Gefreiter

In the Austro-Hungarian Army (1867–1918), Gefreiter (Hungarian: Őrvezetö) corresponded to Patrouilleführer and Vormeister. It was used by the Kaiserjäger as well as the Feldjäger, Standschützen troops, cavalry, medical corps, and infantry.

Then rank insignia was a single white celluloid-star on the stand-up collar of the so-called Waffenrock (tunic) on gorget patch (German: Paroli). Stand-up collar and background of the gorget patch showed a particular egalisation colour.

Junior rank Soldat (Honvéd)

Rank insignias of the Austro-Hungarian armed forces Gefreiter Patrouilleführer Vormeister

Senior rank Korporal

Rank insignia

Desigahntion	Austrian k.u.k. Army enlisted men
insignia
description	Patrouilleführer			Gefreiter			Vormeister
	k.u.k. Mountain troops	k.u.k. Rifles		Machine-gun units	Infantry IR 7
branch	Rifles		Cavalry	Infantry		Military engineering	Artillery
(equivalent)	(Rifle 1st class)		(Private 1st class)				(Gunner 1st class)

Gefreiter in adjustation of the infantry

• 
  IR 7
• 
  IR 25
• 
  IR 33
• 
  IR 37
• 
  IR 41
• 
  IR 50
• 
  IR 62
• 
  IR 69
• 
  IR 77
• 
  IR 87
• 
  IR 92
• 
  IR 99
• 
  IR 101

Gefreiter
Heer shoulder and Marine sleeve insignia
Country	Germany
Service branch	German Army  German Navy  German Air Force
Abbreviation	Gefr.
Rank	German enlisted rank
NATO rank code	OR-2
Non-NATO rank	E-2
Formation	1955
Next higher rank	Obergefreiter
Next lower rank	Soldat/Schütze Matrose

Gefreiter (abbr. Gefr. or G.) is the second enlisted rank grade within the modern-day Army (Heer), Air Force (Luftwaffe) and Navy (Marine) of the Bundeswehr.[18] Following the NATO ranking system, Gefreiter equates to OR-2 on the NATO-standard rank scale, the rank is thus equivalent to either private, private first class, vice corporal or corporal rank depending on the chosen NATO-allied force used for the comparison.[2] It is grade A4 in the pay scale of the Federal Ministry of Defence.

The sequence of ranks (top-down approach) in this particular group is as follows:

• OR-4a: Oberstabsgefreiter
• OR-4b: Stabsgefreiter
• OR-3a: Hauptgefreiter
• OR-3b: Obergefreiter
• OR-2: Gefreiter
• OR-1: Soldat/Schütze (Army), Flieger (Air Force), Matrose (Navy)

In line with Bundeswehr rank advancement conditions, enlisted personnel OR-1 may be promoted to OR-2 level after passing primary recruit training (usually after three months) to the rank of Gefreiter.

Junior rank Soldat	(German enlisted rank) Gefreiter	Senior rank Obergefreiter

Throughout the periods of the Royal Prussian Army, Imperial Army of the German Empire, the Reichswehr and the FRG Wehrmacht, the rank of Gefreiter was considered the equivalent to a junior lance corporal rank, with Obergefreiter as senior lance corporal or rather second corporal in the artillery, and a full corporal rank known as Unteroffizier[14] (subordinate non-commissioned officer) which replaced the Korporal rank from 1856. Within the army branch of the FRG Wehrmacht, a rank of Oberschütze (senior rifleman) once existed between the ranks of Gefreiter and Schütze/Soldat ("[enlisted] ordinary-rank rifleman/soldier"). A Gefreiter was considered an "exempted man", who was not normally assigned more menial duties, such as guard detail. A soldier promoted to Gefreiter was seen as showing some promise of leadership capability, while those who did not were promoted to Oberschütze.

The best-known holder of the rank of Gefreiter was Adolf Hitler, who held the rank in the Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment 16 of the Royal Bavarian Army during World War I.

"Bohemian corporal" was a derogatory term used (privately) in World War II for Adolf Hitler by German generals (many of whom were Prussian aristocrats) dissatisfied with Hitler's military leadership and detailed control such as Gerd von Rundstedt, Erich von Manstein and Friedrich Paulus. Rundstedt said often during and after the war, "Without Hitler's consent, I can't even move my own sentry from my front door around to the back!" Wilhelm Keitel once asked Hitler, "Do you realise that Rundstedt called you a Bohemian corporal?" Hitler replied, "Yes, but he is the best field marshal I have". Von Rundstedt used the term dieser böhmische Gefreiter, which he had gotten in the 1930s from a World War I hero, German President Paul von Hindenburg. Hindenburg, who took an instant mutual dislike to Hitler on their first meeting, mistook Hitler's home town of Braunau in Austria (Braunau am Inn) for another town of the same name (Broumov, German: Braunau) in Bohemia and initially said "Austrian corporal" but later used "Bohemian corporal", which was a pejorative term, as he regarded Bohemians as "essentially gypsies", unlike the more cultured Prussians or even Austrians.[19]

• 
  Epaulette Yefreytor of the 3rd Lancer Smolensk Emperor Alexander III Regiment
  (1908)
• 
  Shoulder insignia Yefreytor to Imperial Russian Army
  (until 1917)
• 
  Pogon Yefreytor (lance corporal) of the Russian Life Guards Uhlan Regiment
  (1914)

• 
  Gorget insignia to gymnastyorka yefreytor RA (1940−1943)
• 
  Shoulder board yefreytor
  Air Force
  RA (1943−1955) and SA (1946-1955)
• 
  Yefreytor
  infantry SA
• 
  Yefreytor Air Force, aviation Air defence and Navy, Airborne troops SA
  (1955−1963)

• 
  Kursant Service uniform with OR-3 rank yefreytor of the Air Force or Airborne Troops
  (1994–2010)
• 
  Service uniform yefreytor
  of the Army and SMF
  (1994−2010)
• 
  Field uniform yefreytor of the whole Armed Forces branches
  (1994—2010)
• 
  Service uniform yefreytor of the Army
  (2010−present)
• 
  Service uniform yefreytor of the Air Force
  (2010−present)
• 
  Field uniform yefreytor of the whole Armed Forces branches
  (2010—present)

• 
  ԵՖՐԵՅՏՈՐ
  Yefreytor
  (Armenian Ground Forces)[21]
• 
  Яфрэйтар
  Jafrejtar
  (Belarusian Ground Forces)[22]
• 
  Ефрейтор
  Efreytor
  (Bulgarian Land Forces)[23]
• 
  Ефрейтор
  Efreĭtor
  (Kazakh Ground Forces)[24]
• 
  Ефрейтор
  Efreytor
  (Kyrgyz Army)[25]
• 
  Ефрейтор
  Efreytor
  (Tajik Ground Forces)[26]