Obersturmführer

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Obersturmführer
SS-Obersturmführer.svg
SS collar patches
Country Nazi Germany
Service branch Schutzstaffel
Sturmabteilung
National Socialist Motor Corps
National Socialist Flyers Corps
AbbreviationOstuf
NATO rank codeOF-1
Formation1932
Abolished1945
Next higher rankHauptsturmführer
Next lower rankUntersturmführer
Equivalent ranksOberleutnant
SS-Obersturmführer
Franz Abromeit serving in KZ Mauthausen
Pio Filippani Ronconi in the uniform of a foreign volunteer of the Waffen-SS

Obersturmführer (German: [ˈoːbɐʃtʊʁmˌfyːʁɐ], lit. 'Senior storm leader';[1][2] short: Ostuf) was a Nazi Germany paramilitary rank that was used in several Nazi organisations, such as the SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK.

The rank of Obersturmführer was first created in 1932 as the result of an expansion of the Sturmabteilung (SA) and the need for an additional rank in the officer corps. Obersturmführer also became an SS rank at that same time.[3]

An SA-Obersturmführer was typically a junior company commander in charge of fifty to a hundred men. Within the SS, the rank of Obersturmführer carried a wider range of occupations including staff aide, Gestapo officer, concentration camp supervisor, and Waffen-SS platoon commander. Within both the SS and SA, the rank of Obersturmführer was considered the equivalent of an Oberleutnant in the German Wehrmacht.[4]

The insignia for Obersturmführer was three silver pips and a silver stripe centered on a uniform collar patch. The rank was senior to an Untersturmführer (or Sturmführer in the SA[1]) and junior to the rank of Hauptsturmführer.[4]

Rank insignia[]

Oberststurmführer SS, SA, NSKK, and NSFK
Rank insignia
Schutzstaffel (SS)
Sturmabteilung (SA)
NS Motor Corps (NSSKK)
NS Flyers Corps (NSFK)
WSS Pi OF1a Ostuf 1945.png OLt Ostuf OF1a cam slv 1945.svg SS-Obersturmführer.svg SA-Obersturmführer.svg NSKK-Obersturmführer.svg NSFK-Obersturmführer.svg
Waffen-SS
  • Allgemeine-SS
  • Waffen-SS
 collar insignia
Sequence of ranks in comparison with Wehrmacht
junior rank
SS-Untersturmführer 		SS Rank
Obersturmführer 		              senior rank

SA-Sturmführer 		SA Rank
Obersturmführer

Leutnant (OF-1b) 		Balkenkreuz.svg Wehrmacht rank
Oberleutnant (OF-1a)[5]
Hauptmann / Rittmeister (OF-2)

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b McNab 2009b, p. 15.
  2. ^ Stein 1984, p. 297.
  3. ^ McNab 2009, pp. 29, 30.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Flaherty 2004, p. 148.
  5. ^ The abbreviation "OF" stands for de: "Offizier / en: officer / fr: officier / ru: офицер".

Bibliography[]

  • Flaherty, T. H. (2004) [1988]. The Third Reich: The SS. Time-Life Books, Inc. ISBN 1-84447-073-3.
  • McNab, Chris (2009). The SS: 1923–1945. Amber Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1-906626-49-5.
  • McNab, Chris (2009b). The Third Reich. Amber Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1-906626-51-8.
  • Stein, George (1984) [1966]. The Waffen-SS: Hitler's Elite Guard at War 1939–1945. Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-9275-0.
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