Rittmeister (German for "riding master" or "cavalry master") was a military rank of a commissioned cavalry officer in the armies of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Scandinavia, and some other countries. He was typically in charge of a squadron (a Company-sized unit called a Troop in the United States, as opposed to the US Cavalry squadron of larger battalion size), and was the equivalent of a Hauptmann-rank (en: captain), comparable to NATO OF-2.[1][2] The various names of this rank in different languages (all Germanic) were: