Standartenführer

Hermann Fegelein as an SS-Standartenführer

Standartenführer was a Nazi Party (NSDAP) paramilitary rank that was used in several NSDAP organizations, such as the SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK.[1][2] First founded as a title in 1925, in 1928 the rank became one of the first commissioned NSDAP ranks and was bestowed upon those SA and SS officers who commanded units known as Standarten which were regiment-sized formations of between three hundred and five hundred men.[1]

In 1929 the rank of Standartenführer was divided into two separate ranks known as Standartenführer (I) and Standartenführer (II). This concept was abandoned in 1930 when both the SA and SS expanded their rank systems to allow for more officer positions and thus the need for only a single Standartenführer rank. In 1933, when Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany, the rank of Standartenführer had been established as the greatest field-officer rank, lesser than that of Oberführer of the SS and SA. By the start of World War II, Standartenführer was widely spread as both an SS rank and a rank of the SA. In the Waffen-SS, the rank was considered the equivalent of an Oberst, a full colonel.[3]

The insignia for Standartenführer consisted of a single oak leaf displayed on both collars.[4] Standartenführer was the first of the SS and SA ranks to display rank insignia on both collars, without the display of unit insignia.[4] From 1938, newer SS uniforms featured the shoulder boards of a German Army Oberst (colonel) in addition to the oak leaf collar patches.[5]

Insignia

See also

Junior Rank
Obersturmbannführer		 SS rank and SA rank
Standartenführer		 Senior Rank
Oberführer

Notes

Bibliography

  • Flaherty, T. H. (2004) [1988]. The Third Reich: The SS. Time-Life Books, Inc. ISBN 1 84447 073 3. 
  • McNab, Chris (2009). The SS: 1923–1945. Amber Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1-906626-49-5. 
  • McNab (II), Chris (2009). The Third Reich. Amber Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1-906626-51-8. 
  • Stein, George (1984) [1966]. The Waffen-SS: Hitler's Elite Guard at War 1939–1945. Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-9275-0. 
  • Wasser, Bruno: Himmlers Raumplanung im Osten, Basel, Berlin und Boston 1993, Seite 347, ISBN 3-7643-2852-5
  • Yerger, Mark C. (1997). Allgemeine-SS: The Commands, Units and Leaders of the General SS. Schiffer Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-7643-0145-4. 
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