Axis ranks
From Victory In Europe
The Axis ranks form a complex system that determines one's position within the Axis Army. The system that is in use today can be traced back to the early times of BFE#1 and has constantly undergone changes, expansions and improvements since then. Many generations of Axis COs and especially Generals have contributed to the rank system as we know it today, though many changes were undone and then left forgotten in the history of BFE, with some of them being "rediscovered" later.
One can say that from today's point of view, more and more ranks were added over the time, starting with only 5 original official ranks in BFE#1 (Schütze, Hauptmann, Oberst, General, Generalfeldmarschall) and reaching 20 today (the Kriegsmarine ranks).
The rank system has always formed a vital and important part of the identity of the Axis Army, especially after it became much more distinctive from the Allied system than it originally was.
Contents |
History
Prologue
At the beginning of BFE#1 few people cared about a complex rank system and even among the Axis, few cared about a German system. Both armies were using the same system that had 5 official ranks: Private, Captain, Colonel, General and CinC. A seperate Axis rank system was unheard of, and so were rank tags as we know them today.
The beginning of an Axis rank system can be defined as February 2002, when a number of Axis players protested against the ongoing use of English rank designations for their ranks. The management of BFE had other problems on their hands with all the new players that were flooding their tournament, so it did not do anything like translating the ranks that were already in use into German. When a young new player from Germany, Ewok did just that, the development of the Axis rank system finally began. At the same time, Axis COs, such as habap of the [DAK] Squad had begun to add NCO ranks to the existing system. The management clarified that NCO ranks would not be officially supported but that armies were free to create them as they like to create more depth in their chain of command.
BFE#1: The Axis Ranks are born
The mix of these two ideas, translating the rank names to German and adding new NCO ranks, would then become the basis for the Axis rank system.
The ranks of Corporal, Sergeant and Master Sergeant were added as NCO ranks by the Axis COs. The then existing ranks of Private, Corporal, Sergeant, Master Sergeant, Captain, Colonel, General and CinC were soon translated by Ewok as follows:
Schütze, Obergefreiter, Feldwebel, Stabsfeldwebel, Hauptmann, Oberst, General and Generalfeldmarschall. At the age of 16 and without any previous knowledge of military ranks, Ewok made just one mistake in this translation. Unlike Corporal, Obergefreiter is not an NCO rank so this translation was wrong. The other rank names however were accurately translated.
When Ewok was put in command of his own sub-squad, the Abteilung Europa within the [DAK], he added another rank to the system, Gefreiter, to be able to appoint his own sub-squad NCOs. Thus, both the rank of Gefreiter and Obergefreiter, normal soldier ranks today, orignally included a certain power and responsibility. Extra soldier ranks without any specific purpose apart from motivation were to remain unknown for another few campaigns.
At the end of BFE#1 the German rank names were still not widespread but heard of in the Axis Army and it became increasingly fashionable to make use of them in forum posts. But only the original CO ranks, Captain, Colonel, General and CinC had rank insignia in the forums back then. When tournament founder and owner MFOTS was asked to change that, he asked Ewok in return to provide him with rank insignia for the newly translated ranks. Lacking any graphic design skills and unfamilar with WWII era German insignia, the result was far from satisfying and so the Axis soldiers and NCOs were to remain without insignia until BFE#4.
BFE#2: First Improvements and Tags
BFE#2 already brought certain improvements to the Axis rank system. Thanks to the Axis COs who discussed these ideas in great detail, the rank system and the new squad system were now combined so that clear rules existed what rank was required to command which kind of unit. The General was finally determined to be the divisional commander. The position of Oberst was established as that of the second-in-command of a division and the most important Staff Officer. The rank of Oberstleutnant was connected with the division's elite squads for many campaigns to come. The rank of Hauptmann became the trademark position for field commanders and squad leaders in the Axis Army. The incorrect translation of the rank Corporal was corrected and the new lowest NCO rank became known as Unteroffizier. Together with Feldwebel and Stabsfeldwebel, he would form the standard trio of Axis NCO ranks for many campaigns. The rank of Obergefreiter fell into disuse after BFE#1, but the rank of Gefreiter remained known. It was awarded only to the best soldiers and still had neither insignia nor tag. The rank of Schütze had completely replaced the word Private in the Axis Army and was the best known German rank in BFE (and also the one most often written wrong, with Shutze, Scutze, Shcutze and many other wrong forms being widespread).
BFE#2 also saw the introduction of rank tags, something otherwise unknown on both sides before. The Axis COs decided to introduce
- as symbol for COs and
^ as symbol for NCOs
Confusingly, the Gefreiter tag consisted of a single ^ while all three NCOs had to wear ^^. Here is a complete listing of the tags at that time.
| Rank name | Rank tag |
|---|---|
| Feldmarschall | Feld. |
| General | *** |
| Oberst | ** |
| Oberstleutnant | *^ |
| Hauptmann | * |
| Stabsfeldwebel | ^^ |
| Feldwebel | ^^ |
| Unteroffizier | ^^ |
| Gefreiter | ^ |
| Schütze |
BFE#4:Early Rank Insignia
BFE#4 saw the first introduction of rank insignia for non-CO ranks. In addition to the insignia for Hauptmann, Oberst and General, which was already in use since BFE#1, the ranks of Schütze, Unteroffizier, Feldwebel and Stabsfeldwebel got their own avatars. Gefreiter did not get any insignia.
The Axis rank insignia were as follows as of BFE#4:
| Rank | Insignia |
|---|---|
| Schütze | 
|
| Gefreiter |
|
| Unteroffizier | 
|
| Feldwebel | 
|
| Stabsfeldwebel | 
|
| Hauptmann | Image not available |
| Oberstleutnant | 
|
| Oberst |
|
| General | 
|
| Generalfeldmarschall | 
|
BFE#6-8: Rank System Reform
BFE#6 saw a reform to the Axis rank system, primarily initiated by Wodan, who also contributed the rank insignia, and assisted by Ewok. The insignia introduced in that campaign was used for a couple of more campaigns. The ranks of Leutnant and Major were added in BFE#8 and the insignia for Unteroffizier was replaced by a historically correct one in BFE#8 (the BFE#6 insignia was actually an Unterfeldwebel insignia). The rank of Gefreiter, although having existed since BFE#1, finally got its own insignia. A fitting insignia for Generalfeldmarschall was also added but not used in favor of the old insignia (until that was in turn replaced in BFE#8, with the new one being used for the rest of BFE, excluding BFE#23).
From BFE#8 onward, BFE also saw a Fallschirmjäger division in almost each campaign (until BFE 20, when the AxSF. was the last para division), so Fallschirmjäger ranks were introduced too at the same time.
| Rank | Tag | Heer-Insignia | Fallschirmjäger-Insignia |
|---|---|---|---|
| Schütze (Heer)
Jäger (Fallschirmjäger, since BFE#8) | none | 
| 
|
| Gefreiter (Heer)
Oberjäger (Fallschirmjäger, since BFE#8) | / | 
| 
|
| Unteroffizier (Heer)
Unterfeldwebel (Fallschirmjäger, since BFE#8) | ^ |  (BFE#6)
|  (BFE#8)
|
| Feldwebel | ^/ | 
| 
|
| Stabsfeldwebel | ^^ | 
| 
|
| Leutnant (since BFE#8) | ~^ | 
| 
|
| Oberleutnant (Fallschirmjäger, since BFE#8) | ~* |
| |
| Hauptmann | * | 
| 
|
| Major (since BFE#8) | */ | 
| 
|
| Oberstleutnant | *^ | 
| 
|
| Oberst | ** | 
| 
|
| General | *** | 
| 
|
| Generalfeldmarschall | **** |  (not officially used)
|
BFE#14: The New Era
The rank system presented above was used in all Axis divisions until BFE#14, even though it had many flaws and some incorrect rank names or insignia (for example the Fallschirmjäger rank of Oberjäger is an NCO rank similar to Unteroffizier, not a rank similar to Gefreiter).
In the preparation phase for the new campaign, Cyrus had come up with the idea to use new insignia, and asked rank system veteran Ewok to help. Together, they developed several new rank systems for different kinds of divisions, such as Afrikakorps ranks for the Ax999., Eastern European volunteer ranks for the Ax111., fictional new insignia for Fallschirmjäger units (used by the Ax666.) and later alternative Heer, Fallschirmjäger, Italian and Kriegsmarine insignia (of which only the Kriegsmarine ones came into use, however).
The rank of Obergefreiter, not used since BFE#1, saw its revival and the rank of Oberleutnant was finally added to the non-Fallschirmjäger divisions as well. The tag system was reformed to reflect these changes.
The following overview chart shows all ranks and insignia as they were used in BFE#14.
|
|---|
As one can see, the Afrikakorps ranks do already distantly resemble the rank insignia used for ViE divisions such as the 1. Gebirgsjäger-Division. They are in fact based on the same templates and made by the same person, Ewok. The Volunteer ranks (used by the Ax111. and in a modified form, the Ax666.) where later used in BFE#17 for the Ax19. as Latvian ranks.
BFE#17: Latvian and Kriegsmarine ranks
BFE Campaign 17 saw the use of two more sets of Axis ranks for "exotic" divisions, this time a Latvian division which used modified "Freiwilligen" ranks and a Kriegsmarine division (the one and only in BFE).
| Latvian [Ax19.] | Kriegsmarine [Ax29.] | Tag |
|---|---|---|
 Zemessargs |  Gefreiter | |
 Vecakais zemessargs |  Obergefreiter | / |
 Kaprãlis |  Hauptgefreiter | // |
 Serzants |  Fähnrich | ^ |
 Virsserzants |  Bootsmann | ^/ |
 Virsniekvietnieks |  Stabsfeldwebel | ^^ |
 Lietnants |  Leutnant | ~/ |
 Virslietnants |  Oberleutnant | ~^ |
 Infantryleitnants |  Kapitänleutnant | * |
 Kapteinis |  Korvettenkapitän | */ |
 Polkvežleitnants |  Fregattenkapitän | *^ |
 Pulkvedis |  Kapitän zur See | ** |
 Generãlis |  Admiral | *** |
Notes: Because Ewok did not find an insignia for Matrose (there actually is none), he left that rank out and placed Gefreiter at the low end of the Kriegsmarine ranks. This also led to the introduction of Hauptgefreiter, as replacement for Obergefreiter as the third rank. The ranks of Fähnrich and Stabsfeldwebel where used incorrectly. Fähnrich is actually a Heer CO Cadet rank (see also: Fähnrich zur See) while Stabsfeldwebel is a Heer NCO rank (Stabsbootsmann would have been correct instead).
This was the only time Latvian (or any Eastern European ranks) appeared on the Axis side.
Current System
Currently (as of ViE#2), the Axis rank system has started to add parallel career paths to the classic linear rank system. This was done with the introduction of CO Cadet ranks. Rather than moving up straight forward through soldier and NCO ranks to become a CO, players can now be "CO Cadets" and as such be trained to be COs in the following campaign without having to try hard as soldier/NCO again and again until being noticed by a General. This is to ensure a constant supply of trained "young" Officers for the Axis Army and it helps to create a greater motivation to stay on Axis for more than just one campaign, because one has the chance to start a "career" on the Axis side.
The following diagram explains best how the rank system is now working:
(diagram in the works)
to be continued
Tags
Traditionally (since BFE#2), the Axis are relying on symbols for rank tags rather than abbreviations like the Allies do.
Ever since their inception, the Axis rank tags had some notable characteristics.
* always indicated COs and, if standing on its own, was almost always denoting the lowest CO rank.
*** was always reserved for Generals, while
** usually indicated their representative (an Oberst or similar)
^ was almost always indicating NCOs, and, if standing on its own, denoting the lowest NCO rank.
/ came into use as symbol for higher-ranking soldiers, though this symbol is not as "old" as the other ones.
In some campaigns, additional symbols were used, such as - or ~ (the latter was common for Leutnant ranks before those were classified as COs too).
Current Rank Tags
As of ViE#15, the Axis rank tags are as follows:
| Tag | Rank |
|---|---|
| Schütze | |
| \ | Oberschütze |
| \\ | Gefreiter |
| \\\ | Obergefreiter |
| ^\ | Unteroffizier |
| ^\\ | Unterfeldwebel |
| ^ | Feldwebel |
| ^^ | Oberfeldwebel |
| ^^^ | Oberstabsfeldwebel |
| *\ | Leutnant |
| *\\ | Oberleutnant |
| * | Hauptmann |
| *^ | Major |
| **^ | Oberstleutnant |
| ** | Oberst |
| *** | General |
| **** | Generalfeldmarschall |
Insignia
Variations
Heer
Kriegsmarine
Luftwaffe
Italian
Finnish
Categories: Axis | Ranks
