Germany
In the Imperial German Army, while a Quartiermeister was a non-commissioned officer in charge of supplies, a Generalquartiermeister did not deal with supplies, but with operational command. He was the most senior officer below an Army's Chief of Staff.
For example, during the First World War, Erich Ludendorff was Generalquartiermeister to the German Second Army in August 1914. With his expert knowledge of the plans for the assault on Liege, which he had helped to draw up, he was sent to supervise that assault and took personal charge when the brigade commander was killed.
More famously, when Paul von Hindenburg was appointed Chief of the General Staff at the Oberste Heeresleitung (OHL or "Supreme Army Command") in August 1916, Ludendorff, who had been his Chief of Staff in the East, came with him. Ludendorff declined to be known as "Second Chief of the General Staff" and instead chose the title First Quartermaster-General - in which role he directed the operations of the German Armies and wielded power over German politics and industry.
Read more about this topic: Quartermaster General
Famous quotes containing the word germany:
“By an application of the theory of relativity to the taste of readers, to-day in Germany I am called a German man of science, and in England I am represented as a Swiss Jew. If I come to be regarded as a bête noire the descriptions will be reversed, and I shall become a Swiss Jew for the Germans and a German man of science for the English!”
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955)
“The tears I have cried over Germany have dried. I have washed my face.”
—Marlene Dietrich (1904–1992)