Gefreiter

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Gefreiter

Gefreiter is the German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
, Swiss

Switzerland

Switzerland is a landlocked Swiss Alps country of roughly 7.7 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km?. Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states called Cantons of Switzerland....
and Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west....
n equivalent for Private (OR-2)

Private (rank)

A Private is a soldier of the lowest military rank . The term dates from the Middle Ages, where privates were known as "private soldiers" who were either hired, conscripted, or feudalism into service by a nobleman forming an army....
in the armed services. Gefreiter was the lowest rank to which an ordinary soldier could be promoted. As a military rank it has existed since at least the 16th century. From the 1920s on Gefreiter has expanded into several additional ranks, those being Obergefreiter
Obergefreiter

Obergefreiter is rank of the Germany and Switzerland militaries which dates from the 19th century....
, Hauptgefreiter, Stabsgefreiter and Oberstabsgefreiter.

A similar rank exists in Russia

Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
("????????"; yefreytor, efreitor), Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south....
(????????, ; yefreytor, efreitor) and Belarus

Belarus

Belarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the north....
and existed in late Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
.

lery align=right widths="50px"> Image:Gefreiter.png|German Army

German Army

The German Army is the land component of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. Traditionally the German military forces have been composed of the Army, the Deutsche Marine, and an Luftwaffe after World War I....
rank insignia (shoulder tab) Image:2 - gefr.GIF|German Navy

German Navy

Bundeswehr

The Bundeswehr is the name of the unified armed forces of the Germany and their civil administration and procurement authorities. The States of Germany are not allowed to maintain armed forces of their own, since the Constitution determines that matters of defense fall into the sole responsibility of the Federal government....
, almost every soldier or sailor successfully passing the 12 weeks basic training is promoted to Gefreiter.

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Gefreiter'

Start a new discussion about 'Gefreiter'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

Gefreiter is the German

Germany

Switzerland

Austria

Private (rank)

Russia

Ukraine

Belarus

Soviet Union

Germany

Image:Gefreiter.png|German Army

German Army

German Navy

Bundeswehr

NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization , also called the Atlantic Alliance, is a military alliance established by the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949....
ranking system, Gefreiter ranks as Private (OR-2), Obergefreiter and Hauptgefreiter as PFC (OR-3), Stabsgefreiter and Oberstabsgefreiter as Specialist (OR-4). The German equivalent of Private (OR-1) is Schütze
Schütze

Sch?tze in German language means "shooter" or "rifleman". It also occasionally occurs as a surname, as Sch?tz, like in the opera Der Wildsch?tz....
or another unit type-specific term (like Kanonier, "gunner" in the artillery ; "Jäger", "hunter" in the infantry) in the Heer (German Army

German Army

German Navy

The German Navy The German Navy traces its roots back to the Imperial Fleet of the Revolutions of 1848 and more directly to the Prussian Navy, which later evolved into the Northern German Federal Navy and became the Imperial Navy ....
), Flieger in the Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe

is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1933 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
(Air Force

Air force

An air force, also known in some countries as an air army or historically an army air corps , is in the broadest sense, the national armed force or armed service that primarily conducts aerial warfare....
), or simply Soldat ("[ordinary] soldier").

The lowest NCO

Non-commissioned officer

A non-commissioned officer , also known as an NCO or Noncom, is an enlisted rank member of an armed force who has been given authority by a officer ....
grade in the German army is Unteroffizier
Unteroffizier

Unteroffizier is both a specific military rank as well as a collective term for non-commissioned officers of the German military that has existed since the 19th century....
(literally "Sub-Officer"), which is equivalent to an American sergeant or a British corporal in responsibility (e.g. squad leader).

The Kriegsmarine used the rank of Matrosengefreiter, equivalent to an Able Seaman

Able Seaman (rank)

Royal NavyIn the United Kingdom Royal Navy in the middle of the 18th century, the term Able Seaman referred to a seaman with at least two years' experience at sea....
or Leading Seaman

Leading Seaman

Leading Seaman is a non-commissioned member rank or rate in navy, particularly those of the Commonwealth of Nations....
.

One of the best known holders of the rank of Gefreiter was Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born Germany politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , popularly known as the Nazi Party....
, who held the rank in the Bavaria

Bavaria

Bavaria , with an area of and almost 12.5 million inhabitants, is a region located in the southeast of Germany and is the largest States of Germany of Germany by area....
n 16th Reserve Infantry Regiment during World War I

World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
. At the time, it was the equivalent of a lance corporal

Lance Corporal

Lance Corporal is a military rank, used by many armed forces worldwide, and also by some police forces and other uniformed organizations. It is below the rank of Corporal, and is typically the lowest Non-commissioned officer or enlisted rank, usually equivalent to the Ranks and insignia of NATO....
in the American and British armies.

Switzerland

See Swiss army ranks

Swiss army ranks

Swiss army ranks have changed little over the centuries, except for the introduction, in 2001, of a new set of warrant officers. The rank of Fourier, for instance, bestowed on the WO who administers a company's finances and subsistence, has been discontinued in the French army, but remains in Switzerland....
.

Austria

Russia, Ukraine, Belarus

See Russian military ranks, Army ranks and insignia of Ukraine.