What distinguished the military ranks of fascist Germany in the Wehrmacht and the SS

After the death of Hindenburg, and Hitler took over the chancellery and the president, the German armed forces were reformed.

An organizational structure was created, according to which, at the head of each of the three branches of the army (land army, Luftwaffe and navy), was his supreme commander-in-chief, reporting personally to the Fuhrer. In addition, a separate military structure was the SS troops with their headquarters and leadership. Thus, the Wehrmacht did not actually have a single military command.

The military ranks of fascist Germany in general terms repeat the hierarchy adopted after the end of the First World War. According to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the strength of the army should not exceed one hundred thousand people. The junior commanders, captains and staff officers were the average command personnel. Thus, to deploy a full-fledged army, it was only necessary to introduce mobilization regulations for junior commanders and rank-and-file officers.

In 1937, the titles of technical and veterinary noncommissioned officers were introduced. A year later the ranks "sergeant-major" and "staff-feldwebel" were approved, which were appropriated to non-commissioned officers who had passed the re-certification. Thus, the military ranks of fascist Germany appeared, which indicated that the political and military leadership of this country had headed for militarization, and the conditions adopted at Versailles were actually ignored.

The organizational structure of the Kriegsmarine, that is, the naval forces, did not differ significantly from the worldwide accepted hierarchy. Fleet military ranks of fascist Germany, from the ordinary sailor to the admiral, corresponded to their counterparts in the Soviet Navy, the difference was only in the names: "korvettenkapiten", "frigatetenkapiten" and "kapiten zur zey", ie captains of the third, second and first ranks.

In the Luftwaffe (the same as the Air Force), an ordinary employee was called a "flig". In aviation, the military ranks of fascist Germany were the same as in the ground forces.

The SS troops had their own structure of subordination. These armed formations were considered elite, which was expressed in the requirements for the appearance of the fighters. He had to fully correspond to the racial theory prevailing in the Third Reich. The military ranks of the Wehrmacht did not coincide with the SS, like the insignia. Thus, the shoulder straps of SS Untersturmfuhrer corresponded to the general military lieutenants, the SS Hauptsturmführer had the power of the captain, and the SS Standartenfiihrer was colonel.

One can see a certain parallel between two military structures similar in function - the German SS troops and the Soviet NKVD. The power that the military ranks of fascist Germany provided, shoulder straps and other insignia were different for elite units and for conventional combat troops. In the USSR, the NKVD sergeant served as a lieutenant (RKKA). This "shift" by two steps continued even further, to the major, who corresponded to the colonel.

In the conditions of a totalitarian state punitive troops perform the basic function for such regimes. They frighten both the population of the occupied territories and their own army. This explains the dislike that comes to hatred in combination with the contempt with which front-line soldiers treated representatives of these elite formations, especially since the NKVDshniki and the SS were not particularly fortified in defense and courage in the attack.