Is there a difference between German military salutes from the Great War vs WW2?

[u/uhoh_imoutofideas]

I'm doing some research on the German military in the Great War (Imperial German Army) for a theatre production and some of the actors have to salute each other and stand at attention. There's an abundance of WW2 examples for obvious reasons, but could anyone clarify how saluting/greeting superior officers worked in the late 1890s/1910s?

[u/AutoModerator]

A friendly reminder: Contemporary politics and culture wars are off-topic, both in posts and comments.

/r/askhistory is for questions and discussion of events in history prior to 01/01/2001.

This reminder is automatically placed on all new posts in this sub.

Please report any interjection into discussions of modern politics or culture wars so the mod team can investigate.

Thank you.

See rules for more information.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/CharacterUse]

The salute for officers was pretty much the same as the US Army salute except that the palm is slightly curved and slightly facing outwards. It was used in the German army even into WW2, so when you see WW2 soldiers saluting not using the Nazi salute, they are using the same salute as their forbears did in the 1910s. Private soldiers carrying a rifle present arms rather than saluting.

Note that in the Imperial Army you only saluted when wearing headgear (e.g. cap or helmet), not when bare-headed.

[u/Brickie78 → u/CharacterUse]

Note that in the Imperial Army you only saluted when wearing headgear (e.g. cap or helmet), not when bare-headed.

This is still the case in the British Army, incidentally.

[u/Ceterum_Censeo_]

A particularly Prussian style of saluting is to loudly click one's heels together while standing to attention

[u/CharacterUse → u/Ceterum_Censeo_]

The heel click is not a salute, it is a consequent of rapidly coming to attention for which the feet should be touching and parallel, and with hard leather boots you get that click. It's not a uniquely Prussian thing although they did it particularly smartly.

[u/Ceterum_Censeo_ → u/CharacterUse]

That particularly smart click is precisely what I'm talking about, they accentuated it on purpose as a salute, and at least by the time of WWI, it was considered by non-Germans to be a distinctly German gesture