Why is there no german rank to select?there all seem to be allied ranks,am sure a few guys would like to display a german rank instead of the list we have to choose from.or is it some sort of political thing?
just wondered
cheers karl

Well it's a kinda 'common sense' thing actually, Waffen SS ranks would tend to annoy many people (myself included)...Jim

They are kind of hard to follow. I know from reading about the Waffen SS that some of their ranks have no American equivalent.

Jim i see what you mean as i have just had a quick look on german ranks and some do look the same,
but it would be nice to choose.

This has been brought up several times and shot down each time by the webmaster/owner Staff_Jim. Normally stating the reasons Jimbrae relays above.

IIRC, it is Jim's personal decision not to have WW2 German ranks.

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/20550&page=1

I also believe that Jim has said he'd consider German ranks that weren't SS ranks, but that he hasn't found suitable HTML pictures of them to include.

German ranks are largely frowned upon the same way as the swastika so it was avoided like the plague.

Why not modern German ranks. They are a very big military force in the world.

Look at my handle....

I see a red cross...


Staff Jim has said before, there will be no SS ranks ( indeed, for obvious reasons), but he would consider modern German ranks, if he could find suitable images.

SS ranks annoying people? Thats sorta lame, because id like some. Also, he asked for german ranks, not SS ranks. Theres a huge difference.

Never going to happen ...here or on any other modelling site. And rightly so.

Id think it would be annoying, everyone is going to switch over to SS and German ranks.......

just my 2 cents

Okay All, I've got to jump in here and add my two cents.Once again people have lumped the Waffen SS in with the Einsatzgruppen as the "bad guys". This is the same prejudice that the GI's had at the end of the war. After liberating the first concentration camps the GI's saw the SS runes on the uniforms and automatically figured anyone with this insignia was "evil". What they didn't know, and I'm still appalled that in this day and age other's still don't know, is the Einsatzgruppen had TAN waffenfarbe and the Waffen SS had White. The Waffen SS were an ELITE group of soldiers, not the Death Squads that comprised the Einsatzgruppen.
Every country, Allied and Axis, committed war crimes, but remember the winner's write the history books. At least Germany admitted thier part in war crimes and tries to make amends, unlike the japanese who have always and still do deny any wrong doing on thier part.
Once again, sorry for the rant, but I have met several SS veterans in my years of reenacting, and I'll gladly buy them a beer, along with any allied vet. take care who you bash if you don't have all the facts.

I usually not reply questions like this, because it´s kinda political sort of thing that could upset some people. But I think that confusing or mix Wehrmacht Heer and Waffen SS, even in model making, it´s unfair for the people that had a relative that fought for the German Army in WWII. Mainly because many of the current production model kits are oriented precisely to that period, and many people here has built or a Michael Wittmann Tiger or Adolf Galland Me-109, a diorama of Berlin ´45, or has displayed a swastika for air recognition in some model like an airplane tale, ships or tanks of that period, so the model kits with that kind of features shoud be banned, too. I agree that Waffen SS ranks cannot be allowed, because there´s still people that confused them with the sadly famous Eisaztruppen, just for respect to some of our fellow modellers around the world, but I cannot see a problem with Heer Ranks, if so some people should be upset with the Soviet ranks, but no one has placed a complaint with that any many uses them. Most if is a British modeller that´s asking for that ranks. Modern Bundeswehr it´s a good choice, but keep trying with the Wermacht Heer ranks. I cannot agree more with pzkfwmk6, very nice contribution with those 2 cents.
Best Regards and thanks for the time you spent reading this.

I've got a set of modern german ranks I use on one of my boards.

cut and paste

http://www.panzer46.net/mg42board/images/Ranks/UA.png

Because when it comes to ranks, Allied sells. You German rank people can stuff it, no matter how much you want it.

Sorry for asking, maybe it´s a dumb question, but I cannot understand the expression "stuff it" .......could you explain it for me?
Many thanks and best regards

This is a bit hard to swallow. So let me take it one at a time.

1. The Waffen SS, the Wehrmacht, the Einsatzgruppen (and in fact the German state) WERE the bad guys. That's why we went to war with them.

2. Only Waffen SS infantry had the white waffenfarbe.

3. The Waffen SS may have been elite at the beginning of the war, but there was nothing elite about them by the end. Conscripts, convicts, camp guards, they were all in there. Heer units such as Grossdeutchland, the Brandenburgers, and the paras were far more elite. The definition of an elite is that they receive better training & equipment, and/or have a special mission. The Waffen SS had none of these attributes. They were just smaller, and so seemed elite due to the fact that they less regular infantry.

4. Every country commits war crimes, but six million Jews (plus several million gypsies, poles, etc) becomes genocide. There is a difference, and I'm yet to hear that the US or Britain did that in WW2.

5. As for the difference between the Waffen SS and Heer as far as being "evil" goes, there isn't a big difference. Most of the early massacres of Jews in Poland and Russia were carried out by Waffen SS , Heer and police units, not solely Einsatzgruppen.There will have been innocent members of the Waffen SS (as well as other Wehrmacht units) but their reputation (for both fighting capability as well as evil) is well deserved.

Having said that, I must say that I don't really care if this site has SS ranks or not, since we are happy to model SS figs & vehicles, I don't see why not. And those rank names do sound cool. But it's Staff Jim's site and if he says "never", I can live with that.

pzkfwmk6 has some good points, and I would agree with some of that. MightyRhinox also has some good points, and we should respect his views as well. I think that the question of the SS can be rather complicated and we would end up with endless debates about it if SS ranks were offered. Actually I really have no idea how the rank system here works :-) and I really don't care either.

This can be debated from now until the next Millenium, the simple fact is the following, the decision has been taken by the Site Owner and that, I believe, should be more than sufficient reason. Threads like this have a nasty habit of going out of control all too quickly and as such add little to the Forum contents..Jim

Yeah I think people should stop this discussion. I wouldn´t like to see a serious dispute here, since I think some stupid pictures aren´t worth destroying this community...

Just my humble opinion

I don't know about that. As long as everyone's reasonably polite, I think we should be free to discuss anything that the site's rules allow (no politics, current affairs, etc). People who aren't interested in the subject can ignore the thread.

Being that I am American and see a similar discussion any time the use of the Confederate Flag comes up, I think it's only fair to point out that any country or culture if examined through the lens of history can (at one time or another) be guilty of some very serious offences. That these offenses are usually committed by a minority of that country/cultures population. Just as their were perfectly honorable and moral people who fought for the Confederacy, so there were in Germany in WWII. My decision not to have SS ranks is both a personal one and a practical one. I have always maintained that I am not against having Wehrmacht ranks or non-SS ranks. I have Soviet ranks. Were not Stalin's secret police guilty of mass murder?

I hope the point is taken.

When I have the time and the images I will add the ranks. I am a little busy with many other site related things at this point.

Thanks,
Jim