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This table contains the final ranks and insignia of the Waffen-SS, which were in use from April 1942 to May 1945, in comparison to the Wehrmacht. [1] The highest ranks of the combined SS (German: Gesamt-SS) was that of Reichsführer-SS and Oberster Führer der SS; however, there was no Waffen-SS equivalent to these positions.
SS–Gruppenführer Hans Lammers in black Allgemeine SS uniform, 1938 The uniforms and insignia of the Schutzstaffel (SS) served to distinguish its Nazi paramilitary ranks between 1925 and 1945 from the ranks of the Wehrmacht (the German armed forces from 1935), the German state, and the Nazi Party.
The Waffen-SS (German: [ˈvafn̩ʔɛsˌʔɛs]; lit. ' Armed SS ') was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary Schutzstaffel (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with volunteers and conscripts from both German-occupied Europe and unoccupied lands. [3]
The SS became an elite corps of the Nazi Party, answerable only to Hitler. Himmler's title of Reichsführer-SS now became his actual rank – and the highest rank in the SS, equivalent to the rank of field marshal in the army (his previous rank was Obergruppenführer). [60] As Himmler's position and authority grew, so in effect did his rank. [61]
All Waffen-SS divisions were ordered in a single series of numbers as formed, regardless of type. [1] Those with ethnic groups listed were at least nominally recruited from those groups. Many of the higher-numbered units were divisions in name only, being in reality only small battlegroups ( Kampfgruppen ).
The division was formed in October 1939, when thousands of members of the Ordnungspolizei (Orpo) were drafted to fill the ranks of the new SS division. These men were not enrolled in the SS and remained policemen, retaining their Orpo rank structure and insignia. They did not have to meet the racial and physical requirements imposed for the SS.
Corps colours, or Troop-function colours (German: Waffenfarben) were worn in the Waffen-SS from 1938 until 1945 in order to distinguish between various branches of service, units, and functions. The corps colours were part of the pipings , gorget patches (collar patches), and shoulder boards .
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