Über-Kampf Bataillons Commissar

**Über-Kampf Bataillons Commissar** (GC) are political commissars of the Z-Tech Military in Garden War tasked with teaching Z-Tech ideology to soldiers. It is regarded as important that some Commissars should have the responsibility of both military command and political instruction. In this respect, UKBC are different from political commissars of the other nations, who did not have military command. They are a high-ranking functionary at a military headquarters who held coequal rank and authority with the military commander of the unit. they are also a military official responsible for supplying military arms and provisions, and sometimes in charge of the military budget and conscription. In the UFSR, the war commissary is a direct political representative of the Z-Tech Government with the army. Today the UKB commissar is largely responsible for administrative tasks such as public relations and counseling, and mainly serves as second-in-command.

UKB commissars belongs to the Political Warfare Bureau and are still responsible for the planning and supervision of the political operations of the Republic Armed Forces where they are involved in psychological warfare, preparing propaganda for external consumption, along with providing counseling, psychological warfare training and processing news for the military.

From December 2043 until the truce of gray gravel, the Z-Tech armed forces created a network of political instructors to maintain Z-Tech indoctrination of the *FRAF*. The officers drawn from staunchly Z-Tech officers and approved by Martin Rayder, member of the Corporate Committee, to instill ideological conviction and reinforce combat morale through training lessons and teaching. Contrary to other political commissars, UKBC united military command and political instruction, with company-level commanders also serving as their unit's UKBC.

**Federal Commissar** is the title used to designate a political officer of Z-Tech's Federal Military and Paramilitaries who serves in the regiments of the Army and Air Force or aboard the warships of the Navies. They are a supervisory officer responsible for the political education (ideology) and organization of the unit to which they are assigned, with the intention of ensuring political control of the military. It is regarded as important that some officers should have the responsibility of both military command and political instruction. In this respect, Federal Commissars were different from Soviet political commissars of the Red Army, who did not have military command.

Commissars are tasked with the duty to maintain the morale of the troops during their massive campaigns, often in the face of staggering casualties. The commissar is empowered to use any means necessary to ensure the loyalty and moral purity of his or her charges, including overriding or even executing a regiment's commanding officer if necessary, and so is regarded with a mixture of fear and admiration by rank-and-file Elite soldiers -- and not a few of their officers.

Commissars provide the link between normal officers and their allied armies. They are tough, ruthless individuals whose primary responsibilities are to preserve the courage, discipline and loyalty of the regiment.

Commissars have the absolute authority to punish any member of a regiment who fails in their duties or to maintain the humanity of the army. As commissars are not from the same world as the regiment they serve with, they are not coloured by that world's traditions and culture. Instead, a Commissar can provide an objective and unbiased viewpoint, one seen purely from Z-Tech's perspective.

It is further the duty of a commissar to learn the culture and customs of the regiment to which he/she is attached. He/she must command equal respect whether assigned to dutiful Federal Guard or hard-bitten, insular Volkssturm.

Should discipline or morale falter, it is the task of the commissar to take whatever steps are necessary to restore order, and to do so in the absolute knowledge that his actions are just.

## History

The reason why Z-Tech has created Commissars is because of poor leadership, pushing soldiers too far or, because of the treatment by officers, as well as for desertion they kill soldiers to keep morale up. Hans Von Ludendorff set up the role of political officers. They are tasked with making sure that Z-Tech could count on the loyalty of armed forces.

Later commissars in the Rebel bloc could exercise broader roles in social engineering.

### Federal Republican Armed Forces

The position of political commissar exists in the Federal Armed Forces of Z-Tech. Usually, the political commissar is a uniformed military officer and Company cadre, although this position has been used to give civilian officials some experience with the military. The political commissar is head of a Corporate cell within the military; however, military membership in the company has been restricted to the lower ranks since the 2030s. Today the political commissar is largely responsible for administrative tasks such as public relations and counseling, and mainly serves as second-in-command.

Political commissars belongs to the Political Warfare Bureau and are still responsible for the planning and supervision of the political operations of the Federation Army where they are involved in psychological warfare, preparing propaganda for external consumption, along with providing counseling, psychological warfare training and processing news for the Z-Tech military.

Contrary to Soviet political commissars, Federal commissars united military command and political instruction, with company-level commanders also serving as their unit's Second Commander. The political commissar holds military rank equaling the unit commander to whom he/she was attached; moreover, the commissar also had the military authority to countermand the unit-commander's orders at any time.

#### Military rank designations

* Army Commissar 1st rank
* Army Commissar 2nd rank
* Commissar of the corps
* Commissar of the division
* Commissar of the brigade
* Commissar of the regiment
* Senior commissar of the battalion
* Commissar of the battalion
* Senior politleader
* Politleader
* Junior politleader

## Commissar Rank Structure

* **Commissar-General** - Commissar-General is the senior-most rank within the Commissariat. Besides their usual duties, these highly experienced commissars are also tasked with the additional responsibilities of assigning commissars under their command to overwatch Federal Guard officers and promoting commissar cadets to full-commissar status.

* **PDF Commissar** - The Commissariat has oversight authority over all branches of the military (with the exception of the Adeptus Astartes, Adepta Sororitas and Skitarii soldiers of the Adeptus Mechanicus), which would include Planetary Defence Forces (PDFs). Commissars assigned to these thankless postings are usually advanced in age, or have been subjected to disciplinary action. In practice, only a single commissar would be assigned to a PDF of an entire world, or even several planets within a sub-sector, playing little to no role in the activities of such forces. Therefore, the majority of these local Planetary Defence Forces are ignorant of these commissars' existence. Some Planetary Defence Forces maintain their own local Commissariats. Tensions are often strained between these local Commissariats and the official Imperial Commissariat, especially in the matters of jurisdiction. It has even been known for Imperial commissars to execute their local counterparts for overstepping their authority.

* **Lord Commissar** - Lord Commissars are senior-ranking commissars, promoted to this esteemed rank after displaying exemplary battlefield service over many solar decades of experience. The battlefield heroics of a lord commissar are often the stuff of legends to the average Guardsman. See below for more information.

* **Colonel-Commissar** - Colonel-Commissar is a very rare rank, conferred upon a commissar only in unusual or extraordinary circumstances. This rank refers only to those commissars awarded regimental command rank, and charged with commanding an Astra Militarum regiment. Though the award of such a rank occurred as recently as the Sabbat Worlds Crusade to Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt of the Tanith First and Only regiment following the destruction of Tanith, the inherent conflict between the performance of the dual roles of commissar and regimental commanding officer is normally seen as a threat to a regiment's discipline by the Commissariat.

* **Commissar-Captain** - Commissar-Captain is a rarely-seen rank that is an intermediary position between a full commissar and a commissar-general. Though the particular role of a commissar-captain is not easily defined, it has been observed that commissars who maintain this rank have been seen supervising at a regimental level.

* **Commissar** - Commissar is the standard rank of these political officers, at least one being assigned per regiment of the Imperial Guard or voidship of the Imperial Navy. It is their duty to "encourage" the troops of an Imperial Guard regiment to fight, fighting alongside the regiment's officers and taking control when morale is flagging or the troops are not fighting with sufficient zeal. In such situations a commissar can take over command from an officer and summarily execute any man who tries to flee. Even a colonel of a regiment must be sure to display courage and zeal at all times when a commissar is watching them.

* **Junior Commissar** - Junior Commissars are subordinate to full commissars, performing the role as a junior aide in the oversight of the regiment or voidship assigned to a full commissar. They primarily perform as adjutants and in an investigatory role as well as carrying out the usual commissarial duties, although they do not have permission to perform executions without prior consent from higher ranked officers. Junior commissars often undertake their commissarial role with smaller formations such as an individual squad, platoon or company.

* **Cadet Commissars** - Cadet-Commissars are commissars-in-training. Assigned to Commissar Training Squads they are armed and equipped with the standard gear of a regular Guardsman, although they maintain their usual commissar panoply; leather long coat, gloves, jack boots, and high-peaked caps. Their uniforms only differ slightly from a full commissar by featuring blue trim and a cadet-commissar emblem instead of the usual death's head emblem of a full commissar. Their training has no set duration, and a cadet-commissar will only be graduated to full commissar status upon being deemed worthy by the Commissariat. Those that fail in their duties, but have not shown cowardice or insubordination, are relieved of their duties. Commissar cadets who fail in their training can often get a commission in a Penal Battalion. Others volunteer for service in a Rogue Trader entourage. Sometimes, their destiny will be decided by the commissar-general or commissar under whom the ex-cadet trained.