Ranking (Army)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Title page of the list of officers and rankings of the officers of the Royal Prussian Army from 1790.

The ranking of the armed forces ( army , navy ) of a ruling house or state was - and is still today, for example for ( military ) historians or genealogists - the most important reference work for and about the respective officer corps . The publisher was the respective war ministry . The ranking list was published regularly and listed all officers of the armed forces with their position, rank , promotions and received medals and decorations . They existed in all German countries and abroad.

Prussia

Prussian rankings have existed since at least 1713, from 1785 they appeared annually until 1806. After that, there were initially no more rankings - as a result of the lost war of 1806 - but such were compiled by hand at least in 1808 and 1812 and more recently by the Military History Research Office as Facsimile prints issued. Furthermore, a ranking list for 1806 was published in two editions in 1828, supplemented by “News about the subsequent relationship between the officers and military officials listed in it” and in 1835 a list of names for this.

Ranking list 1910
(paperback)

Ranking lists appeared regularly every year from 1817 onwards. They contain the entire peace structure of the Prussian army with all formations and offices as well as their occupation with officers and senior military officials, usually with the status in the spring of each year. An addendum contains changes until going to press. The personnel changes that have taken place since the last ranking was published and their reasons are listed under the respective formation / department. The full title of the rankings is: "Rankings and quarters of the Royal Prussian Army for the year ...". The persons are given with their rank and surname, unfortunately their first names are missing. If there are several people of the same rank with the same family name in a formation, they are differentiated as "the 1st", "the 2nd" etc. Only from 1897 onwards the first name is mentioned in these cases. No rankings were published in 1870 and 1876. In the years 1890, 1893, 1900, 1912 and 1913, in which extensive reorganizations took place on October 1, there is an additional ranking list that only includes active service status and the vacancies as of October 1. The last peace ranking was published in the spring of 1914, after which it was discontinued for the duration of the 1st World War.

Also contain the Prussian rankings

  • a list of names from 1830
  • from 1843 anciennity lists, from 1853 only including the generals and staff officers
  • from 1850 also the (still very small) navy until 1873, after which their personnel were listed as imperial troops in their own ranking
  • from 1868 also the officers and senior officials of the non-Prussian troops of the North German Confederation (except Saxony and Braunschweig, Braunschweig only from 1887)
  • from 1895 also the Württemberg troops and offices, the title is now: “Ranking and quarters list of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps for the year ... "
  • from 1897 the protection troops
  • from Oct. 1900 the marine infantry and for the duration of its existence the East Asian Expeditionary Corps, furthermore the date of the last patent for each officer. The title is now: "Ranking list ..." instead of "Ranking and accommodation list ...".
  • from 1903 the Landwehr districts are listed in alphabetical order and no longer regionally within their army corps.

The last peace ranking was published in May 1914, during World War I there were no ranking lists for reasons of secrecy. In 1926, the German officers' association published an “Honorary Ranking List of the German Army”, which, however, only contains all active officers and senior military officials who received their patents by the end of World War I. In addition to Prussian and Württemberg officers, this ranking list also includes Bavarian and Saxon officers. Prussian reserve and Landwehr officers, if they were killed, contains the work by Uebe, published in 1939: “Memorial of the Prussian Officer Corps”.

In addition to the rankings, there have been seniority lists published annually since around 1855, in which the active Prussian (and from 1897 also the Württemberg) officers are listed with all patents granted. These seniority lists also appeared during the First World War.

Bavaria

The compilations corresponding to the Prussian rankings were called “Military Manual of the Kingdom of Bavaria”, a first manual (still under the title “Ranking List”) appeared in 1811, the following editions from 1831 at approximately two-year intervals, the last in spring 1914. The military Manuals are structured in a similar way to the Prussian ranking lists, they also contain an extensive genealogy of the ruling house and the first names of all named persons, as well as officers who are still alive D., list of names of all (also deceased) holders of the Military Max Joseph Order and the Military Medical Decoration, a list of the campaigns of the Bavarians. Army and a brief history of their formations and departments. In addition, there were annually published "ranking lists", the content of which corresponded to the Prussian "seniority lists".

Saxony

Rankings of the Saxon army existed from 1807 at the latest; until 1849 they were called “Stamm- und Rankliste der Königl. Saxon. Army from the year ... ", from 1850 only" Ranking list ... "With regard to structure and scope, they are mutatis mutandis the same as the military manuals for the Kingdom of Bavaria. They appeared annually, the last time in 1914, and reflect the status as of January of the respective year of publication.

Others

There were also rankings from the other German federal states; in the Kingdom of Hanover they were initially called “State and Address Calendar”, later “Court and State Handbook”. They can also be found under similar titles for other German states. In addition, there were rankings for certain groups of civil servants or officers from a certain province with different information, sometimes also their home address, which appeared at irregular intervals, for example the “War Rankings of the Intendanturbeamten” published in 1929.

German Empire and Federal Republic

From 1873 onwards, the navy had its own annual ranking lists, which were published again from 1923 after an interruption due to the war. In 1930 an "Honorary Ranking List of the Imperial German Navy", corresponding to the honorary ranking list of the Army, was published, which contains all officers and senior officials of the Imperial Navy (including the reserve, naval service and retired) and their use in World War I.

When the army became unified after the first World War, it had its own ranking lists from 1923, which reflect the status of April / May of each year. For the transitional army 1920–21 there were non-public occupation lists that were published in 1968 (W. v. Groote, U. v. Gersdorff, Occupation in the Reichsheer of May 16, 1920, October 1, 1920 and October 1, 1921, reprint of the original editions 1920-21, Osnabrück 1968).

From 1933, for reasons of secrecy, no new rankings were published; replacements are provided by the formerly secret rankings of 1939 and 1944/5 for the army that appeared in print in the 1950s. A three-volume work by Walter Lohmann and Hans H. Hildebrand was published for the Kriegsmarine, in the 3rd volume of which all officers of the Kriegsmarine are listed with their uses. The Luftwaffe also published a ranking list for 1944/45 with the names of all generals and staff officers.

The Federal Republic has not published any rankings since the reintroduction of the armed forces: the interest in secrecy outweighed the interest in publicly announcing the officer's position in order to improve his reputation. Today, data protection that has existed since the 1980s is likely to prevent a comparable publication.

Austria-Hungary

Ranking of the kuk Feldjäger Battalion 9 from 1909

From 1790 to 1914, the Austrian army published a comparable publication, initially with the title: "Military Almanach", later referred to as "Military Schematism of the Austrian Empire". It has a similar structure to the bayer. Military manual, but the older editions do not contain a peace structure for the armed forces.

Other states

At least in the 19th and early 20th centuries there were comparable works in every state in the world that wanted something to be valid. For example, in Great Britain the “Army List” and “Navy List”, which appear annually or more frequently, and in the Netherlands the “Naam- en Ranglijst”. The enumeration of all these sources would go beyond the scope of the article, it should suffice here for the interested party the general reference.

swell

  • Ranking of the active service status of the Royal Prussian Army and XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps. With the seniority lists of the generals and staff officers, an appendix containing the Reich Military Court, the Marine Infantry, the Imperial Protection Troops and the Gendarmerie Brigade in Alsace-Lorraine, and an annex containing the District Commands I to VI Berlin. As of October 6, 1912. By order of His Majesty the Emperor and King. Editor: War Ministry, Secret War Chancellery, Ernst Siegfried Mittler and Son, Berlin 1901.
  • Ranking of the active service status of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps. Mittler, Berlin 1913.
  • Ranking list of officers, doctors and civil servants on the leave of absence of the Bavarians. Army 1912/13. As of June 15, 1912 (assisted by Lieutenant Colonel zD Endres), Munich 1912.
  • Honorary ranking list of the former German Army based on the ranking lists from 1914 with the changes that have occurred in the meantime. Published by the German Officers Association. <Back title different: Honor ranking 1914–1918 >. (The rankings are broken down into armies (Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Württemberg ...).) Mittler & Sohn, Berlin 1926.
  • Honorary ranking of the Imperial German Navy 1914–18. edited by Rear Admiral a. D. Stoelzel, Navy Officer Association, Berlin, no year [1930].
  • Beck (arrangement), Paßmann (ed.): War ranking list of the general officials of the army, the navy and the protection forces. Ostsee-Druck und Verlag AG, Stettin 1929.
  • Ranking of the German Imperial Army. As of May 1, 1925, Mittler Verlag, Berlin 1925.
  • Ranking list of the German Reichsheer 1926. Mittler und Sohn, Berlin 1926.
  • HH Podzun (ed.): The German Army 1939. Structure, locations, staffing and list of all officers on January 3, 1939. Podzun, Bad Nauheim 1953 [reprint of the 1939 edition].
  • Rudolf Absolon (edit.): Ranking list of the generals of the German Air Force as of April 20, 1945. With an occupation of the command authorities of the Air Force from March 1, 1945, lists of seniority of the medical officers etc. in the general rank as well as short biographies about the Reichsmarschall and the general field marshals . Podzun-Pallas, Friedberg 1984.
  • Wolf Keilig : Ranking list of the German Army 1944/45 [1945]. Lists of seniority T and S of the army generals and staff officers from May 1, 1944 with officially verifiable supplements until the end of the war and appointments to the higher command authorities and divisions of the German Army on June 10, 1944. Podzun Verlag, Bad Nauheim, no year [1979, reprint of 1955 edition].
  • Reinhard Stumpf : The Wehrmacht Elite: Structure of Rank and Origin of German Generals and Admirals 1933–1945 (= Defense Research, Department of Military History Studies, Volume 29), Dissertation University of Heidelberg 1979, Harald Boldt Publishing, Boppard am Rhein 1982, ISBN 3- 7646-1815-9 .

Web links