Stabsarzt (short: StArzt or SA), in English Staff Surgeon, is a military commissioned officer rank in German speaking armed forces.
In English the word surgeon in a military context is applied to any medical practitioner, due to the historical evolution of the term, and does not refer exclusively to the modern specialty of surgery.
The rank of Staff Surgeon has also existed in English-speaking countries; it was used in the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom until 1918.
[2][3] On the shoulder straps (Heer, Luftwaffe) there are three silver stars and the career insignia (de: Laufbahnabzeichen) as symbol of the medical standing, or course of studies.
The piping on shoulder straps shows the Waffenfarbe (en: corps- or troop-function colour), corresponding to the appropriate military service, branch, or special force.
In line to the so-called Reichsbesoldungsordnung (en: Reich's salary order), appendixes to the Salary law of the German Empire (de: Besoldungsgesetz des Deutschen Reiches) of 1927[4] (changes 1937 – 1940), the comparative ranks were as follows: C 7 The corps colour of the military Health Service Support (HSS) in German armed forces was traditional dark bluedark blue, and of the veterinarian service carmine red.