Troop Coordination

the coordination with respect to missions, axes, boundaries, and time of action of participants in an operation (in combat) of different armed services, different combat arms, different commands, and different large units in the interests of achieving a common goal. The necessity of troop coordination arose at the time when the army originated. The significance of troop coordination grew in proportion to the perfection of weaponry, the appearance of the combat arms (infantry, cavalry, artillery, and others), and the development of the organizational structure of the army and of battle formations.

Originally, troop coordination was confined to the limits of the battlefield. During World War I (1914-18), however, aviation, tanks, various new combat arms, and technical means of communication appeared; subsequently, new armed ser-vices were created and the geographical area of armed conflict expanded. All these factors created a necessity for the organization of troop coordination in theaters of operations between the armed services and the operational commands (between armies, groups of armies, and fronts) to per-form missions in major strategic operations and in warfare as a whole. In contemporary combat and in operations of any scale success can be achieved only through the combined efforts of all participating troops and resources. Therefore, troop coordination is one of the basic principles of conducting combat operations and is a most important responsibility of commanders and staffs at all levels.

Depending on the purpose and scale of combat operations, troop coordination can be tactical, operational, or strategic. Tactical troop coordination is organized in the field or according to a map on the basis of a decision taken by the commander and directives from the superior commander. It is basically a matter of the coordination of the activity of all the troops and resources participating in combat with respect to goal, place, and time. Operational troop coordination consists of the coordinated use in frontline operations of operational commands and large units of different armed services that are active along the same strategic or operational axes. Strategic troop coordination consists of the coordinated use of fronts and operational commands of different armed ser-vices conducting operations along the same or along several strategic axes in the interests of achieving the goal of strategic operations, a campaign, or a war.