Staffelführer

''Staffelführer'' (, " Formation leader") was one of the first paramilitary ranks used by the German ''

Schutzstaffel The ''Schutzstaffel'' (; ; SS; also stylised with SS runes as ''ᛋᛋ'') was a major paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe during World War II. It beg ...

'' (SS) in the early years of that group's existence. The later SS rank of ''Staffelführer'' traces its origins to the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, where the title was used by commanding officers of the ''Deutsches Heer'''s ''

Luftstreitkräfte The ''Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte'' (, German Air Combat Forces)known before October 1916 as (The Imperial German Air Service, lit. "The flying troops of the German Kaiser’s Reich")was the air arm of the Imperial German Army. In English-langu ...

'' aircraft squadrons initially named as ''

Feldflieger Abteilung Feldflieger Abteilung (''FFA'', Field Flying Detachment) was the title of the pioneering field aviation units of (The Air Forces of the German Empire) formed in 1912, which became the ( German air service) on 8 October 1916, during the First World ...

'' as observation-only units in 1914, and during 1916, became known as ''Staffeln''. The rank of ''Staffelführer'' was first created in September 1925 when the SS was officially formed along the lines of the previously disbanded ''Stosstrupp Adolf Hitler'', which had been a personal ''

Sturmabteilung The (; SA; or 'Storm Troopers') was the original paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party of Germany. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power, Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and early 1930s. I ...

'' bodyguard detachment tasked with the personal protection of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

rallies and meetings. The early SS was formed into several ''Zehnerstaffeln'', or "groups of ten". Each SS unit comprised no more than ten '' SS-Mann'' under the command of an ''SS-Staffelführer'', or squadron leader. The ''Staffelführer'' in turn answered to a local ''SS- Gauführer'', or district leader, who answered to the national leader of the SS, known as the ''

Reichsführer-SS (, ) was a special title and rank that existed between the years of 1925 and 1945 for the commander of the (SS). ''Reichsführer-SS'' was a title from 1925 to 1933, and from 1934 to 1945 it was the highest Uniforms and insignia of the Schut ...

''. By April 1926, the basic SS unit had become the larger ''SS-Sturm'' which comprised as many as fifty SS troopers. The rank of ''Staffelführer'', at this point, became known simply as ''SS-

Führer ( , spelled ''Fuehrer'' when the umlaut is unavailable) is a German word meaning "leader" or " guide". As a political title, it is strongly associated with Adolf Hitler, the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. Hitler officially cal ...

''. In 1929, the rank of ''SS-Führer'' was officially renamed as ''SS- Sturmführer''. By 1930, the rank of ''SS-Staffelführer'' had all but disappeared from the SS. It reappeared the following year, in 1931, as a rank of the NSKK. In the early years of its existence, ''SS-Staffelführer'' had no particular insignia and holders of the rank simply wore paramilitary uniforms with a variety of Nazi insignia. By 1929, an ''SS-Staffelführer'' could be identified by a swastika armband with a white circular stripe. SS ranks Nazi paramilitary ranks {{mil-rank-stub