The Wehrmachtangehörige consisted of Soldaten or military personnel in a limited sense (officers and enlisted), and Beamten or military officials, either belonging to the general category of Wehrmachtbeamte, or one of four Sondergruppen (special groups of officials): Engineers, Navigators, Aircraft Pilots or Flying Safety.
During the war several new classes of full or par time duty personnel were added to the Wehrmachtgefolge, such as: Luftschutzwarndienst, the male personnel of the air raid warning service; Sicherheits- und Hilfsdienst, the barracked security and assistance service of the civil defense; Luftwaffenhelferinnen, the female Luftwaffe auxiliaries; Luftwaffenhelfer, underage male youth serving anti-aircraft batteries between school or work; Flakwehrmänner, male workers in reserved occupations serving anti-aircraft batteries during air-raids.
The Wehrmachtgefolge also contained units from paramilitary organizations, as far as they were subordinated to the Luftwaffe during the war, such as: Reichsarbeitsdienst, National Socialist Motor Corps, and Organisation Todt.
[14] The Flying Troops had three career croups, Air Crew, Aircraft Engineering, and General Service.
In existence at the beginning of the war was the medical troops (Sanitätstruppen), and the Reichsluftaufsicht or the National Flying Safety Service, which was staffed both by military personnel and a special group of Beamten (see below).
In addition, the Luftwaffe in 1942 formed a number field divisions of excess personnel, that, however, after about a year was absorbed by the German Army.
[2][19] Military officials were civil servants that served in the Luftwaffe in technical, administrative, legal, and other positions.
They were not civilian employees, as they were uniformed, often serving with advanced units on air bases in enemy territory.
[24][25] Most of the military officials of the Luftwaffe were non-commissioned officers having completed their 12 year's service obligation.
[29] The elevated career was also open to young men with Abitur having completed the two your compulsory military service.
The higher service was recruited through direct-entry candidates with a university degree, most of which also were reserve officers.
[30][31] The Nautikerkorps der Luftwaffe was founded in 1938, for air surveying and non-combat navigation duties; all members were military officials of the elevated career recruited as Militäranwärter from former sergeant-navigators.
[33] The Flugzeugführerkorps was created in 1940, its members being former sergeant-pilots that began their new career as Militäranwärter of the elevated service.
[34] The Reichsluftaufsicht, the National Flying Safety Service, was staffed both with Soldaten and special group Beamten of the middle, elevated, and higher careers.
Occupational Groups of the Wehrmachtbeamte: Source:[38] The Beamte auf Kriegsdauer, were the military officialdom's equivalent of Sonderführer; a Luftwaffe member filling a Beamter-position in the tables of organization without having gone through the required training during the candidate period, but possessing adequate technical or professional competence to fill such a slot on an emergency basis.