The Ranks of the National People's Army were the military insignia used by the National People's Army, the army of the German Democratic Republic, from 1956 to 1990.
The design of the rank insignias followed the tradition of the German Army () with some modifications. For example, the cuff titles (chevron insignias) of the were replaced by Soviet-styled shoulder straps with cross-stripes.
Commissioned officer ranks up to featured four-pointed golden stars in increasing number according to seniority, and arranged following the Soviet pattern.
Junior officer (lieutenant and captain ranks) shoulder straps were made of silver satin string (). had a single golden star, two side-by-side stars, and three stars in a triangle. rank had a fourth star above the triangular formation.
Senior officer shoulder straps were twisted silver cords, had a single star, two stars, and three stars, again arranged following the Soviet example.
Generals wore twisted golden and silver cords with five-pointed stars numbering from one () to four ().
Remark: The different colours represent the appropriate service, branch, branch of service, or special troop.
The table below contains the Ofiziersschüler ranks (en: student officers; equivalent to officer candidate or officer aspirant (OA)).
While the sleeve ranks of the officers were of the style used by the Soviet Navy, all shoulder board insignia used were German in origin, with the star arrangement for officers based on the Soviet rank insignia.
Unlike most Warsaw pact navies, the People's Navy also used staff corps insignia on the sleeve following traditional German practice. The sleeve rank insignia shown are those of the line officer corps.
The table below contains the Ofiziersschüler ranks (en: student officers; equivalent to officer candidate or officer aspirant (OA)).