ViscountessNivlac

Hi again, sorry that I just duck in to ask questions a lot but my sources are often by forthcoming. Today I’m wondering about swords. Did arzt officer carry them in the pre-war/early-war era? Was there a specific pattern or was it just the infantry sword?

Hello. Does anybody have any good illustrations of NCO insignia for the Imperial German cuirassier regiments? Easily available pictures of their uniforms seem to be even more scant than for the hussars and lancers. I’ve been looking at what I can find but can’t for the life of me figure out where tresse would fit while they already have lace on their collars and cuffs.

A very nice display. I’m right in thinking that the litzen were for all pioniers?

Hello again. Reading through some image-devoid books I’m having trouble picturing the exact differences in litzen worn by different ranks. Has anybody here got pictures of an enlisted man, NCO, and officer from the same (braid-wearing) unit? I’d like to be able to get my head around it.

1 hour ago, The Prussian said:

Yes. BUT, if he was a Offizier-Stellvertreter he could have a metal number, because of the braid the number would be invisible...

But it wss very rare, that a Sergeant became an O.S.

What fun. Was there any indication of their substantive rank left or did the appointment entitle them to a sword regardless?

10 hours ago, Bayern said:

Viscount and The Prussian , In the Film the Great Illusion directed by Jean Renoir whose action takes place in German POWs Camps , the Executive of the first Camp is Arthur a Feldwebelleutnat . Viscount ,as a rule regarding Imperial German SBs ,the metallic number or Cypher on it denotes a rank of Vizefeldwebel or more high .

Ah. You’re always learning more. Shoulder strap insignia have always done my head i  with how complex they could be so I’ve really just ignored them for the most part. This place has been teaching me how neat they are! So, as well as not carrying a sword, a sergeant would have an embroidered number?

Did they not wear the cuff braid as a matter of routine or is there an explanation for his lack of it?

Ahhhhhhh. Thanks for the response. This is going to seem embarrassing, but I already knew what an offizierstellvertreter is, to the point of having a folder on my desktop that’s full of various pictures of them. Alongside feldwebel-leutnant it’s probably my favourite rank. I don’t know why I didn’t put two and two together about these, probably just because they claimed it was something else.

Hello. I’ve lurked here for a while but after doing a lot of lockdown reading I found a question so pressing to me that I thought I’d register to ask. I was browsing a website that has labelled pictures of various Imperial German shoulder boards, shoulder straps, and epaulettes. It was all stuff I’d seen before (in broad strokes, anyway) until I got towards the bottom. There I found this picture.

Now, I’d head about the NCO chevrons on the M1915 feldbluse, but this is new to me. Does anybody know anything about this system or have some better pictures? For the life of me I can’t see anything distinct between the three rank-ranges.