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French Army

Components Armée de terre Troupes de marine French Foreign Legion Chasseurs alpins List of current regiments Structure of the French Army Administration État-major de l'armée de Terre Equipment Modern Equipment History History of the French Army Timeline of the French Army Personnel List of senior officers Rank insignia

The ranks in the French Army :

Contents 1 Marshals 2 Officers 2.1 Généraux - General officers 2.2 Officiers supérieurs - Senior officers 2.3 Officiers sulbalternes - Junior officers 2.4 Majors 2.5 Sous-officiers - Warrant Officer 2.6 Militaires du rang - Enlisted 3 Ingénieurs du service du matériel 4 Table of ranks 5 See also

[edit] Marshals

Image:Insigne maréchal armée française.jpg The title of Maréchal de France is awarded as a distinction, rather than a rank. The marshals wear seven stars and a baton.

Famous examples include Maréchal Leclerc, Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, Marie Pierre Koenig and Alphonse Juin.

An infamous example would be Philippe Pétain, who became famous as Maréchal Pétain, and retained his title even after his trial and imprisonment and after he was stripped of other positions and titles.

[edit] Officers

Officers are divided into

• the regular officers of the Army
• the commisary of the Army
• the officers of the technical and administrative corps of the Army.

They all wear the same insignia and titles.

[edit] Généraux - General officers

• Image:Insigne général d'armée.png Général d'armée: Army General: In command of an army. This is not a genuine rank, but an appointment of Divisional General.

• Image:Insigne général de corps d'armée.png Général de corps d'armée: Corps General: In command of an army corps. This is not a genuine rank, but an appointment of Divisional General.

• Image:Insigne général de division.png Général de division: Divisional General: in command of a division.

• Image:Insigne général de brigade.png Général de brigade: Brigade General : in command of a brigade, or of a légion in the Gendarmerie

The title "général" originates in the ancient rank of "capitaine général" (literally, "captain general"), who was in command of the whole army.

There is no distinction between infantry and cavalry generals, since they are all supposed to be able to command any type of unit.

[edit] Officiers supérieurs - Senior officers

• Colonel : in command of a regiment or a groupement (in the Gendarmerie). During the French Revolution, they were called "chef de brigade". The origin of the difference in metal color is that infantry officers once wore silver epaulettes, while those of the cavalry and other arms wore gold, and the color of the rank badge had to differ from these metals in each case.
  • Image:Colonel.png Infantry
  • Image:Colonel des armes à cheval.png Cavalry and other arms (armes à cheval)

• Lieutenant-colonel: same responsibilities as a colonel. They were called "major" during the First French Empire. Notice that the metal colors alternate silver and gold in each case, as opposed to those of the colonels. This characteristic goes back at least to alternating stripes on the headdress of that empire.
  • Image:Lieutenant-colonel.png Infantry
  • Image:Lieutenant-colonel des armes à cheval.png Cavalry and other arms (armes à cheval)

• Commandant: also called chef de bataillon in the infantry, chef d'escadrons in the cavalry and chef d'escadron in the artillery.
  • Image:Commandant.png
  • Image:Commandant des armes à cheval.png

The word "colonel" originates in the title capitaine colonel, "the one who commands a column (regiment). Lieutenant-colonel is the one who can "stand for" a colonel (lieu-tenant, tenir lieu = to stand for). Chef, "chief", comes from Latin caput="head".

[edit] Officiers sulbalternes - Junior officers

• Capitaine: in command of a company (infantry), a squadron (cavalry) or a battery (artillery)
  • Image:Capitaine.png
  • Image:Capitaine des armes à cheval.png

• Lieutenant: in command of a section (infantry), a peloton (cavalry) or a brigade (gendarmerie)
  • Image:Lieutenant.png
  • Image:Lieutenant des armes à cheval.png

• Sous-lieutenant: same prerogatives as the lieutenant
  • Image:Sous-lieutenant.png
  • Image:Sous-lieutenant des armes à cheval.png

• Aspirant : Acting Officer or Officer Candidate.
  • Image:Aspirant de l'armée de terre.png

• Aspirant : Reservist Officer, Student Officer or Cadet. During the first years at the schools of École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr or École militaire interarmes or Ecole des Officiers de la Gendarmerie Nationale
  • Image:Galon gamma AT.png

[edit] Majors

• Major: same prerogatives as the lieutenant.
  • Image:Major-French-Army.png

Note the difference with English ranking systems, where "majors" rank as commandants.

[edit] Sous-officiers - Warrant Officer

• Adjudant-chef : same prerogatives as the lieutenant. In the cavalry, they are addressed as "Mon lieutenant" by lower ranks, but by "Mon adjudant" by higher ranks.

There is a joke that says that beyond details of the uniform, the difference between a lieutenant and an adjudant-chef in that "the first one is young, while the second is old".

• • Image:Adjudant-chef.png adjudant-chef (des armes à pied)
  • Image:Adjudant.png adjudant-chef (des armes à cheval)

• Adjudant : same prerogatives as the lieutenant
  • Image:Adjudant.png
  • Image:Adjudant-chef.png

• Sergent-chef (infantry) or Maréchal des logis-chef (cavalry), addressed as "chef"
  • Image:Sergent-chef.png Sergent-chef : Chief Sergeant
  • Image:Maréchal-des-logis-chef.png Maréchal des logis-chef : Chief Marshal of Lodgings

• Sergent (infantry) or Maréchal des logis (cavalry) : in command of a group
  • Image:Sergent.png Sergent : Sergeant
  • Image:Maréchal-des-logis.png Maréchal des logis : Marshal of Lodgings

• Eleve Sous-Officier Student sub-officer at the ENSOA.
  • Image:Sergent appelé.png

The "Major" is the "Major warrant officer", the adjudant is the adjoint ("aid") of an officer and the sergeant "serves" (Latin serviens) in the Army.

The aspirants or sous-lieutenants are rookie officers and are aided by adjudants or adjudants-chefs, who are experienced warrant officers. The lieutenant are experienced junior officers, aided by sergeants who are learning how to command a section.

[edit] Militaires du rang - Enlisted

• Image:Caporal-chef de première classe.png Caporal-chef de première classe. Distinction created in 1999.

• Image:Caporal-chef.png Caporal-chef (infantry) or Brigadier-chef (cavalry) : in command of a team

• Image:Caporal.png Caporal (infantry) or Brigadier (cavalry) : in command of a team. Note that in many armies, a Brigadier is a colonel in charge of a brigade (the Swiss army reserves the title of "general" for times of war), and thus effectively ranking général de brigade.

• Image:Première classe.png Soldat de première classe. This is a distinction rather than a rank.

• Soldat de deuxième classe: No rank insignia. Depending on the arm, they are called
  • fantassin (infantry)
  • légionnaire (Légion étrangère)
  • artilleur (artillery)
  • sapeur (engineering, including the sapeurs-pompiers de Paris)
  • chasseur ("Hunter": light troops)
    • chasseurs à pied (Light Infantry)
    • chasseurs à cheval (Light Mounted Infantry)
    • chasseurs alpins (Light Alpine Infantry)
  • dragon (Dragoon: Mounted Infantry unit)
  • cuirassier (Cuirassier: Heavy Cavalry unit)
  • hussard (Hussar: Light Cavalry unit)
  • transmetteur (signals corps)
  • conducteur (trains).

• SLANG
  • Bigor (Artillerie de la marine; see Troupes de marine): A term either from the gunner's order to fire (Bigue de hors) or a term for a species of sea slug (bigorneau) because they would stick to their emplacements and couldn't be removed easily.
  • Colo (Troupes Coloniales): The former term for the Troupes de la Marine when they were Colonial troops.
  • Marsouin (Troupes de marine): From a term for the Harbour Porpoise, due to their duties at sea or on land.
  • Para (Troupes aéroportées): Airborne troops.
  • Poilu (Infanterie): "Hairy One". A derogatory term, much like the Commonwealth Forces term Pongo ("Smelly one").

There are also distinctions to distinguish volunteers and conscripts, and bars for experience (one for five years, up to four can be obtained).

[edit] Ingénieurs du service du matériel

• Ingénieur général de première classe
• Ingénieur général de deuxième classe
• Ingénieur en chef de première classe
• Ingénieur en chef de deuxième classe
• Ingénieur principal
• Ingénieur de première classe
• Ingénieur de deuxième classe
• Ingénieur de troisième classe

[edit] Table of ranks

Maréchaux - Marechals
Image:Insigne maréchal armée française.jpg
Maréchal
"Maréchal" is not an actual rank, but a distinction	The "six-star general" used to be the general commanding the defences of Paris. This rank is not in use anymore.
Officiers généraux - General officers
Image:Insigne général de brigade.png	Image:Insigne général de division.png	Image:Insigne général de corps d'armée.png	Image:Insigne général d'armée.png
Général de brigade	Général de division	Général de corps d'armée	Général d'armée
Commands a brigade or a légion in the Gendarmerie	Commands a division	Commands a corps of army. This is not a genuine rank, but a function assumed by some généraux de division.	Commands an army. This is not a genuine rank, but a function assumed by some généraux de division.
Officiers supérieurs - Senior officers
Image:Commandant.png	Image:Lieutenant-colonel.png	Image:Colonel.png	Infantry
Image:Commandant des armes à cheval.png	Image:Lieutenant-colonel des armes à cheval.png	Image:Colonel des armes à cheval.png	Cavalry
Commandant	Lieutenant-colonel	Colonel
Officiers subalternes - Junior officers
Image:Aspirant de l'armée de terre.png	Image:Sous-lieutenant.png	Image:Lieutenant.png	Image:Capitaine.png
Image:Galon gamma AT.png	Image:Sous-lieutenant des armes à cheval.png	Image:Lieutenant des armes à cheval.png	Image:Capitaine des armes à cheval.png
Aspirant	Sous-lieutenant	Lieutenant	Capitaine
Major - Major
Image:Major-French-Army.png
Major
Sous-officiers - Warrant Officers
Image:Sergent appelé.png	Image:Sergent.png	Image:Sergent-chef.png	Image:Adjudant.png	Image:Adjudant-chef.png
	Image:Maréchal-des-logis.png	Image:Maréchal-des-logis-chef.png	Image:Adjudant-chef.png	Image:Adjudant.png
Élève sous-officier	Sergent or Maréchal des logis for cavalry	Sergent-chef or Maréchal des logis-chef for cavalry	Adjudant	Adjudant-chef
A four chevron sergent-chef major existed up till 1947
Militaires du rang - Enlisted
Image:Première classe.png	Image:Caporal.png	Image:Caporal-chef.png	Image:Caporal-chef de première classe.png
Soldat Première classe	Caporal	Caporal-chef	Caporal-chef (distinction)

[edit] See also

• Ranks in the French Navyde:Dienstgrade in der französischen Armee

fr:Grades de l'armée française