Marshal of the German Democratic Republic
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The Marshal of the German Democratic Republic (German: Marschall der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik, was by regulation the highest rank in the National People's Army of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR).
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[edit] History
The rank of Marschall der DDR was established on March 25, 1982, but never bestowed. The Staatsrat (State Council of East Germany) could promote a general to this rank for exceptional military achievement.
Some believe that this rank would only have been granted in wartime and was created as a result of changes in Warsaw Pact military planning. During wartime this Marschall was to command an operational Army group that included all East German forces to include Police and Stasi troops. Prior to this change all East German forces were under the direct control of the Soviet military command.
In November 1989 the acting Minister for National Defense, Admiral Theodor Hoffmann abolished this rank.
[edit] Design
Several designs were considered for the Marschall shoulder board. The final design was a shoulder board 118 mm long and 48 mm wide consisting of interlaced gold and silver cord backed by a red cloth material on which was placed a five-pointed, gilded star with a red ruby in the center. According to Klaus Wather's Uniformeffekten der bewaffneten Organe der DDR Band II, 12 pairs of these shoulder boards were made.
Drawings were also made of a Soviet style "Marshal's star" to be worn on a red neck ribbon but this item was never produced.
Also planned were Marschall rank insignia for the new field uniform. This consisted of a 90 x 60 mm rectangular badge of stone-grey cloth for mounting on the upper uniform sleeve. On this badge was woven a large five-pointed gold colored star with a red center over a 20 mm long horizontal gold bar. For the cap there was an oval badge 50 x 30 mm with the same design as the sleeve insignia.
[edit] See Also
[edit] References
Feder, Klaus H. Marschall der DDR - ein Dienstgrad, den keiner erreichte, Militaria 5/2002, available as a pdf file
Klaus Wather, Uniformeffekten der bewaffneten Organe der DDR Band II, Ecotour, 1994
