The rank originated from German shock troop units of the First World War.

[3] The insignia of a Sturmbannführer was four silver pips centered on a collar patch.

[3] In the Waffen-SS, Sturmbannführer was considered equivalent to a major in the German Wehrmacht.

[4] Various Waffen-SS units composed of foreign recruits were considered distinct from the German SS, and thus they were not permitted to wear SS runes on their collar tabs but had their divisional insignia instead.

Other rank holders included Eberhard Heder, Otto Günsche,[6] and war criminals, such as Otto Förschner, who was the commandant of Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp.