Ranks in the French Army
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Rank insignia in the French army, except for general officers, depends on whether the soldier belongs to a "foot arm" or a "horse arm". All arms are designated either a foot or horse arm. In foot arms the main insignia colour is gold, but in horse arms the main insignia colour is silver/white. However, the artillery uses gold as the main colour, despite being a horse arm, and the spahis use gold as the main colour despite being part of a horse arm, the armoured cavalry arm.
- Foot arms: Infantry, Naval troops, Foreign Legion, Engineering, etc.
- Horse arms: Armoured Cavalry arm, Train, Artillery, etc.
The ranks in the Armée de Terre :
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[edit] Marshals
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 Turenne, Vauban, Joachim Murat, Michel Ney, Guillaume Brune, Louis Nicolas Davout, André Masséna, Philippe Leclerc de Hautecloque, Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, Marie Pierre Koenig and Alphonse Juin.
An infamous example would be Philippe Pétain, who became famous as Maréchal Pétain, Chief of State of the Vichy France puppet regime and retained his title even after his trial and imprisonment and after he was stripped of other positions and titles.
Another particular example is Marshal de MacMahon, who ruled the Third Republic from 1875 to 1879.
Six Marshals of France have been given the even more exalted rank of Marshal General of France: Biron, Lesdiguières, Turenne, Villars, Saxe and Soult.
[edit] Officers
Officers are divided into
- the regular officers of the Army
- the commissary 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
Général d'armée: Army General: In command of an army. This is not a genuine rank, but an appointment of Divisional General.
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.
Général de division: Divisional General: in command of a division.
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
In the below descriptions, "horse-mounted" does not refer to current units (the only remaining horse-mounted unit is a ceremonial unit in the Republican Guard) but to some traditional affiliation of the units.
[edit] Colonel
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".
Colonel : in command of a regiment or a groupement (in the Gendarmerie). During the French Revolution, they were called "chef de brigade". Mounted arms wear silver. The origin of the difference in metal colour is that infantry officers once wore silver epaulettes, while those of the cavalry and other arms wore gold, and the colour of the rank badge had to differ from these metals in each case.
 Infantry |
 Cavalry |
[edit] Lieutenant-Colonel
The Lieutenant-colonel has the same responsibilities as a colonel. They were called "major" during the First French Empire. Notice that the metal colours 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.
 Infantry |
 Cavalry |
[edit] Commandant
Commandant: also called chef de bataillon in the infantry, chef d'escadrons in the cavalry and chef d'escadron in the artillery.
 Infantry |
 Cavalry |
[edit] Officiers subalternes - Junior officers
[edit] Capitaine
A Capitaine is in command of a company (infantry), a squadron (cavalry) or a battery (artillery)
 Infantry |
 Cavalry |
[edit] Lieutenant
A Lieutenant (Lieutenant or First Lieutenant): in command of a section (infantry), a peloton (cavalry) or a brigade (gendarmerie)
 Infantry |
 Cavalry |
[edit] Sous-Lieutenant
Sous-lieutenant (Sub-Lieutenant or Lieutenant): same prerogatives as the lieutenant
 Infantry |
 Cavalry |
[edit] Aspirant
- Aspirant : Acting Officer or Officer Candidate.
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- 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
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[edit] Majors
- Major: same prerogatives as the lieutenant.
Note the difference with English ranking systems, where "Majors" rank as commandants.
[edit] Sous-officiers - Non Commissioned Officers
- A Major is equivalent to the rank of Sergeant Major in the US, UK , Canada, etc. There are relatively few Major in the armed forces, about one per regiment or brigade.
- Adjudant-chef : often same responsibilities as the lieutenant. In the horse-mounted arms (armes a cheval: cavalry and transportation), they are addressed as "lieutenant", otherwise addressed as "adjudant"
adjudant-chef (des armes à pied)
adjudant-chef
- Adjudant : often same responsibilities as a lieutenant
- Sergent-chef (infantry) or Maréchal des logis-chef (cavalry), addressed as "chef"
Sergent-chef : Chief Sergeant
Maréchal des logis-chef : Chief Marshal of Lodgings
- Sergent (infantry) or Maréchal des logis (cavalry) : in command of a group
Sergent : Sergeant
Maréchal des logis : Marshal of Lodgings
- Eleve Sous-Officier NCO candidats at the ENSOA.
The adjudant is the adjoint ("aid") of an officer, and the sergeant "serves" (Latin serviens).
Aspirants or sous-lieutenants are junior officers and are often aided by adjudants or adjudants-chefs, who are experienced NCOs/warrant officers.
Full lieutenant are experienced junior officers, served by sergeants when commanding their unit.
[edit] Militaires du rang - Enlisted
Caporal-chef de première classe. Distinction created in 1999.
Caporal-chef (infantry) or Brigadier-chef (cavalry) : in command of a team
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.
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).
- Marsouin (Troupes de marine): From a term for the Harbour Porpoise, due to their duties at sea or on land.
- 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.
- Para (Troupes aéroportées): Airborne troops, short for parachutist.
- Poilu (Infanterie): "Hairy One". A derogatory term, much like the Commonwealth Forces term Pongo ("Smelly one"). Only used when speaking of French soldiers of WW1.
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 de France - Marshals of France | ||||
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| Maréchal de France | ||||
| Marshal of France is not an actual rank, but a "state honour" | ||||
| Officiers généraux - General officers | ||||
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| Général de brigade | Général de division | Général de corps d'armée | Général d'armée | |
| Commands a brigade | Commands a division | Commands a corps. This is not an actual rank, but an appointment of général de division. | Commands an army. This is not an actual rank, but an appointment of général de division. | |
| Six stars used to be used by the general commanding the defences of Paris. This insignia is not in use anymore. | ||||
| Officiers supérieurs - Senior officers | ||||
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Infantry | |
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Cavalry | |
| Commandant (Chef d'escadron(s) in some arms) | Lieutenant-colonel | Colonel | ||
| Officiers subalternes - Junior officers | ||||
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| Aspirant | Sous-lieutenant | Lieutenant | Capitaine | |
| Major - Major | ||||
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| Major | ||||
| Sous-officiers - Sub-officers | ||||
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| Élève sous-officier | Sergent ("Foot arms") / Maréchal des logis ("Horse Arms") | Sergent-chef ("Foot Arms") / Maréchal des logis-chef ("Horse Arms") | Adjudant | Adjudant-chef |
| A four chevron sergent-chef major existed up till 1947 | ||||
| Militaires du rang - Rank and File | ||||
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| Soldat 1e classe | Caporal ("Foot arms") / Brigadier ("Horse Arms") | Caporal-chef ("Foot arms") / Brigadier-chef ("Horse Arms") | Caporal-chef (1e classe) / Brigadier-chef (1e classe) | |
