Heer Sonderführer Uniform

Service blouse for a Heer Sonderführer (Z) with the equivalent rank of Leutnant,  having four pleated pockets, turn back cuffs and stand and fall collar covered with blue grey colored trikot wool, blouse itself is also made from trikot wool, with six button front, lining of green rayon and with dagger hanger, having one internal pocket. The woven Sonderführer collar patches are hand sewn, the shoulder boards on blue grey wool colored underlay are sewn in, the flatwire national emblem is hand applied.

SONDERFÜHRER (EARLY UNIFORM):

The Sonderführer or Sonderführer mit Militärischer Kommandobefugnis (with military command authority) were specialist leader positions established in 1937 to place personnel with needed skills inside the military structure.  In addition, the Sonderführer could be added to the manning roster of a unit without the deduction of an NCO or officer.

With the draft of Sonderführer to military service, the competence of civil experts and specialists could be exploited. A huge variation of service functions such as foreign languages, propaganda work, medical service, veterinary service, and the like, was possible. Typically, the men were not trained as soldiers.

They received the pay applicable to the position they were holding, but only by virtue of their temporary appointment. As a rule, Sonderführer was not allowed to execute the command and disciplinary powers vested in the rank. However, this was changed in 1942 when officer assignments received regular military training, in order to join the reserve officer corps.

This Sonderführer (Z), is equivalent to Leutnant or Oberleutnant and may have been employed as an interpreter, construction engineer, finance officer, administration officer, archaeologist, museum curator, agriculture scientist, railway or transportation supervisor, photographer, or another specialty in a Propaganda unit.

In soldier´s slang, as well as Wehrmachtsbeamte and  Militärpfarrer, called Schmalspuroffiziere or narrow-gauge officers.

Sonderführer of the Heer wore the standard military uniform but their collars and cap bands were blue-grey rather than army green, with unique shoulder and collar insignia. The collar patch was blue-grey with a gable-end device like that of Beamter. 

The original patterns, worn until March 1940 and again after December 1942, were narrow versions of army shoulder boards: a single doubled strip of aluminum braid for company-grade officer equivalents, and a single braided strip for field-officer equivalents; NCO equivalents were similar to junior officers' but green.

Instead of rank pips, Sonderführer wore braided gold rings encircling the shoulder straps. a checkered look from 1940-42 an entirely different type of shoulder board was worn: this was like the army equivalent, but the braid used incorporated repeating black-white-red chevrons, giving the whole. Ordinary rank pips and specialization pins were worn with these "Second Regulation" epaulets.