History

The Condor Legion was a German military unit that fought alongside the Spanish nationalists in the Spanish Civil War of 1936 to 1939. It became known mainly for its air force detachment that used the conflict to develop new bombing tactics. These were then widely used during the Second World War.

The ground unit was known as Gruppe Imker (Group Beekeeper), and the Panzer units of Gruppe Imker were known as Gruppe Drohne (Group Drone).

Rank Insignia for members of Legion Condor were introduced in late 1936. The were worn on the front of the field cap and above the left breast pocket. For General ranks they were on the field cap and on the cuff of the tunic. Since the soldiers of Legion Condor were not supposed to be identified as Germans, the rank insignia was similar to that used by the Spanish army.

The insignia are on a branch coloured cloth background, with black indicating officers in command position, yellow indicating flying troops, red indicating flak troops, and brown indicating signals troops.
Members of Gruppe Imker wore white for infantry, yellow and black for radio interceptors, carmine for Panzer troops, red for artillery, and dark blue for medical troops.

Senior Lieutenants wore three silver-coloured six-pointed stars arranged horizontally over the breast pocket and arranged vertically on the cap.
Civilian specialists given the rank of Oberleutnant wore the same insignia, but gold-coloured and on a rectangular backing in branch colour.