Ranks and insignia of the German Army (1935–1945)

The Reichswehr changed this to a single cockade in the Weimar Republic's black, red and gold; almost as soon as Hitler took power he restored the pre-1919 tricolor flag, and ordered the Army to return to black-white-red.

For field wear these were usually painted field-grey to reduce visibility and had a smooth finish; on the other hand, dress buckles were silver-washed with a pebbled surface surrounding the Hoheitszeichen.

With dress uniform officers wore a belt of silver braid with a circular silver-washed or -plated aluminum buckle, in the form of an oakleaf wreath surrounding a Heeresadler.

In 19th century German armies, Guard and other elite regiments wore lengths of double braid (Doppellitze) encircling all or most of the collar as a mark of distinction.

When the Reichsheer was established in 1921 as Germany's first national army[c] Litzen were prescribed as the universal collar device for all personnel other than generals, and the Third Reich continued the practice.

While most officers in the front lines wore the enlisted field uniform as per wartime regulations, many opted to have their green-and-silver collar patches added instead of (or on top of) the factory versions.

Tropical NCO collar Tressen were copper-brown, or sometimes olive drab.A major exception to the wearing of Litzen was the "panzer wrap" (German: Panzerjacke), the double-breasted jacket worn by crews of tanks and other armored vehicles.

When the Panzertruppe were established in 1935 they were issued a distinctive black uniform and as a badge the Totenkopf or Death's-head, versions of which had formerly been worn by the Imperial tank corps and various cavalry units.

In mid-1940 crews of assault guns (Sturmgeschütze) received a uniform of their own, identical in cut to the Panzerjacke but in standard field-grey, which they wore with red artillery piping.

In North Africa, AFV crews wore the same tropical uniform as the other branches, including collar patches; many tankers however pinned their Totenkopf badges to their lapels.

In June 1939, the Wehrmacht Heer wanted to renew its ties with the Old Army tradition by introducing a new uniform for its most prestigious unit: Wachregiment "Berlin" which was renamed Infantry Regiment "Großdeutschland".

General Staff officers assigned to the supreme headquarters (the Reichskriegsministerium, later the OKH and the OKW), the Kriegsakademie, and military attaches were further distinguished by having their Litzen in gold rather than silver.

Field Marshals wore the same Arabesken as generals until April 1941, when they were authorized a longer variant with three rather than two iterations of the repeating pattern, for a total of six "prongs".

General officers of the Special Troop Service (Truppensonderdienst – TDS) and of the specialist careers (medical, veterinary, ordnance, and motor park) wore the same insignia until April 1944, when they were ordered to exchange their scarlet Kragenpatten for alt-Larisch tabs backed in their respective Waffenfarbe: In October 1944, the wear-out period of the scarlet backing color for Generals of the specialist careers was extended for an undetermined period.

Generalfeldmarschall von Blomberg was appointed Chef of the 73rd Infantry Regiment and wore a big 73 superimposed over the crossed batons of his shoulder board, but on 4 February 1938 he was dismissed and his name was deleted from the seniority list.

[4] The Reichsheer's shoulder-straps to enlisted men (German: Mannschaften) were very similar to those of World War I, made of feldgrau uniform cloth with pointed or "gable" button ends.

Beginning in January 1940, shoulder-straps with unit insignia were (supposed to be) phased out as a security measure, and removable fabric loops with devices were issued instead.

Senior NCO's (Unteroffiziere mit Portepee) added one to three stars; in addition, their unit identifiers took the form of white-metal insignia rather than embroidery.

Company-grade officers (Leutnant through Hauptmann/Rittmeister) wore epaulettes constructed by wrapping two side-by-side lengths of braid around the buttonhole and back, giving the appearance of eight parallel cords; the whole was sewn to an underlay (Unterlagen) of Waffenfarbe badge-cloth.

Field-grade officer (Stabsoffizier) shoulder boards were made by plaiting together double widths of Russia braid and looping them to form a buttonhole, sewn to a Waffenfarbe underlay; rank again was displayed by zero to two gilt stars.

[5] Colonels-in-chief wearing that uniform wore gold generals' shoulder boards underlaid with the Waffenfarbe of the regiment rather than scarlet; GFM von Rundstedt sometimes simply pinned his crossed batons to an infantry colonel's epaulettes.

[6] When wearing uniforms without epaulettes, such as smocks, parkas and mountain windbreakers; generals, officers and NCOs instead wore sleeve rank insignia.

Additionally, some units would wear honorary tassels of Russian red leather, to indicate their relation to the 1st Regiment of (Prussian) Grenadier Guards.

[8] The tassels are shown below, where Arabic numerals refer to the company/battery/squadron:[9] Hauptfeldwebel/Hauptwachtmeister: Hauptfeldwebel was not a rank but an appointment: the administrative and mustering NCO of a company and the commander's logistical assistant.

The insignia for a Hauptfeldwebel was a pair of NCO Tressen encircling each lower sleeve, nicknamed "piston rings;" he also carried a leather Meldetasche or report-case tucked into his tunic front.

were supposed to replace Hochrot with the appropriate Waffenfarben of their branches of service; in practice this directive was imperfectly heeded and a subsequent order extended the wear-out date for scarlet insignia indefinitely.

In nearly all cases the shoulderboard underlay was a double layer of dark green under Nebenfarbe, and metal pins with the HV (German abbreviation of Heeresverwaltung, "Army Administration") cipher were worn.

Most officials wore in addition to their dark green Waffenfarbe a secondary colour (Nebenfarbe) denoting their branch: In March 1940 distinct Nebenfarben were abolished and replaced with light grey.

Officials of the Higher Services wore unique Kragenpatten with alt-Preussische Litzen in gold like Offiziere des Generalstabs, but on dark green with, again, Nebenfarbe piping.

Officials of the Wehrmacht who worked in Military Supreme Courts wore shoulder straps without the "HV" and had the secondary colour of Bordeaux red (Bordorot').