Vice Sergeant
In Prussia and the German Empire , the Vizefeldwebel (outdated Vice-Feldwebel , also superfluous Sergeant ) was a NCO rank in the foot troops. He corresponded to the vice- sergeant in the mounted troops . The vice sergeant ranked between the sergeant and the regular sergeant and was the lowest non-commissioned officer rank with portepee .
The rank was introduced in 1846 in the Prussian Landwehr and in replacement formations, in 1873 in the entire army. In companies with no more than two officers, vice sergeants acted as platoon leaders - a position generally assigned to a lieutenant or first lieutenant.
Even before the official introduction, the term Vice Sergeant was in use as an internal military language for the superfluous sergeants . The so-called one-year-old volunteers were predominantly promoted to surplus sergeants in their capacity as officer candidates for the reserve (officer aspirant) after having passed an officer examination. Sergeants released into the reserve could be appointed on an honorary basis as the superfluous Vice Sergeant (until his introduction: surplus Sergeant).
Opposite them stood the regular vice sergeants or vice sergeants as professional soldiers, to whom non-commissioned officers and sergeants could be promoted after 15 years of service without reproach. In order to avoid conceptual confusion, the designation of extra-budgetary vice sergeant for the reserve officer candidates was later established ; the reserve sergeant was now dubbed the surplus vice sergeant . Like all surplus and extra-budgetary ranks, they carried the rank and rank badges of their regular counterparts , but did not receive their higher wages.
As a rank of the reserve officer career , the vice sergeant (with passed officer examination) was equal to the portepee ensign of the professional officer career of the army. The regular Vice Sergeants who had emerged from the NCO rank were subordinate to them.
Sergeant could after four years of service in the official position of an officer deputy move up.
The Vice Sergeant put on the sergeant's uniform, but also wielded the officer's sword with portepee at the team paddock. The regular sergeant or sergeant led to the external differentiation from the vice ranks since 1889 an additional metal braid over the cuffs.
