"Six Stars"? Who Were They?

Factual Questions
1

General officer rank in the military of most countries is usually symbolized by insignia featuring one or more stars, Brigadier Generals (US), Brigadiers (UK), Rear Admirals (Lower Half), and the equivalent in other nations’ forces getting one star, Major Generals and Rear Admirals (Upper Half) getting two, and so on.

The guy who outranks a four-star general, though, is a Field Marshal, Fleet Admiral, Air Marshal, etc. (slight variations in translated title across national militaries). The US Army and Air Force is a slight exception: to avoid making Gen. George Catlett Marshall “Field Marshal Marshall,” our five star ranks were “General of the Army” and “General of the Air Force.”

A very few people in history were given a rank which outranks even the five-star generals, marshals, and admirals. The three I’m aware of all have some story or controversy attached to the name:

[ul][li]George Washington, made “General of the Armies,” but AFAIK all his subordinates were Lieutenant Generals or lower ranks.[/li][li]Jack Pershing was made “General of the Armies” and instructed to design his own insignia, but apparently never did so. He was alive but long since retired when we entered WWII, IIRC.[/li][li]Hermann Goering was created Reichsmarshall in Nazi Germany, and specifically made to outrank any Feldmarschall or Floetadmiral. Goering actually did not deserve the promotion in military terms; it was a political ploy.[/ul][/li]
There is always some interesting debate about whether Washington or Pershing was actually awarded a rank equivalent to six stars.

I’m curious as to what other examples of promotion beyond Field Marshal / Admiral of the Fleet happened in history, and any relevant stories behind them.

Note that this does not define being given a command that entitles one to give orders to men of one’s own rank. For example, Eisenhower as SHAEF commander outranked Bradley and Patton in terms of command, but held the same rank as they; it was task, not rank, that entitled him to give them orders.

Who else, if any, got this rank? Why? Is it subject to debate whether or not it really happened (as with Washington and Pershing)?

2

I’m not aware of any 6 star rank in the U.S. military. I seem to remember that G. Washington was awarded a 5 star rank sometime around 20-30 years ago.
Here’s a site that lists those U.S. officers that have held the 5 star rank in their lifetimes.
http://www.military-historians.org/company/journal/five-star/fivestar.htm

3

I’m a little puzzled by your definitions. As I understand it “General of The Armies” is a title and not a rank. Sort of like the captain of a ship who can be of any rank. George Washington’s rank was Lt. General and that rank disappeared until it was revived for U.S. Grant in the Civil War.

In the US, 5 star rank is General of The Army, Fleet Admiral and General of The Air Force. There has never been a 5 star Air Force officer.

As things stand right now 4 star is as high as you can get in the US military. However, a 4 star, such as the Chief of Staff of the army or air force, the Chief of Naval Operations or Commandant of The Marine Corps is the boss of all other 4 star ranks in their various branchs by virtue of their position and not their rank.

4

As another example that it’s the job and not the rank that counts. In the bomb group that I was in our Squadron Commander was a Lt. Col. The Group Commander was also a Lt. Col. The Group Commander was the boss. He was the one who made the final decision as to how things were to be done, and after the decision was announced our squadron Lt. Col. said, “Yes sir.”

5

If Wiki is right, I stand corrected. United States Army officer rank insignia - Wikipedia

6

I’m quite sure that you are right and Wiki is wrong. There is no 6 star rank. There is a hierarchy of positions in the table of organization. In the US Army the top position in the organization is Chief of Staff and it is nominally filled by 4 star but can be filled by any rank named by the president and, I believe, approved by Congress.

The confusion about this seems to have arisen because of the distinction between job title and rank. It’s been said that Washington and Pershing were the only “General of the Armies.” True if you require that exact terminology. However Lt. Gen. US Grant was General in Chief which was exactly the same position. He had operational command of all US Army forces in the Civil War. Today that would be a Theater Commander. The army Chief of Staff at the time was Maj. Gen. Henry Halleck and orders to Grant from Lincoln came officially from Halleck although there was considerable direct communication from Lincoln to Grant. Things weren’t so formalized as they are now.

The fact that one 5 star, for example George Marshall in WWII has a superior position in the table of organization to another 5 star, for example Eisenhower as SHAEF commander, doesn’t mean that Marshall has 6 stars.

Wiki is talking nonsense.

7

Similarly, during WWII there were several serving Field Marshalls in the UK structure - Montgomery, Wavell, Alexander, Auchinleck and others, but the top man was Field Marshall Alan Brooke by virtue of his actual job - Chief of the Imperial General Staff.

8

Consider my ignorance fought. I would have sworn there were arguments in favor of classifying “General of the Armies” as a rank (theoretically with six stars) outranking “General of the Army” (if they had ever been in effect at the same time).

For the record, we had one General of the Air Force: Henry H. “Hap” Arnold. Cite. This contradicts the Society of Military Historians reference which A.R. Cane provided. I had thought I knew that Hap was promoted to General of the Air Force (as an Army rank) to give the U.S. someone of equal stature with the Air Marshals of Britain’s R.A.F. – this being while the A.F. was still the Army Air Corps/Army Air Force. As it turns out, he was made General of the Army (NASA’s bio. calling him “General of the Armies” being obviously wrong) and accorded the Air Force title in 1949. (He was our only General of the Air Force.)

An enquiry: did France or the Soviet Union, or China or Japan, ever award a six-star-equivalent rank, someone who legitimately outranked (as opposed to had command over) Field Marshals and the like?

9

Here’s another Wiki article on the subject. I do, vaguely recall, after delving into my memory, that congress bestowed the 6 star rank on G. Washington retroactively. The idea was to make him the most senior officer to have ever served in the U.S. military. The whole question seems to be more political and ceremonial, than actually done for practical purposes.

10

Right. Any ceremonial fiddlying around, such as honoring Washington on his bicentennial or Pershing after his death has no practical effect whatever.

11

Right. In the Navy, the top enlisted rank is Master Chief Petty Officer. Note the two stars above the rocker. However, the Master Chief of The Navy has a special patch with three stars. He’s not an E-10, just a very senior E-9 with a lot of clout.

12

While there is no E-10 paygrade, there is a specific salary increase for the top enlisted man in each service and a relatively generous one. A top admiral or general serving in a position such as JCS or equivalent only receives about a 10% increase in base pay. The senior enlisted in each service gets about a 20% increase. Not a bad gig.

13

IIRC, Washington doesn’t have a 6 star rank. He simply has a rank that’s retroactively higher than any other rank you could contrive for an American officer.

Why?

Because he’s Batman. :smiley:

Well, something like that, you get the idea.

14

You have been living in the desert far too long. :rolleyes:

15

Hey, I bet George Washington could defeat any other general of his day… if he had time to prepare. :smiley:

16

In the US Armed Forces, the Senior Enlisted member has a special paygrade of E-10. Here’s a nifty chart to explain it.

When I went through AIT for 75B in the Army, and also when I went through the PN Class “A” School a few years later, the paygrade for enlisted personnel was explained to include the E-10 grade.

More links:
http://www.militaryconnection.com/coastguard-ranks.asp
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cse/pubs/training/working_with_military/module_1_military.pdf (PDF, look on page 9 under “1.3 MILITARY AUTHORITY”)

17

Well, I’ll be dipped in bunny shit.

18

Hey, what you do on liberty’s your business. “What happens on cruise stays on cruise.”

19

Right. OTOH, the 5-star generals were still nominally O-10, rather than O-11

Hmmm… Let’s see, in the Soviet System after 1943, the general officers were as follows: NO brigadier rank; then (by order of stars) 1=Major General, 2=Lieutenant General, 3=Colonel General, 4=Army General; Marshal of the Branch (huge star), Chief Marshal of the Branch (add wreath), and Marshal of the Soviet Union (Add Seal of the USSR). The multiple Marshals arose during WW2 due to the sheer size of the Red Army. But in reality, MOTSU was the true equivalent to “Field Marshal” – the plain Marshal was the same rank as an ArGen, only in a specific job (theatre/branch commander), the Chief Marshal was a Marshal who had a higher appointment. To add to the confusion not all branches with Marshals had Chief Marshals as their chiefs, and not all branches that could give out the rank of Chief Marshal ever gave it. Conversely some branches in they even did without the “Full General” and just went straight from 3-star to Marshal for many years. Cite

In WW2, of course, Stalin also had the personal “rank” of Generalissimo of the Soviet Union, that outranked MOTSU, because he could.

20

The, “it’s the position that counts” can get a little trickey. For example, the Officer of the Day (OD) is the base commander’s direct representative and has all the authority needed to maintain order.

We had a Marine Colonel who was commander of the Marine Air Detachment (MAD) and he was a real something-or-other when drunk. I forget the word but as I recall it rhymes with “trick”, or “crick” or something like that.

One evening at the Officer’s Club he was on his delightful best deportment and the bartender finally called the OD. The OD was a Lieutenant, JG. When the OD tried to get the Colonel to either quiet down or leave the response was something along the lines of “Make me, Lieutennat.” with sneering emphasis on the “Lieutenant.” Now the OD had full authority to place the Colonel under arrest but - there is always tomorrow and the Colonel will still be a Colonel and the Lieutenant will no longer be OD. And they might run into each other at a later time where the Colonel could really do some damage.

Somehow the OD managed to get the Colonel out without having to call the guards but it was nasty.

Had I been the OD I would have made a full report. And had I been the base commander I would have told the Colonel’s boss that he was no longer welcome as MAD commander on my base.