German Army ranks decoded. They are based on the ranks used in line Infantry Regiments (here: Infanterie-Regiment „Graf Kirchbach“ (1. Niederschlesisches) Nr. 46). More ranks (pre-feldgrau, Cavalry, Schutztruppe, etc.) will be added in the future.
NCO rank was coded in 4 spots, as follow: collar, cuffs, shoulder boards, Troddel (bayonet tassel). Only having all of them visible you will be able to tell some of the ranks (note the difference between Sergeant and Vizefeldwebel in Troddel only). Senior NCOs (Unteroffiziere mit Portepee) used officers Portepee (sword tassel) and officers cap cockades.
Top to the bottom:
– Feldrock collar
– Feldrock cuff
– Feldbluse collar
– Feldbluse cuff
– shoulder boards (M07 and M15)
– Troddel
*- original pics show every possible combination
Officer ranks are decoded using shoulder boards only. Here pre-war boards (with yellow Korps backing) and late-war boards (made of subdued soutache and on universal white backing for Infantry)
