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.
In the Austro-Hungarian Army there were three general of the branch ranks:
The rank of was introduced in 1908, prior to this both infantrymen and gunners were appointed as Feldzeugmeisters.[1]
Historically, the rank of general of artillery (German: Feldzeugmeister; literally "battlefield ordnance master"; "gun master";[2] in Hungarian Táborszernagy) was equivalent to lieutenant general.[3] 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.
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.
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.
In the German Wehrmacht a General of a branch (German: General der Waffengattung) 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.
| junior rank: Generalleutnant | (German officer rank) General of the Branch | senior rank: Generaloberst |
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.
In the Polish armed forces the rank equivalent to lieutenant general is generał broni ("general of a branch").[4]
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. It was Class 2 in the Table of Ranks.