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{{Short description|Rank in some armies}}{{multiple issues|1={{Original research|date=August 2015}} {{more citations needed|date=July 2022}}}}A general of the branch, general of the branch of service or general of the ... (where instead of the ellipsis an appropriate name of the military branch is being put) is a three or four-star general officer rank in some armies. Several nations divide — or used to divide — their senior general officer ranks by the branch of troops they are qualified to command, or simply as an honorific title.

Austria-Hungary

(File:Kuk GenBranch 1918.svg|thumb|right|200px|Collar insignia of an Austro-Hungarian “general of the branch”)In the Austro-Hungarian Army there were three general of the branch ranks:

• (en: General of the Infantry)
• (en: General of the Cavalry)
• (en: General of the Artillery)

The rank of was introduced in 1908, prior to this both infantrymen and gunners were appointed as Feldzeugmeisters.BOOK, Herwig, Holger, The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary 1914-1918, 1997, Arnold, 9780340573488, 37,books.google.com/books?id=4fTCAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA37, 27 June 2018, Historically, the rank of general of artillery (; literally “battlefield ordnance master”; “gun master”;The term is German. Feld- means battlefield, as used in the German Feldmarschall (“field marshal“), and -zeug- refers to the guns used by the artillery in Hungarian Táborszernagy) was equivalent to lieutenant general.BOOK, The Rebirth of the Habsburg Army: Friedrich Beck and the Rise of the General Staff, Lackey, Scott, 1995, ABC-CLIO, 0313031312, 1, Issue 161 of Contributions in Military Studies,books.google.com/books?id=sY9Pn3urkQ4C&pg=PA1, In French, the equivalent expression was grand maitre d’artillerie, used since the time of Philip VI of France. The English position of Master-General of the Ordnance was similarly derived.{{See also|Army ranks and insignia of the Austro-Hungarian Army#Generals}}

Bulgaria

The Third Bulgarian State from its inception in 1878 had a highest military rank of “general” (Bulgarian: генерал), but in 1897 this rank was split into three grades - general of infantry (генерал от пехотата), of cavalry (генерал от кавалерията) and of artillery (генерал от артилерията). The rank was replaced after World War II, when Bulgaria fell into the Soviet sphere of influence, with the all-encompassing rank of general.

Finland

Full generals (4 star; NATO OF-9) in the Finnish military were classified as generals of infantry (jalkaväenkenraali), cavalry (ratsuväenkenraali), jaeger (jääkärikenraali) and artillery (tykistönkenraali). The title is now merely honorific, and only one 4-star general is active at any one time in the modern Finnish military.

Germany

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Wehrmacht {| align“right” border“3” style@text-align:center;” width“260”

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General of the branch(shoulder insignia and gorget patches)	100px) (File:Collar tabs for the Generals of the Heer.svg|65px)	100px) (File:Luftwaffe collar tabs General der Flieger 3D.svg|100px)	100px) (File:SS-Obergruppenführer Collar Rank.svg|100px)

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German Army (Wehrmacht)>Heer|Luftwaffe|Waffen-SS

In the German Wehrmacht a General of a branch () was linked to service arms of the Heer (army) and Luftwaffe (air force), depending on where the officer served and what troops he (nominally) commanded. It was equivalent to the three-star ranks of admiral in the Nazi Kriegsmarine, and SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS in the Waffen-SS. A commander-in-chief (Kommandierender General or Befehlshaber) of a German army corps was usually of this rank. In our time this rank might be comparable to NATO OF-8.

Heer:

• General of the artillery ()
• General of the mountain troops ()
• General of the Infantry ()
• General of the cavalry (General der Kavallerie)
• General of the communications troops ()
• General of the panzer troops ()
• General of the engineers ()
• General of the medical corps ()
• General of the veterinary corps (Generaloberstabveterinär)

Sequence of ranks ascending:{| align=“left” class=“toccolours” border=“1” cellpadding=“4” cellspacing=“0” style="border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0.5em auto; clear: both;”

junior rank:Generalleutnant	(File:Balkenkreuz.svg|28px)(German officer rank)’’General of the Branch	senior rank:Generaloberst

{{clear}}

Luftwaffe:

• General of the parachute corps (General der Fallschirmtruppe)
• General of the anti-aircraft artillery (General der Flakartillerie)
• General of the aviators (General der Flieger)
• General of the air force communications corps (General der Luftnachrichtentruppe)
• General of the air force (General der Luftwaffe)

Waffen-SS:

• SS-Obergruppenführer and general of the Waffen-SS (SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS)

Bundeswehr

When the contemporary German Army, the , was founded (on November, the 12th 1955) some of the names for general ranks were replaced with the current ones.The denomination General der Panzertruppen, , and General der Fernmeldetruppe are still around, but they are not longer ranks but positions. These positions seem to roughly correspond to the pre-Bundeswehr Inspekteur der .... For example Heinz Guderian had the position of Inspekteur der Panzertruppen for a while.

Poland

(File:Gbroni m.png|thumb|right|60px|Sleeve insignia of a Polish generaÅ‚ broni)In the Polish armed forces the rank equivalent to lieutenant general is generaÅ‚ broni (“general of a branch“).Polish broÅ„ means both “weapons, firearms” and “branch of troops”; in this context the meaning is clearly “general of a branch of troops”, not “general of weapons“{{Clear}}

Russian Empire

(File:Imperial Russian Army 1904ic-p10.png|thumb|right|60px|“General of the branch”, Imperial Russian Army){{See also|Ranks and rank insignia of the Imperial Russian Army until 1917}}General of the Branch is known in Russian as General roda Voysk. Peter the Great created the ranks of general of infantry and general of cavalry in the Imperial Russian Army in early 1700s, though for much of the 18th century a single rank of general-en-chef was used instead.{{Citation needed|date=August 2015}} It was Class 2 in the Table of Ranks.

See also

• Comparative military ranks of World War I
• Comparative officer ranks of World War II

Notes

{{reflist|group=Note}}

References

{{reflist}}{{General ranks of the Wehrmacht}}

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- time: 8:56am EDT - Wed, May 22 2024