Wachtmeister
Military rank of non-commissioned officers in Austria and Switzerland / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Wachtmeister (Wm; German for 'master-sentinel' or 'watch-master') is a military rank of non-commissioned officers (NCO) in Austria and Switzerland. It is also used in civil authorities in German-speaking countries (police, judiciary, customs service, border protection). The Wachtmeister was initially responsible for the guard duty of the army. Later, it became the Feldwebel equivalent NCO-grade of the cavalry and artillery. Besides Austria and Switzerland today, the rank was also used elsewhere, for example in Germany, Russia, and Poland (wachmistrz).
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In the German police service, Wachtmeister denoted the lowest rank; it was abolished in the 1980s, but is still the colloquial term referring to police patrolling in uniform.[1]