That's right. The US system top rank "General" was 4 star. UK (and other EU systems) had field marshal that outranked Generals. So the US added a 5 star "General of the Army" in 1944 to solve any issues with command hierarchy.
There is another rank "General of the Armies" which was created post-WW1 bestowed on Pershing for his service. They also posthumously promoted Grant in 2024 and George Washington in 1976 with the caveat that Washington's rank has "precedence over all other grades of the Army, past or present." This doesn't have any specific star insignia IIRC.
Yes, and in France (although it hasn't been active in a long time). It was basically just trying to avoid a situation where Montgomery or De Gaulle could pull rank on the four US generals (although this did not happen anyway, they were fighting together long before the rank was created in December '44).
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u/the_tytan 5h ago
Is it because the highest rank (at least in Britain) was Field Marshal?