Luftwaffe Luftwaffe Sonderfuhrer(Wartime Officials)

[Paul R]

Gary,

You are a cornucopia of rare and nice Luftwaffe tabs. Thank you for sharing them with us!

You have the only set of Construction Sonderfuhrer tabs I have ever seen!!!

For Sonderfuhrer tabs, we have here:

1. Green

2. Pink

3. Yellow

4. Black

Are there more?

Remember, this thread is more than just uniforms and insignia. If you have anything pertinent to the Luftwaffe Sonderfuhrer please do post it here? Anything goes... documents, period photos, insignia, uniforms, and etc.

Lets keep this thread going!!

Paul

[Dave Suter]

Luftwaffe Beamte auf Kriegsdauer, a.K. (Wartime Official) Oberfeldwebel (Master Sergeant) of the Medium Career.

[Paul R]

Dave,

Thank you for the scan! Early versions of this tab are not common at all.

[Luftwaffe Rules]

Wow guys these are awsome!! All the best, Jon

[Gary B]

Flight-Para

[Paul R]

beautiful set!! Very nice! Thank you for sharing them here!

[Paul R]

News Flash... I have just found in Vol 2 of Angolia's Luftwaffe series that the yellow Sonderfuhrer tabs are actually Sonderfuhrer-F, for militarized Luftwaffe Air Base Fire Department members. This militarization occurred in Jun44.

[Paul R]

New stuff!! The officers board has the black underlay. As you remember, underlays were specifically forbidden but were often worn anyway. These would have been worn, one on each shoulder with Black Sonderfuhrer tabs.

[Paul R]

And here is a single Hauptfeldwebel ranked shoulder knot. Notice the two silver sliders.

[Peter J]

Hi Paul,

Here's a little something on the subject:

"I just got off the phone with an old acquintence of mine. She was drafted into the RAD in 1943 and sent to a training camp with 60 other young ladies. One day she and two other girls were picked out and sent to a LW facility for training as a telegraph operator, also as ?Flugmelder? and a few other tasks. She stayed in the LW for the rest of the war. One would think she ended up in the ?Luftwaffen-Helferinnenschaft? and issued the uniform associated with this formation. Instead she was employed by the LW, keeping her RAD-rank and kept on wearing her RAD-uniform. BUT, in order to step up one level in regards of wages, she was given the administrative rank ?Sonderf?hrerinn?!!

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=20510

cheers

Peter

[Paul R]

This is amazing, Peter. There is SO much not in the books. Itis ashame that the vets are disappearing at a scary rate!! How much is left unknown...

I wonder what type of special insignia she would have worn? Do you have any photos?

Paul

[Peter J]

Paul, unfortunately there is nothing left from that period. She had the rank of Kameradenschafs ?ldeste (corporal) in the RAD and the rank was distinguished by the round brooch. In the RAD the salary was 25 pf/day, but once attached to the Luftmeldewesen she got 100 Mark/month + an additional 75pf/day. She was stationed in Wittenberge (west of Berlin), where the trail of bombers flew in to attack and was then transfered to R?gen, to fill out the ranks after a heavy airstrike. There she fulfilled her dudies with honours and was aknowledged all the way from Berlin. I asked if she recieved any decorations for her activities or any special insignias and this was her response: "All my salary went into an account in my hometown and was confiscated by the Poles. I recieved nothing, except for a small note telling me my employment had ended."

cheers

Peter

[Paul R]

Paul, unfortunately there is nothing left from that period. She had the rank of Kameradenschafs ?ldeste (corporal) in the RAD and the rank was distinguished by the round brooch. In the RAD the salary was 25 pf/day, but once attached to the Luftmeldewesen she got 100 Mark/month + an additional 75pf/day. She was stationed in Wittenberge (west of Berlin), where the trail of bombers flew in to attack and was then transfered to R?gen, to fill out the ranks after a heavy airstrike. There she fulfilled her dudies with honours and was aknowledged all the way from Berlin. I asked if she recieved any decorations for her activities or any special insignias and this was her response: "All my salary went into an account in my hometown and was confiscated by the Poles. I recieved nothing, except for a small note telling me my employment had ended."

cheers

Peter

That stinks!! I hope that she did lose too much money there! How was she acknowledged? Via Teletype?

That is really great. It is a shame that she does not have any photos!

Paul

[kustom]

Hello everyone,

My name is Alexandra and I live in Arizona. I've been interested in WWII for a while now, but I'm definitely not an expert by any means! It's a subject that fascinates me and I enjoy reading about it. I want to learn a lot more though. My interest is mainly on the German side of things, due to the fact that my mother is 100% German was living in Germany when the war was going on. The stories that my mother, aunt, and grandmother told about living through the War really peaked my interest. I also have several family members who served in the German military during WWII.

This is my first post on the GMIC. Paul R. recently found me online and we've been discussing a photo of my great-uncle Kurt from WWII. I was always curious to find out out more about his rank, etc. but when I did research on it I wasn't having much success. Paul informed me all about Kurt's rank and it was exactly the info I'd been wanting to know. So I thought I'd post the photo here and some history about Kurt for you all to enjoy. And I apologize in advance for the quality of the scan?

Supposedly this picture was taken in 1943. I don't know where exactly it was taken, because Kurt spent time in Germany, Russia, and Italy during the War, and I do not know where he was at the time of the photo.

Before WWII, Kurt owned an auto dealership and repair shop, specializing in DKW (Dampf-Kraft Wagen) automobiles. It was most likely his mechanical expertise that allowed him to obtain his position as a Sonderfuhrer (war time specialist) in the Luftwaffe. He was at an enlisted NCO level (medium level). After the War, he went back to running the dealership and repair shop. I've asked my mother and aunt if he ever saw combat or received any medals, but they do not know. If he did serve on the front lines, he never spoke of it. Unfortunately, I do not have ANYTHING other than this photo of Kurt. No uniform, no insignia, no documents, nothing. He died in the late-1980's, so I can't even ask him personally all the things I'd like to know. I am lucky enough to have met him several times when I was younger though, and he will always be very special to me.

Anyhow, I hope that you enjoy the picture and I look forward to "meeting" all of you!

And thank you again to Paul R. for sharing all of your expertise with me!

Sincerely,

Alexandra

[Bob Lyons]

Great photo and very interesting story Alexandra, thanks for sharing it with us.

Cheers

Bob

[Paul R]

Alexandra,

I am glad that you joined up! I hope to see you as a regular member. Based upon our correspondence, I am sure that you will like your time here.

I think that your taking the time to research and preserve the memories of you past family members is admirable. Hopefully, we can come up with more stuff!! I am looking into a couple things...

Also, Kurt is the first Wartime Official that I have ever come across that was identified! This is very helpful in identifying the types of roles these men filled within the Luftwaffe organization.

[nesredep]

Here is a single tab, just in, for a Lower Level Stabsfeldwebel equivalent ranking.

Hi

Paul R

This is new for me.Thanks for sharing this items.I honestly learned a lot here.

Best regards

Nesredep

[Paul R]

Hi

Paul R

This is new for me.Thanks for sharing this items.I honestly learned a lot here.

Best regards

Nesredep

Thank you for the kind words. I sincerely appreciate them!

[Joe D]

Looks like this set has not been posted yet.

[Joe D]

Backside

[Paul R]

Now those are nice!!! I dont have a set of them yet! A beautiful set of High Grade Career Field Sonderfuhrer tabs!!

[Joe D]

Engineer

Hey, these look familiar.

[Gary B]

Hi Joe,

Those are a beautiful and rare set of tabs. Very nice pieces.

Like Paul, I, too, am in need ot a set like these!

Gary B

Edited November 12, 2007 by Gary B

[Joe D]

Hi Joe,

Those are a beautiful and rare set of tabs. Very nice pieces.

Like Paul, I, too, am in need ot a set like these!

Gary B

Hi Gary,

These came in the same group as the Engineer tabs I sold you.

Joe

[Gary B]

Wow Joe, you really got a nice score on that group! Plus they are still sewn together...can't beat that!

Gary B

Hi Gary,

These came in the same group as the Engineer tabs I sold you.

Joe