Colonel general Colonel general is a specific rank of the senior rank of general . North Korea and Russia are two countries which have used the rank extensively throughout their histories . The rank is also closely associated with Germany , where " Generaloberst " has been a rank above the full " General " and a rank below " Generalfeldmarschall " . Austria . Colonel general ( " Generaloberst " ) was the second - highest rank in the Austro - Hungarian Army , introduced following the German model in 1915 . The rank was not used after World War I in the Austrian Army of the Republic . China ( PRC ) . The People ' s Liberation Army rank of " shang jiang " ( 上将 : literally , " senior general " ) is variously translated as either colonel general or general , with the translation as colonel general generally reserved for the period 1955 - 1965 ( when it corresponded to the Soviet rank of colonel general ) . All ranks in the PLA were abolished between 1965 and 1988 . When it was restored , there was a reduction in the number of officer ranks , and the ranks have since been normally translated into English as the corresponding American or British rank , rendering the rank of " shang jiang " as simply " general " . Czechoslovakia . The rank of colonel general ( " generálplukovník " ) was created in the Czechoslovak army in 1950 , and it was dropped after the 1993 dissolution of the state . Egypt . The Egyptian Army uses a rank which translates as " colonel general " . They equate it with a 4 - star rank ( " full " general ) ; it is junior to the rank they translate as field marshal . Usually only defence ministers have held this rank . France . In the French Army , under the " Ancien régime " , the officer in charge of all the regiments of a particular branch of service ( i . e . infantry , cavalry , dragoons , Swiss troops , etc . ) was known as the colonel general . This was not a rank , but an office of the Crown . Georgia . The Republic of Georgia adopted Soviet designations after it ' s independence in 1991 so that the rank Colonel - General ( გენერალ - პოლკოვნიკი general - polkonviki ) exists , yet while it ' s the highest military rank with four stars , the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia has the 3 - star colonel - general according to traditional usage originating from the USSR . Germany . A supreme general or senior general ( " Generaloberst " , sometimes mistranslated " colonel - general " by analogy to " Oberst " , " colonel " ) was the second highest general officer rank — below field marshal ( " Generalfeldmarschall " ) — in the Prussia n army as well as in the " Deutsches Heer " of Imperial Germany ( 1871 - 1919 ) , the " Reichswehr " of the Weimar Republic ( 1921 - 1933 ) , and the " Wehrmacht " ( which included the " Luftwaffe " , established in 1935 ) of Nazi Germany ( 1933 - 1945 ) . The rank was created originally for Emperor William I — then Prince of Prussia — because traditionally members of the royal family were not promoted to the rank of a field marshal . Since the rank of " Generalfeldmarschall " was also reserved for wartime promotions , the additional rank of a " supreme general in the capacity of a field marshal " — the " Generaloberst im Range eines Generalfeldmarschalls " — was created for promotions during peace . Such generals were entitled to wear four pips on their shoulder boards , compared to the normal three . The equivalent ranks of a colonel general were in the : German Democratic Republic . East Germany ' s National People ' s Army ( NVA ) retained this rank as its third highest , behind " Armeegeneral " and " Marschall der DDR " . " Bundeswehr " . The " Bundeswehr " ( first in West Germany and since 1990 in a unified Germany ) does not use the rank . Hungary . In Hungary , the rank of colonel general ( " vezérezredes " ) has been introduced with the Imperial and Royal Army ( the common ground force of the Dual Monarchy ) in 1915 . The rank replaced the ranks of " gyalogsági tábornok " ( general of infantry ) , " lovassági tábornok " ( general of cavalry ) , and " táborszernagy " ( general of artillery ) in the early 1940s . The rank title " vezérezredes " is still in use for the highest ranking ( four - star ) general officer of the " Magyar Honvédség " and foreign four - star general officers ' rank titles are usually translated as " vezérezredes " in Hungarian . North Korea . The North Korean rank of " sangjang " translates as " colonel general " . " Sangjang " is senior to that of " jungjang " ( usually translated as " lieutenant general " ) and junior to that of " daejang " ( usually translated as " general " ) . This rank is typically held by the commanding officer of units along the Korean DMZ and the North Korean security zone at Panmunjon . Russia . The rank of colonel general ( Russian : " генерал - полковник , general - polkovnik " ) did not exist in Imperial Russia and was first established in the Red Army on 7 May 1940 , as a replacement for previously existing " командарм второго ранга " ( " kommandarm vtorogo ranga " , " army commander of the second rank " ) . During World War II , about 199 officers were promoted to colonel general . Before 1943 , Soviet colonel generals wore four stars on their collar patches ( " petlitsy " ) . Since 1943 , they have worn three stars on their shoulder straps , so Charles Pettibone compares the rank to the US lieutenant general . The rank still exists in the contemporary Russian Army . Unlike the German " Generaloberst " ( which it most probably calque d ) , the Soviet and Russian colonel general rank is neither an exceptional nor a rare one , as it is a normal step in the " ladder " between a two - star lieutenant general and a four - star army general . Other than that , the Soviet and Russian rank systems sometimes cause confusion in regard to equivalence of ranks , because the normal Western title for brigadier or brigadier general ceased to exist for the Russian Army in 1798 . The combrig rank that corresponded to one - star general existed in Soviet Union in 1935 – 1940 years only . Positions typically reserved for these ranks , such as brigade commanders , have always been occupied by colonel s ( " polkovnik " ) or , very rarely , major general s ( see History of Russian military ranks ) . The rank has usually been given to district , front and army commanders , and also to deputy ministers of defense , deputy heads of the general staff and so on . In some post - Soviet CIS armies ( for example in Belarus ) there are no generals of the army or marshal s , and so colonel general is the highest rank , usually held by the minister of the defense . The corresponding naval rank is admiral , which is also denoted by three stars . Sweden . Colonel general ( " generalöverste " ) has also been a senior military rank in Sweden , used principally before the 19th century . Syria . The Syrian Arab Army uses the rank of colonel general ( " " fariq al - awwal " , فريق أول ) only for the senior - most rank of the army beneath that of field marshal . Usually only defence ministers have held this rank - only seven officers have held this rank till now - Muhammad Umran , Mustafa Tlass , Hikmat al - Shihabi , Hasan Turkmani , Ali Habib Mahmud , Dawoud Rajiha and Fahd Jassem al - Freij . United Kingdom . The title of colonel general was used before and during the English Civil War in both Royalist and Parliamentarian armies . In these cases it often appears to have meant a senior colonel as opposed to a senior general . United States . In the United States , as commander of an army the equivalent rank was general ( four - star general , grade O - 10 ) . Vietnam . In Vietnam , the rank of colonel general is known as " thượng tướng " ( literally " senior lieutenant general " ) , equivalent to a three - star general and admiral . " Thượng tướng " is senior to " trung tướng " ( usually translated as " lieutenant general " ) and junior to " đại tướng " ( usually translated as " general " ) . It is used in the army and the air force . It is the equivalent to " đô đốc " ( admiral ) in the Navy .