Soldiers propping up a former country in old Anatolia (4,5)
I believe the answer is:
asia minor
'old anatolia' is the definition.
(historical term for Asia Minor)
'soldiers propping up a former country in' is the wordplay.
'soldiers' becomes 'or' (Other Rank).
'propping up' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'former country' becomes 'siam' (former name of Thailand).
'a'+'siam'+'in'='asiamin'
'or' put after 'asiamin' is 'ASIA MINOR'.
(Other definitions for asia minor that I've seen before include "several?" , "part of Turkey" , "Alternative name for Anatolia" , "Historical name for Anatolia" , "Historical land" .)