Schutztruppe NCOs displayed their rank insignia in two different ways on their Tropical and Home Uniforms. On the white and khaki tropical uniforms ranks were distinguished by one to four chevrons worn on the upper left sleeve. These were in sliver on blue for German NCOs and red on khaki for African NCOs. On the field grey home uniforms and on some of the corduroy uniforms worn in South West Africa NCO rank was shown in the form of buttons on the collar and bands of silver lace on the collar and cuffs in the standard way of the regular Imperial army. These differences are shown below.

German NCOs Tropical Uniforms Sleeve Chevrons
 

Unteroffizier Corporal	Sergeant Sergeant	Vize-Feldwebel Senior Sergeant	Feldwebel Sergeant Major

The Rank of Private Soldier in the German Imperial forces was titled depending on the type of unit he was in. There were no German private soldiers in the East African or Cameroon Schutztruppe before the First World War. A private mounted infantryman of the German South West African Schutztruppe was known as a "Reiter". An askari of the German East African Schutztruppe was of course called an "Askari", while an East African police askari was called a "Polizei-Askari". A native soldier of the Cameroon Schutztruppe was called simply a "Soldat". A native policeman from Cameroon, Togo, New Guinea, or Samoa was called a "Polizei-Soldat". A marine in the Seebatallione was called a "See-Soldat".

The rank of Gefreiter or Lance Corporal only applied to Germans in the South West African Schutztruppe. On their tropical uniform they wore no chevrons but a single small button on the collar in the style of their home uniform (see below centre).

NCO chevrons were removable, being held onto the sleeve by three hooks holding onto three loops on the left sleeve. This often gave the impression of them almost hanging off the uniform (see below right).

Medical NCOs in the colonies wore gold chevrons on black backing, rather than silver on blue.

German NCOs Home Uniforms Collar and Cuffs

Gefreiter Lance Corporal	Unteroffizier Corporal	Sergeant Sergeant	Vize-Feldwebel Senior Sergeant	Sergeant Major Feldwebel

The Distinction between Sergeant and Vize-Feldwebel on the home uniform was only in that Vize-Feldwebel and Feldwebel wore officers' sword knots (even with a bayonet) while Sergeants and below carried other ranks bayonet knots. These senior NCOs were known as "Unteroffizier mit Portepee" ("NCOs with officers' sword knots"), while the junior NCOs were known as "Unteroffizier ohne Portepee" (NCOs without officers' sword knots). Senior NCOs also wore other officers distinction such as carrying a sword on parade, having a silver cord around the hatband of the tropical helmet and often had privately purchased uniforms.

The illustrations above show the collar and cuffs on the home uniform in different colours for each colony- blue for German South West Africa, white for German East Africa and red for Cameroon.

On their tropical uniforms, the Seebatallione wore the collar button and lace style of rank insignia rather than chevrons. Their lace was white with threads of red and black (see below right) and was worn unusually on the upper edge of the collar (although some photos show it worn on the lower edge). Their collar buttons were also worn unusually close to the front rather than the back of the collar.

Vize-Feldwebel's Collar Lace (See Swakopmund Museum Photos Page) Photo Copyright G Gerardi

Vize-Feldwebel's Cuff Lace (See Swakopmund Museum Photos Page) Photo Copyright G Gerardi

Sergeant's Insignia as worn on a tropical uniform of the East Asian Brigade.  (See Imperial War Museum Collection Page) IWM Collection

Schutztruppe and Polizeitruppe Native NCOs Sleeve Chevrons

 

Gefreiter Ombascha	Unteroffizier Schausch	Sergeant Bet-Schausch	Feldwebel Sol

East African askaris used Turkish NCO Titles, a tradition dating back to their original recruitment from Sudanese askaris. Their titles were- Ombasha/Gefreiter, Schausch/Unteroffizier, Bet-Schausch/Sergeant and Sol/Feldwebel.

There was No rank of Vice-Feldwebel for Native NCOs. Also note how the number of chevrons denotes different ranks for native NCOs from German ones. For example a German Sergeant would wear two chevrons whereas a native Sergeant would wear three.

The Effendi (African officer) was a rank only awarded in the German East African Schutztruppe and Polizeitruppe, and even then only rarely. There were two serving Effendis in the Schutztruppe in 1914. As officers, they wore the four pocketed tunic (in white or khaki) usually reserved for Germans rather than the shorter askari tunic, but without the blue piping down the front. Their shoulder straps were khaki with three silver five-pointed stars along their length.

NCOs of the Togo Polizeitruppe wore their chevrons on both arms.

Please email me here if you have more information or photos on this topic. 

Back to Main Menu for German Colonial Uniforms