Major general

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Major General is a military rank in Germany and Austria . Counterparts in other armed forces such as the Swiss Army are divisional general and divisional general .

etymology

The term “Generalmajor” (also the corresponding, similar or identical terms in English and other languages) is made up of the terms “ General ” and “ Major ”. Before French rank designations found their way into German-speaking armed forces in the 18th century and the rank designation "Major" replaced the designation "(Feld-) Wachtmeister ", the rank designation " General (field) wachtmeister " was common. Analogous to the ranking major - lieutenant colonel - colonel , the major general is assigned to the higher ranking general and the lieutenant general (his deputy to the general) as the "third man". Since the badges of rank of major-general in many armed forces, including the army , or the armed forces of the United States , often show two stars, is Major General colloquially often referred to as a "two-star general."

armed forces

Major general
Rank badge on the shoulder flap of the jacket of the service suit for army uniform wearers Rank badge on the epaulette of the jacket of the service suit for air force uniform wearers

Rank badge

Rank group Generals
NATO rank code OF-7
Rank Army / Air Force Major general
Marine rank Rear admiral
Abbreviation (in lists) GenMaj (GM)
Grade B 7 according to BBesO

The rank of major general is determined by the Federal President with the order of the Federal President on the rank designations and the uniform of the soldiers on the basis of the Soldiers Act .

Authority to command and positions

In the Bundeswehr, the major general is an officer rank who, according to the Central Service Regulation (ZDv) A-1420/24 "Ranks and Rank Groups", belongs to the rank group of the generals . Because they belong to the rank group of the generals, soldiers in the rank of major general can take orders on the basis of § 4 ("Superiors relationship on the basis of rank") of the superiors ordinance within the limits set there, soldiers of the rank groups of men , non-commissioned officers with and without porters , lieutenants , captains and staff officers To give.

The major generals, like most generals, serve primarily as military leaders in staff posts and as a rule not in the “fighting” troops . Typical uses are in managerial positions as department heads of particularly important departments in command authorities , in ministries or in NATO institutions . Major generals are heads of office or commanders of particularly important offices and higher command authorities , who are often located directly below the management staff of the respective military organizational area or at NATO. The commanders of the two most important teaching institutions of the Bundeswehr ( Center for Inner Leadership and Command Academy of the Bundeswehr ) are also major generals. They are also chief of staff in command Army , Command Air Force and the Joint Support Service Command . In the command of the operational units air force , the multinational command operational command and in the operational command , major generals are deputy commanders (or deputy commanders) and some are chief of staff. A few major generals are also "classically" deployed in the troops as military leaders in large units. Typical uses in the army are division commander or deputy commanding general . Due to the described and similar positions, soldiers with the rank of major general can issue orders to all soldiers who are officially or professionally subordinate in the cases listed in the superiors ordinance. ( Division ) commanders , heads of office, etc., as unit leaders, are the disciplinary superiors of the soldiers who report to them in accordance with the military disciplinary code .

Appointment, salary and age limit

The legal basis for the appointment as major general is set by the Soldier Career Ordinance (SLV) and, in addition, the Central Service Regulations (ZDv) 20/7. In detail, the careers there are only regulated up to the rank of colonel . The appointment as major general, on the other hand, is essentially a decision to be made by the employer based on the suitability and performance of the soldier , which is hardly subject to any further requirements. In practice, only career officers are usually appointed major general . According to the Soldier Career Ordinance , the ranks in the order described by the Federal President should be passed through regularly and a minimum period of service in the previous rank of at least one year should be the rule; in practice major generals had previously been brigadier generals for several years. In practice, most major generals have completed the general staff / admiralty staff course at the command academy of the Bundeswehr or an equivalent course at a corresponding institution in another country.

General majors after the Federal pay regulation (BBesO) with B 7 remunerated .

A special age limit for major generals was set at the age of 62 .

Rank badge

HA OS5 62 Major General svg
army
LA OS5 62 Major General svg
air force


Uniform wearer area

The rank badge for major generals shows golden oak leaves and two gold stars as shoulder badges . The underlay of the shoulder flaps (in the case of army uniforms also the flat braids ) are bright red .

Equivalent, subordinate and superior ranks

Only army and air force uniform wearers hold the rank of major general . Navy uniform wearers (except medical officers ) of the same rank hold the rank of rear admiral . The medical officer ranks of the same rank are the ranks of the General Staff Doctor and Admiral Staff Doctor (first rank for army and air force uniforms; last rank for naval uniforms). In the armed forces of NATO , the major general is equivalent to all ranks with the NATO rank code OF-7.

In terms of ZDv 14/5 and the order of the Federal President , the major general is ranked above the lower-ranking brigadier general or flotilla admiral and below the higher-ranking lieutenant general or vice admiral (first rank for army and air force uniforms; second rank for naval uniforms). The rank equal to Gen. medical officer ranks are to Approbations direction and Uniform area differently denominated Ranks Surgeon General , General pharmacist or Admiral doctor (first two grade designations for military and air Uniform carrier; past grade designation for Marine Uniform). The medical officer ranks of the same rank as the lieutenant general are the ranks of the General Oberstabsarzt or Admiral Oberstabsarzt , which differ depending on the license to practice medicine and the field of uniform wearers (first rank designation for army and air force uniforms; last rank designation for naval uniforms).

Bundeswehr Cross Black.svg Officer rank
Lower rank   Higher rank
Brigadier General
Flotilla
Admiral
General Doctor General Pharmacist
Admiral Doctor
Major General
Rear Admiral
General Staff Doctor Admiral Staff
Doctor
Lieutenant General
Vice Admiral Chief Medical
Officer Admiral Chief Medical Officer

Rank group : Teams-NCOs-NCO-NCOs-Lieutenant-Captains-Staff officers-Generals

National Peoples Army

In the land and air forces of the National People's Army and the border troops of the German Democratic Republic , the major general was the lowest rank of the rank group of the generals. A star was depicted on the rank badges. The equivalent of the major general was the Rear Admiral of the People's Navy .

Reichsheer, Reichswehr and Wehrmacht

With the establishment of the Reich in 1871 , the ranks of the Prussian army were transferred to the Reichsheer , which were then also taken over by the Reichswehr and the Wehrmacht . In the German armies, the rank of major general was used for the commanders of the brigade / division level , often also for the commanders of a military authority or facility , until the end of the Second World War .

Rank
lower:
Colonel

German EmpireGerman Empire (Reichskriegsflagge)
Major general
higher:
Lieutenant General

Armed Forces and Guards (Austria)

Flag of Austria (state) .svg
Austrian Armed Forces

- Major General -

Pull-up loop
Skirt collar
Plate cap

Suit 75/03 | Skirt collar | Plate cap

Rank group Staff officers
NATO rank code OF-7
Rank Army / Air Force Major general
Marine rank none
Abbreviation (in lists) Genmjr
Grade ...

After the reestablishment of the republic in 1945, the government gave the title of major general to the Undersecretary for Army Affairs Winterer, who was not allowed to exercise his office due to the objection of the occupying powers .

With the regaining of sovereignty in 1955 , the title of major general was reintroduced. Subordinate to this was soon the title of " Brigadier " as the lowest general charge. Only between 1980 and 2003 was this name replaced by " divisional agent ". However, the rank of major general was still awarded during missions abroad. The badge of rank contained one star until 1980, since then - adapted to international usage - two stars.

In addition, the application designation Major General is used for senior officials (E1) of the executive branch in Austria; this includes the federal police and the judiciary . Since the guards mentioned are civil bodies that are only organized according to the military model, they are not "police officers", but only use officer ranks as a designation. Incidentally, a direct comparison with the ranks of the armed forces is not possible, since in the Federal Police tasks that are assigned to a low-ranking officer in the military field are performed by high-ranking officers in charge of duty (E 2a), i.e. members of the middle career level.

Swiss Army

In the Swiss Army , the division general can be compared to the German major general .

French armed forces

The term major-général in the French armed forces does not denote a rank, but the position of the chief of staff who serves under a higher-ranking general or admiral . The rank corresponding to the German major general, however, is the "Général de division". The often used literal translation into "Divisionsgeneral" is misleading because this term does not (has) existed in the German military.

Defense Forces of East Timor

In the Defense Forces of East Timor (F-FDTL), the military commander in chief Taur Matan Ruak had the rank of major-general since 2009 . After his departure in 2011, his successor Lere Anan Timor was promoted to major-general .

Russian armed forces

The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have in 1991 the similar-sounding German rank Major General Major General ( Cyrillic: генерал-майор ) of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union accepted. There it denotes the lowest rank of the generals.

Red Army

In the Red Army of the Soviet Union , the general ranks were reinstated on May 7, 1940. The rank previously referred to as brigade commander ( KomBrig ) became major general. The major general was the lowest rank in the group of generals. He was comparable to the major general of the Wehrmacht .

Spanish armed forces

In the Spanish armed forces , the rank that is comparable to the German major general is called General de División .

United States Armed Forces

In the United States Army , the United States Air Force and the United States Marine Corps , the major general is a rank that is comparable to the German major general. In the hierarchy, this is above the Brigadier General and below the Lieutenant General . A major general operates a division with four to six brigades and thus 15,000-20,000 soldiers. Otherwise, Major Generals are senior officers in staff . The US pay level is O-8. The NATO rank code is OF-7.

Common Army

Kuk major general

In Austria , as in other countries, the lowest general batch “Generalfeldwachtmeister” was replaced by the rank designation “Generalmajor” at the end of the 18th century. The current order was Major General, Lieutenant Field Marshal , General (Feldzeugmeister) , Field Marshal .

See also

Remarks

  1. cf. also "Einsternegeneral" , "Three Star General" , "four-star general" .
  2. Left: Rank badge on the shoulder flap of the jacket of the service suit for army uniform wearers. Right: Rank badge on the shoulder flap of the jacket of the service suit for Air Force uniform wearers.
  3. In principle, temporary soldiers , professional soldiers and reservists can be appointed major general, although in practice (especially in times of peace) almost only professional officers are promoted to major general. Examples of the appointment to major general d. R. are (in contrast to → Brigadier Generals ) not known in the Bundeswehr. Generals a. D. are also reservists. However, they are usually not promoted and do not do military exercises. In practice, the promotion of a reservist to major general is also ruled out because no corresponding posts have been planned and therefore no corresponding (non-formally) required appointment can be made in the sense of the Soldiers' Career Ordinance in connection with ZDv 20/7 . In the sense of the Soldiers ' Career Ordinance, membership of the officers' career group is also obvious, although this can only be inferred implicitly, because all generals continue to be counted as officers in the sense of the Federal President's order . In the area of ​​application of the Soldiers ' Career Ordinance, officers can only be promoted within a career path of the officers' career group. Even if the career paths of the career group over and above the colonel are not described in more detail in the Soldiers' Career Ordinance, promotion to a rank of the rank group of generals is carried out analogously in continuation of one of the careers of officers. The promotion of officers from one of the career paths of the military technical service , the geographic information service or the military music service is practically excluded . In practice, they cannot be promoted because no relevant posts are shown. The career in the military service ends in practice and in the description of the soldiers' career regulation at the staff captain . For military music officers, due to the limited number of posts, the highest rank of colonel can be achieved. In geospatial information, the top line manager is a brigadier general.
  4. Minimum service periods since being appointed to a previous rank are therefore not formally required. Theoretically, the rank of major general could also be “skipped” by colonels and brigadier generals, or reached shortly after being appointed colonel or brigadier general; Theoretically, employment with the rank of major general is also possible. A rare example of one of these "special cases", which would be fully transferable to army and air force uniforms and the rank of major general, is Ulrich Weisser , who was first appointed flotilla admiral in 1992 and was appointed vice admiral that same year . Weisser skipped the rank of rear admiral , cf. Hans Ehlert : A life for the Bundeswehr. Mine sweeper, super brain, gray eminence. In: FAZ.NET . Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung GmbH, Werner D'Inka , Berthold Kohler , Günther Nonnenmacher , Holger Steltzner , May 6, 2011, accessed on August 15, 2014 (first edition in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of April 27, 2011. No. 97 / page 8) .
  5. ZDv 20/7 on the basis of Section 44 of the Soldiers ' Career Ordinance ( Ordinance on the Careers of Soldiers (Soldiers' Career Ordinance - SLV) . March 19, 2002, Section 44 ( online [accessed on March 25, 2014] Newly drafted by Bek. V. 19 August 2011 I 1813. Last amended by Art. 2 Paragraph 5 G of April 8, 2013 I 730). )
  6. The age limits were redefined with the Service Law Reform Act 2009, cf. especially changes regarding § 45 SG and transitional provisions according to Section 96 SG. See Act on the Reorganization and Modernization of Federal Service Law (Service Law New Order Act - DNeuG) . In: Bundesanzeiger Verlag (Hrsg.): BGBl . Part 1, G 5702. Volume 2009 , no. 7 . Bonn February 11, 2009, p. 160–275 ( Federal Law Gazette 2009 I No. 7 [accessed on November 14, 2014]).
  7. For reasons of space, shortened captions. What is meant are army uniform wearers and air force uniform wearers . The crimson flat braid shown next to the slip-on loop for army uniform wearers is always the indicator for belonging to the rank group of generals for army uniform wearers . In addition to the slip-on loops for the field blouse in the five-color camouflage pattern shown here on the shoulder flaps, there are a number of other types of rank insignia, which are described in more detail in the article → "Rank insignia of the Bundeswehr" .
  8. Note the remarks in the → chapter on the color of the weapons of the generals in the article "Color of the weapon"

Web links

Wiktionary: Major General  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Commons : Major Generals  - collection of images, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d Hartmut Bagger , Command Staff of the Armed Forces I 3, Federal Ministry of Defense (Ed.): ZDv 37/10. Suit regulations for soldiers in the Bundeswehr . July 1996. Reprint from October 2008. Bonn July 16, 2008, 4 labels, p. 539 ( digitized version [PDF; 3.5 MB ] Reprint October 2008 replaces first edition from July 1996). Digitized version ( memento from September 19, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  2. a b The Federal Minister of Defense (ed.): ZDv 14/5. Soldiers Act . DSK AV110100174, change status July 17, 2008. Bonn August 21, 1978, rank designations in the Bundeswehr, p. B 185 (Not to be confused with the Law on the Legal Status of Soldiers (Soldiers Law) ).
  3. a b Agreed English texts. STANAG 2116 . NATO standardization agreement (STANAG) . NATO codes for grades of military personnel. 5th edition. 1992 (English, NATO Rank Codes - 1992 [accessed March 25, 2014]).
  4. a b c d e f g h The Federal President (ed.): Order of the Federal President on the rank designations and the uniform of the soldiers . BPresUnifAnO. July 14, 1978 ( gesetze-im-internet.de [PDF] Order of the Federal President on the rank designations and uniforms of soldiers from July 14, 1978 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 1067 ), last amended by Article 1 of the order of 31. May 1996 ( BGBl. I p. 746 ) has been changed).
  5. ^ Federal Minister of Defense ; Command Staff of the Armed Forces IV 1 (Ed.): Abbreviations for use in the Bundeswehr - German Abbreviations - ZDv 64/10 . Bonn January 19, 1979 ( ucoz.de [PDF] as of September 17, 1999).
  6. a b Appendix I (to § 20, paragraph 2, sentence 1) Bundesbesoldungsgesetz orders of A and B . ( Online [accessed on March 25, 2014] Federal salary regulations (BBesO) only apply to professional and temporary soldiers and are an annex to the Federal Salary Act (BBesG)).
  7. The Federal Minister of Defense (ed.): Law on the legal status of soldiers (Soldiers Act - SG) . Bonn March 19, 1956, § 4 para. 3 (2) - ( gesetze-im-internet.de [PDF; accessed on March 25, 2014] Newly drafted by notice of May 30, 2005 I 1482. Last amended by Art . 1 G of April 8, 2013 I 730).
  8. a b The Federal Minister of Defense (ed.): ZDv 14/5. Soldiers Act . DSK AV110100174, amendment status July 17, 2008. Bonn August 21, 1978, The Superiors Ordinance, p. A 12 1 (Not to be confused with the Ordinance on the Regulation of Military Superiors (Superiors Ordinance - VorgV) ).
  9. Federal Minister of Defense (Ed.): Ordinance on the regulation of the military superior relationship (Superior Ordinance - VorgV) . June 4, 1956, § 4 ( online [accessed on March 25, 2014] Last amended by Art. 1 No. 2 V of October 7, 1981 I 1129).
  10. Federal Minister of Defense (Ed.): Ordinance on the regulation of the military superior relationship (Superior Ordinance - VorgV) . June 4, 1956 ( online [accessed on March 25, 2014] last amended by Art. 1 No. 2 V of October 7, 1981 I 1129).
  11. ^ Military disciplinary code (WDO). In: Laws on the Internet . Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection , August 16, 2001, accessed on November 5, 2014 (from August 16, 2001 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 2093 ), last amended by Article 7 of the Act of August 28, 2013 ( Federal Law Gazette I p . 3386 ) has been changed).
  12. ^ Ordinance on the career paths of soldiers (Soldiers' Career Ordinance - SLV) . March 19, 2002 ( online [accessed on March 25, 2014] revised by notice of August 19, 2011 I 1813. Last amended by Art. 2 Par. 5 G of April 8, 2013 I 730).
  13. Note also: Annex (to § 3). Allocation of the career paths of the soldiers to the career groups of the men and women, the NCOs and the officers
  14. a b The Federal Minister of Defense ; Personnel, Social and Central Affairs Department (Ed.): ZDv 20/7. Provisions for the transport and for the recruitment, acceptance and admission of soldiers . Bonn March 27, 2002, Art. 635 ( PDF ( memento of October 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) [accessed on March 26, 2014] DSK AP210100187, reprint January 2008). [[Central Service Regulations | ZDv]] 20/7. Provisions for the transport and for the recruitment, acceptance and admission of soldiers ( memento of October 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  15. Federal Ministry of Justice and for Consumer Protection , juris GmbH (Ed.): Law on the legal status of soldiers (Soldiers Act - SG) . Bonn March 19, 1956, § 45 Paragraph 2 (3) - ( gesetze-im-internet.de [PDF; accessed on November 10, 2014] Newly drafted by notice of May 30, 2005 I 1482. Last amended by Art . 1 G of April 8, 2013 I 730).
  16. a b The equivalent, higher and lower ranks are given in accordance with ZDv 14/5 B 185, cf. The Federal Minister of Defense (ed.): ZDv 14/5. Soldiers Act . DSK AV110100174, change status July 17, 2008. Bonn August 21, 1978, rank designations in the Bundeswehr, p. B 185 (Not to be confused with the Law on the Legal Status of Soldiers (Soldiers Act) . The order of the ranks shown in the info box does not necessarily correspond to one of the regular rank sequences provided for in the Soldiers' Career Ordinance , nor does it necessarily correspond to the rank hierarchy described in the Superiors Ordinance a managerial relationship ).
  17. ^ Dictionary of German military history . 1st edition. Military Publishing House of the German Democratic Republic , Berlin 1985, Major General, p. 232 (Liz. 5, P189 / 84, LSV: 0547, B-No. 746 635 0).