Generalfeldmarschall / Field Marshal
Field Marshal is the senior and most honored rank in many armies of the world. It is usually symbolized by the award of an embossed baton. The rank of field marshal is not used in the US Army. The equivalent ranks in the United States are the five-star general of the army or air force and admiral of the fleet.
Traceable to the maraliscale ("keeper of the horses") of early Prankish kings the modern rank of the field marshal is more directly linked to the marechal de camp who preceded an army in the Middle Ages to select a campsite. Through much of the 17th century the title was usually an honorific accorded to experienced senior generals, but as early as 1607, German and Austrian armies employed the title Generalfeldmarschatt to designate the senior lieutenant general. Napoleon I of France gave the title new authority when he named several commanders marechal de I'Empire, which later became marechal de France, a rank exceeding that of full general. Napoleon III continued the practice.
The most renowned chief of the German general staff, the elder von Moltke, was named a field marshal in the 1870's. Marshals Joffre, Foch, and Petain of France, von Hindenburg of Germany, and Haig of Britain were prominent figures in World War I. In Britain the chief of the imperial general staff usually ranked as a field marshal, as did illustrious field commanders, such as the World War II leaders Sir Harold Alexander and Sir Bernard Montgomery. Prominent among German field marshals in World War II were von Rundstedt, Rommel, Model, and Kesselring.
For political heads of the armed forces, the Nazi regime employed a variation, Reichmarschall. In the USSR the rank was "marshal of the Soviet Union," a title held during World War II by the head of state, Joseph Stalin. With the emergence of separate air forces during World War II, the title of "marshal of the air force" also came into being, notably in Germany and Britain.
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