A Luftwaffe soldier in a tropical uniform (From a negative film roll)
A Luftwaffe soldier in a tropical uniform (From a negative film roll)
German Luftwaffe photo (From a negative film roll)
Who said that rank didn't have its privileges!
Look at the guys in the window
Here is a photo of 2 Wehrmacht soldiers during the invasion Norway 1940
They are both wearing the M36 uniform, M37 trousers and enlisted mans belt.
The soldier on the right has belt support hooks on his uniform.
The "Gefreiter" (Acting Corporal) on the right has shoulder boards and sleeve insignia /rank on his sleeve.
He has the SA sports badge in bonze on his left breast pocket and a one peace ribbon for the "War Service Cross" with swords
Note that the soldier on the left does not have shoulder boards on (why might that be?)
he still has his 98K Mauser bayonet and frog on his Left hip..
Here is another photo of Wehrmacht soldiers during the invasion Norway 1940
3 infantry soldiers lay on top of a grass mound..
LEFT: The soldier is a "Uteroffizier" (Sergeant)
MIDDLE: In the middle we have a "Feldweble" (Technical Sergeant)
RIGHT: Another "Uteroffizier" (Sergeant)
All are wearing the M36 uniform (Identified by the bottle green collar and the style of uniform pockets)
Interesting photos from Unternehmen Weserübung-Nord I am however not in agreement with you Leander when it comes to your understanding of German ranks. A Gefreiter was no where near being a corporal in any way. A Gefreiter was more of a senior private.
The ranks listed below were regarded as enlisted men/privates (Mannschaften) of different levels by the German Army (in my example infantry) in 1940:
Schütze,
Oberschütze,
Gefreiter,
Obergefreiter,
(Obergefreiter with 6 yrs + service),
Stabsgefreiter.
I will not involve the Fahnenjunker and the Unteroffizieranwärter ranks here for the sake of simplicity.
One example:
The Unteroffizier was the lowest NCO of the Wehrmacht Heer and was a so-called Unteroffizier ohne Portepee (NCO without swordknot) and it is the Unteroffizier that was the equivalent of a British corporal for instance and not the Gefreiter. A Gefreiter was not an NCO in any sense for the Germans; he had no command authority and the rank he wore represented a raise in pay and little else.
These mistakes I see everywhere and are the results of trying to compare British/US ranks to German ranks without understanding in detail the rather complicated rank systems of the German Wehrmacht, especially when it comes to the lower ranks.
Sorry if this makes me seem like a spoilsport! I just want to see the ranks explained correctly Keep the photos coming!
- Kenneth
Last edited by KSH; 06-03-2011 at 10:56 AM. Reason: Clarification
Nice info Kenneth. We need them here because not all of us are experts.
I am no expert my friend, but I know my German Heer ranks. It just annoys me that almost everywhere one looks at the web one gets false information on these ranks. One gets Unteroffiziere listed as Sergeants and Gefreitern listed as Corporals etc etc etc... Both these comparisons are wrong. Feldwebel is the German equivalent of Sergeant.
- Kenneth
Kenneth you are correct. On almost all of the US sites(even wikipedia), they try to compare the ranks of the Wehrmacht to the US rank system, which is completely non-compatible. The German Rank system was too intricate to be able to compare to US/Brittish.
Here is a Luftwaffe Officer with Pilot badge. Anyone able to read the reverse??? It names them
A Postcard Sized Portait of a troop from an Armoured unit with Bronze Panzerkampf Abzeichen in wear
(a dedication on back that I need to get translated)
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