Army

Imperial General SOC — A general leads forces of the Imperial Army

The term army or armed forces could indicate a wide range of military formations, ranging from the war-bands of a few hundred soldiers used by the clans and tribes of stone-technology-level worlds like Endor and Dathomir, to a galaxy-spanning war-machine with billions of troops. Within militaries with multiple branches, the army generally relates to an armed force's ground warfare branch. But within the Imperial Army of the Galactic Empire, the term Army, when used on its own, indicated a distinct level of formation, commanded by a full General, and consisting of a nominal total of 193,644 front-line soldiers in an establishment strength of 293,686 personnel. An average Sector apparently contained four such surface armies, which served as the main, planetary-assault, and surface-warfare force for the Moff's regime; along with a number of garrisons built around Corps HQs, that made up the Systems Army.

Until the last years of the Empire, an Army was rarely deployed as a single formation on a single planet, but it was designed to operate in concert with a standard Troop Squadron of the Imperial Navy, and deployment of the entire formation together began to be considered as the Rebellion grew in force after the Battle of Yavin. More usually, an Army would deploy subordinate units to specific battlefields or theaters: its primary subdivisions were four Corps, any one of which was considered sufficient to retake a rebellious world.

Major historic armiesEdit

Yoda watches the Battle of Geonosis — Forces of the Grand Army of the Republic fight in the First Battle of Geonosis.

Imperial Army organizationEdit

Main article: Army (Imperial Army formation)

An Army was commanded by a full General. The headquarters staff and support element of an army was larger than two full battalions for a total of 1,855 men and twice as many droids. It had five staff officers (SA1 to SA5) and ten substaff officers (SA11 through SA52), a security company (152 men) and six independent perimeter platoons (total 228 men), 200 ISB agents for intelligence and counter-intelligence, three companies of COMPNOR "observers" (each 152 men plus a command element of five for a total of 471), four Imperial Intelligence representatives and 784 support personnel.^[1]

An Army was composed of one of each type of Imperial Army Corps and was meant to fit into a naval troop squadron. That gave an army 193,644 troopers, 100,042 support personnel, 16,660 repulsorcraft and at least 3,498 heavy tanks. Augmented armies doubled the number of each corps type starting with line corps. While an Army rarely fought as a coordinated field unit, in the latter years of the Empire the increasing success of the Rebellion forced the Imperial Army to revive and redevelop this doctrine.^[1]