Hans Erler (1874-1958)

[Kriegsmarine Admiral]

Hello,

This is an offcier whose ranks confuse me:

Charakter als Kapitän zur See (11 Dec 1920);
Charakter als Konteradmiral (01 Jun 1940);
Kapitän zur See z.V. (07 Apr 1941)

Why was he promoted to Kapitän zur See z.V. and didn't get the patent to Konteradmiral z.V.? Is it because earlier he was only a Charakter als Kapitän zur See?
If so, look at his photo below, he is clearly wearing and Admirals cap. So if the photo was taken after 07 April 1941 (when he was promoted to Kapitän zur See z.V.) does this mean he was still allowed to wear a Konteradmirals uniform even though he was promoted to Kapitän zur See z.V.?

As previously explained to me: "A charakterisierter Konteradmiral wears the Uniform of a Konteradmiral and is adressed as "Herr Admiral", but he is serving in the position of a Kapitän zur See and paid as such. Very often, officers received the Charakter of the next higher rank with their retirement as an appreciation of their services." But Erler was promoted to Charakter als Konteradmiral while placed at the disposal of the Kriegsmarine, not before retiring.

Could someone share any light on this particular case?

Many thanks.

[HPL2008]

I am not familiar with the particulars of this specific case, but can offer a general explanation:

The bestowal of a charakterisierter Dienstgrad [characterized rank] was a brevet promotion. It meant that the officer promoted in this way was entitled to use the respective rank designation and wear the insignia of that rank, but was not elevated to the pay group that normally came with the rank. (Also, he always had lower seniority than the regularly-appointed officers of said rank, irrespective of their promotion dates or length of service.)

Such promotions were usually undertaken as way of honoring long-serving, distinguished officers just prior to or at the time of their retirement (or sometimes even after retirement, for example on the occasion of special birthdays or anniversaries).

However, this practice was sometimes used for active-duty officers as well: You have to understand that the military as well as the civilian administrative system uses Stellenpläne [roughly "establishment plans"] which strictly regulate how many positions exist for any one of the individual pay groups within the respective agency/unit. Soldiers and officials can only be promoted to a higher pay group if there is a vacant Planstelle [post] on that plan. These plans are rather tight and it is not uncommon for well-deserved promotions to drag on for a long time, until finally a vacancy turns up when someone up the ladder gets promoted, quits, retires or dies.

Thus, if an officer was due for and deserving of promotion by his length of service, his performance in his current post and his potential, but could not be regularly promoted for lack of a Planstelle, the instrument of the Charaktererhöung was sometimes used. In that case, the regular promotion followed as soon as a Planstelle vacancy arose.

The practice of Charakter promotions was eventually abolished for the duration of the war by a Führer order of 4 December 1940.

[Kriegsmarine Admiral]

Thank you for this explanation.
Please see here for more details about his career: Char.Konteradmiral Hans Erler
I still wonder why didn't he get the "patent" to his Konteradmiral rank (i.e. Konteradmiral z.V.) instead of being promoted (or even demoted by seniority) to Kapitän zur See z.V.?
Is it because he was never an active Kapitän zur See before retiring in 1919, but only Charakter als Kapitän zur See?
The same can be seen with Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière's promotions:
Charakter als Konteradmiral (25 Jan 1937);
Charakter als Vizeadmiral (19 Aug 1939);
Konteradmiral a.D. (auβer Dienst- out of service, or effectively retired) (01 Jun 1940);
Vizeadmiral z.V. (01 Feb 1941)

[HPL2008]

As I said, I am not familiar with the details here, but it could simply be a matter of a lack of Planstellen (which were not very numerous at flag officer level to begin with). Erler would have drawn Kapitän zur See pay, but worn Konteradmiral insignia.

(By the way, von Arnauld de la Perière's characterized promotions are an example for the post-retirement ones I had mentioned, as he had resigned in 1931 and was only re-activated at the outbreak of WW2.)