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Finland Command Structure
The commander in chief of the Defense Forces was
directly
subordinate to the president in matters of military
command,
principally questions of operations and training. He was
responsible for issuing military orders for the
preparation and
maintenance of readiness of the Defense Forces, for
ensuring
proper command relationships, and for coordinating all
branches
of the armed forces in personnel matters. He made
recommendations
to the president on the organization of military commands
and on
appointments.
The peacetime defense organization was structured
around
decentralized and autonomous military areas and districts.
There
were seven military areas and twenty-three military
districts as
of early 1989, although the government was considering
reducing
the number of military areas to five and reducing the
districts
to between fifteen and seventeen. Each military area
comprised
two to five military districts. The military area
commander, a
major general or lieutenant general in peacetime,
exercised
independent control of all military affairs within his
region,
including the maintenance of readiness, training of
conscripts
and reservists, maintenance of a functional mobilization
system,
wartime logistics preparations, cooperation with civilian
authorities, and area defense planning. The commander in
chief,
who retained planning control of the navy and the air
force,
could order the commanders of these two services to
support a
given area command, or he could call upon the general
forces of
one military area to supply reinforcements to another
military
area.
The authority of the military district commander was
limited
in peacetime to planning for crisis or wartime
contingencies,
operating the conscript and reserve organizations
(including
call-ups and classification for military service),
conducting
refresher training, and maintaining the mobilization
system.
Under wartime conditions, the district commander would
mobilize
reserve brigades and battalions into the general forces in
his
district and would command local force operations unless
command
was assumed by a general forces headquarters.
Data as of December 1988
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