TND
Total National Defence and Civil Self-Protection
The military doctrine of Dalmatia and the former CSDS
Total national defence includes military defence, economic defence, civil defence, social welfare and health care, functioning of technical systems in society, public order and security, and defence information activity. Total national defence is supported by a wide array of voluntary non-governmental, cultural and educational work.
The principal acts governing total national defence are the Emergency Powers Act and the State of Defence Act. Under these Acts, Parliament delegates its authority to the Defence Council in respect of those powers introduced under exceptional circumstances in different fields of total national defence. The Emergency Powers Act includes an obligation on public authorities to establish precautionary measures for dealing with exceptional circumstances.
The highest executive authority in matters of total national defence rests with the Defence Council.
However, the term "total national defence" also refers to the strategic-tactical doctrine employed by the Dalmatian Armed Forces. For military purposes, the population of Dalmatia is viewed as being divided into three segments: the members of the Armed Forces (including the Cantonal Defence Councils, see below for more), the members of the Civil Defence, and the civilians.
The Armed Forces
The Dalmatian Armed Forces is the collective name for the Dalmatian Army, the Dalmatian Navy and the Dalmatian Air Force & Air Defence. For the purposes of this discussion, and in fact within the framework of the concept of Total National Defence as a military strategic-tactical doctrine, the Cantonal Defence Councils are also considered as part of the Armed Forces.
The primary role of the members of the Armed Forces (the Operational Army, not including the Cantonal Defence Councils and Territorial Defence Forces) should be self-evident: they are tasked with the actual combat aspects of the defence of the country. However, in the framework of the doctrine, they may at times be called upon to perform tasks nominally allotted to the Civil Defence or the civilians, indeed as the Civil Defence and civilians may be called upon to perform tasks nominally allotted to the Armed Forces (though this is not common as far as the civilians are concerned). One of the key points of Total National Defence is indeed this "interchangeability", wherein, regardless of nominal affiliation to the Armed Forces or Civil Defence etc., all members of society assist with performing any necessary duties. It is due to this concept of interchangeability that it is sometimes said that, in wartime, all Dalmatia is an army.
The Cantonal Defence Councils (CDCs) are territorial defence units organised on a cantonal level. The Council itself is comprised of certain members of the Cantonal government, and is subordinate to the national Defence Council. The armed wings of the CDCs, known as Territorial Defence Units (TDUs), are subordinate to their respective CDCs and to the Armed Forces. In fact, in wartime, the TDUs are (nominally) absorbed into the structure of the Military District into which the canton happens to fall. If/when the defence of the area requires a devolution of the Armed Forces from a frontal-warfare style to a guerrilla-style of operations, then the situation is reversed: the Armed Forces units operating in the area become subordinate to the local CDC. In this case, the TDU and the Armed Forces units in the area merge into one unit and divide into smaller guerilla bands, all under the direction of the CDC. While this may seem complex on paper, in practice it works very smoothly and flowingly, as was demonstrated during the Homeland War.
The Civil Defence
The Civil Defence (CD) is structured in the same way as the Cantonal Defence Councils, but are, in peacetime, independent of the CDCs; in wartime, no distinction is made, since everything then is under the authority of the national and cantonal Defence Councils. The CD is comprised of the local (in-canton) division of the national Gendarmerie, the city and district Police, the city and district fire departments, the city and district Technical Relief Association detachments (emergency/disaster response teams, "Technisches Hilfswerk" in German), hospitals and the ambulance corps (including all doctors and nurses in the canton). These, within the framework of the doctrine, continue to perform their usual tasks in wartime, but become subordinate to the national and respective cantonal Civil Defence Councils, who work together with the national and respective cantonal Defence Councils to ensure that their efforts are well coordinated with those of the Armed Forces.
The Civilians
Into this category falls everyone who is not part of the Armed Forces or the Civil Defence. Those performing essential tasks, such as factory work, services such as electrical, water and the like, continue to perform these tasks (factories, in wartime, cease all non-military production and convert their production to the military goods which they are all equipped to produce).
Total National Defence as a Battlefield Doctrine
Dalmatia subscribes to the doctrine of “total national defence” as the only way of resisting a massive, surprise invasion without help from outside.This strategy, and consequent organization for the conduct of war, owes much to the country’s experience of GW2, and the "paranoiac" thinking of Josip Broz - this concept was in fact the doctrine of the Danubian People's Army of the CSDS as well.
The army, as has been mentioned, is comprised of two elements, the Operational Army (the active army) and the Territorial Defence Forces (the TDF), a mass mobilization force comprising two elements – territorial units, which operate in their home localities, and partisan units which are more mobile and flexible and can be deployed anywhere.To give the TDF teeth and assist mobilization, weapons caches have been established in major enterprises and supply dumps and even significant defence industries have been positioned in easily defended mountain locations.
The strategic concept foresees a defence conducted in two, or if necessary, three, phases designed to exhaust the invader in a long war; he would be able to conquer territory, but not to hold it without constant struggle and attrition which he would come to see was not worth the effort required. The efficacy of this doctrine has been proven during the Homeland War, the Dalmato-Sanjak War and elsewhere, including the recent war between Canton and Hunan, where Cantonese forces adapted the doctrine from Dalmatian officers and volunteers serving in the Cantonese Foreign Legion.
Phase I
The Armed Forces conduct a conventional manoeuvre defence in the vulnerable lowlands of the north and southwest, giving ground as slowly as possible consistent with preserving considerable elements of the force structure and winning time for the completion of the mobilization of the TDF. This phase, under ideal situations, should last about a week.
Phase II
Together, the Operational Army and the TDF conduct a manoeuvre defence in depth, taking advantage of the mountainous terrain. The object is not to hold ground but to inflict delay, disruption and casualties on the invader while refusing to engage in a decisive battle where the enemy’s superior numbers would prevail. Although operationally on the defensive, the emphasis is on the tactical offensive to wear the enemy down. TDF units spring to life to wage unconventional warfare on the enemy flanks and in his rear, launching surprise attacks at unexpected places and times and using unpredictable tactics. The whole occupied area thus becomes a battleground and the enemy is forced to devote ever larger resources to holding down a hostile population and protecting lengthening, vulnerable lines of communication. With his resources increasingly overstretched and dispersed, the invader would inevitably leave elements of his main force open to conventional attack by the Operational Army, which would then be able to achieve temporary, local superiority.
Phase III
As a last resort, if the country is totally occupied and conventional operations become impossible, then all forces would wage a prolonged partisan struggle to prove that, while the country could be swallowed, it could not be digested.
Summary
The key to the Dalmatian military doctrine is civilian support. This is why Dalmatian forces are prepared to fight long wars even without weapons, provided there is civilian support. In the Dalmation doctrine, civilian support is more important than destroying either the enemy's capabilities (attrition style) or the enemy's will to fight (maneuver style). Although the first phases of the overall plan are attritional, it is still based on the premise that the Dalmatian military can fall back on revolutionary style maneuvers - relying heavily on civilian support. No such reliance exists in an attrition-style military doctrine.
