The Honour Chevron for the Old Guard

A historic overview of the Honour Chevron for the Old Guard featuring some movies where it shows up.
More War Movie Content: / johnnyjohnsonesq
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Movies Featured:
Inglourious Basterds 2009
Schindler’s List 1993
Hitler: The Rise of Evil 2003
Stalingrad 1993
Downfall 2004
Conspiracy 2001
South Park (Series)
Anthropoid 2016
Rommel 2012
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade 1989
Cross of Iron 1977
The Bunker 1981
Band of Brothers 2001
300 (2006)
300: Rise of an Empire (2014)
#uniform #ww2 #history

[@TomFynn]

Fun fact: Why brown shirts? Because the fledgling NSDAP was strapped for cash and so they could only afford WW1 surplus, in this case shirts made for use in the tropics. But the Royal Navy beat the Kaiserliche Marine to the punch, so a lot of brown shirts were left over.

[@MrKersey]

Not only were the funds an issue for the acquirement of the SA uniforms. Many of the SA members were the veterans of the Great war, also members of post-war Freikorps, and as such they had their feldgrau uniforms at their disposal. There were numerous cases of NSDAP or SA insignia being sported on grey uniform, but the Army strongly opposed such practice and banned the use of army uniforms for political purposes.

[@eddiebiscetti3237]

The Brown shirts were surplus from the colonial service and were no longer required after the treaty of Versailles stripped Germany of her colonies.

[@theskippy7]

On the plus side,everyone who helped Hitler come to power,were killed off,because they couldnt be trusted,,a bit like todays elites.

[@christianblake3997]

It’s not a fun fact you moron because most people know this, just as Hugo Boss didn’t design the black Allgemeine uniform, it was designed by an SS member Walter Heck & Karl Diebitsch🧐

[@UkuleleVillain]

Suited their shitty personalities too

[@bigblue6917]

Rather helpful of them to let the Allies know who they needed to have a serious word with.

[@michaelandreipalon359]

For me, it looks a bit generic enough to easily be overlooked compared to Iron Crosses, Waffen-SS lightning bolts, eagle emblems, and even upward pointing gold chevrons.

[@PcGamerify]

That "V" on an SS mans shoulder means long dedicated service

it's how expensive clothes brands make clothes that look like garbage and how celebrities dress in them to look like hobos, only for the informed to know the real price

[@bigblue6917]

For the Allies that may be true. But Germans would know what it meant.

[@Chris-lr2qb]

@@PcGamerify Wow, really? Where'd you learn that?

[@kaumelt1961]

the iron cross is no bad symbol

[@HandyMan657]

A small single chevron with quite a history. Thank Johnny.

[@benitoharrycollmann132]

Very enlightening, Johnny. Here I thought, being a Canadian and all, that these men were all privates who never shed their chevrons. Thanks for another informative video!

[@goldenfiberwheat238]

Of course a Canadian would be watching this video lol

[@Fred_L.]

Close enough since they pretty much were dicks.

[@danzigrulze5211]

@@goldenfiberwheat238😆 🤣😂 That's a good one.

[@larryclemens1850]

In wwII, this would have been common knowledge among soldiers (esp intelligence officers) of all nations including Canadians.

[@MM22966]

I liked the simple summary at the end. It cuts through all the minutiae of military heraldry to what the symbol actually MEANS in real-world terms.

[@fazole]

It's really puzzling how Hollywood could get the ss chevron right, but 99% of the time, can't teach actors how to salute properly!

[@tsoliot5913]

The lambda on Spartan shields stood for Lacadæmonia, the "state" ruled by Sparta. Sparta = city of citizens, the political entity Lakadæmonia = territory traditionally ruled by Sparta. All Spartans were Lacadæmonian, not all Lacadæmonians were Spartans. JJ is correct, as usual, but the distinction might merit greater resolution for the curious.

[@1293ST]

the Athenians refer to the Spartans as Lakedaemonians. It right to say the Lakedaemonians were Spartans. The Helots wouldn't be citizens, only Spartans could be citizens. Thus all Lakadeemonians would be Spartans.

[@SampoPaalanen]

@@1293ST Well not really since Sparta wasn't only citystate in Lacadaemonia (also called Laconia), Sparta itself never directly ruled more then city itself and countryside around it, though it did have hegemony over other smaller cities that officially allies, Athenians referred to Spartans as Lacadaemonians as Sparta was the most prominent Citystate in the region but to say all Lacadaemonian are Spartan is not really correct since unlike Athens in Attica Sparta never as far as I know absorbed the lesser settlements into itself.

[@robertcaccavalla6469]

That was interesting, I would imagine most would never realize the ss was not part of the military and pledged allegiance to Hitler and not Germany.

[@tsoliot5913]

They were part of the military, but somewhat intentionally blurred the line between the political powers-that-be and the military. Institutional knowledge and organization requires, especially in this context, a professional dedicated military class. This is often the sharp end of the stick when political power actually gets put to use, however, and tends to be conservative, nativist/nationalist and meritocratic, which rarely aligns with revolutionary politics. Consequently, political officers and entire corps become necessary to subvert the power of generals in uncertain, revolutionary times. Often they get their initial justification for existence as bodyguards or personal protective details. The Red Guard, the Prætorian and Verangian guard, the Khmer Rouge, the SS, and many others have repeated this pattern over and over. Hitler and the top brass of the NS party mistrusted and feared the longstanding, successful and powerful military elite of the Wermacht, and used the SS to replace key locii of power within the command structure, to the same purpose of the Stalinist purges of the leadership of the Red Army. Thus, the virtue of the chevron to signify ideological trustworthiness. If you served the Party when outcomes were uncertain, you were above most suspicion while those who served under the interim military or even the Kaiser were ideologically suspect.

[@bigblue6917]

Well neither the SS nor the military liked each other. The SS because they thought that the military were not loyal enough and the military because they looked on the SS as poorly trained and badly led. In both cases they were right.

[@robertcaccavalla6469]

@tsoliot5913 wasn't It just the Hitler lifstandolfan (not spelled correctly) that were the ss elite division that fought? Himler himself wasn't a soldier and had no military decorations .

[@mardiffv.8775]

@@robertcaccavalla6469 Yes indeed, you are correct: there was an elite SS-division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler. However Himmler was a reserve officer in the Army, but he did not see combat. So no medals earned by Himmler. Mark Felton has a video about Himmler's early years.

[@fridrekr7510]

@@robertcaccavalla6469 Nearly one million men fought in the Waffen-SS. Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler was one of the first units and elite, but it wasn't the only one. Das Reich is another of the early units with high standards and Wiking probably was too. But there were units like Polizei and Totenkopf that were based around people who weren't soldiers which led to various problems. Then there were all the different non-German units with varying quality, the North/West Europeans generally had a good reputation but the Eastern/South Europeans less so. It's hard to make any blanket statements about the Waffen-SS since some units where among the best in the war while others broke down due to desertion before they could be deployed.

[@fridrekr7510]

The Gefreiter ranks are often misunderstood. They are all enlisted ranks (Mannschaften) and historically referred to soldiers who were experienced enough to be exempt from the mundane duties of the new recruits. A Gefreiter (one chevron) is not expected to lead but is just the highest rank of a normal soldier, ie. rifleman. Sometimes you see Gefreiters assigned specialist weapons like machine guns due to being the most experienced, but they are still grouped with the two lower ranks. Obergefreiter (two chevrons) is usually assigned as the deputy squadleader (stellvertretender Gruppenführer). Since the promotion to Obergefreiter does not require going to NCO or officer school, competent soldiers outside of leadership roles also often ended up with this rank such as snipers etc. Stabsgefreiter (two chevrons and one pip) was introduced in 1942 as a way to field promote enlisted soldiers into a squadleader role. After 6 months of service, a soldier could be promoted to Gefreiter if he showed promise. After a total of 2 years of service, a soldier could then be promoted to Obergefreiter. Stabsgefreiter required a total of 5 years of service with 2 years as a Obergefreiter, so it is a quite uncommon rank since the lowest NCO rank Unteroffizier only required 9 months of service and going to NCO school. Everything I wrote is based on the official practice in the Second World War, but the circumstances sometimes meant that a soldier had to function above his rank, ie. an Obergefreiter might temporary be a squadleader, but in those cases the Germans preferred having a lower rank fulfilling the position rather than prematurely promoting someone.

[@constantinexi6489]

So a lance corp?

[@fridrekr7510]

@@constantinexi6489 I don't understand what you mean by a "lance corp".

[@calanon534]

@@fridrekr7510 As in "Lance Corporal" - like in the United States Marines tradition. In the USMC, any rank above Lance Corporal is tied to a _billet,_ thus, no one can be promoted above Lance Corporal unless there's a specific opening. However, Lance Corporals can get called on to perform tasks above their rank, if they're experienced veterans. The difference here is that _Unteroffizer_ only requires a specific amount of time-in-service, then attendance to a specific school. A Lance Corporal might be what's called a "Terminal Lance" - they will never rise above that rank for their entire time in service due to multiple issues: Lack of available billets in their military specialty, politics being against them, senior officers or senior-most NCO's disliking them, favoritism towards "up-and-comer" new folks on a fast track, etc.

[@fridrekr7510]

@@calanon534 I'm aware of what a Lance Corporal is, I just assumed people would shorten it to LCpl rather than "lance corp". I'm opposed to simply translating foreign ranks to some English "equivalent" without explaining their function, since the responsibilities of ranks vary widely between countries and with time. For example, the modern USMC translations would be Gefreiter=Lance Corporal, Obergefreiter=Corporal, Unteroffizier=Sergeant. Meanwhile, modern British would be Gefreiter=Private, Obergefreiter=Lance Corporal, Unteroffizier=Corporal. The Wehrmacht equivalent to the "Terminal Lance" would most likely be Obergefreiter for someone starting the war as a recruit. But the German situation back then with a large conscript army and massive attrition meant that they didn't lack billets but rather men qualified to fill them. So the normal promotion track for a competent soldier would probably be Schütze->Gefreiter->Obergefreiter->possibly Unteroffizier, since some ranks could be skipped. Incompetent soldiers would stay as Oberschütze (PFC) ranked one below Gefreiter since that was a mandatory promotion after 6 months of service, if the soldier wasn't good enough to be promoted to Gefreiter instead.

[@calanon534]

@@fridrekr7510 You are correct, that a straight translation - like the NATO OR codes - isn't _quite right_ with a lot of cases, since different armies treat NCO and Officer ranks differently. There's even been an evolution in the US military in that regard, with immediate post-war billets of "high importance" being held by Majors, Lieutenant Colonels, and Colonels - which, today, are held by Colonels and Brigadier Generals.

[@oddballsok]

I find it astonishing that MOSt of us armchair historians here NEVER knew this, yet all those hollywood movie props specialists DID place this chevron CORRECTLY on the CORRECT person on the CORRECT arm. There really was NEVER a movie that got this chevron wrong ??

[@amkrause2004]

I've actually known this for a while. Ever since I watched the longest day as a kid. A lot of people on here, didn't know this. I guess they never look stuff up.

[@Bent773]

Professional costume designers know what they're doing

[@erdnusse277]

I guess if you know your stuff enough to know it exists, you know it enough to know where it goes.

[@propagandalf123]

Speak for yourself. I am no professional historian and yet I know a good deal about NSDAP Party awards. All a matter of interest and willingness to explore a largely taboo topic, not because it is that difficult to read about

[@johnladuke6475]

It doesn't seem odd for folks interested enough to drop a comment to know tidbits like this, but I agree it's a bit surprising for Hollywood to nail that detail in so many examples as we saw here. Sometimes costume designers can't even get the century right for historical pieces, or just make up garments that don't exist. The great care with these small details of rank is uncommon.

[@kenc9236]

I was always curious about these chevrons and now I know. Thanks Johnny.

[@Qnnrad]

You are the best, thank you for bringing these trivia back with excellent preparation and great editing. I've seen these markings but never thought that they indeed carry a loot of grim meaning

[@ChubbsterBrown]

Props to Johnny not shying away from saying nazi in educational context. It’s a very lame world when history, good or bad, becomes censored.

[@hexagonearthonaraccoonsoci675]

The reason why people tend to shy away this type of history is because many times it is used as a cover up for straight up nazism.

[@sandwichartist5053]

It would be more impressive if he said national socialist. Nazi is a slang term that was never used by the NSDAP

[@joecanteen7428]

@@sandwichartist5053 Last i know he are not neo-nazi or a membership.

[@joskarifinaukr6503]

Ironic that "Nazi" is in itself already a form of censorship. Using that word instead of the proper National Socialist is a subconscious signal that you're one of the good goys and are not committing wrongthink.

[@zacd7266]

⁠@@sandwichartist5053Nazi is a term in common usage to describe the NSDAP and is acceptable when describing them.

[@dovidell]

At last !!, that symbol that has been bugging me for more than 40 years has meaning - thank you so much !!!

[@twinsonic]

A 10 seconds Google search could have solved the mystery

[@TallDude73]

Small chevron, but people work with symbols a lot. It is what the chevron represents. Thanks for the info.

[@gregoryhattenfels7864]

Nice work dude ,i know a ton of military crap but never knew the significance of the chevron on Nazi uniforms. Well done big fella keep up the great work and safe travels.

[@marpintado]

Concise, precise and complete. Thank you!!!

[@garfieldsmith332]

Another very informative video. Learnrd some new history. Thanks for posting. I appreciate these historical videos.

[@RDJ1997]

Good stuff as always Johnny!

[@GRvyBB]

Fantastic, as always. Thank you!

[@edi9892]

Just one clarification: Hans Lander was apparently never an ideologue, but an opportunist and that's quite realistic... The opening made it very clear that he doesn't think like the fanatics in his party, but does evil, because he's good at it and when you're good at something, and enjoy it, why not make it a profession? PS: he's one of my favorite villains in movies.

[@Cybermat47]

The Lambda on Spartan shields stood for Lacedaemon, the region that Sparta was located in. The Nazis took inspiration from the Spartans, aiming to invade Eastern Europe and enslave the population just as the Spartans had invaded Messenia and enslaved its population, but that has nothing to do with why the Nazis used the chevron.

[@jamesthelamenter5464]

I did wonder what the chevron was I just dismissed it as a common unit marking. The more you know I guess.

[@charlieryan1736]

Thanks for making this interesting and informative video

[@Wikkus]

Every day's a school day! Love your concise and informative content :)

[@2428530]

This was awesome, I had always wondered about that patch worn by clearly high ranking nazis, but also for some N.C.Os. I had never made the connection about the arm that it was used on, or the fabric background, etc, etc, as explained here. Great video.

[@Benetkabc2nd]

Excellent video. Thank you

[@ShamileII]

Very informative video. Thanks!

[@infantryricky6807]

Thanks for this excellent explanation! Many times I tried looking this up & saw it as lower enlisted rank, but I couldn’t understand why some officers had them as well. Now I know.

[@andremontelongo5500]

Thank u for this video. Iv looked everywhere hundreds of times trying to figure out what that chevron thing was on thier shirts.

[@wiktorberski9272]

Never heard about it, so thank you very much for enlightment

[@Stueber84]

Thank you for this video. On photos of my Great Grandfather wo was in the SS I was never quite sure what it meant. This video really helped!

[@madmanmechanic8847]

wow that was interesting thanks for posting

[@ubergeek1968]

I have been trying to find the meaning of that chevron for about a year, thank you for this video

[@mbryson2899]

Johnny, you are one of the very few who can make trivia that usually only the most obsessed with into an informative and entertaining bit of knowledge sharing. ps- Was "A Can of Peaches" the sequel to "A Box of Aubergines?"

[@ryszakowy]

no it was a sequel to "revoked weekend passes" and a direct tie-in to "currahee running simulator"

[@slimjim8888]

You learn something new everyday... thank you

[@MajPickles]

Thanks, that was very informative!

[@subsidingjoshua9354]

great video !

[@c.j.cleveland7475]

I had always wondered what those chevrons were for. Thanks for a very informative video. 😁👍

[@padawanmage71]

Some reason, I’m reminded of the scene in ‘The Davinci Code’ where the main characters are talking the meaning behind ‘^’ and ‘v’.

[@adavis5926]

Thank you for the video. I had not known of the different distinctions of chevron badges. Would consider making one about the intelligence service for the ss, the SD?

[@riobigby6561]

Great video!

[@JafuetTheSame]

Hans Landa also has proficiency runes badge for non-germans which is kinda contradictory to the Honour Chevron and his Blood Order ribbon (for participating in the 1923 coup)... I guess they just gave him what looks cool (not blaming them when considering the overall tone of the movie).

[@michaelhoward3916]

Always make it to the end, always good stuff

[@i-a-g-r-e-e-----f-----jo--b]

I was wondering if that was a rank, funny how your video was the first one to explain it to me in 2023, lol. Thanks!

[@ajemma78]

I come here for the tiny details! I'm here until the end of them all!

[@samg5463]

Nice video. The NSDAP ranking system across the board is a wild and wonky Byzantine structure. Wouldn’t mind seeing more of this stuff.

[@rcinpact4480]

Didn’t know that. Sweet!

[@peterlutz7191]

Very interesting, thanks for posting. One question I've never found the answer to is. What is the ribbon many German soldiers wore in the front button hole of their uniform and what did the colors signify?

[@frednone]

Thanks, learned something new today.

[@stevebailey325]

I was a lance corporal (twice lol once in the way up and once on the way down) do i get 2 of the awards? 😅 great vids Johnny! Keep up the great work!

[@itsjohndell]

Noce one Johnny! I learned something new!

[@alexamg6675]

lol that South Park episode with the news caster as a Nazi is hilarious when he screams in German at a little girl running

[@omisan771]

0:37. Casting a tall, skinny Peter O'Toole to play a very portly Otto von Bismarck was so stupid. Look at him lost in that costume.

[@SuiLagadema]

I thought it was the rank of gefreiter but it really confused me when I saw it on officers as well. Thank you for filling my ignorance a little bit.

[@paleoph6168]

1:42 Kenneth Branagh and Colin Firth in the same movie, wow!

[@JohnnyJohnsonEsq]

Conspiracy is a great overlooked movie. Going to review it soon.

[@billyponsonby]

I always wondered and now I know.

[@MilesORose-cm9jd]

you should make a vid on cigarrettes in wwii and maybe lucky strike or something like that. maybe as seen in bob. also love your vids, keep at it!

[@ryanwaits6733]

Love the tangents!

[@Strafprozessordnung]

Regarding the word "Winkel" (=anble), we still use that word in the Bundeswehr to distinguish NCOs with Portepee and without. Theres two distinguished classes/career paths for NCOs, the Unteroffizier and Feldwebel (which is both seargeant in english), but the Feldwebel has a Winkel in his rank. So the difference between the two NCO paths or rank groups for visual differentiation is the "Winkel", but this has developed entirely different than the Nazi one.

[@kirillslavitonov9486]

And Landa wears the Blood Order. He was there on the putsch

[@mh-ht2fp]

Himmler created that because he felt bad, he was one of the only seniors with no combat experience. So, he wanted something distinguished.

[@RandallFrequentFlyerFlagg]

What episode is that South Park footage at the end of the video from?

[@MayumiC-chan9377]

i love these videos my husband always explain things to me so does my father-in-law who are both ex-military men.

[@matbannerson]

I chuckle at the fact that this shape is essentially the logo for Battlefield 5 (obviously meant as the roman numeral in actuality, but still funny to think about)

[@pdenigma9444]

Well, not everyone who wore the Honor Chevron are SS. Many SA, NSKK, NSFK, RAD, etc... members were also given Honor Chevrons.

[@vernonensminger8710]

Thank you I never understood that shevron.

[@TheJoeSwanon]

Friggin south park throwing the little details in there

[@florianstumpf4349]

Your pronunciations were good, just like the video itself 👌

[@vonsopas]

That’s interesting, because the soldiers that appear when you mentioned the Gefreiter rank were SS, but the equivalent to Gefreiter in the Waffen-SS would be Ss-Sturmann; just found out that they wore that same chevron. Cheers!

[@stevekaczynski3793]

These chevrons were worn on the left arm and only there - not both arms as in the US and British armed forces.

[@fridrekr7510]

The rank insignia of the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS are the same, it's just that the Luftwaffe and the Waffen-SS also added collar ranks in addition to the standard sleeve rank for enlisted and shoulder rank for NCOs and officers. The only difference is that the Waffen-SS used black as the background colour of the insignia while the Wehrmacht used green, grey or blue depending on the branch.

[@hasAcar]

20 years before that, it was for king and country

[@NikolaosLedZeppelin]

this chevron is for those fought in the great war (WWI)

[@bonsai3547]

what is this red strip on the Knöpfe for? johnny?

[@paulwee1924dus]

I had seen one in the movie "Mein Fuhrer" 2007 at Reichsheinies tunic. But nice video sir.

[@allanalopez1756]

You should do another video like this ❤❤❤

[@elitedavidhorne8494]

I always thought it strange that officers wore what looked like a junior NCO stripe.

[@brandonstevens5628]

Awesome video. Quick question Martin Bowman has the Chevron, but was he a member of the SS? I didn't think he was?

[@Vextonomy]

Nice vide

[@northernshield5414]

BRUH, YT DID NOT JUST GIVE ME AN AD FOR RECREATIONAL WW2 UNIFORMS UNDER THIS VIDEO XD

[@charliesword8101]

My favorite World War Two TV show: A Can of Peaches

[@ryszakowy]

@charliesword8101 thinks this is a can of peaches, that is incorrect your weekend pass is revoked. change into PT gear, we're running currahee.

[@charliesword8101]

@@ryszakowy NOOOOOOO

[@GRvyBB]

Why does the dude at 3:53 look like Robert Downey Jr.?

[@stvdagger8074]

It is Michael Kitchen. In addition to this role in "the Bunker', you may know him from :Fatherland" where he also played a SS officer. He was also in Goldeneye and "The World is Not Enough" as Bill Tanner. He also played the title role in the TV Series "Foyle's War"

[@Nobody.exe50]

i love to learn whit this guy,

[@alperisler89]

when you showed that scene from Stalingrad, it was confusing as to why that private be an SS? Then you explain the chevron not to be confused with a Private's one.

[@ThePerfectRed]

I love it when movies capture historic details that 99.9% of their viewers will overlook.

[@rolfagten857]

Also falsly seen in the Forgotten Battle (De slag om de Schelde / 2021) On the SS uniform in the German hospital.

[@TellySavalas-or5hf]

Played bye Pit Bukowski.

[@paulwee1924dus]

Yeah ! i had seen that warmovie! The SS soldier in that wheelchair had wrong shoulderpieces also.

[@apacifistmachinegunner669]

he also had the blood order medal (red ribbon on breast pocket) Given to those who participated in the beer hall putsch

[@carlpretorius1584]

I can only imagine the consequences, when one would mistake a chevroned SS-general for a Lance-Corporal.....

[@user-om4kf7vn6w]

I can feel it 😂

[@panzerivausfg4062]

"DOMINIC DE COCO" "BRAVO"

[@stuartjomes7289]

Johnny 👍

[@alexboehm3919]

Huh, so is this where the V in the Battlefield V title logo comes from?

[@Ihavpickle]

GOODNIGHT SIR

[@kwisatzhaderach1458]

Chevron symbolism is everywhere, especially in Space programs...NASA being spearheaded by a literal Nazi rocket scientist 😂

[@FiveLiver]

Well I never knew that.

[@Awwest626]

4:59 top left corner, that is contraband. Your weekend pass is revoked.

[@BadgerOfTheSea]

Does SS Sniper Wolf have a chevron?

[@MBP1918]

Interesting

[@user-ch7wn5fk8d]

Well done !

[@robertobrien4799]

Why are the eagles on different places on the uniform?

[@Getoffmycloud53]

It is a bit of a myth that the army was apolitical. Yes, by law it was, but many senior officers were sympathetic to national socialist ideals, especially the younger generation of junior officers. There was a kind of “saying” that the Army was royal (founded by the King), the navy was imperial (founded by the Kaiser) and the Luftwaffe was National Socialist (founded by the Nazis). Conservatives tend to support fascism when confronted by popular / socialist / communists opposition. Even when some did not like the Nazis, they hated the left much more. That’s probably the main reason why the army did not stop the nazis when they could. Do some reading on Kurt von Schleicher, interesting stuff. Some of it is a lesson for today.