STUTTGART, Germany — The U.S. military still isn’t saying why a second deputy commander slot has been created at the Heidelberg-based V Corps, three days after the Pentagon announced that Maj. Gen. John Batiste would fill that position.

Batiste, the current 1st Infantry Division commander, is the second deputy commander appointed to V Corps in the past month. The corps, which oversees 42,000 of the 62,000 soldiers based in Europe, hosted a ceremony April 6 introducing Brig. Gen. Daniel A. Hahn as its new second-in-command.

But on Friday, the Pentagon announced Batiste had been appointed to the same slot. At the time, Pentagon officials referred further questions to the U.S. European Command in Stuttgart.

On Monday, a EUCOM spokeswoman referred further questions to U.S. Army Europe, which referred the inquiry to V Corps.

When contacted Monday, V Corps spokeswoman Hilde Patton said she had nothing further to add to comments made Saturday by another corps spokesman, Lt. Col. Brian McNerney.

McNerney on Saturday said that, “Maj. Gen. Batiste is obviously very well qualified. We look forward to him joining the corps team.”

He also noted Batiste’s experience in Iraq as commander of the 1st Infantry Division, which returned to Würzburg earlier this year after a one-year deployment. Elements of V Corps are scheduled to return to Iraq later this year.

For now, Batiste remains the 1st ID commander, even though the Pentagon announced on April 20 that Batiste would be replaced by Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hunzeker. A change-of-command date has not been announced, according to Maj. Bill Coppernoll, the 1st ID’s public affairs officer.

Coppernoll said Monday that Batiste was not available for comment on his new assignment.

Batiste and Hahn replace Maj. Gen. Walter Wojdakowski, who was named deputy commander of U.S. Army Europe, which also is based in Heidelberg and is V Corps’ parent command.