Insignia of Generals

[boricua]

By far, the most popular insignia of generals are stars (including the lozanges of GB, Germany and Bulgaria).
Which armies do not employ stars of any type as their generals' insignia?

[Chuck Anderson]

By far, the most popular insignia of generals are stars (including the lozanges of GB, Germany and Bulgaria).
Which armies do not employ stars of any type as their generals' insignia? smilies-05

Hi Boricua!
Just to start things off, I'd say Canada comes to mind, as they use maple leaves rather than stars.

Chuck Anderson
cbakiteskites@yahoo.com

[60bill]

How about Finland.
If you include the Marine's ranks you would prob get a few more.

[jrichardn]

In most armies, it seems to me, stars are not used exclusively by or for generals. The "lozenges" of British generals were instanced: only two of the three general-officer ranks in the British Army use the pip - the key insigne is the device of crossed sword & baton. The pip is used in most officer ranks.

In armies using German or Russian patterns, the stars are used for all ranks from warrant officers up - it's the backing that indicates whether someone is a general.

In much of Latin America, stars are used by field-grade officers.

And so on.

Off the top of my head, the United States and France, and their imitators, are the principal armies that reserve stars for general officers.

Cheers, Richard Nelson

[60bill]

The British army pip’s, are actually stars from various orders.
The Order of the Garter, The Order of Bath, The Order of the Thistle and The Order of St Patrick.
Also I believe the Prince of Wale’s Royal Regiment uses the Eversleigh Star.
Only the Guards stars could be describes as a Lozenges or cough drop shape.
You also say that only two British generals us the star.
Sorry, I was under the impression that General status ran from Brigadier to General and since there are no serving field marshals, you would have three out of four generals using stars.
Going by the title alone you would discount brigadier and field marshal, then there would be two out of three generals using stars.
So I would go for five ranks of general with three using stars.
I believe the problem with brigadier stems from 1920 when the rank of brigadier general was replaced by colonel commandant and colonel on the staff.
In 1928 the rank of brigadier replaced those two ranks retaining the crown and three stars.
Commander of a brigade – brigadier general.

Regards
WF

[Medic_in_Uniform]

I think the point is that while the star [pip] is just one component of a British general's rank insignia, it's not the *defining* component of the various emblems that make up the full rank marking (which, arguably, would indeed be the crossed sword-and-baton insignia as this is the one emblem that is unique to general officers in the British system) nor is there a progressive sequence of increasing numbers of stars, such as there would be in the US or French system. Royal Navy flag officer shoulder-boards do, however, have such a pattern.

[60bill]

Medic
That’s true, also what doesn’t help is the fact that although the rank of brigadier general originally had the crossed sword and baton, when it was re-introduced, it was classified as a staff officer, losing the generals badge but keeping the generals responsibility Why I don't know but somebody could possibly be able to enlighten us.
If it was re-introduced with the original badgeof baton/sword, it would have made a logical progressive sequence of Baton /sword, Baton/sword and star, baton/sword and crown and baton/sword crown and star.
I therefore tend to [although wrong] class the brigadier as brigadier general as it’s on par with other nations brigadier generals.
Anyway it could just been some civil servant forgetting to add the general bit, Whitehall bloody mindedness just sticking with it rather than admitting a mistake. Possible don’t you think?

[Medic_in_Uniform]

I'm not so sure - wasn't it more related to the need to re-structure the Army after the First World War and the contracture from huge conscription army back to full-time professionals? (Too many generals post-war...?)

In many ways, it seems not unreasonable that the resulting rank of "Brigadier" which succeeded "Colonel-Commandant" should stand alone as a senior staff officer commanding a brigade and the sequence of insignia from major to brigadier with Crown plus increasing numbers of Stars (pips) seems entirely appropriate to me.

Personally, the use of the sword/baton insignia alone for the former rank of Brigadier-General always looked slightly odd to me - somehow it seems to beg to have something else added to it.

If you wanted a truly numerical system then maybe the army should use a parallel system similar to that of the Royal Navy where the presence of the sword/baton under a Crown would indicate Flag/General Officer rank and a sequence of stars (pips) below this indicates actual seniority...? I say this with tongue somewhat in cheek but it would certainly make the international recognition of these ranks much easier...!

[Comte]

The Greek generals since 1937 use an identical to the British rank insignia but with significant differences and logical order. In 1937 the rank of a major general was denoted by a golden crown above a crossed sword above a silver woven six pointed star.
The lt. general had a golden crown above a crossed sword above two stars vertically positioned. The general had three stars vertically but narrower in diameter. These stars were adopted and used in 1877 but without the addition of the crown and crossed baton & sword witch were introduced in 1937.
In 1946 the rank of Brigadier was iniciated. A crown above the crossed sword & baton. No star.
In 1958 a new arrangement had been decided and the stars of the general officers are now narrower than those of the 1937. The brigadier now is considered as a general officer and a star has been given. The Major general has two stars but in a horizontal arrangement below the crossed sword and baton. The Lt. general had three stars in a formation of a triangle.

In 1969 new stars and new arrengement for the Major general. The stars are metallic gold with an inlay of white ivory.

[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3516/3950516417_e9de106e1b.jpg[/img]
This is a major general of 1954-1958
[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2621/3950516425_5879ca4555.jpg[/img]
There are , left to right, a lt general of 1959-1968, a lt general of 1969-1973, a lt general of 1973, a brigadier general of 1974 and a lt general of 1976-2009.

We see here that when a king was in Greece there was a crown above all. When there was democracy the emblem changed to a phoenix. In 1976 they decided to replace the institutions emblem with a flaming grenade as a symbol of the army.

[Comte]

In Europe the only country that i know that does not use stars or pips for the generals rank insignia is this of Slovenia. Maybe Croatia is using knots instead of stars. Although the most airforces and navys don't use stars.
In south America i think in Argentina, Peru , Venezuela & Colombia they use the sun as rank distinction for the generals.
[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2527/3950816461_df01738214.jpg[/img]
This is an Argentinian general.

Below is the Greek rank insignia for an airforce general.
[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2481/3950816451_6d4490089b.jpg[/img]

[Tounushi]

The Finnish army used stars in their rank insignia in 1918-1919. m/22 onwards we've used heraldic roses for officers and lions for generals.

Ever since m/36, our insignia haven't changed much:
[img]http://www.mil.fi/varusmies/arvomerkki/images/maav_arvom_eng.jpg[/img]

One rather interesting note about or generals that between 1918 and 1991 we only had three grades (major-general, lieutenant-general, general) and the marshal (three lions and crossed batons). When Finland started cooperating more closely with foreign military (NATO and UN), we needed an equivelant for brigadier. However, there was opposition for "prikaatinkenraali" (general of brigade), so we call it "prikaatikenraali" (brigade general). The original insignia was a silver lion on a colonel's collarboard.