Paul R Posted August 5, 2007 Posted August 5, 2007 I have just won this set of Medical Lt insignia from Ebay. Notice that he was both a reservist and a retiree, per the passant loops! These are the first I have seen.
Guest Rick Research Posted August 5, 2007 Posted August 5, 2007 I have never seen a retiree that junior either! ANY "aD" passants are a find!
Paul R Posted August 5, 2007 Author Posted August 5, 2007 I have never seen a retiree that junior either! ANY "aD" passants are a find! Me neither. Maybe he was a senior NCO who went into the Reserves and went to school to become a doctor late in life, just to retire from the military just after becoming a doctor and obtaining his commission?Paul
Paul R Posted August 6, 2007 Author Posted August 6, 2007 Does anyone have any retired officer boards or photos with them being worn on a uniform?
Andwwils Posted August 8, 2007 Posted August 8, 2007 Does anyone have any retired officer boards or photos with them being worn on a uniform?Reserve field-grade officer boards are hard to find. I have a pair of Heer Oberst d. R. in Infantry Regiment 62 shoulder boards. I bought them mainly because I'd never seen a set of reserve boards that high in rank. The junior officer reserve boards are fairly common. Your boards might be for some-sort of WWI Leutnant d. R. in the medical corps who decided to wear a the Third Reich equivalent during the 1930's-1940's or for someone who was discharged from service during WWII for some reason. I've never seen a pair that low in rank with passants either.
Paul R Posted August 8, 2007 Author Posted August 8, 2007 Reserve field-grade officer boards are hard to find. I have a pair of Heer Oberst d. R. in Infantry Regiment 62 shoulder boards. I bought them mainly because I'd never seen a set of reserve boards that high in rank. The junior officer reserve boards are fairly common. Your boards might be for some-sort of WWI Leutnant d. R. in the medical corps who decided to wear a the Third Reich equivalent during the 1930's-1940's or for someone who was discharged from service during WWII for some reason. I've never seen a pair that low in rank with passants either.Thank you for the input! Have you ever seen a set with passants?
Andwwils Posted August 9, 2007 Posted August 9, 2007 Thank you for the input! Have you ever seen a set with passants?Only in photographs, Admiral Canaris is the first man to come to mind. I would think that any passanted boards (single, pair, etc) are rare.
Paul R Posted August 9, 2007 Author Posted August 9, 2007 I guess that most officers retired and put the uniform away, never to be worn again.
Guest Rick Research Posted August 9, 2007 Posted August 9, 2007 But generally, in the Third Reich, these indicate that while the officer was nominally retired, he was still serving in uniform-- like the Canaris example. An officer could be "aD" and still be on duty-- though that normally changed his rank suffix to "zV" rather than "aD." The imperial army actually had special rank insignia for retired officers on active duty!!!!!!!!I agree-- this guy must have been a WW1 Assistenzarzt dR aD and for some reason was so freshly called back up to duty that he didn't even have the nominal one rank up "bump." So dating at latest 1939/40?
Paul R Posted August 9, 2007 Author Posted August 9, 2007 But generally, in the Third Reich, these indicate that while the officer was nominally retired, he was still serving in uniform-- like the Canaris example. An officer could be "aD" and still be on duty-- though that normally changed his rank suffix to "zV" rather than "aD."If they were brought back to active duty, why did they not simply wear their regular insignia? What did they need to be specifically designated? Did they have more or less privileges or pay?
Guest Rick Research Posted August 10, 2007 Posted August 10, 2007 Well, it identified why a 50 year old doctor was still a 2nd Lt! Yes, less pay and less prospects for any promotion, at least higher up. Though generally any WW1 Leutnant level guy was a Hauptmann on recalled duty in WW2. That's why I think yours is fairly early. He probably changed to "normal" insignia as an Oberarzt zV...who would have looked exactly like a normal 1st Lt only... been 51!
Andwwils Posted August 10, 2007 Posted August 10, 2007 (edited) He might not have been a doctor per se, he may have been a Sanitar-Feldwebelleutnant aD, recalled in 1939/1940 at an even greater advanced age! One thing is almost for certain, the original owner of these boards wasn't under middle-age during WWII. There couldn't have been too many of these guys wearing passants this low in grade, so he might show up in a period photograph one day. No matter what, this is a rare set of boards (numerically speaking)! Side-note...I've always wondered about advanced promotions within the Wehrmacht's Medical Services. Given that most of these older doctors and or medical personel would have had 20 or so years of private practice to their names following WWI + wartime service would lead me to think that they'd receive a higher grade (Oberstabsarzt or so) to compensate them monetarily for re-joining (voluntarily or not) the military. I haven't seen too many re-called medical officer soldbuch/wehrpass, so I'm in the dark when it comes to their general promotion tracks. The ones I have seen were for officers who served as non-medical enlisted during WWI and both had delayed promotions compared to re-called combat-arms officers of the same age. An Infantry or Artillery Leutnant d. R recalled in 1939 would have generally made Hauptmann d. R. by the end of 1940. Both the medical officer books that I have seen for older individuals had delayed promotions, neither made Stabsarzt d.R. before 1943, although they had been called-up in Aug/Sept. 1939. Edited August 10, 2007 by Andwwils
Paul R Posted August 10, 2007 Author Posted August 10, 2007 He might not have been a doctor per se, he may have been a Sanitar-Feldwebelleutnant aD, recalled in 1939/1940 at an even greater advanced age! One thing is almost for certain, the original owner of these boards wasn't under middle-age during WWII. There couldn't have been too many of these guys wearing passants this low in grade, so he might show up in a period photograph one day. No matter what, this is a rare set of boards (numerically speaking)! Side-note...I've always wondered about advanced promotions within the Wehrmacht's Medical Services. Given that most of these older doctors and or medical personel would have had 20 or so years of private practice to their names following WWI + wartime service would lead me to think that they'd receive a higher grade (Oberstabsarzt or so) to compensate them monetarily for re-joining (voluntarily or not) the military. I haven't seen too many re-called medical officer soldbuch/wehrpass, so I'm in the dark when it comes to their general promotion tracks. The ones I have seen were for officers who served as non-medical enlisted during WWI and both had delayed promotions compared to re-called combat-arms officers of the same age. An Infantry or Artillery Leutnant d. R recalled in 1939 would have generally made Hauptmann d. R. by the end of 1940. Both the medical officer books that I have seen for older individuals had delayed promotions, neither made Stabsarzt d.R. before 1943, although they had been called-up in Aug/Sept. 1939.Thanks for that. Why are these insignia(not only medical) so rare? Where there not many officers recalled during the war? I would think that these would be a bit more common.
Paul R Posted August 21, 2007 Author Posted August 21, 2007 Here are some more photos!! The tress is a very unique type!
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