Preferable most experienced Protégée-NCO of the old army have been promoted.

Within the Reichswehr, Oberfeldwebel was taken over as second-highest Protégée-NCO rank by the German Wehrmacht in 1935.

The equivalent rank to the Oberfeldwebel in the Waffen-SS was the SS-Hauptscharführer from 1938 until 1945.

In army/ air force context NCOs of this rank were formally addressed as Herr Oberfeldwebel also informally / short Oberfeld.

The sequence of ranks (top-down approach) in that particular group (Senior NCOs with portepee) is as follows: The abbreviation "OR" stands for "Other Ranks / fr: sous-officiers et militaires du rang / ru:другие ранги, кроме офицероф"!