SS upper rifle

SS upper riflemen with MP 40 and feldspades in camouflage clothing

The SS-Oberschützen (short: Oschü ; address: Oberschütze ) was the second lowest rank of the rank group of the Waffen SS men in the German Reich from 1940 to 1945 .

origin

The Regulation of the heads of the army command in the Reichswehr of 6 December 1920, the name was contactors as unterster enlisted in the land forces , first in the infantry and later into the developing tank forces introduced there Panzerschütze. The next rank was upper rifleman .

When the ranks of the Wehrmacht were taken over by the Waffen-SS, the rank designation SS Oberschütze was derived. In the Sturmabteilung (SA) and the Allgemeine SS, however, there was no equivalent.

Armed SS

An SS rifleman (also SS Panzergrenadier or SS pioneer) of the Waffen-SS could be promoted to SS-Oberschützen after a minimum period of six to twelve months .

The pictures show the badges of rank or rank badges that were worn as shoulder pieces , collar tabs and sleeve badges . The collar tabs were worn on the field gray uniform jacket of the Waffen SS or the gray field blouse. In the SS-Einsatzstruppe , the predecessor organization of the Waffen-SS , the designation SS-trainee or also relay trainee was a collective name for SS-volunteers during their first three years of service. The term also included SS applicants for the General SS who had not yet been accepted as full members of the SS by Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler . After 1940, only the designation SS-Oberschütze or SS-Oberschütze was used within the Waffen-SS .

Ranking and insignia

This SS rank was on an equal footing with the Wehrmacht's upper rifleman. According to today's NATO rank codes , these ranks would be comparable to OR-1 senior. The piping of the shoulder pieces was kept in the weapon color specified for soldiers of the Waffen-SS .

Rank
lower: SS riflemen (also SS Panzergrenadier, SS pioneer)	SS Oberschützen (Oschü)	higher: SS-Sturmmann

• Badge of rank SS-Oberschützen (Waffen-SS)
• 

  Shoulder piece
  (the same for all Waffen-SS men )

• 

  Collar tabs
  (same for SS riflemen and SS upper riflemen)

• 

  Sleeve badge
  (left upper arm)

• 

  National emblem
  (left upper arm, above Oschü sleeve badge)

See also

• Illustration of the ranks and insignia of the Waffen SS
• Gun colors (Waffen-SS)
• NS ranks
• SS ranks
• Wehrmacht crew ranks

References and comments

1. ↑ Gordon Williamson: The SS - Hitler's Instrument of Power. 1994, p. 250 appendix.
2. ^ Dictionary of German military history. 1st edition. Military Publishing House of the GDR, Berlin 1985, p. 145 Rank badge 29/30.
3. ↑ OR stands for Other ranks , cf. NATO glossary abbreviations used in NATO documents and publications / Glossaire OTAN des abréviations utilisées dans les documents et publications OTAN ( Memento of 8 May 2010 in the Internet Archive )