In the German Wehrmacht, there was a unique officer training system that guaranteed the recruitment of troops with high-quality officers. A similar system exists today in the Bundeswehr.
Read about the ranks of students in officer schools.
Who wants to become an officer after checking his reliability through the Gestapo, passing exams in physical training on the line of "Jungvolk" and "Hitler Youth" passed entrance exams at the school.
Then the candidate was sent to a combat regiment (during the war, it was obligatory to the regiment conducting combat operations) for a year as a soldier (during the war, the period was reduced).
After the expiration of the term, subject to positive feedback command of the regiment, the candidate received the rank of "fanejunker" equal to the rank of "corporal" and after short theoretical studies (from 2 to 6 months) was again sent to another combat regiment for a corporal position for a period of 4 to 6 months. During this period, he should have been given the opportunity to perform the duties of a squad leader part of the time. Fanenjunkers who did not meet the requirements of the command did not return to the school, but remained to serve in the unit as corporals.
Upon returning to the school, the Fanenjunker received the title of "Fanejunkerunterofficer", took a 2-6 month course of theoretical training and was sent to the third combat regiment as a squad leader. Part of the time he had to act as deputy platoon commander and foreman of the company.
Subject to a positive response from the command, upon returning to the school, he received the rank of "fenrich" and, after a short theoretical course, was sent to the fourth combat unit as a platoon commander (to an officer position) and after the established term of service as a platoon commander at the school passed the final exams.
After that, he, in the rank of "Oberfenrich", went to the regiment for permanent service. The assignment of the rank of "lieutenant" depended on the command of the regiment and division. Basically, the time from admission to the school to the assignment of an officer's rank was more than three years (even during the war, and to ensure sufficient replenishment of the troops with officers, enrollment in schools increased). To assign each next officer rank, it was required to undergo 4-6 months of training at the appropriate school or academy for the position to which it was planned to send the officer, to undergo an internship in a new position.
Thus, there was a constant filtering of quality candidates from random and incapable of leading soldiers. By the time he received the officer rank, the candidate had combat experience and theoretical knowledge; he knew how to use all types of weapons, knew how to command soldiers, knew the peculiarities of managing various units, and had authority. Internships in various units with different commanders and their decisive conclusion on the suitability of the candidate ensured that the unworthy would not receive the officer rank (by pull, for father's merits, for origin, etc.). Moreover, in peacetime, no more than 75% of the number of persons who had passed the previous stage could be taken to each next stage of training.
A large number of officers in war time was recruited from among the distinguished, capable non-commissioned officers. If necessary, they were given the opportunity to receive a military education, and before being awarded an officer's rank, they also underwent a course of theoretical training.
With all the hostility towards the Nazis, it is impossible not to note that the German officers were beyond praise, which Marshal G.K. Zhukov also noted in his memoirs.
The officers knew the soldiers, were close to them, knew how to organize a battle, to fight it stubbornly, unconventionally, with initiative; rushed to victory, trying to save the soldiers. They were not afraid to deviate from the charter, for the sake of achieving success. The soldiers believed their officers, knowing that each of them was in his time in a soldier's clothing; willingly followed them into battle, saw in them their more experienced and older comrades, protected them in battle.
Our Victory in the war of 1941-45 over the Wehrmacht, led by such high-class officers, only does honor to our army.
It is only a pity that this cruel lesson has remained unlearned; so no one among us understood that the money, time, funds spent on training officers in peacetime would save a lot of soldiers' lives during the war. Our current leaders of the country have not learned this lesson, and we are again learning to fight during the war, paying for our studies with the blood of inept soldiers and untrained officers. And the Germans in post-war Germany (both after the 1st and after the 2nd World Wars) carefully preserved their non-commissioned officers and officers, found an opportunity to allocate money from the meager budget for pensions to former military men, for their secret training and retraining (including including in the USSR), and when necessary, in the shortest time managed to deploy a first-class army. It is only amateurs from military science who can believe that it is enough to hang shoulder straps and the general is ready. Military science, the age-old experience of all countries clearly says that an ordinary soldier of average quality can be trained in two or three years, a company commander in 8-12 years. It takes another two years to put together a combat-ready regiment from such soldiers and officers. And the generals are piece goods. More talent is required from a general than from an artist. If the artist's retribution for mediocrity is whistles in the hall, then the retribution for the general's mediocrity is thousands of ruined lives. After all, military art is the ability to make the only correct decision in the face of a lack or even complete absence of information and an acute shortage of time. Intuition is required here more than in a game of chess. Try to win a game of chess with your back to the board and not knowing how your opponent's pieces are placed. And that's the job of a general. Any graduate of the journalism faculty can kick the general for failure, defeat, shed blood in vain. "Everyone imagines himself a strategist, seeing the battle from the side" - says an old Greek proverb. But no one wants to understand the value of a talented officer, general, save, give the opportunity to develop their talents without a war.
One of the most cruel and merciless organizations of the 20th century is the SS. Ranks decals, functions - all this was different from those in other types and branches of the troops in Nazi Germany. Reichsminister Himmler brought together all the disparate guard units (SS) into a single army - the Waffen SS. In the article we will analyze in more detail the military ranks and insignia of the SS troops. And first, a little about the history of the creation of this organization.
In March 1923, Hitler was concerned that the leaders of the Stormtroopers (SA) were beginning to feel their power and importance in the NSDAP party. This was due to the fact that both the party and the SA had the same sponsors, for whom the goal of the National Socialists was important - to carry out a coup, and they did not have much sympathy for the leaders themselves. Sometimes it even came to an open confrontation between the leader of the SA - Ernst Röhm - and Adolf Hitler. It was at this time, apparently, that the future Fuhrer decided to strengthen his personal power by creating a detachment of bodyguards - the headquarters guard. He was the first prototype of the future SS. They did not have ranks, but the insignia had already appeared. The abbreviation for headquarters guards was also SS, but it came from the German word Stawsbache. In every hundred SA, Hitler allocated 10-20 people ostensibly to protect high-ranking party leaders. They personally had to take an oath to Hitler, and their selection was carried out carefully.
A few months later, Hitler renames the organization Stosstruppe - that was the name of the shock units of the Kaiser's army during the First World War. The abbreviation SS nevertheless remained the same, despite the fundamentally new name. It is worth noting that the entire Nazi ideology was associated with a halo of mystery, historical continuity, allegorical symbols, pictograms, runes, etc. Even the NSDAP symbol - the swastika - was taken by Hitler from ancient Indian mythology.
Stosstrup Adolf Hitler - the strike force "Adolf Hitler" - acquired the final features of the future SS. They did not yet have their own titles, however, insignia appeared that Himmler would later retain - a skull on headdresses, a black distinctive color of the uniform, etc. The "dead head" on the uniform symbolized the willingness of the detachment to defend Hitler himself at the cost of his life. The basis for the future usurpation of power was prepared.
After the Beer Putsch, Hitler went to prison, where he spent until December 1924. The circumstances that allowed the future Fuhrer to be released after an armed seizure of power are still incomprehensible.
Upon his release, Hitler first of all forbade the SA to carry weapons and position itself as an alternative to the German army. The fact is that the Weimar Republic could only have a limited contingent of troops under the terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty after the First World War. It seemed to many that the armed units of the SA were a legitimate way to avoid the restriction.
At the beginning of 1925, the NSDAP was restored again, and in November, the "shock detachment". At first it was called Strumstaffen, and on November 9, 1925 it received its final name - Schutzstaffel - "cover squadron". The organization had nothing to do with aviation. This name was invented by Hermann Göring, a famous fighter pilot of the First World War. He liked to use aviation terms in Everyday life. Over time, the "aviation term" was forgotten, and the abbreviation was always translated as "security units." It was headed by Hitler's favorites - Shrek and Schaub.
The SS gradually became an elite unit with good salaries in foreign currency, which was considered a luxury for the Weimar Republic with its hyperinflation and unemployment. All Germans of working age were eager to join the SS detachments. Hitler himself carefully selected his personal guard. Candidates were required to:
The SS, despite the fact that it was personally subordinate to Hitler and the Reichsführer SS - from November 1926 this position was occupied by Josef Berthold, was still part of the SA structures. The attitude towards the “elite” in the assault detachments was contradictory: the commanders did not want to have SS members in their detachments, so they shouldered various duties, such as distributing leaflets, subscribing to Nazi agitation, etc.
In 1929, Heinrich Himmler became the leader of the SS. Under him, the size of the organization began to grow rapidly. The SS is turning into an elite closed organization with its charter, a mystical ritual of entry, imitating the traditions of medieval knightly orders. A real SS man had to marry a "model woman." Heinrich Himmler introduced a new mandatory requirement for entry into the renewed organization: the candidate had to prove evidence of purity of lineage in three generations. However, that was not all: the new Reichsführer SS obliged all members of the organization to look for brides only with a “clean” genealogy. Himmler managed to nullify the subjugation of his SA organization, and then completely withdraw from it after he helped Hitler get rid of the SA leader, Ernst Röhm, who sought to turn his organization into a massive people's army.
The bodyguard detachment was transformed first into the Fuhrer's personal guard regiment, and then into the personal SS army. Ranks, insignia, uniforms - everything indicated that the unit was independent. Next, let's talk more about insignia. Let's start with the rank of the SS in the Third Reich.
At the head was the Reichsfuehrer SS - Heinrich Himmler. Many historians claim that he was going to usurp power in the future. In the hands of this man was control not only over the SS, but also over the Gestapo - the secret police, the political police and the security service (SD). Despite the fact that many of the above organizations were subordinate to one person, they were completely different structures, which sometimes even quarreled with each other. Himmler was well aware of the importance of a branched structure from different services concentrated in one hand, therefore he was not afraid of Germany's defeat in the war, believing that Western allies such a person would be useful. However, his plans were not destined to come true, and he died in May 1945, biting a vial of poison in his mouth.
Consider the highest ranks of the SS among the Germans and their correspondence with the German army.
The insignia of the SS high command was that the buttonholes on both sides depicted Nordic ritual symbols and oak leaves. Exceptions - SS Standartenführer and SS Oberführer - wore an oak leaf, but belonged to senior officers. The more they were on the buttonholes, the higher the rank of their owner.
The highest ranks of the SS among the Germans and their correspondence with the land army:
Consider the features of the officer corps. SS Hauptsturmführer and lower ranks no longer had oak leaves on their buttonholes. Also on the right buttonhole they had the coat of arms of the SS - a Nordic symbol of two lightning bolts.
Hierarchy of SS officers:
SS rank | Buttonholes | Compliance in the army |
Oberführer SS | double oak leaf | No match |
SS Standartenführer | single leaf | Colonel |
Obersturmbannführer SS | 4 stars and two rows of aluminum thread | Lieutenant colonel |
Sturmbannführer SS | 4 stars | |
SS Hauptsturmführer | 3 stars and 4 rows of thread | Hauptmann |
Obersturmführer SS | 3 stars and 2 rows | Ober Lieutenant |
Untersturmführer SS | 3 stars | Lieutenant |
I would like to immediately note that the German stars did not resemble the five-pointed Soviet ones - they were four-pointed, rather resembling squares or rhombuses. Next in the hierarchy are non-commissioned officer ranks of the SS in the Third Reich. More about them in the next paragraph.
Hierarchy of non-commissioned officers:
SS rank | Buttonholes | Compliance in the army |
Sturmscharführer SS | 2 stars, 4 rows of thread | Staff sergeant major |
Standartenoberjunker SS | 2 stars, 2 rows of thread, silver piping | Chief sergeant major |
SS Hauptscharführer | 2 stars, 2 rows of thread | Oberfenrich |
Oberscharführer SS | 2 stars | Feldwebel |
Standartenunker SS | 1 asterisk and 2 rows of thread (differed in shoulder straps) | Fanejunker sergeant major |
Scharführer SS | Unter sergeant major |
|
Unterscharführer SS | 2 strands at the bottom | non-commissioned officer |
Buttonholes are the main, but not the only insignia of ranks. Also, the hierarchy could be determined by shoulder straps and stripes. Military ranks The SS were sometimes modified. However, above we have presented the hierarchy and the main differences at the end of World War II.
The SS is one of the most sinister and frightening organizations of the 20th century. Until now, it is a symbol of all the atrocities of the Nazi regime in Germany. At the same time, the phenomenon of the SS and the myths that circulate about its members is an interesting subject for study. Many historians still find documents of these very “elite” Nazis in the archives of Germany.
Now we will try to understand their nature. and the titles of the SS today will be the main topic for us.
For the first time, the abbreviation SS for Hitler's personal paramilitary security unit was used in 1925.
The leader of the Nazi Party surrounded himself with security even before the Beer Putsch. However, its sinister and special meaning she acquired only after she was re-recruited for Hitler released from prison. Then the ranks of the SS were still extremely stingy - there were groups of ten people who were led by the Fuhrer of the SS.
The main purpose of this organization was to protect members of the National Socialist Party. The SS appeared much later, when the Waffen-SS was formed. These were precisely those parts of the organization that we remember most clearly, since they fought at the front, among the ordinary soldiers of the Wehrmacht, although they stood out to many among them. Prior to this, the SS was, though paramilitary, but a "civilian" organization.
As mentioned above, initially the SS is just the bodyguard of the Fuhrer and some other high-ranking members of the party. However, gradually this organization began to expand, and the first sign of its future power was the introduction of a special SS title. We are talking about the position of the Reichsführer, then still just the head of all the Fuhrers of the SS.
Second important point in the rise of the organization was the permission to patrol the streets on a par with the police. This made the members of the SS no longer just guards. The organization has become a full-fledged law enforcement agency.
However, at that time, the military ranks of the SS and the Wehrmacht were still considered equivalent. The main event in the formation of the organization can, of course, be called the coming to the post of Reichsfuehrer Heinrich Himmler. It was he who, while in parallel as head of the SA, issued a decree that did not allow any of the military to give orders to members of the SS.
At that time, this decision, of course, was taken with hostility. Moreover, along with this, a decree was immediately issued, which demanded that all the best soldiers be placed at the disposal of the SS. In fact, Hitler and his closest associates pulled off a brilliant scam.
Indeed, among the military class, the number of adherents of the National Socialist labor movement was minimal, and therefore the leaders of the party, seizing power, understood the threat posed by the army. They needed the firm belief that there were people who would take up arms on the orders of the Führer and be ready to die while carrying out the tasks assigned to them. Therefore, Himmler actually created a personal army for the Nazis.
These people performed the dirtiest and lowest, from the point of view of morality, work. Under their responsibility were concentration camps, and during the war, members of this organization became the main participants in punitive cleansing operations. SS titles appear in every crime committed by the Nazis.
The final victory of the authority of the SS over the Wehrmacht was the appearance of the SS troops - later the military elite of the Third Reich. Not a single general had the right to subjugate a member of even the lowest rung in the organizational ladder of the "security detachment", although the ranks in the Wehrmacht and the SS were similar.
To get into the party organization of the SS, it was necessary to meet many requirements and parameters. First of all, SS titles were received by men with absolutely their age at the time of joining the organization should have been 20-25 years. They were required to have a “correct” skull structure and absolutely healthy white teeth. Most often, joining the SS ended "service" in the Hitler Youth.
Appearance was one of the most important selection parameters, since people who were members of the Nazi organization were to become the elite of the future German society, "equal among unequals." It is clear that the most important criterion was the endless devotion to the Fuhrer and the ideals of National Socialism.
However, this ideology did not last long, or rather, almost completely collapsed with the advent of the Waffen-SS. During the Second World War, the personal army of Hitler and Himmler began to recruit anyone who would show a desire and prove loyalty. Of course, they tried to preserve the prestige of the organization by assigning only the ranks of the SS troops to newly recruited foreigners and not accepting them into the main cell. After serving in the army, such individuals were to receive German citizenship.
In general, the "elite Aryans" during the war "ended" very quickly, being killed on the battlefield and taken prisoner. Only the first four divisions were fully "staffed" with a pure race, among which, by the way, was the legendary "Dead Head". However, already the 5th (“Viking”) made it possible for foreigners to receive the titles of the SS.
The most famous and sinister is, of course, the 3rd Panzer Division "Totenkopf". Many times it completely disappeared, being destroyed. However, it has been reborn again and again. However, the division gained notoriety not because of this, and not because of any successful military operations. "Dead Head" is, first of all, an incredible amount of blood on the hands of military personnel. It is on this division that the greatest number of crimes both against the civilian population and against prisoners of war lies. Ranks and ranks in the SS did not play any role during the tribunal, since almost every member of this unit managed to "distinguish itself."
The second most legendary was the Viking division, recruited, according to the Nazi wording, "from peoples close in blood and spirit." Volunteers from the Scandinavian countries entered there, although their number was not off scale. Basically, SS titles were still worn only by the Germans. However, a precedent was created, because the Viking became the first division where foreigners were recruited. For a long time they fought in the south of the USSR, Ukraine became the main place of their "exploits".
The division "Galicia" also occupies a special place in the history of the SS. This unit was created from volunteers from Western Ukraine. The motives of people from Galicia who received German SS titles were simple - the Bolsheviks came to their land just a few years ago and managed to repress a considerable number of people. They went to this division rather not out of ideological similarity with the Nazis, but for the sake of the war with the communists, whom many Western Ukrainians perceived in the same way as the citizens of the USSR - the German invaders, that is, as punishers and murderers. Many went there out of a thirst for revenge. In short, the Germans were looked upon as liberators from the Bolshevik yoke.
This view was typical not only for the inhabitants of Western Ukraine. The 29th division of "RONA" gave the ranks and shoulder straps of the SS to the Russians, who had previously tried to gain independence from the communists. They got there for the same reasons as the Ukrainians - a thirst for revenge and independence. For many people, joining the SS was a real salvation after a life broken by the 30s of Stalin's years.
At the end of the war, Hitler and his allies were already going to extremes in order to keep people associated with the SS on the battlefield. The army began to recruit literally boys. A vivid example of this is the Hitler Youth division.
In addition, on paper, there are many units that were never created, for example, the one that was supposed to become Muslim (!). Even blacks sometimes got into the ranks of the SS. This is evidenced by old photographs.
Of course, when it came to this, all elitism disappeared, and the SS became just an organization under the leadership of the Nazi elite. The set of "non-ideal" soldiers only testifies to the desperation that Hitler and Himmler were in at the end of the war.
The most famous head of the SS was, of course, Heinrich Himmler. It was he who made the guards of the Fuhrer " private army” and held on as its leader for the longest time. This figure is now largely mythical: it is impossible to say clearly where the fiction ends and where the facts from the biography of the Nazi criminal begin.
Thanks to Himmler, the authority of the SS was finally strengthened. The organization became a permanent part of the Third Reich. The SS title he carried effectively made him commander-in-chief of Hitler's entire personal army. It must be said that Heinrich approached his position very responsibly - he personally examined the concentration camps, conducted inspections in divisions, and participated in the development of military plans.
Himmler was a truly ideological Nazi and considered serving in the SS his true calling. The main goal of life for him was the extermination of the Jewish people. Probably the descendants of those who suffered from the Holocaust should curse him more than Hitler.
Due to the impending fiasco and Hitler's increasing paranoia, Himmler was accused of high treason. The Fuhrer was sure that his ally had entered into an agreement with the enemy in order to save his life. Himmler lost all high posts and titles, and the well-known party leader Karl Hanke was to take his place. However, he did not have time to do anything for the SS, since he simply could not take the office of Reichsfuehrer.
The SS army, like any other paramilitary formation, was strictly disciplined and well organized.
The smallest unit in this structure was the Shar-SS squad, consisting of eight people. Three similar army units formed a troupe-SS - according to our concepts, this is a platoon.
The Nazis also had their own analogue of the Sturm-SS company, consisting of about one and a half hundred people. They were commanded by an Untersturmführer, whose rank was the first and lowest among the officers. Of the three such units, the Sturmbann-SS was formed, headed by the Sturmbannfuehrer (the rank of major in the SS).
And, finally, the Shtandar-SS is the highest administrative-territorial organizational unit, an analogue of a regiment.
As you can see, the Germans did not reinvent the wheel and look for too long original structural solutions for their new army. They just picked up analogues of conventional military units, endowing them with a special, excuse me, “Nazi flavor”. The same situation happened with titles.
The military ranks of the SS Troops were almost completely similar to the ranks of the Wehrmacht.
The youngest of all was a private, who was called a schütze. Above him stood an analogue of a corporal - a sturmmann. So the ranks rose to the officer's untersturmführer (lieutenant), while continuing to be modified simple army ranks. They walked in this order: Rottenführer, Scharführer, Oberscharführer, Hauptscharführer and Sturmscharführer.
After that, the officers began their work. The highest ranks were the general (Obergruppeführer) of the military branch and the colonel general, who was called Oberstgruppenfuhrer.
All of them were subordinate to the commander in chief and the head of the SS - the Reichsführer. There is nothing complicated in the structure of the SS ranks, except perhaps for pronunciation. However, this system is built logically and in an army way, especially if you add up the ranks and structure of the SS in your head - then everything in general becomes quite simple to understand and remember.
It is interesting to study the ranks and ranks in the SS using the example of shoulder straps and insignia. They were characterized by a very stylish German aesthetics and really reflected in themselves everything that the Germans thought about their achievements and mission. main theme there was death and ancient Aryan symbols. And if the ranks in the Wehrmacht and the SS practically did not differ, then this cannot be said about shoulder straps and stripes. So what's the difference?
The shoulder straps of the rank and file were nothing special - the usual black stripe. The only difference is the patches. he did not go far, but their black shoulder strap was edged with a strip, the color of which depended on the rank. Starting with the Oberscharführer, stars appeared on shoulder straps - they were huge in diameter and quadrangular in shape.
But you can really get it if you consider the insignia of the Sturmbannfuehrer - in form they resembled and were woven into a fancy ligature, on top of which stars were placed. In addition, on the stripes, in addition to stripes, green oak leaves appear.
They were made in the same aesthetics, only they had a golden color.
However, of particular interest to the collector and those who want to understand the culture of the Germans of that time are a variety of stripes, including the badges of the division in which the SS member served. It was both a "dead head" with crossed bones, and a Norwegian hand. These patches were not mandatory, but were part of the SS army uniform. Many members of the organization proudly wore them, confident that they were doing the right thing and that fate was on their side.
Initially, when the SS first appeared, it was possible to distinguish a “security squad” from an ordinary member of the party by the ties: they were black, not brown. However, in connection with the "elitism", the requirements for appearance and standing out from the crowd increased more and more.
With the advent of Himmler, black became the main color of the organization - the Nazis wore caps, shirts, uniforms of this color. Stripes with runic symbols and a "dead head" were added to them.
However, from the moment Germany entered the war, it turned out that black stood out extremely on the battlefield, so a military gray uniform was introduced. It did not differ in anything except color, and was of the same strict style. Gradually gray tones completely replaced black. The uniform of black color was considered purely ceremonial.
The military ranks of the SS do not carry any sacred meaning. They are just a copy of the military ranks of the Wehrmacht, one might even say a mockery of them. They say, "Look, we are the same, but you cannot command us."
However, the difference between the SS and the ordinary army was not at all in the buttonholes, shoulder straps and the name of the ranks. The main thing that the members of the organization had was endless devotion to the Fuhrer, which charged them with hatred and bloodthirstiness. Judging by the diaries of German soldiers, they themselves did not like the "Hitler dogs" for their arrogance and contempt for all the people around.
The same attitude was towards the officers - the only thing for which the members of the SS were tolerated in the army was for the incredible fear of them. As a result, the rank of major (in the SS it is a Sturmbannfuehrer) began to mean much more for Germany than the highest rank in a simple army. The leadership of the Nazi Party almost always took the side of "their own" during some intra-army conflicts, because they knew that they could only rely on them.
In the end, not all SS criminals were brought to justice - many of them fled to South American countries, changing their names and hiding from those to whom they are guilty - that is, from the entire civilized world.
Hundreds if not thousands of books have been written about former Soviet generals and officers who went over to the side of the Nazis during the Great Patriotic War, not to mention newspaper notes. And about the Nazi military who fought under the banner of the Red Army - almost nothing.
But after all, there were also very remarkable figures among them - what is the only great-grandson of Otto von Bismarck himself, Count Heinrich von Einsiedel worth. The Germans from the Union of German Officers fought shoulder to shoulder with the Red Army, and the collaborationist Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (KONR), General Andrei Vlasov, had a Soviet analogue - the National Committee "Free Germany", whose leadership included Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus. The Nazi military even participated in the partisan movement, and one of them was awarded the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union, however, posthumously.
Until now, historians are arguing on whose side there were more defectors - from the Soviet or from the German. As a rule, those who are of the opinion that the number of Nazis who went over to the Soviet side is relatively small, use the official statistics of the NKVD. And it is this: during the war years, "recruited for subversive and intelligence activities from among the prisoners of war by the NKVD: 5341 Germans, 1266 Romanians, 943 Italians, 855 Hungarians, 106 Finns, 92 Austrians, 75 Spaniards, 24 Slovaks." But, firstly, we are talking only about those who were recruited by the NKVD, and besides them, several other departments were recruiting. And, secondly, only scouts and saboteurs are taken into account. Therefore, the statistics are incomplete - in it, for example, there is no data on the Red Army units of the Union of German Officers. By the way, these units more than once distinguished themselves in battles with the Nazis, in particular during the Zelovsko-Berlin operation. According to the German memoirist Helmut Altner, “they went into battle in German uniforms, with German awards and differed from the Nazi troops only by a bandage on their sleeves, made in the colors of the flag of the Weimar Republic (the current flag of Germany. - Ed.)”. So the question of the exact number of defectors is still open.
The first German defector is considered to be Alfred Liskov, a Wehrmacht soldier who informed the Soviet military about the impending war the day before it began. Liskov served in the 15th Infantry Division stationed in the Sokal region (now the Lviv region of Ukraine) - this unit was supposed to be one of the first to cross our border. Having learned about the upcoming offensive, on June 21, Liskov fled from the unit, swam across the Bug and at about 9 pm surrendered to the Red Army border guards. All summer Liskov participated in the propaganda activities of the Comintern, and in the fall he quarreled with its leader Georgy Dimitrov. And he declared the defector "a fascist and an anti-Semite." Liskov was arrested, and in 1942 he was shot.
Upon learning that one of his favorites had gone over to the side of the enemy, Hitler announced a generous reward for being returned to the Reich, dead or alive, - as much as half a million Reichsmarks Two days after the start of the war, a German Junkers bomber suddenly landed in the vicinity of Kiev . His entire crew - consisting of Hans Hermann, Hans Kratz, Wilhelm Schmidt and Adolf Appel - voluntarily surrendered. As the Sovinformburo reported, “not wanting to fight against Soviet people, the pilots previously dropped bombs into the Dnieper, and then landed near the city, where they surrendered to the local peasants. The example of the Junkers crew in just two summer months of the first year of the war was followed by at least two dozen other German pilots.
But the most famous ace defector was undoubtedly Heinrich von Einsiedel. The aristocrat, great-grandson of the first Chancellor of the German Empire Bismarck, von Einsiedel, who was barely 20 years old by the beginning of World War II, enjoyed the patronage of Hitler himself. He served in the elite 3rd Fighter Squadron, named after the famous ace pilot of the First World War, Ernst Udet. In the battles near Belgrade and Paris, Lieutenant von Einsiedel shot down two dozen aircraft, and in 1942 Hitler sent him to the East, admonishing: “Clean up the sky over Stalingrad, Count. I believe you will." Bismarck's great-grandson was shot down over Sarepta, he was taken prisoner, and he was sent to an officer camp near Moscow. There he met Friedrich Paulus, with whom they created, one might say, the collaborationist committee "Free Germany", untold money at that time. But fate smiled on the descendant of Bismarck: after the war, he went to Germany, where he lived to an advanced age.
The fate of Lieutenant General Walther von Seidlitz-Kurzbach was a little less dramatic than that of the odious head of the KONR. The division he commanded participated in the breakthrough of the Maginot Line and marched victoriously through Poland and Holland. For this, the Fuhrer awarded his heroic general the Knight's Iron Cross. Von Seidlitz-Kurzbach ended up on the Eastern Front in the first days of the war, and in January 1943 the general was captured along with the headquarters of the corps entrusted to him shortly before this. Seydlitz-Kurzbach was, as they say, a "military bone" and did not like the Fuhrer's "upstart" too much. In the POW camp, he, together with Generals Otto Korfes, Martin Lattmann and Alexander von Daniels, decided to cooperate with Soviet authorities to overthrow Hitler.
In the fall of 1943, at the founding conference in Lunevo, von Seidlitz-Kurzbach was elected chairman of the Union of German Officers, and then deputy chairman of the Free Germany National Committee. Behind their backs, Soviet generals began to call von Seidlitz-Kurzbach "the German Vlasov." Meanwhile, the military court of Dresden sentenced the general to death in absentia. At the end of the war, the Union of German Officers was dissolved, and for the next five years of his life, the general worked in the military-historical department of the USSR General Staff. But after von Seidlitz-Kurzbach applied for repatriation to the Soviet zone of occupation, he was arrested. In 1950, the moratorium on the death penalty was lifted in the USSR and the general was again sentenced to capital punishment - for the second time in his life. But then the “tower” was replaced with 25 years in prison and sent to Butyrka, where he was kept for five years. He was released in 1955 and immediately returned to Germany. 
Even outwardly, Fritz Schmenkel somehow resembled good soldier Schweik, the hero of the novel by Yaroslav Hasek. The short, densely built guy clearly did not differ in special heroism: when in 1938 he was called up to serve in the Wehrmacht, he preferred to “slope down”, citing poor health. Then there were hospitals and a bed in a lunatic asylum - just like Hasek's. And then the "refusenik" Schmenkel was placed in prison. In general, I had to ask to go to war so as not to rot in a cell with criminals. In the rank of corporal, Schmenkel ended up on the Eastern Front. But he did not have to fight for his native country for a long time - in the fall of 1941, he fled from the location of the unit and hid in the villages of the Smolensk region until the policemen caught him. They put Schmenkel in a barn under lock and key. And then there are the partisans.
The partisan detachment, in which Schmenkel fell, was called "Death to fascism." At first, our people gathered to shoot the prisoner. But by some miracle, the German managed to prove that he, in general, was also against Hitler. All right, the partisans said, let's test you in battle. And in the very first skirmish with the Nazis, Schmenkel managed to distinguish himself: he shot a German sniper, who was firing at the partisans from an ambush. In August 1942, Schmenkel, dressed in a German uniform, captured 11 policemen without a fight and handed them over to the partisan court. Further more. Having obtained the uniform of a German general somewhere, Schmenkel stopped the German convoy with food and ammunition and sent it into the forest, straight to the partisan ambush. It ended with the fact that the Nazis found out about the German soldier, partisan together with the Russians, appointed a large reward for his head. And the partisans by that time already held Schmenkel for their own and even called him not Fritz, but Ivan Ivanovich.
In early 1944, not far from Minsk, the brave Schmenkel was captured by the Nazis. On February 22, he was shot by the verdict of a military court ... In 1964, Fritz Schmenkel was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union - posthumously.
MILITARY RANKS AND POSITIONS
The system of military ranks in the German army was based on a hierarchical system of military ranks, established on December 6, 1920. Officers were divided into four groups: generals, staff officers, captains and junior officers. By tradition, the rank from lieutenant to general assumed an indication of the initial type of troops, but in combat units there was no diversity in officer insignia.
France, June 1940. Hauptfeldwebel in everyday uniform. The double galloon on the cuff of his sleeve and the magazine of orders, which he is entitled to according to his position, are clearly visible. Shoulder straps are turned inside out to hide the insignia of its part. The ribbon for long service in the Wehrmacht attracts attention. The peaceful, relaxed look and lack of equipment suggest that the picture was taken when the battle for France was already over. (Friedrich Hermann)
On March 31, 1936, military musicians in officer ranks - conductors, senior and junior bandmasters - were allocated to a special group of military ranks. Although they had no authority (because they did not command anyone), they not only wore officer uniforms and officer insignia, but also enjoyed all the advantages of an officer position, equivalent to that of officers in the armies of Great Britain and the United States. Conductors under the High Command of the Land Forces were considered staff officers, while bandmasters directed the activities of regimental bands of infantry, light infantry, cavalry, artillery and battalion bands in the engineer troops.
The junior command staff was divided into three groups. The technical junior command staff, approved on September 23, 1937, included senior instructors of the engineering fortress troops, and later non-commissioned officers of the veterinary service. The highest junior command staff (that is, senior non-commissioned officers) were called "non-commissioned officers with a lanyard", and junior or lower ranks of junior command personnel were called "non-commissioned officers without a lanyard". The rank of the staff sergeant major (Stabsfeldwebel), approved on September 14, 1938, was assigned in the order of recertification to non-commissioned officers with 12 years of service. Initially, this military rank was assigned only to veterans of the First World War. Haupt sergeant major (Hauptfeldwebel) is not a rank, but a military position established on September 28, 1938. He was the senior commander of the junior command staff of the company, was listed at the company headquarters, and he was usually called (at least behind his back) "peak" (der Spieb). In other words, it was a company foreman, usually in the rank of chief sergeant major. (Oberfeldwebel). In terms of seniority, this rank was considered higher than the rank of staff sergeant major. (Stabsfeldwebel), who could also be promoted to the position of company foreman. Other military personnel from the junior command staff, who could also be appointed to this position, were called "acting company foremen" (Hauptfeldwebeldiensttuer). However, usually such junior commanders were quickly promoted to the rank of chief sergeant major.
France, May 1940. Motorcyclists of the military police (Felgendarmerie) from the regulation battalion traffic conduct a convoy of trucks. Both motorcyclists are dressed in rubberized field overcoats of the 1934 model, but they have very little equipment. The driver has a 98k carbine on his back and a 1938 gas mask canister on his chest. His wheelchair passenger is holding a traffic officer's baton. The emblem of the division is applied to the side of the stroller, and under the headlight on the wing of the front wheel is fixed the number of the motorcycle, starting with the letters WH (short for Wehrmacht-Heer - Wehrmacht ground forces). (Brian Davis)
Class of military ranks "ordinary" (Mannschaften) united all the actual privates, as well as corporals. The corporals, the most experienced privates, made up a much more conspicuous proportion of the privates than in the armies of other countries.
Most military ranks existed in several equivalent versions: in different kinds similar ranks of troops could be called differently. Thus, in the medical units, ranks were assigned in order to mark the level of a specialist officer, although the rank itself did not provide any authority or the right to command on the battlefield. Other military ranks, such as captain (Rittmeister) or chief huntsman (Oberjäger) kept by tradition.
Officers of almost all military ranks could occupy positions corresponding not to their own rank, but to the next in seniority, thereby becoming candidates for promotion or acting. Therefore, German officers and junior commanders often held higher command posts than their British counterparts of equivalent military ranks. The lieutenant who commanded the company - in the German army this did not surprise anyone. And if the first platoon of a rifle company was commanded by a lieutenant (as it should be), then a chief sergeant major, or even a sergeant major, often turned out to be at the head of the second and third platoons. Promotion to the infantry military ranks of non-commissioned officer, sergeant major and chief sergeant major depended on the staffing of the unit and occurred among capable non-commissioned officers, in a natural way - people moved up the career ladder in order of successive career growth. All other ranks of junior officers and lower ranks could count on promotion in the order of encouragement for service. Even if a soldier could not be made at least a corporal (due to the lack of the necessary abilities or qualities), there was still an opportunity to encourage his diligence or reward him for long service - for this, the Germans invented the title of senior soldier (Obersoldat). An old campaigner who was not fit to be a non-commissioned officer became, in a similar way and for similar reasons, a staff corporal.
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