- Standartenführer
"Standartenführer" was a
Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was used in both the S.A. and the S.S.. First founded as a title in 1925, in 1928 the rank became one of the first commissioned Nazi ranks and was bestowed upon those S.A. and S.S. officers who commanded units known as "Standarten" which were regiment-sized formations of between three hundred and five hundred men.In 1929 the rank of Standartenführer was divided into two separate ranks known as "Standartenführer (I)" and "Standartenführer (II)". This concept was abandoned in 1930 when both the S.A. and S.S. expanded their rank systems to allow for more officer positions and thus the need for only a single Standartenführer rank.
In 1933, when
Adolf Hitler came to power inGermany , the rank of Standartenführer had been established as the greatest field-officer rank, lesser that of "Oberführer " which was considered the first General's rank of the S.S. and S.A. By the start of theWorld War II , Standartenführer was widely spread as both anSS rank and a rank of the S.A.. In theWaffen-SS , the rank was considered the equivalent of an "Oberst ".The insignia for Standartenführer consisted of a single oak leaf displayed on both collars. Standartenführer was the first of the S.S. and S.A. ranks to display rank insignia on both collars, without the display of unit insignia.
Waffen-SS Standartenführers also wore the shoulder boards of a GermanOberst in addition to the oak leaf collar patches.See also
Standartenführer Stirlitz, alias Colonel Isayev - a hero of a popular Russian book series and one of the most famous characters of Russian jokes
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