Arthur R. Butz – The Hoax Of The Twentieth Century

Appendix B: SS Ranks
The SS ranks and their approximate U.S. Army equivalents are as follows:
Table 12: SS ranks and their approximate
U.S. Army equivalents
U.S. ARMY
SS
Private
SS Mann
Private First Class
Sturmmann
Corporal
Rottenführer
Sergeant
Unterscharführer
Staff Sergeant
Scharführer
Technical Sergeant Oberscharführer
Master Sergeant
Hauptscharführer
First Sergeant
Sturmscharführer
Second Lieutenant
Untersturmführer
First Lieutenant
Obersturmführer
Captain
Hauptsturmführer
Major
Sturmbannführer
Lieutenant Colonel Obersturmbannführer
Colonel
Standartenführer
Colonel
Oberführer
Brigadier General
Brigadeführer
Lieutenant General Gruppenführer
General
Obergruppenführer
General of the Army Oberstgruppenführer
One can exercise a certain amount of choice on this subject. The three grades
of Gruppenführer are sometimes equated with Major General, Lieutenant General
and General, respectively. An Oberführer is sometimes described as a “Senior
Colonel” or a Brigadier General; in the latter case a Brigadeführer is equated with
a Major General.
These ranks had their origin in the early days when the SS was something of
an offshoot of the SA, which had similar ranks.
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