Saber tassel
A saber tassel was the successor to the thong , which was only used for decoration, but here only for the ranks of non-commissioned officers and sergeants. (The sergeant was abolished after 1918.) All other non-commissioned officers - vice sergeant and sergeant in the German Empire, as well as all other sergeant ranks and equals thereafter, did not wear a saber tassel, but a portepee until 1945 .
The saber tassel was the hallmark of the individual battalions in a regiment. For this purpose, the wreath above the white tassel was kept in the colors white - red - yellow and blue. (These colors always stood for the number sequence 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 and green for the 5. The Eselsbrücke for this was: W ir R alsoen G ern B illig.)
The side gun tassel was used for the teams that carried a side gun. This was subdivided in the color combination so that the company could also be identified here.
In the army of the German Reich the hunters (except in Bavaria ) wore green saber tassels , the NCOs ( Oberjäger ) of this troop wore silver-interwoven saber tassels.
The saber tassels of the other foot troops are interwoven with threads in the national colors. With the common of the foot troops and the Bavarian hunters, the color of the stem (white, red, yellow, blue) denotes the number of the battalion , the color of the button and slider of the tassel (white, red, yellow, blue) the number of the company within of the battalion. The surrender of the foot troops wear the saber tassels of the NCOs with the slider the color of the company. The mounted troops wear in place of Säbeltroddel the fist belts , officers and NCOs Portepee-the Portepee .