Colonel general
Colonel General is a senior military rank which is used in some of the world’s militaries. North Korea and Russia are two nations which have used the rank extensively throughout their histories. The rank is also closely associated with Germany, as Colonel General was originally created as a German rank between a full General and a Generalfeldmarschall.
Austria
Colonel General (Generaloberst) was the second-highest rank in the Austrian Army, introduced following the German model in 1915. The rank was not used in the post-World War I Austrian Army.
England
The title of Colonel-General was used before and during the English Civil War in both Royalist and Parliamentarian armies. In these cases it often appears to have meant a senior colonel as opposed to a senior general.
France
In the French Army, under the Ancien régime, the officer in charge of all the regiments of a particular branch of service (i. e. infantry, cavalry, dragoons, Swiss troops, etc) was known as the Colonel General. This was not a rank, but an office of the Crown.
Germany
A Colonel General (Generaloberst) was the second highest General Officer rank — below Field Marshal (Generalfeldmarschall) — in the Prussian Army and later in the Army of Imperial Germany (1871–1918), the Reichswehr (1918–1935), and the Wehrmacht (1935–1945). The rank was abolished after World War II. Since the German Army had no Brigadier Generals, the rank of Generaloberst is often considered to equate to a full General in the British or United States Armies.
In cases where a Colonel General was acting in the capacity of a Field Marshal, the rank was referred to as Generaloberst mit dem Rang eines Generalfeldmarschalls. Such persons were entitled to wear four pips on their shoulder boards, compared to the normal three.
The equivalent of a Colonel-General in the Kriegsmarine was a General Admiral (Generaladmiral). The equivalent Schutzstaffel (SS) rank was Oberstgruppenführer.
East Germany's National People's Army retained this rank as its second highest, behind Armeegeneral. The Bundeswehr (first in West Germany and since 1990 in a unified Germany) does not use the rank.
Hungary
In Hungary, the rank of Colonel General or vezérezredes has been introduced with the Imperial and Royal Army (the common ground force of the Dual Monarchy) in 1915. The rank replaced the ranks of gyalogsági tábornok (General of Infantry), lovassági tábornok (General of Cavalry), and táborszernagy (General of Artillery) in the early 1940s.
The rank title vezérezredes is still in use for the highest ranking (four-star) general officer of the Magyar Honvédség and foreign four-star general officers' rank titles are usually translated as vezérezredes in Hungarian.
North Korea
The North Korean rank of Sangjang translates as "Colonel General". Sangjang is subordinate to the rank of Daejang, usually translated as "General".
This rank is typically held by the commanding officer of units along the Korean DMZ and the North Korean security zone at Panmunjon. In 2000, the Colonel General in command of Panmunjon was comically referred to as "The Iguana" by U.S. forces, as the General's Korean surname bore a resemblance to the English word.
Russia
The rank of Colonel General (Russian: генерал-полковник, general-polkovnik) did not exist in Imperial Russia and was first established in the Red Army in 1940. It still exists in the contemporary Russian Army. Unlike the German Generaloberst (which it most probably calqued), the Soviet and Russian Colonel General rank is neither an exceptional nor a rare one. It is superior to Lieutenant General, but inferior to General of the Army. The rank has usually been given to district, front and army commanders, and also to Deputy Ministers of Defense, Deputy Heads of General Staff etc.
During World War II, about 150 officers were promoted to Colonel General.
Before 1943, Soviet Colonel Generals wore four stars on their collar patches (petlitsy). Since 1943, they have worn three stars on their shoulder straps.
In some post-Soviet CIS armies (for example in Belarus) there are no Generals of the Army or Marshals, and so Colonel General is the highest rank, usually held by the Minister of the Defense.
The corresponding naval rank is Admiral, which is also denoted by three stars.
See also
References
Data about Germany and Austria are based in part on the corresponding article "Generaloberst" in the German-language Wikipedia, retrieved Oct 15, 2004.