Gefreiter

From Victory In Europe

Rank Summary
Rank Name:	Gefreiter
Level:	Level 2
Category:	Soldier
Career Path:	Enlisted
Type:	Axis Heer, Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine
Last used in:	AZUL (ViE#6)

Gefreiter is the 2nd lowest Enlisted Soldier rank in the Axis Army, except when Oberschütze is used.. This is a German rank used in all three branches of the Axis Army, be it Heer, Kriegsmarine or Luftwaffe. The Allied equivalent is Private First Class. The correct plural is Gefreite.

1 Position within Chain of Command
2 Insignia
- 2.1 ViE#1
- 2.2 ViE#2
- 2.3 ViE#4
- 2.4 ViE#5
- 2.5 ViE#6
3 Tag
4 History in VIE/BFE
- 4.1 Use in VIE
- 4.2 Use in BFE
5 Holders
6 See also

[edit]

Position within Chain of Command

In the Order of Precedence, Gefreiter is classified as OR-2 in the NATO System and as Level 2 in the Ewok rank classification system.

The lower German rank is, depending on the division type, Schütze, Flieger, Jäger, Panzerjäger or Matrose. When used, Oberschütze is inbetween these ranks and Gefreiter. The next higher rank is Obergefreiter.

Rank Position
Lower rank:	Schütze, Flieger, Matrose, Jäger, Panzerjäger, Oberschütze (ViE#6)
Higher rank:	Obergefreiter (Enlisted), Obergefreiter UA (NCO Path), Obergefreiter OA (CO Path)
Parallel rank(s):	Gefreiter OA (CO Path), Gefreiter UA (NCO Path)
NATO class:	OR-2
Ewok class:	2

See also: Order of Precedence

In the Career System, this rank can be reached on the Enlisted Career Path, although one can still switch career paths while or after having reached it.

See also: Career System

[edit]

Insignia

[edit]

ViE#1

Created by Ewok and used in ViE#1. This rank insignia is based on the standard Axis Heer insignia.

[edit]

ViE#2

Created by Ewok and used in ViE#2. This rank is based on the Axis Kriegsmarine insignia.

[edit]

ViE#4

Created by Ewok and used in ViE#4. This rank is based on Axis Luftwaffe insignia.

[edit]

ViE#5

Created by Ewok and used in ViE#5. This rank is based on Axis Panzerjäger insignia.

[edit]

ViE#6

Created by BRANCALEONE and used in ViE#6. Based on standard Heer insignia.

[edit]

Tag

/- was used during ViE#1

/ was used during ViE#2, ViE#4 and ViE#5

GR. was used during ViE#6

[edit]

History in VIE/BFE

[edit]

Use in VIE

During the first campaign of ViE, the rank was used as Gefreiter. In the German rank system, Gefreiter was a universal rank which was used in all sorts of divisions across the Axis Army. So even though first Axis division was a Gebirgsjäger division, the rank Gefreiter remained. The same applies for the 2. Kreuzer-Flottille in ViE#2, even though in real-life the rank was sometimes referred to as Matrosen-Gefreiter to distinguish it from the Heer Gefreiter. The rank was not used in ViE#3 because it featured an Italian division on the Axis side, but it saw a comeback in ViE#4, even though the 4-FJ was a Luftwaffe division. However, Heer and Luftwaffe share most rank designations, including this one. In ViE#5, the 5-PzJ, a Heer unit, used the rank again. In ViE#6, it was used by the Division Azúl.

[edit]

Use in BFE

This rank was first used in BFE's very first campaign. It was "invented" by Ewok after he had translated the Axis ranks into German. Holders of this rank actually had some power in BFE#1, as sort-of-NCOs in sub-squads.

[edit]