Rear Area Command Department (Dorvik)

The **Rear Area Command Department** (Dundorfian: Rückkommandoabteilung) is the 3rd department of the Supreme General Staff of the Armed Forces of Dorvik. It was originally an area specific to complete and total focus on military security and rear area security by Generaloberst Wilhelm Herschel in 1938. The Rear Area Command Department is responsible for all rear area security within the Dorvish military, though only operational during a period of armed conflict it is responsible for the Dorvish military police and Dorvish security forces operating in the rear area of a combat zone.

The Dorvish pioneered rear area security during the Collapse of the Dundorfian Reich and the Reich Civil War in which the Dorvish took a particular liking to security warfare and establishment of the rule of law in occupied areas. *Generaloberst* Wilhelm Herschel was instrumental in the establishment of the Rear Area Command Department in 1938 as a full department of the Supreme General Staff of the Dorvish Armed Forces.

## History

The Rear Area was originally an office within the Supreme General Staff's Department I: General Department (Allgemeine Abteilung) but underneath the direction of *Generaloberst* Wilhelm Herschel, who served as Major General in the Dorvish Police prior to his conscription into military service, was responsible for the Rear Area Office which was largely based around area specific security, as can be seen in his name. The outbreak of the Reich Civil War in 1935 prompted Colonel-General Herschel to argue for a centralization of rear area operations, he was rebuked several times. Colonel-General, then a Major General, found an in uncanny ally when General of the Infantry Florian von Rohmer was named the new Chief of the General Department in March, 1938.

General von Rohmer's new position prompted him to reconsider the Major General's opinion and in September, 1938 the Chief of the General Department announced that the Rear Area's of all respective rear area commands would be centralized into the Rear Area Command Department. Herschel was subsequently promoted after Florian von Rohmer was promoted to General Field-Marshal after a series of decisive victories in southern Largonia and Miktar.

Colonel-General Herschel quickly organized the various rear areas and formulated a centralized strategy, organized a standard formula for rear area organization and quickly dispatched new orders. Colonel-General Herschel was hailed as hero and awarded the Dorvish Cross for his efforts. Colonel-General Herschel was also instrumental in the formal creation of the Military Administration officials that are covered underneath international law as military officials, but are largely civilian drawn.

## Organization of the Rear Area

When the Dorvish Armed Forces establish a military administration (Dundorfian: Militärverwaltung) they appoint a Military Commander (Dundorfian: Militärbefehlshaber) who is assisted by two distinct offices the Military Administrative Staff (Dundorfian: Militärverwaltungsstab; Militärverwaltungschef) and the Command Staff (Dundorfian: Kommandostab; Chef der Kommandostab) each are lead by an appointed Chief. The Military Administrative Staff is responsible for the Economic Department (Dundorfian: Wirtschaftsabteilung) which centralizes control over all economic efforts within the occupied area and directs whatever is most beneficial to the war effort and profitable to the Dorvish people. The Military Administrative Staff also organizes the local efforts with the government.

The Command Staff is responsible for organizing and issuing orders to the Dorvish Police, the State Security Service (and by extension the Security Police) and other formations within the rear area. The Command Staff is the de facto command staff of the military units within the military administration area.

More importantly the Military Administrative Staff is responsible for the organization of the occupied areas. The MVS is responsible for the creation of a number of top-level Military Headquarters (Dundorfian: Kommandanturen; Singular: Kommandantur). Beneath the Military Headquarters are various level subdivisions, they are as follows:

* Oberfeldkommandanturen (State, province level)
* Feldkommandanturen (Regional level)
* Kreiskommandanturen (District level)
* Ortskommandanturen (City, village, town level).

Traditionally only Oberfeldkommandantur are used for large geographic areas and sometimes are used for smaller countries or highly independent regions within a single occupied country. The most common are the Feldkommandantur, Kreiskommandantur and Ortskommandantur. At each of these successive levels they mirror or closely mirror the top-level military headquarters.

## Civilian personnel of the Rear Area

Pioneered by Colonel-General Herschel following 1938 and the establishment of the Rear Area Command Department, the personnel of the Rear Area Command Department are largely military but also include Dorvish Police, Ministry of War Personnel and Civil Servants in the employ of the Ministry of War and the Dorvish Armed Forces. Members of the Military Administration are known as Military Civil Servants (Dundorfian: Militärbeamter) and are provided basic training through the Dorvish Armed Forces but fill a largely civilian role. The Military Administration for Military civil servants maintains its own ranks.

* Generaloberstabsintendant (Eq. General/Admiral)
* Generalstabsintendant (Eq. L. General/Vice Admiral)
* Korpsintendant (Eq. Major General/Counter Admiral)
* Obekriegsgerichtsrat (Eq. Colonel/Commodore)
* Oberintendaturrat (Eq. Lt. Colonel/Frigate Captain)
* Remontenvorsteher (Eq. Major/Corvette Captain)
* Stabsapotheker (Eq. Captain/Lt. Captain)
* Heeresjustiz-inspektor (Eq. Senior Lt./Senior Lt.)
* Waffenmeister (Eq. Lieutenant/Lieutenant)
* Heereswekmeister (Eq. Command Sergeant Major/Master Chief Petty Officer)
* Magazinmeister (Eq. First Sergeant/Senior Chief Petty Officer)

## Leadership

* Major General Wilhelm Herschel, Chief of the Rear Area Office (1935 - 1 September 1938)
* Colonel-General Wilhelm Hershel, Chief of the Rear Area Command Department (1 September 1938 - 17 August 1950)
* General (Infantry) Eckhard König (17 August 1950 - 19 October 1967)
* Admiral Jonathan Scheiner (19 October 1967 - 29 January 1980)
* General (Communications) Eugen von Hutto (29 January 1980 - 03 March 1991)
* General (Panzertruppe) Ansgar von Geller (03 March 1991 - 11 February 2000)
* General (Flieger) Ludwig Schultz (11 February 2000 - 01 January 2019)
* General (Military Police) Erwin Florian von Auspitz-Topol (01 January 2019 - Present)