History

The Technische Nothilfe (Technical Emergency Help), often abbreviated to TN or TeNo, was founded on September 30, 1919. Its stated purpose was to maintain vital infrastructure and facilities, and protect them during a time of economical and political turmoil. When the economy improved and political tensions became less pronounced during the mid to late 1920s, the TeNo was able to shift its focus to disaster relief, roadside assistance, and general civil defence, including civil air protection. In 1936, the organisation came under the control of the German police as an auxiliary force of the Ordnungspolizei (Order Police). During the war, TeNo units were deployed to virtually all occupied countries and front lines for technical support.

The 1936 and 1940 patterns of TeNo collar tabs are rectangular. The right tab, the unit tab, displays the wearer’s transregional group (Landesführung) in Roman numerals displayed at the top and the local group (Ortsgruppe) in Arabic numerals at the bottom, with a division bar in between.
An exception is the rank of Bezirksführer, for which ony the transregional group number would be displayed.
The ranks of Landesführer and above wore a rank tab on both sides and did not use a unit tab.