There are many other distinctive uniforms and the varied colors, bright trappings and decorations and waving plumes made a peace time assemblage of German troops of all arms a most imposing sight; but early in the present century the leaders realized that while all this gaudy panoply and pomp added to the attractiveness of the service, kept alive the traditions of the past, and aided in holding the esprit de corps, it would not do for service on the modern battlefield, where the troops must be as inconspicuous as possible to avoid annihilation under the drum fire of artillery and the rapid fire of machine guns. As a result a field service uniform of a dull gray color was adopted for all arms but it was not generally issued to the troops until just before the opening of the present world war. The German officer’s field service uniform consists of a gray single breasted sack coat with a standing turn-over collar; breeches of the same color and black or tan leather boots. With this uniform the old bright helmets are worn with a gray cover to make them less conspicuous, or in many cases a gray cap with sloping visor is worn. The buttons are of gilt allowed to become dull in the field, in some cases of leather or bone, and in other cases the coat is closed by buttons concealed beneath a fly. The corps and regimental colors are worn in small patches on the collar at each side of the neck opening and also as cuff stripes in some corps. In some corps the distinctive color is also worn around the cap band. The rank of the German officer is indicated by the braid and insignia on flat shoulder straps covered with braided cord. The shoulder strap for Field Marshal and for General officers is covered with a plaited knot made up of five loops of sets of three cords, the two outer cords being gold and the central cord being silver interwoven with the imperial colors in silk. The shoulder straps for Field officers (Colonels, Lieutenant Colonels and Majors) are of the same design except that the cords are in sets of two, both of silver interwoven with the silk colors. The shoulder straps of the company officers are covered with parallel rows of silver cord interwoven with the silk colors. The insignia of rank worn upon the shoulder straps on top of the cord decorations are diamond shaped ornaments of gilt metal, and although they do not have the conventional shape of a star they are called stars in the German service. These insignias are as follows for the various grades of rank:—