Issue: 1/2025
MISSION COMMAND WITHIN SERBIAN ARMY (1894-1918)
Authors:
Dalibor Denda
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Mission Command (also known as Auftragstaktik) is the supreme command and control principle originally developed by the Prussian-German General Staff during the mid-19th century Wars of German Unification. It is based on mutual trust and requires each soldier not only to perform their duties conscientiously and strive to achieve the ordered objectives, but also to be prepared to accept responsibility, cooperate, and act independently and resourcefully in alignment with the overall mission. The chief of the Prussian General Staff, General Helmuth von Moltke, defined Auftragstaktik as “the actions a subordinate took in the absence of orders that supported the senior commander’s intent”. Auftragstaktik became an official doctrinal concept with the publication of Moltke’s 1869 Instructions for Large Unit Commanders, followed by the 1888 Drill regulations, which for the first time distinguished between battle drill and parade drill. The 1888 regulations formally established the philosophy of Mission Command as a general rule for command and control at tactical level, granting commanders at all levels maximum freedom of action. In the Serbian Army, Mission Command became part of the official military doctrine with the introduction of the 1894 War Service Manual. The key person who contributed to the adoption of this type of military philosophy was that day’s deputy chief of the Serbian General Staff and a professor of tactics and staff skills at the Command and Staff College of the Serbian Military Academy, Colonel Radomir Putnik. Putnik and his successors at the chair of Tactics continued to train all Serbian mid- and high-level command and staff officers in this approach. The adoption of Mission Command principles was reinforced by the introduction of large-scale manoeuvres, engaging two full-size divisions every second year, as well as annual staff rides organised by the main General Staff. By 1894, Serbia had trained ten generations of soldiers, due to the introduction of universal conscription in 1883. This allowed the military leadership to conduct joint exercises that provided training for all Serbian officers, NCOs, conscript soldiers, and reservists. Military training at all levels of the organisation significantly accelerated after 1903, when General Radomir Putnik became a leading figure in Serbian Military organisation, serving both as chief of the General Staff and, at times, minister of war. Putnik also continued to work on doctrinal development in the previous sense, introducing a new War Service Manual in 1911, which was a 90% copy of the German 1906 Drill regulations. Special battle drill regulations were also introduced for each of four branches of Serbian Armed Forces. On of the persons ho also contributed a lot to introduction of Mission Command principles within Serbian Army was Colonel Živojin Mišić, professor of Strategy at the Command and Staff College of the Serbian Military Academy, and deputy chief of Main General. Staff. The first successful results of Mission Command principles applied by the Serbian mid-level commanders were seen in the battle of Kumanovo, in late October 1912. The application of these principles played a key role in the Serbian Army’s victory over the Austro-Hungarian forces in the 1914.
