Ranks in the French Army


Rank insignia in the French Army are worn on the sleeve or on shoulder marks of uniforms, and range up to the highest rank of Marshal of France, a state honour denoted with a seven-star insignia that was last conferred posthumously on Marie Pierre Koenig in 1984.

Infantry arms and cavalry arms

Rank insignia in the French army depend on whether the soldier belongs to an infantry or cavalry unit. The infantry arms include normal infantry, naval troops, the Foreign Legion and engineers; cavalry arms include armoured cavalry, artillery, maintenance and logistics. Sleeves are emblazoned with marks denoting either gold insignia for the infantry or silver/white for the cavalry. However, the artillery uses gold as the main colour, despite being a cavalry branch, and spahis use gold as the main colour despite being part of the cavalry, a distinction representing the armoured cavalry.

Marshals

The title of "marshal of France" is awarded as a distinction, rather than a rank. The marshals wear seven stars and carry a baton.
Famous examples include Turenne, Vauban, Joachim Murat, Michel Ney, Bazaine, Guillaume Brune, Louis Nicolas Davout, Duke de MacMahon, de Canrobert, André Masséna, de Hauteclocque, de Tassigny, Marie Pierre Koenig and Alphonse Juin.
As a distinction rather than a rank, the title of Marshal is granted through a special law voted by the French Parliament. For this reason, it is impossible to demote a Marshal. The most famous example is Philippe Pétain, who became famous as Maréchal Pétain, chief of state of the Vichy France regime. When he was tried for high treason, the judges were empowered to demote his other ranks and titles, but due to the principle of separation of powers, the judges had no authority to cancel the law that had made Pétain a Marshal and it remained the only title he kept after being sentenced.
Six marshals of France have been given the even more exalted rank of "Marshal General of France" : Duke de Biron, Duke de Lesdiguières, Viscount de Turenne, de Villars, Count de Saxe and Jean-de-Dieu Soult.

Officers

Although they all wear the same insignia and titles, officers are divided into:
There is no distinction between infantry and cavalry generals, since they are all supposed to be able to command any type of unit. The rank was formerly designated as Lieutenant-General of the Armies until 1791. The official historic succession of the "Lieutenant-General of France" corresponded to Général de division for the French Army, and Vice-Amiral for the French Navy. The rank of Général de corps d'armée wasn't officially adopted until 1939, along with five other French Armed Forces ranks.

''Officiers supérieurs'' - senior officers

In the below descriptions, "horse-mounted" does not refer to current units but to the traditional affiliation of the units.

''Colonel''

The word colonel originates in the medieval term capitaine colonel, "the head of a column". Lieutenant-colonel is the one who can "hold the place" of a colonel in his absence. The word chef or "chief" in English comes from the Latin word caput meaning "head".
A colonel commands a regiment of the army or a groupement of the Gendarmerie. During the French Revolution, they were called chef de brigade. Cavalry 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.

''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 uniforms of that empire in epaulettes.

''Commandant''

Commandant is equivalent to a major in most English-speaking countries.

''Officiers subalternes'' - junior officers

''Capitaine''

A capitaine is in command of a company of infantry, a squadron of cavalry or a battery of artillery.

''Lieutenant''

A lieutenant commands a platoon of infantry, a troop of cavalry, or a brigade of the Gendarmerie.

''Sous-lieutenant''

A Sous-lieutenant commands at the same level as a lieutenant, but is a more junior officer rank.

''Aspirant''

Note the difference with many army rank systems of other countries where the term major is used for a rank above that of captain. For example, the rank of "major" in the US Army or British army is equivalent to the rank of "commandant" in the French army.
Etymologically the adjudant is the adjoint of an officer, and the sergeant "serves".
Aspirants are cadet officers still in training. Sous-lieutenants are junior officers and are often aided by adjudants or adjudants-chefs, who are experienced NCOs/warrant officers.
Full lieutenants are experienced junior officers, served by sergeants when commanding their unit.
A four chevron sergent-chef-major rank existed until 1947. It was a ceremonial rank usually given to the most senior or experienced NCO in a unit, similar to a colour sergeant in the British Army. It was discontinued in the post-war army due to its redundancy.

''Militaires du rang'' - Troop ranks

Junior enlisted grades have different cloth stripe and beret colour depending on the service they are assigned to. Troupes métropolitaines units wear blue, Troupes de marine wear red, and the Légion Étrangère units wear green.
A red beret indicates a paratrooper, whether from the "troupes de marine" or not. A legionnaire paratrooper wears a green beret with the general parachutist badge on it, the same badge used by all French Army paratroopers who completed their training.
Senior grades' lace stripe metal depends on their arm of service, just like the officiers. Infantry and support units wear gold stripes and cavalry and technical services units wear silver stripes.
There are also distinctions to distinguish volunteers and conscripts, and bars for experience.

Engineer officer ranks

These ranks apply the word commissaire in light of their participation and role in the Commissariat Service of the army.

Ranks formerly used in the Army

The following national armes use a similar rank structure and rank insignia to those used by the French Army of today:

Officers

Enlisted