Sig runes	SS-Rank Table showing equivalents in the German, American and British Armies (this table covers the period 1939 to 1945 and is intended for use with the website: Oradour-sur-Glane 10th June 1944) Waffen-SS is the normal abbreviation of: Waffen-Schutzstaffel, or Armed Protection Squad: The Nazi-State Praetorian Guard. (see note 2 below)	Sig runes

Commissioned Officer Grades

SS Rank (see notes 1 & 6 below)	Translation of SS Rank (see note 3 below)	Wehrmacht Rank (see note 4 below)	American Rank	British Rank
None	n/a	None	None	Monarch (The Monarch is an hereditary position, originally thought to be chosen by God and is thus neither elected nor appointed. In times of dispute the matter is normally resolved on the field of battle e.g. The Wars of the Roses)
Der Oberste Führer der Schutz Staffel. Der Führer Adolf Hitler	Supreme Leader of the Protection Squad. The Leader Adolf Hitler	Oberste Führer (Adolf Hitler) (Chosen by an Election, with no set period of tenure)	President (Chosen by an Election, for 4 years at a time)	Prime Minister (Chosen following an Election, for up to 5 years at a time)
Reichs Führer-SS (see note 1 below)	Empire-Leader of the SS	None	None	None
None	n/a	General-Feld Marschall	General of the Army	Field Marshall
SS-Oberst Gruppen Führer	SS-Supreme Group Leader	General Oberst	General	General
SS-Ober Gruppen Führer	SS-Senior Group Leader	General der Infanterie, der Artillerie etc.	Lieutenant General	Lieutenant General
SS-Gruppen Führer	SS-Group Leader	General Leutnant	Major General	Major General
SS-Brigade Führer	SS-Brigade Leader	General Major	Brigadier General	Brigadier
SS-Ober Führer	SS-Senior Leader	None	None	None
SS-Standarten Führer	SS-Standard Leader	Oberst	Colonel	Colonel
SS-Ober Sturm Bann Führer	SS-Senior Storm Command Leader	Oberst Leutnant	Lieutenant Colonel	Lieutenant Colonel
SS-Sturm Bann Führer	SS-Storm Command Leader	Major	Major	Major
SS-Haupt Sturm Führer	SS-Head Storm Leader	Haupt Mann	Captain	Captain
SS-Ober Sturm Führer	SS-Senior Storm Leader	Ober Leutnant	1st Lieutenant	Lieutenant
SS-Unter Sturm Führer	SS-Under Storm Leader	Leutnant	2nd Lieutenant	2nd Lieutenant

Non-Commissioned Officer Grades (see Note 5 below)

Enlisted Man Grades

    Note 1) The term, "Reichsführer-SS" was applied to the head of the combined Waffen and Allgemeine-SS. The various Reichsführer-SS were: Julius Schreck 1925-26, Joseph Berchtold 1926-27, Erhard Heiden 1927-29, Heinrich Himmler 1929-45 and lastly Karl Hanke 1945. There was no direct equivalent to this position in any of the other combatant nations of the Second World War.

    Note 2) The above table shows what I believe to be the equivalent ranks in the different forces during the years 1939-45. It is not always easy to provide a direct equivalent between nations, or indeed between the SS and the rest of the Wehrmacht. The starting point rank, SS-Schütze, was the designation for the Infantry and depending on the actual unit, it could be different, for example, Kanonier for the Artillery. The SS-Ranks with, Junker in the title usually refers to non-commissioned Officers who were acting as Officer Cadets pending a definite promotion. During this time they could command troops in the field. A full and exhaustive Rank table would be quite complicated and involve many footnotes and additional explanation; the above is of necessity somewhat simplified.

    Note 3) It is sometimes difficult to render words and phrases from one language into another. An example is, Sturmbannführer. In modern German, Sturm means, Storm, or, Assault in the military sense. The word, Bann means a (magic) Spell and Führer, means a Leader or Guide. Clearly Sturmbannführer cannot be rendered as, Storm Spell (magic) Leader, so some further clarification is needed.

    German in the Middle Ages used the word Bann both on its own and in conjunction with others, to form words to denote authority and power. Examples are words such as, Banner, meaning a Banner or Flag and Heerbann meaning, Army Command (the power of a King to raise and command an Army). Modern English uses Bann, as in The Banns of Marriage, meaning the command from the minister in the church to the listening congregation to, "raise any cause or just impediment" to the forthcoming match.

    In Germany during the 1920's, the Sturm Abteilung, or SA (Storm Detachment) came into being as the street muscle of the Nazi Party. The SA formed themselves into, Companie, three to a Sturm and three, Stürme, into a Sturmbann. Thus a Sturmbannführer was a, Storm Command Leader, using Command in its noun sense (in the same way that a Colonel could refer to his Regiment as being his Command). Using the normal military grading structure equates a Sturmbann to a Battalion and thus a Sturmbannführer to a Major.

    Note 4) The term, Wehrmacht literally means, Armed Forces and covered all branches of the German Armed Forces such as: Heer, (Army), Kriegsmarine (Navy) and Luftwaffe (Air Force). The Waffen-SS were a part of the Heer (Army) section of the Wehrmacht. It is important to realise that the Waffen-SS were not a separate branch of the Wehrmacht that operated independently of the rest; they were an integral part of the whole. It is true that some sections of the Allgemeine-SS were only loosely under Heer (Army) control, for example the Ahnenerbe, which dealt with racial research, were neither fighting soldiers nor connected with the intelligence services of the Third Reich.

    Note 5) Unterführer was not an official rank of the SS, but was used to refer to all non-commissioned officer ranks. This term has been used in some of the Dortmund statements made, by various witnesses, for example that by Hauptsturmführer Kahn.

    Note 6) The spaces shown in the ranks above (such as, "SS-Ober Sturm Bann Führer") are there to make them display properly on all viewing devices (from old Smartphones with narrow screens to widescreen PCs). These ranks would not have been written-down in this way during the Nazi era. For example, "SS-Ober Sturm Bann Führer" would always have been written as, "SS-Obersturmbannführer"

    The translations given above are my own and I must bear any criticism for their interpretation.

    The above table is only intended for use with the website: Oradour-sur-Glane 10th June 1944 (the story of a massacre in France during W.W.II.) and is offered as reference to anyone wishing to better understand the story of Oradour.

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© Michael Williams: 10 March 2000 ... revised 01 September 2023