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Hauptfeldwebel (HptFw or HF; lit.'Head Field Bailiff') is the third highest Non-commissioned officer (NCO) grade in German Army and German Air Force.[1] It is grouped as OR-7 / OR-8 in NATO, equivalent to US Army Sergeant 1st Class and Master Sergeant.[2] In army/ air force context NCOs of this rank were formally addressed as Herr Hauptfeldwebel also informally / short Hauptfeld.
History
The Hauptfeldwebel introduced by the German Wehrmacht in 1938, was not as a military rank but an assignment to "company sergeant" (German: Kompaniefeldwebel or Spiess). Most experienced Portepée-NCO with the rank Stabsfeldwebel or Oberfeldwebel (more seldom Feldwebel) have been assigned to that distinguished position. The equivalent assignment in the Waffen-SS was the SS-Stabsscharführer.
