Gorget patches
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gorget patches (collar tabs, collar patches) are an insignia, paired patches of cloth or metal on the collar (gorget) of the uniform, that is used in the military and civil service in some countries. Collar tabs sign the military rank (group of ranks), the rank of civil service, the military unit, the office (department) or the branch of the armed forces and the arm of service.
- In Austria collar patches of the Federal Army report the rank and the arm of service. They are also used in the police.
- In Australia the St John Ambulance Australia First Aid Services Branch gorget patches designate State Staff Officers and National Staff Officers from those who are officers of a division or region.
- In the French Army collar pactches were used since 1877 and signed a military unit.
- In Germany until 1918 only generals, some officers and seamen wore collar patches in the armed forces of the German Empire. In the Weimar Republic patches became common throughout the whole of the Reichswehr, where they inidcated the rank and the arm of service, but were not used in the navy. Some civil services (as police, railways) wore uniforms with collar tabs, similar to the armed forces' tabs. The Nazi restricted collar patches for Wehrmacht and civil services, but partly reformed them. New tabs were also introduced for the political leaders of NSDAP, for the new Nazi organisations (as Sturmabteilung and Schutzstaffel). The GDR used the same collar tabs, with some modifications, as the Wehrmacht for its army and air force. Collar tabs were also worn by some personnel of the navy. The armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany also maintained the use of collar tabs in the army and the air force, where they indicate to which branch (Truppengattung) an individual soldier belongs. Members of the German Navy do not wear collar tabs.
- In the Indian Air Force gorget patches sign military rank.
- In Nepal gorget patches of the Nepalese Army, Nepal Police and Armed Police Force Nepal sign the rank of general officers and senior officers.
- Since the late nineteenth century the Italian Army has made extensive use of coloured collar patches to distinguish branches of service and individual regiments.
- In the Russian Empire collar patches sign rank according to the Table of ranks. In the USSR in 1924-1943 served as the primary insignia of military ranks. When the shoulder straps were restored in 1943, collar tabs remained as an insignia of the branch and the arm of service. Since 1932 the they were also used as an insignia in some civil services. The state of affairs is the same in the modern Russian Federation.
- In the Sri Lanka Air Force gorget patches sign military rank.
- In the Swiss army collar patches denote the rank and the arm of service.
- In the United Kingdom gorget patches of the British Army the rank of general officers or senior officers according to branch or arm of service; their counterpart police ranks wear similar gorget patches of silver-on-black. Officer cadets in the Merchant Navy, Army and the Royal Air Force also wear patches.
