the effective battle force commanded

[suprunp]

The ranks certainly have no importance, but it is important that no rank should be conferred that does not correspond to the effective battle force commanded. Ranks should not be given to persons who have not passed through the sieve of sacrifice and struggle, for that would conflict with morality and justice.
(Guerrilla Warfare; Ernesto "Che" Guevara)

Would you be so kind to paraphrase the part in bold? In particular, I'm interested in what role 'commanded' plays here.

Thanks.

[bhaisahab]

The ranks certainly have no importance, but it is important that no rank should be conferred that does not correspond to the effective battle force commanded. Ranks should not be given to persons who have not passed through the sieve of sacrifice and struggle, for that would conflict with morality and justice.
(Guerrilla Warfare; Ernesto "Che" Guevara)

Would you be so kind to paraphrase the part in bold? In particular, I'm interested in what role 'commanded' plays here.

Thanks.

It is saying that the rank given to a person should correspond to the size of the force that that person will command.

[BobK]

And I think when he chose the word 'effective' he might have been thinking about an actual working fighting force - rather than a 'General' in charge of 100 bureaucrats.

b