<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lieutenant general</span>

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Lieutenant general

Lieutenant general is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a captain general. In modern armies, lieutenant general normally ranks immediately below general and above major general; it is equivalent to the navy rank of vice admiral, and in air forces with a separate rank structure, it is equivalent to air marshal. A lieutenant general commands an army corps, made up of typically three army divisions, and consisting of around 60,000 to 70,000 soldiers . The seeming incongruity that a lieutenant general outranks a major general is due to the derivation of major general from sergeant major general, which was a rank subordinate to lieutenant general . Several countries use the rank of lieutenant colonel general instead of lieutenant general, in an attempt to solve this apparent anomaly. 