Rank of Staffelmeister

[Simon O.]

Does anyone know what the rank of Staffelmeister is and which organisiation used it?

[Gerdan]

Normally "Staffelmeister" is a term of sport dealing with relay. A Staffelmeister is a champion in relay, as far as I know, not a military rank.

Gerdan

[Simon O.]

Well it certainly was a military or paramilitary rank in the war.


There's a Staffelmeister buried in the German war cemetery up here

http://www.volksbund.de/graebersuche...CC2AE18C9DDF76


<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=4 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=headtabelle width="36%">Nachname:</TD><TD class=bodytabelle width="64%">Jordan </TD></TR><TR><TD class=headtabelle width="36%">Vorname:</TD><TD class=bodytabelle width="64%">Günther </TD></TR><TR><TD class=headtabelle width="36%">Dienstgrad:</TD><TD class=bodytabelle width="64%">Staffelmeister </TD></TR><TR><TD class=headtabelle width="36%">Geburtsdatum:</TD><TD class=bodytabelle width="64%">12.09.1923 </TD></TR><TR><TD class=headtabelle width="36%">Geburtsort:</TD><TD class=bodytabelle width="64%"></TD></TR><TR><TD class=headtabelle width="36%">Todes-/Vermisstendatum:</TD><TD class=bodytabelle width="64%">14.02.1941 </TD></TR><TR><TD class=headtabelle width="36%">Todes-/Vermisstenort:</TD><TD class=bodytabelle width="64%"> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

[Gerdan]

I never found this rank before. Could you imagine in which organization/unit you will find this

rak?

Gerdan

[Gerdan]

Nevertheless I do not know which rank he has I found an other soldier in the Volkabund list with the rank "Staffelmeister":

Nachname: Fricke
Vorname: Karl
Dienstgrad: Staffelmeister
Geburtsdatum: 17.03.1917
Geburtsort: Mettmann
Todes-/Vermisstendatum: 15.09.1939
Todes-/Vermisstenort: Laszki/Polen


Gerdan

[Simon O.]

That's why i'm asking, I haven't a clue!

What about one of the beamten type ranks?

[Gerdan]

Never heard about a rank like this and I did a research too.

Normally you should find an ordinary military or civil rank namen in the www.

Gerdan

[wewelsburg]

Just that, head of the sports for a unit.I know Kreigsmarine had one as Ive seen this term in a roster of men.
Its basically a coach.Each organisation/army had to do athletic training,SS,KM,SA,NSKK,Heer,etc etc etc.as each has their own sport uniform{tank top,shorts} as youve seen.This would be teh atletics trainer.

[Gerdan]

wewelsbur

so it is a function and not on a military rank.

Gerdan

[Simon O.]

Ah, then this would be the same a 'PTI' in the British army? (physical training instructor)

[Gerdan]

I made a request and asked directly the Volksbund to give me some information an theses 2 soldier KIA with the unknown rank: Staffelmeister.

The checked the entry and told me that they made a mistake and that the correct rank

should be "SS- Staffelmann" (the lowest SS rank).

The also annouced me to correct the entry in the list.


Gerdan

[Tim DC]

8 year old thread, I know, but I also found a "Staffelmeister".. who was according to his death card a "Obergefreiter in einem Gebirgsjägerregiment". There were of course SS GJ as well, but not so sure if the explanation of the Volksbund was correct...

Nachname:Koller
Vorname:Konrad
Dienstgrad:Staffelmeister
Geburtsort:nicht verzeichnet
Todes-/Vermisstendatum:11.01.1945
Todes-/Vermisstenort:nicht verzeichnet

[Archi]

Hello !

Thanks for bringing up this old topic, I found this a very interesting question.
And I also could not find any hint that a rank of Staffelmeister was used within the Wehrmacht.

The first thing I find worth noting, is that all Staffelmeister entries are from Volksbund or other listings of KIA / MIA soldiers.
So far noone has shown a SB/WP or award doc with that "rank".
Therefore I would tend to believe, that it is a kind of error/misinterpretation
during the registration process.

- So my first question would be, what kind of lists does the Volksbund use to fill in the database ?
(Handwritten, written with typewriters, etc ... ?)

- The next question is, which word/abbreviation could be (mis-)interpreted as Staffelmeister ?
(If this is from handwritten lists, the closest German word I could think of is : Waffenmeister or maybe Stabszahlmeister ?! )

However, what speaks against it. is that many of the soldiers are relative young and seem to be unlikely senior NCOs.

Then there is the 3rd question :
If the abbreviation is from SS rank Staffelmann, why would it possibly be used/misread as "rank" of regular Heer soldiers ?

=> In the example by shown by Tim DC, there seem to be no connection to a SS-unit.

Regarding the two soldiers Gerdan contacted the Volksbund abaout :
Regarding the place of death of Fricke in Poland, I have doubts that SS-units were in that area.
For Jordan in Norway, I do not know whether SS-units were in that area.

Here is another one, Erich Gustje, who fell in Belorus at Kurgan, 10.07.41, but I have no idea which unit :
http://www.denkmalprojekt.org/2017/p...1_wk2_bay.html

But there are also examples which seem to have a SS connection :
Here is one (also listed as Sturmmann und Staffelmeister ) :
Heinz Berk (this could be SS-Inf.-Pionier, because III./SS-Rgt. DF took WesterVoort (near Arnhem) on 10.5.40) :
http://www.kriegstote.org/cgi-bin/ba...tuell&Id=93686

And then there is one Staffelmeister mentioned in a FdW thread, there obviously a member of a Police unit
(but noone answered the question about the rank !) :
https://www.forum-der-wehrmacht.de/i...517#post566517

I hope this gives some additional input on this interesting question.

Best regards,

Archi