Talk:General (Germany)

Dates

After World War II, the militaries of East and West Germany began forming and, by 1948, the German rank of General was back in both countries, modified to the three grades of Generalmajor, Generalleutnant, and General. The West German forces introduced the rank of Brigadegeneral in 1950
I don't see how these dates should be possible, since the two German states were formed in 1949 (thus, in 1948, there were could not possibly have been any German military) and the Bundeswehr was created in 1955 (I think the Nationale Volksarmee in the GDR was created even later). Are there any sources for the above claim of General ranks before this date? --Salocin 00:49, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Insignia

Unfortunately, it appears that Navy and SS shoulderboard images (with blue and gray backing) are being used here to illustrate German Army Generals' insignia (which had red backing, at least until 1945). Perhaps someone could upload Army images to use here? (http://www.uniforminsignia.net/index.php?p=show&id=100&sid=369 might be a good source, though I don't know if those images can be freely used.)

Also, the table of SS ranks seems out of place here. There's already an article on SS ranks and insignia, and the same table is already there. IMHO, it's enough to say that the SS had equivalent ranks, perhaps give an example or two, and direct interested readers to the other article for more.

Thirdly, I feel that the 19th-century and Luftwaffe insignia tables would be clearer and easier to read if turned 90 degrees (like the DDR and Bundeswehr tables at the bottom of the article). Perhaps, if there are no objections to this change, someone could help me with that – I'm afraid my Wikipedia skills aren't advanced enough to do it properly.

Any feedback is, of course, welcome. Alkari 20:59, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Nobility in the general staff

The article says about the general staff in German states in general that they often consisted entirely out of nobles. I’ve read the book “A Genius For War: The German Army and General Staff, 1807-1945” which claims that in the case of Prussia specifically the staff, by the very nature of how it selected recruits, was always filled with a much higher percentage of non-nobles than the rest of the leadership positions in the army. It claims the Prussian system was widely copied but this doesn’t necessarily apply to this specific part of the institution. However as there is no citation and all the evidence I have is against it I am suspicious of the accuracy of this claim. In the case of Prussia, one of the most important German states, it was incorrect so purring it in such general terms is probably too generalised even for a short overview. Dorromikhal (talk) 00:18, 12 August 2019 (UTC)