Supervisor Ordinance

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Basic data
Title: Ordinance on the regulation of the relationship of
military superiors
Short title: Supervisor Ordinance
Abbreviation: VorgV
Type: Federal Ordinance
Scope: Federal Republic of Germany
Issued on the basis of: Section 1 (4), Section 72 (2) SG a. F.
Legal matter: Military law
References : 51-1-1
Issued on: June 4, 1956
( BGBl. I p. 459 )
Entry into force on: June 8, 1956
Last change by: Art. 1 Regulation of 7 October 1981
( Federal Law Gazette I, p. 1129 )
Effective date of the
last change: 		October 25, 1981
(Art. 2 of October 7, 1981)
Weblink: Supervisor Ordinance
Please note the note on the applicable legal version.

In Germany , the Superiors Ordinance (VorgV), as an elementary component of the internal management of the Bundeswehr, regulates the superiors' relationships , according to which the principle of command and obedience in the Bundeswehr must be based.

A superior is someone who is authorized to issue orders to a soldier ( Section 1 SG ). The Basic Law determines that the Federal Minister of Defense in peacetime is the holder of the command and control authority (IBuK) ( Art. 65a GG ) and that this is transferred to the Federal Chancellor in the event of a defense ( Art. 115b GG ). The highest military superior is the Inspector General of the Bundeswehr .

The ordinance regulating the relationship between military officers (Superiors Ordinance - VorgV) was issued on March 19, 1956 and entered into force on June 8, 1956, the day after its promulgation. It was last amended by ordinance on October 7, 1981.

The regulation divides into

  • Immediate superior ( § 1 , general authority to command)
  • Line manager ( Section 2 , authority to issue orders for technical purposes)
  • Supervisor with a special area of ​​responsibility ( § 3 , authority to issue orders)
  • Supervisor based on rank ( § 4 , general authority to command)
  • Supervisor based on special orders ( Section 5 , authority to issue orders)
  • Supervisor on the basis of his / her own declaration ( Section 6 , authority to give orders as the situation requires)

General

The supervisor is on his orders that command responsibility ( § 10 para. 5 sentence 1 SG ).

If a superior gives an order to a subordinate which contradicts an order already issued to him or which significantly delays the execution of the order issued first, the subordinate has the duty to point out to the superior (part of the order check ) that he has already issued an order has another job . The person in charge of the order must now check whether his order is more important and accordingly repeat the order or transfer the order to another soldier.

The subordinate must always obey the last order given, unless its execution involves a criminal offense or a serious violation of applicable international law . He is not allowed to carry out such orders.

Orders that violate human dignity ( Article 1, Paragraph 1 of the Basic Law ) (e.g. "Kiss my shoes"), are unreasonable or have no official purpose (e.g. "Wash my private car") , he does not need to execute.

In the case of competing managerial relationships, the VorgV defines an order of priority, whereby § 5 applies before § 3 before § 1 before § 2 before § 4.
§ 6 is excluded from this, as it assumes that there is no managerial relationship until "own declaration".

important terms

An order is an instruction to a certain behavior, which a military superior gives a subordinate in writing, verbally or in another way, in general or for the individual case and with the right to obedience ( § 2 No. 2 WStG ).

A military installation is a combination of military objects for a single purpose (e.g. barracks, air base). Her characteristic is her down-to-earth attitude . A ship or boat is therefore not a military installation. The corresponding authority to issue orders is regulated in Section 4 (1). A military installation is enclosed if it is provided with protective devices that an unauthorized person can only overcome with the use of strength or skill (e.g. fence, wall). Prohibition signs alone are not enough.

A unit within the meaning of this provision is the lowest military structure whose leader has disciplinary authority (e.g. company, battery, inspection, squadron). A sub-unit is any form of structure below the unit, the leader of which has no disciplinary authority.

An association within the meaning of this regulation is a structural or time-limited combination of several military units. This conceptually includes large associations .

Immediate superior (§ 1)

The position of the immediate superior is regulated in § 1. Immediate superiors are the leaders of an association, leaders of a unit, leaders of a sub-unit and leaders of a troop unit (e.g. squad leader, group leader, platoon leader, company commander, battalion commander) with regard to all soldiers assigned to or assigned to them, both on and off duty. You are the supervisor inside and outside of enclosed military facilities. The function includes the general authority to command.

The authority to command only applies to soldiers who have been assigned or transferred. If a soldier z. If, for example, you have been assigned to another company or department for services, the authority to command no longer applies, unless there is still a superior function based on another regulation. The function is only transferred to the deputy if the superior himself is not present or is not able to perform the function (exempted from duty, assigned, transferred or dead).

Supervisor (§ 2)

There are specialist supervisors only in the specialist services ( geographic information system of the Bundeswehr , medical service and military music service ) and are only the heads of the specialist service there. The supervisor is just opposite the fold official subordinate soldiers and only to fold official purposes authorized command (eg. As the Chief Medical Officer of a division against the troops physicians of the Division ). In contrast to the immediate superior, the technical superior can only issue orders if both he and the recipient of the order are on duty. The authorization also applies inside and outside of military installations.

Supervisor with a special area of ​​responsibility (§ 3)

Any soldier who performs a special function can be a superior with a special area of ​​responsibility and is then in charge of all soldiers within his area who affect his area. The authority to command applies only in the area assigned to him and not in relation to his immediate superior in the area of ​​responsibility. The area of ​​responsibility must be so extensive that it requires a position. Service position is a permanent or permanent recurrence of duties that are organizationally defined and that must be regulated by service regulations or instructions. The rank does not matter. The superior relationship only exists if at least the person in charge is on duty. The recipient of the order can also be off duty (e.g. control of a soldier who wants to enter the barracks after work is done by the guard ). “Duty” is the duration specified in the relevant service instructions.

This special authority to command is exercised particularly by soldiers with special duties, such as B. from the sergeant on duty (UvD) , from guard soldiers , from the sergeant from the weekly service (FvW), from the company sergeant , from the troop doctor, from the soldiers of the police force and from the barracks commander . However, there are some restrictions:

  • The non-commissioned officer on duty (UvD) is subordinate to all soldiers in his area of ​​responsibility who are equal or lower in rank, with the exception of his immediate superiors. The UvD is usually assigned a private from the service (GvD), who is mostly a team rank. The GvD is not regularly a superior according to this paragraph.
  • The company sergeant is placed in front of all non-commissioned officers and men in his unit.
  • The sergeant from the weekly service is in charge of all teams and non-commissioned officers of his unit or the units for which he is assigned, with the exception of the sergeant-major and chief sergeant-major , his company sergeant and his immediate superiors.

The authority to command applies inside and outside of enclosed military installations.

Supervisor based on rank (§ 4)

This paragraph is divided into three paragraphs. Paragraph 1 regulates the superiors 'relationships within the same unit, Paragraph 2 within the same department or staff, and Paragraph 3 generally governs the superiors' relationships between higher rank compared to lower rank.

The superior relationship according to paragraphs 1 and 2 only occurs if both the issuer and the recipient of the command are on duty. On board ships, however, crew members in the relevant ranks have authority to give orders to other soldiers even when they are not on duty, even if they are also off duty and even if they are not part of the crew. The authority applies generally inside and outside of military installations. The following have command authority:

  • Officers versus NCOs with and without porters and men (e.g. lieutenant versus sergeant major),
  • NCOs with portepee versus NCOs without portepee and crews (e.g. sergeants versus Fahnenjunker) and
  • NCOs without porters to crews (e.g. NCOs to privateers).

The regulation in paragraph 3, on the other hand, only applies within closed military installations. According to this, each rank group has higher authority to issue instructions to each rank group lower, even if the soldiers involved come from completely different units or branches of service and also if they are out of service. Rank groups are:

  • Generals (Brigadier General to General)
  • Staff officers (major to colonel)
  • Captains (captain to staff captain)
  • Lieutenant (lieutenant to first lieutenant)
  • NCOs with Portepee (Sergeant to Oberstabsfeldwebel)
  • NCOs without portepee (NCO to NCO)
  • Crews (soldier to corporal corporal)

Therefore, for example, the major can give orders to the lieutenant, the sergeant to the staff sergeant and the lieutenant to the corporal. The authority under this section is a general authority.

Supervisor based on special order (Section 5)

Any soldier who takes on a special task (e.g. head of sports training, driving or flight instructor) can be a superior on the basis of special orders. He will do this by officially announcing the order to the soldiers who are to be subordinate to him. The superior must be, the subordinate can be on duty. The authority to command applies inside and outside of enclosed military installations.

Every soldier to whom a superior has temporarily subordinated other soldiers for a specific, one-off task is authorized to command. A soldier with a higher rank should only be subordinated if this is necessary for special business reasons (e.g. driving instructor sergeant major and driving learner lieutenant). The subordinate soldiers must be officially informed of the order of their submission, although a specific form is not required. As a rule, this is done by means of a written order from the respective unit leader or his immediate superior according to the unit-wide services by means of a notice on the "bulletin board". However, it is also sufficient for the soldier appointed as superior to explain to his subordinate soldiers: "Everything obeys my command!". If he and the task assigned to him are not known to the soldiers, he will introduce himself and name the task for which the soldiers have been assigned to him by which commander to carry out.

Supervisor based on his / her own declaration (§ 6)

An officer or non-commissioned officer can declare himself to be a superior in and out of service through other soldiers who are not in rank above him if he considers this necessary because an emergency requires immediate help, and immediate intervention is essential to maintain discipline or security or uniform orders must be issued on the spot regardless of the grouping of the soldiers in order to remedy a critical situation. Nobody can declare themselves to be the superior of soldiers who have authority over them on the basis of Sections 1 to 3 and 5.

With the declaration, the officer or non-commissioned officer is empowered to give the soldiers to whom he has addressed the declaration orders that are required by the situation. Only an experienced officer or non-commissioned officer should intervene in a technical activity.

Changes

The Supervisor Ordinance has only been amended three times in 1959, 1960 and 1981 since it came into force in 1956.

First regulation

With the "First Ordinance amending the Ordinance Regulating the Relationship of Military Superiors" of January 31, 1959 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 34 ), which came into force on February 13, 1959, the Superiors Ordinance was changed for the first time. Section 4 has been revised:

The words "on board a ship" have been replaced by the words "within the crew of a ship". The sentence “On board ships, this also applies to soldiers who are not assigned to a specific service” was replaced by the sentence “On board ships, the members of the crew and their immediate superiors have the authority to give orders according to sentence 1 also to soldiers who are not assigned to are assigned to a specific service and are substituted for soldiers who are not part of the crew ”. This version was changed again by the third regulation.

Second regulation

With the "Second Ordinance amending the Ordinance Regulating the Relationship of Military Superiors" of August 6, 1960 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 684 ), which came into force on September 1, 1960, Section 1, Paragraph 1 was revised: The Sentences “A soldier who, according to his position, has to lead soldiers who are grouped according to the structure of the armed forces, or who heads a military department, has the general authority to give orders to soldiers under his command. If he has disciplinary power, he has the authority to command these soldiers even if they are not on duty ”was replaced by the sentence“ A soldier who leads a military association, a military unit or sub-unit or who heads a military service unit the general authority to give orders to soldiers under his command, both in and out of service ”. This version is the current version today.

Section 4 was supplemented by a paragraph 3, which is still valid today: "Within enclosed military installations, soldiers of a higher rank group can issue orders to soldiers of a lower rank group, both on and off duty."

Third regulation

With the "Third Ordinance amending the Ordinance Regulating the Relationship of Military Superiors" of October 7, 1981 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 1129 ), which came into force on October 25, 1981, the superiors ordinance was changed for the last time. The heading has been supplemented with the addition “Superiors Ordinance - VorgV” and Section 4 (1) sentence 2, which relates to the authority to command on ships, has been redrafted. It was added to clarify that the soldiers authorized to command do not have to be on duty themselves and that the recipients of orders not only do not have to be assigned to specific duties, but also do not have to be on duty in order to be subject to the authority to command.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Central Service Regulation (ZDv) 1/50 No. 111
  2. ↑ According to BMVg - FÜSK 1 4: Superiors and assignment of disciplinary authority in the armed forces , GZ 25-01-01 of June 12, 2012 "contrary to previous understanding" is a division into sub-units and thus their management by immediate superiors (according to § 1 VorgV) are only permitted for "classic" troop units. Further in the wording: "Supervisors according to § 1 VorgV are exclusively department heads, association leaders, unit leaders in" classic troop structures "(Kp, Bttr, squadron chief, ...) as well as the leaders of sub-units (e.g. B. ZgFhr, GrpFhr) of these units. In addition, there are no superiors in the armed forces (SK) according to § 1 VorgV. "
  3. ↑ cf. Central Service Regulation (ZDv) 10/5 “Life in the military community”, No. 225 “Special services in the office”.