The Ranks of the National People's Army were the military insignia used by the National People's Army, the army of the German Democratic Republic, from 1956 to 1990.
The design of the rank insignias followed the tradition of the German Army (German: Heer) with some modifications. For example, the cuff titles (chevron insignias) of the German: [[Gefreiter]] were replaced by Soviet-styled shoulder straps with cross-stripes.
Commissioned officer ranks up to German: [[Oberst]] featured four-pointed golden stars in increasing number according to seniority, and arranged following the Soviet pattern.
Junior officer (lieutenant and captain ranks) shoulder straps were made of silver satin string (German: Silberplattschnur). German: [[Unterleutnant]] had a single golden star, German: [[Leutnant]] two side-by-side stars, and German: [[Oberleutnant]] three stars in a triangle. German: [[Hauptmann]] rank had a fourth star above the triangular formation.
Senior officer shoulder straps were twisted silver cords, German: [[Major (rank)|Major]] had a single star, German: [[Oberstleutnant]] two stars, and German: [[Oberst]] three stars, again arranged following the Soviet example.
Generals wore twisted golden and silver cords with five-pointed stars numbering from one (German: [[Generalmajor]]) to four (German: [[Armeegeneral]]).
Remark: The different colours represent the appropriate service, branch, branch of service, or special troop.
See main article: Corps colours (NPA).
The table below contains the Ofiziersschüler ranks (en: student officers; equivalent to officer candidate or officer aspirant (OA)).
| +Fähnrichkorps and Fähnrichschüler of the NPA | |||||||
| Sleeve insignia (1979-1990) (not to Fähnrich-student) | German: [[Stabsoberfähnrich (NPA)|Stabsoberfähnrich]] | German: [[Stabsfähnrich (NPA)|Stabsfähnrich]] | German: [[Oberfähnrich (NPA)|Oberfähnrich]] | German: [[Fähnrich (NPA)|Fähnrich]] | German: [[Fähnrichschüler]] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W-4 | W-3 | W-2 | W-1 | W (Student) | |||
| (Staff-senior-Warrant Officer) | (Staff-Warrant Officer) | (Senior-Warrant Officer) | (Warrant Officer) | (Warrant Officer-Cadet) | |||
While the sleeve ranks of the German: Volksmarine officers were of the style used by the Soviet Navy, all shoulder board insignia used were German in origin, with the star arrangement for officers based on the Soviet rank insignia.
Unlike most Warsaw pact navies, the People's Navy also used staff corps insignia on the sleeve following traditional German practice. The sleeve rank insignia shown are those of the line officer corps.
| General officers | Field officers | Junior officers | ||||||||||
| Insignia[2] | ||||||||||||
| Ground and air forces | German: [[Armeegeneral]] | German: [[Generaloberst]] | German: [[Generalleutnant]] | German: [[Generalmajor]] | German: [[Oberst]] | German: [[Oberstleutnant]] | German: [[Major (rank)|Major]] | German: [[Hauptmann (officer)|Hauptmann]] | German: [[Oberleutnant]] | German: [[Leutnant]] | German: [[Unterleutnant]] | |
| General officers | Field officers | Junior officers | |||||||||||
| Insignia[3] | |||||||||||||
| Ground and air forces | German: [[Marshal of the German Democratic Republic|Marschall der DDR]] | German: [[Armeegeneral]] | German: [[Generaloberst]] | German: [[Generalleutnant]] | German: [[Generalmajor]] | German: [[Oberst]] | German: [[Oberstleutnant]] | German: [[Major (rank)|Major]] | German: [[Hauptmann (officer)|Hauptmann]] | German: [[Oberleutnant]] | German: [[Leutnant]] | German: [[Unterleutnant]] | |
| Navy | German: [[Flottenadmiral]] | German: [[Admiral]] | German: [[Vizeadmiral]] | German: [[Konteradmiral]] | German: [[Kapitän zur See]] | German: [[Fregattenkapitän]] | German: [[Korvettenkapitän]] | German: [[Kapitänleutnant]] | German: [[Oberleutnant zur See]] | German: [[Leutnant zur See]] | German: [[Unterleutnant zur See]] | ||
| Insignia | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ground, air forces &<br />navy | 4th year | 3rd year | 2nd year | 1st year | ||
| German: Offiziersschüler | ||||||
| Insignia | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ground, air forces &<br />navy | German: [[Stabsoberfähnrich (NPA)|Stabsoberfähnrich]] | German: [[Stabsfähnrich (NPA)|Stabsfähnrich]] | German: [[Oberfähnrich (NPA)|Oberfähnrich]] | German: [[Fähnrich (NPA)|Fähnrich]] | 2nd year | 1st year |
| German: [[Fähnrichschüler]] | ||||||
| Insignia | < | --None--> | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ground and air forces | German: [[Stabsfeldwebel]] | German: [[Oberfeldwebel]] | German: [[Feldwebel]] | German: [[Unterfeldwebel]] | German: [[Unteroffizier]] | German: [[Stabsgefreiter]] | German: [[Gefreiter der Ausbildung]] | German: [[Gefreiter]] | German: [[Soldat (rank)|Soldat]] | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Navy | German: [[Stabsobermeister]] | German: [[Obermeister]] | German: [[Meister (rank)|Meister]] | German: [[Obermaat]] | German: [[Maat (rank)|Maat]] | German: [[Stabsmatrose]] | < | --None--> | German: [[Obermatrose]] | German: [[Seaman (rank)|Matrose]] | ||||||||||||||||||||||