Sergeant major general Sergeant major general Sergeant major general is a now mostly extinct military rank. A prominent example was Philip Skippon in the English New Model Army as organized by Oliver Cromwell. Over the course of the 17th century, the increasing professionalisation of armies saw sergeant major general become the most junior of the general ranks. At the same time, the "sergeant" portion of the title was more and more commonly dropped; by the early 18th century, the rank's name had been permanently shortened to major general. Since sergeant major general had ranked below lieutenant general, the newly named rank of major
Major general French Army, Major General (in full "Major General of the Army", "Major général de l'armée de terre") is a position and the major general is normally of the rank of corps general. Historically, the French army had some "sergent-majors généraux", also called "sergents de bataille", whose task was to prepare the disposition of the army on the field before a battle. These "sergents-majors généraux" became a new rank, the "maréchal de camp" (not the same as a field marshal, in the French Army from antiquity called a "Maréchal de France"), which was the equivalent of the rank of major general.