Waffenfarbe

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (February 2007)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Blue edging around the shoulder strap on this uniform indicate that its wearer is serving in a logistics unit.

Waffenfarbe (German: “corps [or troop-function] color”) is a means the German military uses to distinguish between different corps or troop functions in its armed services. The waffenfarbe is the colour of the collar badge, of the cord around the shoulder boards and - for enlisted ranks - of the cord around the collar and the schiffchen cap. (In the latter places, NCO's wear cords of dark gold, officers silver, and generals gold.)^[1]

1 Army
2 Air force
3 Navy
4 Examples
5 Similarities in other armies
6 References

[edit] Army

The German Army uses a waffenfarben scheme of colors to indicate troop types. The colors appear as piping (colored edging) around shoulder straps showing a soldier’s rank. Although soldiers’ berets are also coloured, the colours are slightly less differentiated than those of the piping, and corps or troop function is indicated by a badge rather than beret colour.

[edit] Air force

The German Air Force only uses a small spectrum of colours for the purpose. While the normal colour for the air force is a golden yellow, officers in the general staff service (today there is no general staff as such) wear wine-red and generals, bright red. Generals’ and general staff service officers' collar patches (kragenspiegel) also differ from the normal air force design, being the same the army wears.

1935-45, the air force used a larger number of colours, including bi-coloured.

[edit] Navy

The German Navy does not use function-specific colors to distinguish between corps. This is done instead by anchors (emblems) above the rank stripes on the sleeves.

[edit] Examples

Wehrmacht officers’ shoulder straps: 7, colonel (Jäger); 8, lieutenant colonel (field veterinarian); 9, major (Artillery); 10, captain (tank crew); 11, 1st lieutenant (infantry); and 12, 2nd lieutenant (engineer). The outermost colors—the piping—are the waffenfarbe indicating function.

Some waffenfarbe used by the Reichswehr and Wehrmacht until 1945^{[citation needed]}

Corps or troop function	Color
Staff Corps of the Reichswehr, General staff	Carmine red
Generals and Artillery (Heer), Flak (Luftwaffe)	Bright red
Infantry (Heer), Generals (Luftwaffe)	White
Jäger (light infantry)	Light green
Cavalry (Heer), Flying and Paratroopers (Luftwaffe)	Golden yellow
Panzer	Pink
Engineers (Heer)	Black
Signals (Heer)	Lemon yellow
Signals (Luftwaffe)	Brown
Smoke (Chemical) Troops	Wine red
Transport (Heer)	Light blue
Field Police	Orange-yellow
Recruiting	Orange
Chaplains (Heer and Luftwaffe)	Purple

[edit] Similarities in other armies

The use of colours to distinguish between troop functions was not unique to the German Army during the Second World War. The Soviet Army also used colored shoulder boards after 1942 to distinguish troop functions: ground forces general officers and infantry used red, cavalry used blue, and artillery, tank troops and the rest of the ground forces used black, while the air force and airborne troops used sky blue. Likewise the British Army utilized coloured strips of cloth on the sleeves to likewise identify troop functions.

Today, waffenfarbe schemes are also used in Japan, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, Italy and Finland. For a full list of troop function colors currently in use in the US Army, see United States Army branch insignia.