Hauptfeldwebel (assignment)

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Hauptfeldwebel (Wehrmacht) (position title or appointment)
appointment insignia, ("double piston rings")
Country	Germany
Service branch	German Army
Abbreviation	HptFw
Rank	senior NCOs, e.g. Oberfeldwebel or Feldwebel
Formation	1938
Abolished	1945
Equivalent ranks	SS-Stabsscharführer

Company sergeant major
(Wehrmacht / Waffen-SS)

Heer, Luftwaffe
Hauptfeldwebel

Waffen-SS
SS-Stabsscharführer

In the German Wehrmacht, Hauptfeldwebel (German: [ˈhaʊ̯ptˌfɛltveːbl̩] ^ⓘ, short: HptFw; address: Herr Hauptfeldwebel) was not a rank but a position title, assignment or appointment, equivalent to the Commonwealth company sergeant major or U.S. company-level first sergeant. There was one such non-commissioned officer (NCO) in every infantry company, artillery battery, cavalry squadron, etc. He was the senior NCO of his subunit, but his duties were largely administrative and he was not expected to accompany his unit into an assault or a firefight.

The Hauptfeldwebel had many nicknames, including Spieß ("Spear") and Mutter der Kompanie ("mother of the company"). He wore two 10mm broad rings of NCO braid around the cuff of his sleeves, nicknamed Kolbenringe ("piston rings"), and carried a Meldetasche (reporting pouch) tucked into the tunic front, in which he carried blank report forms, rosters and other papers related to his duties. The German Army had no equivalent of the Commonwealth Regimental Sergeant Major.

The appointment could be held by a senior non-commissioned officer (Unteroffizier mit Portepee), normally Oberfeldwebel or Feldwebel. If the billet was filled out of necessity by an Unteroffizier ohne Portepee, he was termed a Hauptfeldwebeldiensttuer, or "one serving as Hauptfeldwebel." The equivalent appointment in anglophone armed forces might have been company sergeant major or U.S. company-level first sergeant.