Alfred Josef Ferdinand Jodl was a German Generaloberst who served as the Chief of the Operations Staff of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht – the German Armed Forces High Command – throughout World War II.
Jodl in 1940
Jodl (second from right) as a captain of the Reichswehr, 1926
(front row, from l. to r.) Reichspressechef Otto Dietrich, Wilhelm Keitel, Hitler, Jodl, and Martin Bormann, at the Führer Headquarters of Felsennest, June 1940
Jodl, seated between Wilhelm Oxenius and Hans-Georg von Friedeburg, signing the German Instrument of Surrender in Reims, 7 May 1945
A Generaloberst was the second-highest general officer rank in the German Reichswehr and Wehrmacht, the Austro-Hungarian Common Army, the East German National People's Army and in their respective police services. The rank was equal to a four-star full general but below a general field marshal. The rank was equivalent to a Generaladmiral in the Kriegsmarine until 1945 or to a Flottenadmiral in the Volksmarine until 1990. It was the highest ordinary military rank and the highest military rank awarded in peacetime; the higher rank of general field marshal was awarded only in wartime by the head of state. In general, a Generaloberst had the same privileges as a general field marshal.
Rudolf Stöger-Steiner von Steinstätten here as Generaloberst
Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden as Prussian Generaloberst (with the special rank GFM)
