Quartermaster General
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A Quartermaster General Staff was in German field armies to end of the 17th century main ingredient in the bar of that commander , commanders or warlords and is regarded in Germany as a precursor of the General Staff of modern design.
The duties of a Quartermaster General included, for example:
- Selection, definition and securing of marching routes and storage areas
- Fortifications
- Terrain exploration
- Enemy reconnaissance
As a rule, the management responsibility lay with an officer in the rank of general with the official title of Quartermaster General .
See also:
Origin and growth
With the development and growth of standing professional armies in the 17th century, there was an inevitable need to manage them professionally in a military manner, to keep them fit for war and ultimately to be able to use them as a war instrument as quickly as possible, at any time and reliably. These areas of responsibility were too complex in terms of requirements, content and scope and simply could no longer be mastered by generals as individuals.
For the first area of responsibility - the military professional administration of the army - bodies were set up from which the war ministries developed in the 18th century . For the area of responsibility - preparation of the army for combat operations, through to use in the event of war, including practical leadership in the field - there was increasingly the formation of a staff of the army commander , general or warlord (hereinafter general). The peculiarity, according to which the function of the general could be performed by the warlord, remained latent. His personal staff in the immediate vicinity was generally called the General Staff, but was in no way comparable to a general staff of modern stamps, since all operational plans, decisions and orders were fixed on the person of the general, while the other staff members only acted in the role of management assistants .
The general staff of the armies of the 17th century comprised the generals on site in their entirety as the general's first commanding aides. Her area of responsibility essentially comprised three areas of responsibility or staff areas:
- Adjutant General
- Quartermaster General
- War Council (also War Commissariat)
The Quartermaster General's staff was the most important area of staff. The most capable and best officers who were specially qualified, knowledgeable and experienced with regard to war technology served here. The area of responsibility of the Quartermaster General included the following main tasks:
- Terrain exploration in a comprehensive sense
- Selection and definition of marching routes and their securing
- Leadership of the marching columns
- Establishment and fortification of field camps
- Enemy reconnaissance
At the end of the 18th century, the designation General Quartermaster's staff in the sense of general staff was increasingly reduced , with overarching responsibility in the actual sense, i.e. generally increasing. The military prefers short, apt names, and so the short form General Staff (in the self- image General Quartermaster Staff ) ultimately prevailed. Additional areas of responsibility were developed. Thus, in 1796 the country Prussia the Quartermaster General Staff respectively General Staff about wearing another General Staff typical of duties. This involved the peaceful recording of all militarily relevant country data and resources, their evaluation and the issuing of general staff maps .
The resulting General Staff now also became a peaceful - and therefore permanent - institution. Its members serving here soon formed an independent officer corps , were called General Staff Officer and created, which was not unusual for the military at the time, special rank insignia, uniforms, accessories and weapon colors.
The year 1803 is considered to be the year of birth of the modern German (Prussian) General Staff, with "Instructions on the principles of warfare" and the corresponding operational plans dated November 26, 1803.
literature
- Statement by the Military History Research Office (MGFA) on Freiburg from January 10, 1961, p. 2 ff.
Individual proof
- ↑ Thus cited in "Statement of the Military History Research Office (MGFA) on Freiburg from January 10, 1961", p. 7.