Colonel general

The Colonel-General was in the German Empire, in the Reichswehr in the Wehrmacht and the Imperial Army 's highest rank of general. It would correspond to the present General of the Bundeswehr or the four -star general in many NATO forces ( rank code OF- 9).

In the organized armed forces of the Soviet model, he is a three -star general from the rank group of generals.

  • 3.1 See also
  • 4.1 National People's Army
  • 4.2 Ministry for State Security ( Stasi)
  • 4.3 German People's Police ( DVP )

Formation

In the military system of the 16th and 17th century in which dominated the free mercenaries, the princely employer held due to its position as a politically decisive authority ( warlord ) and the position of the supreme military commander of standing in his name troops as a " top general ".

Colonel-General was the name of the highest attainable General regularly rank first in the Prussian army. It was introduced in 1854 for Prince William of Prussia, because the Royals have not traditionally been promoted to Field Marshal. First of all Colonel General in rank were the Generalfeldmarschällen equated (on the epaulettes they wore the crossed batons and three stars). Only under Kaiser Wilhelm II differentiation in Colonel-General with the rank of Field Marshal (4 stars) and Colonel General was introduced (3 stars). Later, the rank was continued in the Reichswehr and the army and the air force of the German Wehrmacht. Colonel-General in the Army and Air Force equivalent in the Navy the rank of Admiral; in the Navy there was no one in this rank.

In most modern armies of the former colonel general corresponds to the rank of General (OF -9), in Slavic countries, however, the lieutenant-general (OF -8), where the order is different than the old German system: Major General - Lieutenant General - Colonel-General (general polkovnik ) - General of the Army.

The German Bundeswehr knows after the adjustment of the generals to NATO standards, the rank sequence Brigadier General - Major General - Lieutenant General - General; to the Colonel-General has been omitted.

German Empire

Empire

Probably full list without the colonel general, which have been still promoted to Field Marshal:

Reichswehr

Wehrmacht

Army

Full list without the colonel general, were promoted to Field Marshal:

Air force

Waffen-SS

SS Colonel -group leader and Colonel-General of the Waffen -SS:

German police

SS Colonel -group leader and Colonel-General of Police:

Austria - Hungary

1915, the rank of Colonel General was introduced in the imperial army, making it the second highest rank in the imperial Generals was.

As in the Armed Forces of the first, there are not also in the second Republic of Austria to the rank of Colonel General.

German Reich Common Army Ranks and insignia of NATO German Army (1935–45) Generaladmiral Alexander August Wilhelm von Pape Charles Alexander, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach Carl von Horn Ministry of War (Kingdom of Bavaria) Helmuth von Moltke the Younger Alexander von Kluck General Governorate of Belgium Karl von Einem Felix Graf von Bothmer Hans von Kirchbach Hans von Seeckt Wilhelm Heye Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord Wilhelm Adam (General) Friedrich Dollmann Franz Halder Nikolaus von Falkenhorst Friedrich Fromm Curt Haase Erich Hoepner Eugen Ritter von Schobert Georg-Hans Reinhardt Rudolf Schmidt Richard Ruoff Eduard Dietl Georg Lindemann Gotthard Heinrici Hans von Salmuth Walter Heitz Eberhard von Mackensen Erwin Jaenecke Walter Weiß Kurt Zeitzler Josef Harpe Lothar Rendulic Hans-Valentin Hube Erhard Raus Carl Hilpert Alfred Keller Ernst Udet Ulrich Grauert Hubert Weise Hans Jeschonnek Bruno Loerzer Kurt Student Kurt Daluege National People's Army Bruno Beater Karl Maron Ancien Régime
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