Chief marshal The ranks of marshal of a branch ( ) and chief marshal of a branch ( ) were senior military ranks of the Soviet Armed Forces . Immediately above the rank " marshal of a branch " is the rank " chief marshal of a branch " . Both ranks are immediately above the rank " colonel general " and equal to Soviet general of the army . The ranks were created as an calque of air marshal and air chief marshal , though they were used in the Soviet Air Force and also in several of the Soviet Army ' s branch commands . Marshal . The ranks of marshal of the aviation , artillery and armoured troops branches were established on February 4 , 1943 with a large , approximately 50mm wide , shoulder board star ( the same star as the at - the - time equivalent rank of marshal of the Soviet Union ' s shoulder board star ) . When the rank of chief marshal was established on October 27 , 1943 , the size of the shoulder board ' s stars for marshals was made about 10mm smaller establishing the superiority of the marshal of the Soviet Union insignia . Also , on October 27 , 1943 the ranks of marshal of the branches engineer troops and signals were established . On the uniform tie , marshals wore the marshal ' s star of the 2nd level . In the branches , the rank of colonel general was succeeded by the rank of marshal of the branch . While the rank of marshal of a branch was apparently equal to the one of general of the army ( who was only entitled to the four small shoulder board stars ) , the marshals of branches had the marshal ' s star of the 2nd level on the tie and the large 40mm star on the shoulder boards , but the general of the army had neither . Generals of the army were given the 40mm star shoulder board and the marshal ' s star of the 2nd level on the tie in 1974 . Marshals of the branches were normally eligible for promotion to chief marshal of branch , however , neither was eligible for promotion to marshal of the Soviet Union . After 1984 , the rank of marshal was preserved only in the air force and artillery . Later , the rank of marshal stopped being conferred even in these branches . The regulations of Russian Army , confirmed in 1993 , unified the system of general ranks in all the branches : the ranks of marshal of artillery and marshal of aviation were replaced by the one of general of the army ( or army aviation ) , and the rank of chief marshal was cancelled . The ranks of chief marshal of the branches of aviation , artillery , armoured troops , engineer troops , and signals were established October 27 , 1943 . The three former branches had already had ( since February 4 , 1943 ) the corresponding ranks of marshal ; in the two latter branches the ranks of marshal and of chief marshal were established simultaneously . When the rank of chief marshal was established , the size of the shoulder board ' s stars for all marshals except the now superior marshal of the Soviet Union were made about 10mm smaller and for chief marshals , the star was surrounded by a laurel wreath . On the uniform tie , chief marshals wore the marshal ' s star of the 2nd level . During the next forty years , the ranks of chief marshal were conferred mainly on deputy defense ministers - commanders of the corresponding branch . The ranks of chief marshal of engineer troops and chief marshal of signals , abolished in 1984 , were never conferred on anybody . No chief marshal promotions were conferred after 1984 . The youngest chief marshal was aviator Golovanov , 40 when promoted in 1944 . Three of thirteen people who held the chief marshal rank had a tragic circumstances : Novikov was imprisoned for seven years ; Nedelin perished in the flame of an exploded rocket ; Varentsov was accused of heedlessness , dismissed and degraded ( his subordinate , Oleg Pen ' kovski , had been found to be a spy ) .