The German Tarn Dienstgradabzeichen, or camouflage rank insignia, were specialized sleeve badges introduced in late summer 1942 for wear on uniforms lacking shoulder straps, such as camouflage smocks, winter parkas, mountain windbreakers, tropical shirts, and HBT fatigues used by the Heer and Waffen-SS during World War II. Officially authorized by the Allgemeine Heeresmitteilungen order Nr. 742 of 22 August 1942, these insignia replaced conventional shoulder boards to maintain rank visibility while preserving the low-profile nature of field and camouflage clothing. Constructed as rectangular cloth patches, typically on a black or dark green backing, they featured green or black embroidered or printed horizontal bars for non-commissioned officers and combinations of oak leaves with bars or pips for officers and generals. Unteroffiziere ranks were indicated by one to five horizontal bars of increasing number and thickness, corresponding to Unteroffizier through Stabsfeldwebel or their Waffen-SS equivalents such as Unterscharführer to Sturmscharführer. Company-grade officers displayed one or more oak leaves above a single bar, while field-grade officers added additional leaves or bars, and generals employed more elaborate oak-leaf clusters often with golden embroidery. The badges were sewn onto the left upper sleeve, approximately midway between the shoulder and elbow, ensuring they remained visible yet did not compromise the disruptive patterns of Splinter, Plane Tree, or Oak Leaf camouflage. Both machine-printed and hand-embroidered versions existed, with the printed types becoming more common later in the war due to material shortages. Although primarily intended for combat and specialized clothing, the system was later extended to Wehrmacht officials and Sonderführer. These Tarn Dienstgradabzeichen remained in use until 1945 and are today recognized as distinctive elements of German wartime field uniform regulations that balanced hierarchy with practical camouflage requirements.
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LUFTWAFFE
Oberst Wolf-Dietrich Wilcke was born on 11 March 1913 in Schrimm in the Province of Posen and initially enlisted in the cavalry in 1934 before transferring to the newly formed Luftwaffe as an officer candidate the following year, completing his pilot training and serving as an instructor at the Jagdfliegerschule Werneuchen prior to a brief tour with the Legion Condor in Spain. Returning to Germany he joined Jagdgeschwader 53, rising by the outbreak of war to Hauptmann and Staffelkapitän of the 7. Staffel of III. Gruppe, scoring his first victory over a French Potez 637 on 7 November 1939 and adding further successes during the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain, where he was forced to bale out over the Channel on 13 August 1940 after engine failure yet was rescued. In the opening phase of Operation Barbarossa he claimed his twenty-fifth aerial victory and was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 6 August 1941 as Hauptmann. After a period of service in North Africa, Malta and Sicily from December 1941 to May 1942, during which he added four more victories, he returned to the Eastern Front and transferred to the Geschwaderstab of Jagdgeschwader 3 “Udet,” becoming Kommodore of the Geschwader on 12 September 1942. Having achieved his one-hundredth victory on 6 September he received the Eichenlaub on 9 September 1942 as Hauptmann, and on 17 December 1942, during the fighting over Stalingrad, he became the fourth fighter pilot to reach one hundred and fifty victories. For a total of one hundred and fifty-five confirmed aerial victories he was awarded the Schwerter on 23 December 1942 as Major and Kommodore of Jagdgeschwader 3 “Udet.” Although officially grounded from further operational flying after the award of the Schwerter, he continued to fly combat missions in the Defence of the Reich and on 23 March 1944, after claiming his one-hundred-and-sixty-second and final victory, a Boeing B-17 and a North American P-51 Mustang, he was himself shot down near Schöppenstedt by American Mustang fighters and killed in the ensuing crash, having flown seven hundred and thirty-two combat sorties and attained one hundred and sixty-two confirmed victories, twenty-five of them in the West including four four-engined bombers.
Major Johann Zemsky (1909-1942) was born on 11 April 1909 in Vienna as the son of a civil servant and entered the Austrian Bundesheer in 1928 as a non-commissioned officer in the artillery, completing an officer course in 1932 and receiving promotion to Leutnant in 1936 before volunteering for the Luftwaffe after the Anschluss in 1938. By 1939 he served as an Oberleutnant and flying instructor at the Stukaschule in Insterburg, then flew combat missions with Sturzkampfgeschwader 3 against Britain in 1940, earning the Eisernes Kreuz II. Klasse on 24 February 1940. On 1 September 1940 he was promoted to Hauptmann and appointed Staffelkapitän of 6./Sturzkampfgeschwader 1, distinguishing himself in anti-shipping operations near Crete, Malta and the eastern Mediterranean that brought him the Eisernes Kreuz I. Klasse in May 1941. Transferred to the Eastern Front for Operation Barbarossa, he assumed command of II. Gruppe/Sturzkampfgeschwader 1 in September 1941 after the death of Hauptmann Anton Keil and led highly successful dive-bomber attacks against ground targets around Bialystok, Minsk, Vitebsk, Gomel, Kiev and Moscow. For completing more than 300 combat sorties he received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 4 February 1942 as Hauptmann und Gruppenkommandeur of II./Sturzkampfgeschwader 1. Continuing operations on the southern sector through the battles for Kharkov and toward Stalingrad, where he marked his 500th sortie in July 1942, he was slightly wounded by anti-aircraft shrapnel in June yet remained in command. On 28 August 1942, during his 600th combat mission near Mal-Rosowka in the Battle of Stalingrad, his Ju 87 was shot down by Soviet anti-aircraft fire; although he managed to bail out, his parachute failed to open and he was killed. Posthumously promoted to Major with effect from 1 August 1942, he was awarded the 117th Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz on 3 September 1942 as Major und Gruppenkommandeur of II./Sturzkampfgeschwader 1 in recognition of his 600 operational sorties.
Source :
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