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France: Flag officers (Army and Air Force)

Last modified: 2025-09-06 by olivier touzeau
Keywords: general | stars: 2 (blue) | stars: 3 (blue) | stars: 4 (blue) | stars: 5 (blue) | flag officer | swords: 2 (blue) | cross (white) |
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Generals in the French Army and Air Force

In the French Army and Air Force, Divisional General is the highest substantive rank; anything higher are considered honorary titles. On one hand, successful Divisional Generals can be conferred the "style and position" (rang et appellation) of General of Army Corps (four stars) or Army General (five stars), although back in the days of the Flaggenbuch they could only fly the flag of their actual rank.

Miles Li, 9 October 2007

The car flag of General officers is described in the Instruction n° 849/ARM/SGA/DMCA/SHD/DHS/DSD (10 april 2024) a "7:8 Pennant without fringe, with in its blue part the insignia of rank of the titular embroidered in white. No distinguishing mark and no cravat.""

The Decision on Car Flags, 2 September 1963, stated that were entitled to have a pennant: the Generals designated commanders-in-chief; the Army generals and admirals or general officers commanding an army, an equivalent formation, or an "independent" maritime force; the General officers commanding a land, sea, or air region and, by extension, general officers holding similar positions overseas; the General officer exercising command and being the highest-ranking military official participating in an official ceremony.
The General Officers Commanding-in-Chief in actual command had a white cravat with gold fringes.
The pennants on the liaison vehicles of the general officers bore:

  • Either the regulatory command markings;
  • Or, in the white portion of the pennant, the distinct symbol of the army to which the pennant belongs and/or, in the blue portion, the distinctive rank signs of the holder.

Olivier Touzeau, 29 August 2025

Army General / Air Army General

[Flag of a 5-star General]

Flag at sea of an Army General - Images by Željko Heimer, 13 November 2001

According to Album des Pavillons [pay00], the flag of an Army General (Général d'Armée [Army] / Général d'Armée Aérienne [Air]) is a white square flag with the tricolour flag in canton and five blue stars placed 1-1-2-1 in lower fly.

Željko Heimer, 13 November 2001

General of Army Corps / General of Air Army Corps

[Flag of a 4-star General]

Flag at sea of a General of Army Corps - Images by Željko Heimer, 13 November 2001

According to Album des Pavillons [pay00], the flag of a General of Army Corps (Général de Corps d'Armée [Army] / Général de Corps Aérien [Air]) is a white square flag with the tricolour flag in canton and four blue stars placed 1-2-1 in lower fly.

Željko Heimer, 13 November 2001

Divisional General / Air Divisional General

[Flag of a 3-star General]

Flag at sea of a Divisional General - Images by Željko Heimer, 13 November 2001

According to Album des Pavillons [pay00], the flag of a Divisional General (Général de Division [Army] / Général de Division Aérienne [Air]) is a white square flag with the tricolour flag in canton and three blue stars placed 1-2 in lower fly.

Željko Heimer, 13 November 2001

Brigadier General / Air Brigadier General

[Flag of a 2-star General]

Flag at sea of a Brigadier General - Images by Željko Heimer, 13 November 2001

According to Album des Pavillons [pay00], the flag of a Brigadier General (Général de Brigade [Army] / Général de Brigade Aérienne [Air]) is a white square flag with the tricolour flag in canton and two blue stars placed vertically in lower fly.

Željko Heimer, 13 November 2001

Flag officers' former flags

[Former flag of a 3-star General]         [Former flag of a 3-star General]

Former flags of a Divisional General (left) and of a Brigadier General (right) - Images by Miles Li & Željko Heimer, 9 October 2007

Flaggenbuch (1939) [neu39] shows the flag of a Divisional General as a tricolour flag with two blue swords crossed per saltire in the middle of the white stripe, and the flag of a Brigadier General as a tricolour flag quartered by a white cross with two blue swords crossed per saltire in the middle of the white stripe.

Ivan Sache, 9 October 2007