Okay, I am in the process of taking a German History class and during my reading I have came across a couple of things which I find a little confusing. It may be my total lack of understanding of how the German military was structured for why I am confused, but I figured I would ask here. I have read in a couple of books now that Hitler was "decommisoned from the army". I have also read that he was Corporal in some books, while reading in others that he was a Lance Corporal. Here are my questions:
1.) Is the German military rank system structured so differently than Americas where a Corporal (who is an Non Commisoned officer in our American system) is actually a commisoned officer in Germany? If not, than why would he need to be "decommisoned" if he was just an NCO?
2.) Did Hitler get out of the military as a Corporal or Lance Corporal? At least in the American Marine Corps system, there is a huge difference between the two ranks.
Decomissioned just means let out of the military. It's a common term, it can be used for people, equipment, etc. Ex. "the M-14 was decomisioned when the M-16 was adopted for use"
"Decomissioned just means let out of the military. It's a common term, it can be used for people, equipment, etc. Ex. "the M-14 was decomisioned when the M-16 was adopted for use""
Thanks for the response. I was just confused with it, because in the US Marines we don't use it in that context. What about the LCpl/Cpl thing? Some books state he is a LCpl, while others say he was a Cpl.
It seems like most of the books seem to have him listed as a Corporal, but there are some that I have ran into, which refer to him as Lance Corporal. One of the more recent books I noticed this in was: "A History of Modern Germany" by Dietrich Orlow
In Chapter 4 is states that Hitler was a Lance Corporal.
I'm thinking that it is just due to the translation which makes the meaning of it a little gray for some historians.
Everything I've read has described him as being a corporal.
However, everything I've read has been in English. When translating from German to English, translators may have dropped the "Lance" and this translation may have proliferated due to incestuous referenceing.
Did Hitler get out of the military as a Corporal or Lance Corporal? At least in the American Marine Corps system, there is a huge difference between the two ranks.
He got out as a Gefreiter! It's often translated as Corporal (it's above a Private and below a Sergeant). At the time, it would have been like an E-3, so Lance Corporal would be the equivalent on the comparison charts to the USMC or British Army, but those aren't always exact. The Germans tended to give a lot more authority to their enlisted ranks than "equivalent" allied ranks would have had. That meant they were a lot choosier about their promotions. Time served might get a soldier from Schutze to Oberschutze (E-1 to E-2), but it would take meritorious service to get from Schutze to Gefreiter. Additional service could get you to Obergefreiter (which you sometimes see translated as "senrior corporal", Corporal is probably more of an equivalent, although Unteroffizier is also a rank translated as "corporal", at the time, probably more what the US/UK would have considered inbetween a Corporal and a Sergeant.) Beyond that (Unteroffizier and up), I believe you needed meritorious service with leadership potential.
"Boxing and ju-jitsu have always seemed to me more important.... ...physical culture must inoculate the individual with the conviction of his superiority and give him that self-confidence which lies forever and alone in the consciousness of his own strength; in addition, it must give him those athletic skills which serve as a weapon..."
Do you have a page number for where you found that in "Mein Kampf"? I liked to check it out. Pretty interestng that he mentions ju-jitsu.