General der Pioniere

Collar tab, shoulder piece and sleeve badge for the camouflage uniform of only the Wehrmacht rank General der Pioniere

General of the Pioneers (General der Pioniere; established 1938) was a general rank in the Wehrmacht, analogous to the rank General der Infanterie, General der Panzertruppe, General der Flieger, etc. (General der Waffengattung) of other military branches. In addition to the rank, the army groups (Heeresgruppen) also had the position (title) of General der Pioniere, which was not associated with the rank.

Generals of the Pioneers

Rank

• Otto-Wilhelm Förster
• Alfred Jacob
• Erwin Jaenecke, later Generaloberst
• Walter Kuntze
• Karl Sachs (1886–1951)
• Otto Tiemann

Position / title

• Generalmajor Hans von Ahlfen, 1945 Army Group B
• Generalleutnant Gustav Boehringer (1892–1974), 1942/1943 Army Group A, 1943/1944 Army Group South, 1944 Army Group North Ukraine
• Generalmajor Hubertus-Maria von Heigl, 1944 Army Group Center, Army Group North and H
• Generalleutnant Alfred Jacob, 1939/1940 OKH, later he received the rank General der Pioniere
• Generalmajor Gerhard Jordan (1893–1964), 1943 Army Group A
• Generalleutnant Wilhelm Meise, 1941 to 1943 Army Group B
• Generalleutnant Karl Sachs, 1939 Army Group North, until 1941 Army Group B, 1942 received the rank General der Pioniere
• Generalleutnant Alfred Thielmann, 1944 Army Group G
• Generalleutnant Richard Wirtz, 1944 Army Group B

Bundeswehr

General der Pioniertruppe

In the Bundeswehr, the General of the Pioneer Troop is the position of the officer responsible for certain issues relating to the training and equipment of the pioneer troops, usually with the rank of brigadier general (Brigadegeneral). The title is linked to the commander of the pioneer school and the army technical school for civil engineering. Corresponding positions also exist for the other branches of the army (e.g. General der Panzertruppen). Since this is an official position, a colonel is sometimes the “general of” the respective military branch. The salutation General or Colonel is common; The salutation, General of the Pioneer Troop, is unusual because it does not involve a rank.