Waffenfarbe

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Waffenfarbe (German: "branch of service color") was a means the German military used to distinguish between different branches of its armed services.

The use of different colors to distinguish between different branches of the armed services was not unique to the German Army during the Second World War. The Russian Army also used colored shoulder boards after 1942 to specify between the different arms, and the British Army utilized colored strips of cloth on their sleeve to likewise distinguish the different branches.

Today a system of Waffenfarben is still in use for the German ground forces, with different colors for different troop types. These colors appear as barett colors and as small shoulder straps next to the rank insignia. German Air Force (Luftwaffe) and German Navy don't use such a system to distinguish between their sub-branches. The Luftwaffe does make a slight difference between officers and other soldiers by the use of yellow stripes in the blue ordonance uniform of all non-officer ranks and white stripes in the ordonance uniform of officers.

Branch (Wehrmacht and Reichswehr) Color (Wehrmacht and Reichswehr)
Staff Corps of the Reichswehr Carmine
Artillery Red
Infantry White
Cavalry Golden Yellow
Signals Lemon Yellow
Motor Transport Rose Pink[citation needed]; Coral
Jäger white and blue
Smoke (Chemical) Troops Wine Red
Horse Transport Light Blue
Engineers Black
Recruiting Orange
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