Obersturmführer

Obersturmführer
SS collar patches
Country	Nazi Germany
Service branch	Schutzstaffel Sturmabteilung National Socialist Motor Corps National Socialist Flyers Corps
Abbreviation	Ostuf
NATO rank code	OF-1
Formation	1932
Abolished	1945
Next higher rank	Hauptsturmführer
Next lower rank	Untersturmführer
Equivalent ranks	Oberleutnant

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

Obersturmführer SS, SA, NSKK, and NSFK
Rank insignia Shoulder mark Camo insignia Gorget patch	Schutzstaffel (SS)			Sturmabteilung (SA)	NS Motor Corps (NSSKK)	NS Flyers Corps (NSFK)
	Waffen-SS		Allgemeine-SS Waffen-SS	collar insignia

Sequence of ranks in comparison with Wehrmacht
junior rank SS-Untersturmführer	SS Rank Obersturmführer	senior rank SS-Hauptsturmführer Sturmhauptführer (until 1934)
SA-Sturmführer	SA Rank Obersturmführer	SA-Hauptsturmführer Sturmhauptführer (until 1939/40)
Leutnant (OF-1b)	Wehrmacht rank Oberleutnant (OF-1a)[5]	Hauptmann / Rittmeister (OF-2)

See also

• Comparative ranks of Nazi Germany
• Table of ranks and insignia of the Waffen-SS

Notes

1. McNab 2009b, p. 15.
2. Stein 1984, p. 297.
3. McNab 2009, pp. 29, 30.
4. 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.