German armies and air forces until 1945 Historical ranks (ascending): •
Generalmajor •
Generalleutnant •
General der Waffengattung •
Generaloberst •
Generalfeldmarschall Kingdom of Prussia and German Empire In the
Royal Prussian Army, the subsequent
Imperial German Army and later in the
Wehrmacht of
Nazi Germany, the rank of
Generalfeldmarschall had several privileges, such as elevation to nobility, equal protocol rank with Cabinet ministers, the right of reporting directly to the
monarch, and a constant escort. In 1854, the rank of
Generaloberst (
colonel general) was created in order to promote Wilhelm, Crown Prince of Prussia (the later
Wilhelm I, German Emperor) to senior rank without breaking the rule that only wartime field commanders could receive the rank of field marshal for a victory in a decisive battle or the capture of a fortification or major town. The equivalent of
Generaloberst in the German Navy was
Generaladmiral (
general admiral or admiral-general). In 1870,
Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia and
Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm—who had commanded armies during the
Franco-Prussian War—became the first Prussian princes appointed to the rank of
Generalfeldmarschall. The exalted nature of the rank was underscored during
World War I, when only five German officers (excluding honorary promotions to members of royal families and foreign officers) were designated
Generalfeldmarschall:
Paul von Hindenburg,
August von Mackensen,
Karl von Bülow,
Hermann von Eichhorn, and
Remus von Woyrsch. Only a single naval officer,
Henning von Holtzendorff, was designated Grand Admiral. Not even such well-known German commanders as
Erich Ludendorff,
Erich von Falkenhayn, or
Reinhard Scheer received marshal's batons or Grand Admiral rank.
Nazi Germany Before the
Second World War,
Adolf Hitler reintroduced the rank into the with the promotion of the Reich Minister of War,
Generaloberst Werner von Blomberg (20 April 1936), and the Aviation Minister,
Hermann Göring (4 February 1938), to the rank of
Generalfeldmarschall. In the
Wehrmacht of
Nazi Germany during the Second World War, the rank of
Generalfeldmarschall remained the highest military rank until
July 1940, when
Hermann Göring was promoted to the newly created higher rank of
Reichsmarschall. The equivalent of a
Generalfeldmarschall in the navy was
Großadmiral (grand admiral). Unlike
Kaiser Wilhelm II, Hitler distributed the rank more widely, promoting 25
Heer and
Luftwaffe officers in total and two
Kriegsmarine Grand Admirals. (Another promotion, that of Austrian General
Eduard von Böhm-Ermolli, was honorary.) Four weeks after the
Heer and
Luftwaffe had won the
Battle of France, Hitler promoted nine Army generals and three of the air force to the rank of field marshal on
19 July 1940:
Walther von Brauchitsch,
Wilhelm Keitel,
Gerd von Rundstedt,
Fedor von Bock,
Wilhelm von Leeb,
Wilhelm List,
Günther von Kluge,
Erwin von Witzleben and
Walter von Reichenau (of the
Heer); and
Albert Kesselring,
Erhard Milch and
Hugo Sperrle (of the
Luftwaffe). The holders of this rank had the right to a "direct presentation to the
Führer". In 1942, three other men were promoted—
Wüstenfuchs ('Desert Fox')
Erwin Rommel (22 June) for the
siege of Tobruk,
Erich von Manstein (30 June) for the
Siege of Sevastopol, and
Georg von Küchler (30 June) for his success as
Oberbefehlshaber der Heeresgruppe Nord (commander-in-chief of Army Group North). Hitler promoted
Friedrich Paulus, commander of the
6th Army at the
Battle of Stalingrad, to the rank of
Generalfeldmarschall via field radio on 30 January 1943, a day before his army's inevitable surrender, in order to encourage him to continue to fight until death or commit suicide. In the promotion, Hitler noted that no German or, before that, Prussian field marshal had ever been captured alive.
Generalfeldmarschall Paulus surrendered the following day anyway, claiming,
Ich habe nicht die Absicht, mich für diesen bayerischen Gefreiten zu erschießen. ("I have no intention of shooting myself for this Bavarian corporal.") A disappointed Hitler commented, "That's the last field marshal I make in this war!" Nevertheless, he appointed seven more, three on the very day following Paulus' surrender:
Ernst Busch,
Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist and
Maximilian von Weichs (all members of the
Heer). Later that same month, Hitler promoted
Luftwaffe General
Wolfram von Richthofen to the rank for his service in the
Crimean campaign, and the later part of the
Battle of Stalingrad. From 1944 to 1945, three more men would reach this rank. In early 1944,
Walter Model, one of Hitler's most loyal generals, was promoted to the rank; he was also the last German field marshal to receive a ceremonial marshal's baton.
Ferdinand Schörner, another loyal officer, was promoted on 5 April 1945. Three weeks later, he was made Commander-in-Chief of the German Army in
Hitler's last will and testament. On 25 April, just five days before
his own suicide, Adolf Hitler made
Luftwaffe General
Robert Ritter von Greim a field marshal and commander in chief of the German Air Force after Göring had fallen out of Hitler's favour, making Greim the last German field marshal in history. Financially, the rank of
Generalfeldmarschall in Nazi Germany was very rewarding as, apart from a yearly salary, Hitler introduced
tax free fringe benefits for generals in the range of (€ in ) per month in 1940. He also bestowed generous presents on his highest officers, with Leeb receiving (€ in ) for his 65th birthday from Hitler. Promotion to the rank did not guarantee Hitler's ongoing favour, however. As the tide of the war turned, Hitler took out his frustrations on his top commanders, relieving most of the
Generalfeldmarschalls of duty before the war's conclusion. Bock, Brauchitsch, Leeb, and List were all relieved of their posts in 1942 for perceived failures during
Operation Barbarossa and took no further active part in the war. Kleist, Manstein and Sperrle were similarly retired in 1944 and Rundstedt and Weichs in March 1945. Grand Admiral
Erich Raeder was
retired in January 1943 following a fierce argument with Hitler over the future of the German surface fleet. Model, one of Hitler's most successful commanders, had nevertheless lost the Fuhrer's confidence by war's end and committed suicide to avoid capture and likely trial as a
war criminal. Milch was relieved after conspiring unsuccessfully to have Göring removed from command of the
Luftwaffe, and even Göring himself was stripped of his offices and expelled from the Nazi Party in Hitler's last days. Schörner ignominiously abandoned his command to save himself in the war's last days. Kluge, Witzleben and Rommel were either executed or forced to commit suicide for their real or imagined roles in the
20 July plot against Hitler. By war's end, only Keitel, Kesselring, Greim and Grand Admiral
Karl Dönitz were still in positions of military responsibility.
East Germany The
National People's Army of the
Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR) (German Democratic Republic, i.e.
East Germany) created the rank of
Marshal of the German Democratic Republic on 25 March 1982. A general could be appointed to this rank by the
State Council (
Staatsrat; the head-of-state council of the GDR) during wartime or for exceptional military achievement; no one ever held the rank, however.
Modern Germany The ranks of
Generalfeldmarschall,
Generaloberst,
Großadmiral and
Generaladmiral no longer exist in the new German (until 1990
West German) Armed Forces, the
Bundeswehr, which were created in 1956. Currently, the highest military grades in the
Bundeswehr are
general and
admiral. The
Commander-in-Chief of the
Bundeswehr is, in peacetime, according to Article 65a of the
Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (constitution), the
civilian Federal Minister of Defence, who holds supreme command authority over all soldiers. In wartime, during the
State of Defence, that supreme command authority is transferred to the
Federal Chancellor. The
Inspector General of the Bundeswehr is the military
chief of defence and heads the
Armed Forces Command Staff (). ==Other states to have used the title==