometimes q
brigadier general.
From the division. the command de-
sends to the commanders of regiments,
battalions and companies and so down
to the actual combat leaders, the lieu
tenants commanding platoons, the SER
geants and corporals commanding Sec
tons and squads. All of these have
considerable room for initiative, leader
ship and resourcefulness in carrying out
their orders, but they have little If any,
thing to do with the methods to be en-
ployed or with the determination of
what is to be done.
The theory OF the chain of command
Is to give as much freedom of action as
possible to every unit commander, but
to insure that in q descending scale,
orders shall be swiftly and definitely
executed by leaders competent to UNDER
stand them and to carry them out in
spirit If they cannot be executed to the
letter. The really great commander
will 50 Undue his whole command with
his personality and ideals that every one
will act, when confronted with the I'M
expected, very much as the commander
himself would act If he were present.
One more word as to orders-it is
unusual for any unit in the field below
the division to issue written combat
orders. Regiments and subordinate