Luftwaffe Civilian Workers – Base Firefighters visor hat set (2445)

Luftwaffe Civilian Workers – Base Firefighters, Doormen, Lift Operators, etc.

Luftwaffe personnel structure consisted of two broad categories, Wehrmachtangehörige or members of the armed forces, and Wehrmachtgefolge or auxiliaries of the armed forces.

The Wehrmachtangehörige consisted of Soldaten or military personnel in a limited sense (officers and enlisted), and Beamten or military officials, either belonging to the general category of Wehrmachtbeamte, or one of four Sondergruppen (special groups of officials): Engineers, Navigators, Aircraft Pilots or Flying Safety. In 1944 supply officers and judge-advocates were transferred from the Officials category, to the Soldiers category as officers of the Truppensonderdienst. As a war-time measure, Sonderführers were introduced, filling positions normally held by trained officers or non-commissioned officers without having the required military training. Beamte auf Kriegsdauer (war-time officials) were filling positions normally held by trained officials, without having the required civil service training.

The Wehrmachtgefolge consisted in peace-time of civilian salaried employees and workers of the Luftwaffe. During the war several new classes of full or par time duty personnel were added to the Wehrmachtgefolge, such as: Luftschutzwarndienst, the male personnel of the air raid warning service; Sicherheits- und Hilfsdienst, the barracked security and assistance service of the civil defense; Luftwaffenhelferinnen, the female Luftwaffe auxiliaries; Luftwaffenhelfer, underage male youth serving anti-aircraft batteries between school or work; Flakwehrmänner, male workers in reserved occupations serving anti-aircraft batteries during air-raids. The Wehrmachtgefolge also contained units from paramilitary organizations, as far as they were subordinated to the Luftwaffe during the war, such as: Reichsarbeitsdienst, National Socialist Motor Corps, and Organization Todt.