Post by sir veilance on Sept 29, 2011 11:15:19 GMT -5
Glossary
[edit] A
A-Stand — Forward defensive gunner's position on aircraft.
abgeschossen — shot down; destroyed by means of firing.
Abschnitt — sector, district
Abteilung (Abt.) — a battalion-sized unit of artillery or cavalry, in other contexts a detachment or section.
Abteilungsarzt — battalion physician
Abteilungschef — battalion commander in artillery and cavalry formations
Abteilungsführer — substitute battalion commander in artillery and cavalry formations
Abteilungsveterinär — battalion veterinarian
Abwehr — "defense"; as a shortening of Spionage Abwehr (spy defense) the term referred to the counter-espionage service (German Secret Service) of the German High Command, headed by Admiral Canaris. Also an element in such compounds as Fliegerabwehr-Kanone "anti-aircraft gun."
Abzeichen — insignia; badge of rank, appointment or distinction.
Adlerangriff — "Eagle Attack"; term for projected "decisive attack" by the Luftwaffe on RAF Fighter Command.
Aggregat 4 (A4) — original name of the German V2 rocket.
AGRU-Front — Technische Ausbildungsgruppe für Front U-Boote – technical training group for front-line U-boats.
AK — Alle Kraft (voraus), naval command for flank speed. Also "Äusserste Kraft!"
Aal — "eel"; slang for torpedo.
"Alarm!" — U-boat order to activate the alarm and begin a crash dive. Also "Fire!", "Air raid!", etc.
Alarmtauchen — crash dive.
"Alle Maschinen stop!" — naval command: "Stop all engines".
"Alle Mann von Bord!" — naval command; "All hands, abandon ship!"
Allgemeine SS — "General SS", general main body of the Schutzstaffel made up of the full-time administrative, security, intelligence and police branches of the SS as well as the broader part-time membership which turned out for parades, rallies and "street actions" such as Kristallnacht; also comprised reserve and honorary members.
Alte Hasen — "Old hares"; slang for military veterans who survived front-line hardships.
Amerika Bomber - A spring 1942 aviation contract competition for a Luftwaffe trans-oceanic range strategic bomber, only resulting in a few completed prototype aircraft from two firms, and many advanced designs that mostly remained on paper.
Ami — German slang for an American soldier.
Ärmelband — cuff title. Worn on the left sleeve, the title contains the name of the wearer's unit or a campaign they are part of. Cuff titles are still used in the German Army and Luftwaffe.
Amt — office, main office branch.
Amt Mil — German Army intelligence organization which succeeded the Abwehr.
Angriff — attack.
Angriffsmuster — attack pattern.
Angriffsziel — attack objective.
Armee — army, typically a numbered army.
Armeeabteilung — command between a corps and an army, an enlarged corps headquarters.
Armeekorps — infantry corps.
Armee-Nachrichten-Führer — Army Signals Officer, served on the staff HQ of an Army.
Armeeoberkommando — Field Army Command.
Armee-Pionier-Führer — Army Engineer Officer, served on the staff HQ of an Army.
Armee-Sanitäts-Abteilung — Army medical unit.
Artillerie — artillery.
Atomwaffe — nuclear weapon.
Atomkrieg — nuclear war.
ausgefallen — Statement that equipment is down, has failed, is out of action.
aufgelöst — "dissolved"; disbanded, written off the order of battle.
Aufklärung — reconnaissance.
Aufklärungs-Abteilung — reconnaissance unit or battalion, also used to designate certain battalion-sized units.
"Auftauchen!" — "surface the boat".
Auftragstaktik — mission-type tactics, the central component of German warfare since the 19th Century
Aus der Traum — literally, "The dream is over"; a slogan painted by German soldiers near the end of the war expressing the surreality of their situation.
Ausführung (Ausf.) — version, model, variant, batch, for non-aviation related vehicles and ordnance.
Ausführung!/Ausführen! — command to execute a given order
Ausrüstung — equipement
Ausschreitungen — bloody atrocities (see Greuelerzählungen).
Auszeichnung — medal, accolade, distinction.
[edit] B
B-Stand — Dorsal (top of fuselage) defensive gunner's position on aircraft.
Backbord — Port side of a ship.
Balkenkreuz — equal-armed black cross flanked in white, the emblem used on military aircraft and vehicles until V-E Day
Banditen — bandits, partisans in occupied territories in World War II; bewaffnete Banden — armed gangs; Soldaten in Zivilkleidung — soldiers in civilian dress; (see Franktireure).
Bandengebiet — territory controlled by partisan squads in occupied territories during World War II.
Bataillon — battalion
Bataillonsadjutant - battalion adjutant
Bataillonsarzt — battalion physician
Bataillonsführer — substitute battalion commander
Bataillonskommandeur — battalion commander
Batallionsveterinär — battalion veterinarian
Batterie — battery, artillery piece; also used for an electrical battery.
Batteriechef — battery commander
Batterieführer — substitute battery commander
Batterieoffizier — Gun Position Officer
Baubelehrung — vessel familiarization; when a boat or ship crew studied the construction of a new vessel; see "KLA."
Baubeschreibung — General arrangement drawing sheet, giving basic dimensions and other measurement & physical parameters (materials, dihedral angles, etc.), of either German front line, or Beute, or "captured" Allied aircraft, in World War I.
Baupionier — army construction engineer.
B-Dienst — Beobachtungsdienst, literally, "observation service"; German Navy cryptanalytical department.
BDM Bund Deutscher Mädel — League of German Girls, the girls' segment of the Hitler Youth.
BdU — Befehlshaber der U-Boote – Commander-in-Chief of the U-boats (Admiral Karl Dönitz); see FdU.
Befehl (pl. Befehle) — order, command. "Zu Befehl!" was an affirmative phrase on par with "Jawohl".
Befehlshaber — commander-in-chief; lit. "one who has (the power to issue) commands." Sometimes also used to refer to the headquarters of a C-in-C as an alternative to Hauptquartier.
Benzin — gasoline, petrol.
Benzintank — fuel tank.
Beobachter — artillery or air observer
Beobachtungsoffizier — Artillery observer
Beobachtungswagen — observation or reconnaissance vehicle.
Bereitschaft — readiness.
Bergepanzer — armoured recovery vehicle.
Betriebstoff — fuel
Beschlagschmied — blacksmith; see Hufbeschlagschmied.
Beutepanzer — captured tank or armoured vehicle.
Bewährungseinheit — probationary unit
BK — Bordkanone. heavy-calibre (usually over 30 mm) cannon for offensive use on aircraft.
Blechkoller — "tin fright"; in U-boats, a form of nervous tension that could be caused by depth charge attacks and resulted in violence or hysteria.
Blechkrawatte — "tin necktie," slang for the Knight's Cross
Blitzkrieg — "lightning war"; not a widely used German military term, this word became popular in the Allied press and initially referred to fast-moving battle tactics developed principally by German military theorists, most notably Erwin Rommel, Heinz Guderian, and Erich von Manstein, using massed tanks and ground-attack bombers to speedily penetrate enemy lines at points and move to their rear, causing confusion and panic among enemy forces.
Bola — contraction of Bodenlafette, a lightly armoured casemate-style of bulged ventral defensive gunner's position, using only flexible (unturreted) weapon mounts, a common fitment on German bomber aircraft designs, usually under the nose.
Bomber B - the abortive aviation contract competition meant to replace all previous Luftwaffe medium bombers with a single design, meant to be used for all but the longest-range missions, and function as a combination of medium and heavy bomber.
Brotbeutel — haversack
Brücke — bridge. Can mean either the road structure or a ship's command center, also the supporting framework that existed below the bird-like monoplane wings of the earlier examples of the Etrich Taube before World War I.
Brückenleger — bridgelayer.
Brummbär — "grumbling bear"; a children's word for "bear" in German. It was the nickname for a heavy mobile artillery piece.
Bundes — federal.
Bundeswehr — "Federal Defense Force", name adopted for the West German armed forces after the fall of the Third Reich. (Between 1945 and 1955 there was no German army.) The Bundeswehr consists of the Heer (Army), Luftwaffe (Air Force) and Marine (Navy), as well as (since the late 1990s) the Streitkräftebasis (Joint Service Support Command) and Zentraler Sanitätsdienst (Central Medical Service).
Bürger — citizen.
Bürgerkrieg — civil war.
[edit] C
C-Stand — Ventral (underside of fuselage) defensive gunner's position on aircraft.
Chef — commander of a unit or sub-unit, e.g. Regimentschef. A substitute in case of absence would be referred to as Regimentsführer etc.
Chef des Generalstabes — Chief of the General Staff.
[edit] D
Daimler-Benz (DB) — A producer of military vehicles, and engines to power both German aircraft and surface vehicles.
Deutsches Afrikakorps (DAK) — German troops sent to North Africa under the command of Erwin Rommel to prevent the loss of Libya to the British by the Italians. The term is properly used to refer to Rommel's original force of two divisions that landed in Libya on February 14, 1941 (which stayed as a distinct formation for the remainder of the North African Campaign), but is often used to describe all German forces that operated in North Africa, eventually consisting of several divisions and corps and formed into an entire Panzer Army.
Dienst — service.
Division — in the army and air force a military formation, in the navy either a sub-unit of a squadron or trainings units of battalion size
Divisionsarzt — Medical officer of a division
Divisionskommandeur — General officer commanding a division
Dienstdolch — service dagger (uniform dagger).
Drahtverhau — barbed-wire entanglement. Slang term used by German soldiers during World Wars I and II for a military-issue mixture of dried vegetables.
Drang nach Osten — "Push to the East", Germany's ambitions for territorial expansion into Eastern Europe.
Düppel — German code name for radar chaff, used by the Royal Air Force as Window, possibly from düpieren (to dupe). or from a suburb of Berlin of the same name, where it was allegedly first found near.
[edit] E
Eagle's Nest — English name given to Hitler's mountain-top summerhouse at Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps, not far from the Berghof. In German, it is known as the Kehlsteinhaus. Hitler, however, only visited the property ten times and each visit was under 30 minutes.
EGz.b. V. — Einsatzgruppe zur besonderen Verwendung – SS Special Purpose Operational Group.
Ehrendolch — literally, "honor dagger", a presentation dagger awarded for individual recognition, especially by the SS.
Eichenlaubträger — holder of Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
Eid — oath. The current oath when joining the Bundeswehr is "Ich gelobe, der Bundesrepublik Deutschland treu zu dienen, und das Recht und die Freiheit des deutschen Volkes tapfer zu verteidigen" ("I pledge to faithfully serve the Federal Republic of Germany and to bravely defend the right [law] and the freedom of the German people"). For soldiers joining for an extended period of time beyond the mandatory conscription of nine months, "so wahr mir Gott helfe" ("so help me God") is optionally added.
Einfall — invasion.
Eingeschlossen — encirclement, surrounded, cut off.
Einheit — detachment or unit.
Einheitsfeldmütze - standard field cap
Einsatz — duty, mission, deployment, action.
Einsatzbereit — statement meaning, "Ready for action."
Einsatzgruppen — "mission groups", or "task forces". Einsatzgruppen were battalion-sized, mobile killing units made up of SiPo, SD or SS Special Action Groups under the command of the RSHA. They followed the Wehrmacht into occupied territories of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. These units were supported by units of the uniformed German Order Police (Orpo) and auxiliaries of volunteers (Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, and Ukrainian). Their victims, primarily Jews, were executed by shooting and were buried in mass graves from which they were later exhumed and burned. At least a million Jews were killed in this manner. There were four Einsatzgruppen (A, B, C, D), which were subdivided into company-sized Einsatzkommandos.
Einsatzkommando — company-sized subunits of the Einsatzgruppen which took care of the mobilization and killing of Jews, Communists and others during the German invasion into the Soviet Union.
Einwohner — resident, inhabitant.
Eisenbahn — "iron road"; railroad.
Eisernes Kreuz — "iron cross"; medal awarded for valorous service, and the German national military insignia from 1910 to the beginning of spring 1918, and once again from 1955 (with the establishment of the Bundeswehr) to today.
Elefant — "Elephant"; a heavy Panzerjäger (tank hunter or tank destroyer) built on the chassis of Porsche's unsuccessful prototypes for the Tiger tank, and mounting the 88mm L/71 PaK 43.
Elektra — a German radio-navigational system.
Endlösung or Endziel — the "Final Solution"; refers to the genocide planned against the Jewish people.
Endsieg — final victory.
Enigma — German message encryption equipment.
Ententeich — duck pont, maritime manoeuvre to create an area of calm sea in order to lower boats into the water or land aircraft
Entmenscht — dehumanized (see Untermenschen).
Entscheidender Sieg — decisive victory.
Erobert — conquered.
Erkennungsmarke — identity tag; "dog tag".
Erprobungsstelle — test centre
Ersatz — substitute, replacement, reserves; could refer to replacement troops or any substance used in place of another (e.g., ersatz coffee, ersatz rubber, etc.).
Ersatzbataillone or Marschbataillone — coherent military replacement groups.
Etappendienst — German naval intelligence department.
Etappenschwein — (slang) "rear swine" (REMF).
Exerzierpanzer — practice or exercise tank.
[edit] F
Fahne (pl. Fahnen) — flag or banner.
Fahnenschmied — farrier NCO
Fahnenflucht — desertion
Fähnrich zur See — lowest naval officer rank, equivalent to Cadet or Ensign (literal meaning, "naval ensign-bearer")
Fallschirmjäger — paratroopers; German airborne troops.
FdU — Führer der U-Boote; Commander-in-Chief of U-boats (used from World War I to 1939, when the title was reduced to "Regional Commander").
Feigling — coward.
Feind — enemy. "Feindlich-" is used as an adjective, such as "feindliche Truppen" (enemy troops) or "feindliche Stellung" (enemy position).
Feindfahrt — "enemy trip"; in U-boat terminology, a war cruise or combat patrol against the enemy.
Feindbild — "enemy image"; prejudiced 'bogeyman' image of the enemy.
Feld — field.
Feldersatzbatallion — field replacement battalion, usually one per infantry division
Feldflasche — canteen
Feldflieger Abteilung — "field airmen's section", abbreviated as "FFA". The earliest form of Luftstreitkräfte military flying unit in World War I, first formed in 1914 with six two-seater observation aircraft per unit.
Feldgendarmerie — Field Gendarmerie or "Field Police", the military police units of the Wehrmacht.
Feldgrau — "field gray"; term used to describe the color of the ordinary German soldier's tunic – by extension the soldiers themselves.
Feldjäger — military police detachments formed late in the war to root out deserters; later the name was applied to all military police units of the postwar Bundeswehr.
Feldkoch — cook
Feldlazarett — field hospital.
Feldpolizeibeamter — field police officer
Feldpost, Feldpostbrief — mail to and from troops at the front.
Feldwebel — non-commissioned rank in the Heer and Luftwaffe, the most junior of the "Unteroffiziere mit Portepee" (senior NCO) ranks. Approximately equal to staff sergeant.
Feldzug — military campaign
Fernglas — binoculars; literally "remote glass"..
Fernmelde- — telecommunication
Feldpost — field post
Fernsprech- — telephone
Festung — fortress.
"Feuer auf mein Kommando" — "fire on my command".
"Feuer Frei" — "fire at will".
Feuerschutz — suppressive fire, covering fire.
Feuerwerker — ordnance NCO
FlaK — Fliegerabwehrkanone, Flug(zeug)abwehrkanone – air defense gun; anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) (e.g., the "eighty-eight").
FlaK-Helfer — "FlaK helper"; often underaged auxiliaries used to load and operate FlaK batteries and man searchlight batteries.
Flakpanzer — armoured self-propelled antiaircraft gun, such as the Möbelwagen.
Flammpanzer — flame-throwing tank.
Flammenwerfer — flame-thrower.
Fliegerabwehr-Abteilung — anti-aircraft battalion.
Fliegerabwehrkanone — see FlaK.
Fliegerschwert — airman's sword (part of an officer's regalia).
Flotte — naval fleet.
Flucht nach vorn — "flight to the front"; trying to assault rather than wait or retreat while under threat.
Flüchtlingslager — refugee camp.
Flugzeug — aircraft.
Flug(zeug)abwehrkanone — see FlaK.
Flugzeugträger — aircraft carrier.
Fluten — U-boat order; "Flood the tanks!"
Forschungsamt — intelligence service of the Luftwaffe.
Frachter — freighter.
Franktireure — terrorists; (see Freischärler).
Franktireurkrieg — terrorist warfare.
Fregattenkapitän — Naval rank, literally meaning "Frigate Captain", in between Korvettenkapitän and Kapitän zur See. Commanded a light cruiser, or served as the executive officer on a capital ship, hence often translated as Commander
Freikorps — volunteer corps; (see Freiwillige).
Freischärler — irregular or guerrilla (see Widerstandskräfte).
Freischärlerunwesen — "pestering by guerrillas"; guerrilla activities or terrorist incidents.
Freiwillige — volunteer.
Fremde Heere Ost/West (FHO/FHW) — Foreign Armies East/West, staff intelligence specialist on the subject.
Frieden — peace.
Fritz-X — The Luftwaffe's radio-controlled glide bomb, precursor to today's "smart weapons" or PGM's.
Fronterlebnis — front experience.
Frontgemeinschaft — front-line comradeship or community; group of front-line combat soldiers.
Frontkämpfer — front line soldier.
Frontschwein — soldier serving long at the front.
Der Führer — "The Leader"; title used by Adolf Hitler: Mein Führer, Der Führer.
Führerbunker — (literally meaning "shelter [for the] leader" or "[the] Führer's shelter") was located about 8.2 metres beneath the garden of the old Reich Chancellery building at Wilhelmstraße 77, and about 120 metres north of Hitler's New Reich Chancellery building in Berlin. This underground bunker was Hitler's last FHQ and where he and his wife Eva Braun ended their lives on 30 April 1945.
Führerhauptquartiere (FHQ), a number of official headquarters especially constructed in order to be used by the Führer.
Führersonderzug, a special train built for and used by the Führer.
Führer — in the army a substitute commander of a unit or sub-unit in absence of the regular commander (see 'Chef'); in the navy a flag officer (e.g. Führer der Uboote)
SS-Führungshauptamt — SS Leadership Head Office, the administrative headquarters of the Waffen-SS.
Funke — 1) radio [die Funke, f., slang abbreviation for Funkgerät]; 2) spark [der Funke, m.]; the literal (pre-radio) meaning of the word.
Funker — radio operator (from funken [verb], to transmit by radio).
Funkgerät (prefix: FuG) — generic term for radio and airborne IFF, RDF and airborne and some ground based Radar equipment.
Funkmessbeobachtungsgerät (FuMB) — radar detector.
Füsilier — historic term often used to refer to light infantry, originally named after the fusil, or musket, such troops once carried. During World War II, a name given to infantry formations with some reconnaissance abilities that replaced an infantry division's reconnaissance battalion mid-war when the Germans reduced the number of standard infantry battalions in their divisions from 9 to 6.
Futtermeister — Quartermaster responsible for fodder
Freya radar — first operational radar with the Kriegsmarine.
[edit] G
Gabelschwanzteufel — P-38 Lightning "Fork Tailed Devil".
Gasmaske — gas mask
Gasmaskenbehälter — gas mask container
Gaspistole — starting pistol; a gun that fires blanks.
Gauleiter — supreme territorial or regional Nazi party authority(-ies).
Gebirgsjäger — mountain troops; a mountain "unit", might be described as either Gebirgs or Gebirgsjäger.
Gebirgstruppe — mountain troops
gefallen — fallen, killed in action
Gefecht — combat, action
Gefechtsgepäck — infantry assault pack
Gefechtsstand — command post.
Gefechtsstationen — naval term, "battle stations" or (more literally) "combat stations".
Gefreiter — enlisted rank, senior to privates but not considered an NCO.
Gegenangriff — counterattack.
Gegenoffensive — counter-offensive.
geheim — secret.
Geheime Feldpolizei (GFP) — Secret Field Police. It was Germany's secret military police that was organised by the German high command (OKW) in July 1939 to serve with the Wehrmacht. It was mainly designed to carry out security work in the field, as the executive agent of the Abwehr.
Geheimfernschreiber — (literally, "secret distance writer") cipher machine.
Geleit — escort.
Geleitschutz — convoy.
Gemeindepolizei — local police.
Gemeinschaft — community.
Generalfeldmarschall — Field Marshal.
Generalkommando — the headquarters of an army corps.
Generalstab des Heeres (Gen. St.d. H.) — German Army General Staff.
gepanzert — armoured.
Geschütz — cannon, gun.
Geschützführer — gun captain / commander / layer.
Geschwader — literally "squadron", in World War II Luftwaffe usage, the same as a USAAF aviation wing of World War II. Equivalent to the French escadre or Italian squadriglia. In English, the translation varies. In naval usage, it has the same meaning as an English squadron. In Luftstreitkräfte and Luftwaffe usage:
Luftstreitkräfte World War I: A unit of four fighter Staffeln, as in JG I, the famous "Flying Circus", initially led by Manfred von Richthofen.
Luftwaffe World War II: 1 Geschwader was divided in 3 Gruppen of 3 (or rarely 4) Staffeln each. (Staffel of 9-12 aeroplanes). It was a unit equivalent to a British Commonwealth air force group, a US wing or a Soviet air regiment.
Luftwaffe post World War II: 1 Geschwader is divided in a Technical Gruppe and a Flying Gruppe of 2-3 Staffeln. It is a unit equivalent to a British Commonwealth air force wing or a US group.
Geschwaderkennung — the two-character alphanumeric identification code used by a non-day-fighter Geschwader for unit identification, that appeared to the left of the fuselage Balkenkreuz on most World War II Luftwaffe aircraft.
Gestapo — Geheime Staatspolizei – Secret State Police. Originally the Prussia secret state police and later (as part of the SiPo then merged into the RSHA) the official secret police force of Nazi Germany. Gestapo was derived as follows: Geheime Staatspolizei.
Gewehr — rifle, such as the Gewehr 43.
Gift — poison; giftig: poisonous, toxic.
Gleichschaltung — "coordination", coordination of everything into Nazi ideals.
Gliederung — table of organisation
Goldfasan (Golden pheasant) — derogatory slang term for high-ranking Nazi Party members. Derived from the brown-and-red uniforms similar to the colors of male pheasants and the perceived behaviour of high-ranking party officials living in peace and luxury at home.
Gothic Line — German defense line in Italy, north of Florence.
Grabenkrieg — trench warfare.
Granate — grenade, used not only for hand grenades (Handgranate) but also for other explosive ordnance such as mortar (Werfgranate) and armor-piercing (Panzergranate) shells.
Granatwerfer — mortar.
Grenadier — traditional term for heavy infantry, adopted during World War II from mid-war onward as a morale-building honorific often indicative of low-grade formations.
Grenze — border.
Grenzschutz — border patrol.
Greuelerzählungen — numerous atrocities.
Gröfaz — German soldiers' derogatory acronym for Größter Feldherr aller Zeiten, a title initially publicized by Nazi propaganda to refer to Adolf Hitler during the early war years; literally, the "Greatest Field Commander of all Time".
Grundausbildung (abbr. Grundi)[1] — basic training
Gruppe — In the army it is the equivalent to a squad, a Luftwaffe gruppe was equivalent to a US/French group or a British Commonwealth wing.
Gruppenführer - squad leader, also a Nazi party rank
Gruppenhorchgerät (GHG) — hydrophone array.
Gruppenstab — command staff.
Gustav Line — German defense line in Italy, centered on the monastery of Monte Cassino.
GvD — Gefreiter vom Dienst — soldier who is the runner of CQ
[edit] H
Hafen — harbor. "Flughafen" is airport.
Hakenkreuz — (literally, "hooked cross") the version of the swastika used by the Nazi Party.
"Halbe Fahrt!" — Naval command calling for half-speed. "Halbe Fahrt voraus" is "half-speed ahead" and "Halbe Fahrt zurück" is "half-speed reverse".
Halsschmerzen — "sore throat" or "itchy neck;" used of a reckless or glory-seeking commander, implying an obsession with winning the Knight's Cross
Halt — Stop! Freeze!
Handelsmarine — German merchant marine.
Hannoversche Maschinenbau AG (Hanomag) – producer of military vehicles, principally the SdKfz 251 medium-armoured halftrack.
"Hart..." — Naval command calling for a sharp turn. "Hart Backbord" is "hard-a-port" and "Hart Steuerbord" is "hard-a-starboard".
Härteübung — hardiness training.
Haubitze — howitzer.
Hauptamt Sicherheitspolizei (HA-SiPo) — Security Police headquarters.
Hauptbahnhof - central station.
Hauptfeldwebel - company first major
Hauptkampflinie (HKL) — literally main combat line, official term for "front" until the end of World War II
Hauptmann — army captain.
Hauptquartiere (HQ) — headquarters.
Hauptstadt — capital city.
Hauptwachtmeister - company first sergeant in artillery and cavalry units.
Heckenschützen — terrorist-snipers.
Heckstand — tail gun defensive position on aircraft.
Heer — regular German Army. Can also be used for any national army.
Heeresgruppenkommando (HGr.Kdo) — Army Group Command.
Heimat — home, homeland.
Heimatkurs — the way home. Literally "homeland course".
Heimatschuß — "homeland shot"; a wound not severe enough to be permanently disabling, but of sufficient severity to require evacuation from the battlefront. The German soldier's equivalent of the American G.I.'s "million-dollar wound" or the British soldier's "Blighty wound."
Heldenklau — "stealing" or "snatching of heroes"; slang term used to denote the practice of commandeering rear-echelon personnel for front-line service.
Henschel — firm responsible for many German World War II weapons systems for both the Wehrmacht Heer and the Luftwaffe, especially the heavy Tiger I and Tiger II tanks and the Henschel Hs 293 guided anti-ship missile.
"Herr..." — In past and modern German military protocol, "Herr" ("mister") is said before ranks when someone is addressing a person of higher rank. For example, a lieutenant ("Leutnant") would address his captain as "Herr Hauptmann" ("Mr. Captain"). Superior officer address subordinates with "Herr" and their last name or simply their rank, but not adding "Herr" to the rank.
Hetzer — agitators, also the unofficial name of a certain late-war model of German tank destroyer.
Hilfswillige (Hiwis) — German Army volunteer forces usually made up of Soviet volunteers serving in non-combat capacities.
Himmelfahrtskommando — literally, "trip to heaven mission", a suicide mission.
Hinterhalt — ambush.
Hitler-Jugend (HJ) — Hitler Youth. The German youth organization founded by the Nazi Party (NSDAP). Made up of the Hitlerjugend proper, for male youth ages 14–18; the younger boys' section "Deutsches Jungvolk" for ages 10–14; and the girls' section "Bund Deutscher Mädel" (BDM).
Hitlersäge — "Hitler saw", nickname of the MG42 machine gun
HJ-Fahrtenmesser — common dagger specially designed for the Hitler Jugend
Höckerhindernisse — anti-tank obstacles often referred to as "Dragon's Teeth".
Hoheitsabzeichen — national insignia e.g. on a tank or aircraft.
Hohentwiel — FuG 200 UHF-band (500 MHz) maritime patrol airborne radar gear. Hubschrauber — helicopter.
Hufbeschlagschmied, farrier.
Hummel — "bumble-bee"; nickname for a piece of mobile artillery.
Hundehütte — literally, "dog house", punishment hut.
[edit] I
Indianer — Indians. Luftwaffe slang for an enemy fighter (from the game of cowboys and Indians.)
Infanterie — infantry.
Iststärke — actual strength (compared to Soll-Stärke)
Iwan — German slang for a Soviet soldier (similar to "Jerry" or "Kraut", the British and American slang terms for Germans).
[edit] J
Jabo (Jagdbomber) — fighter-bomber.
Jagdgeschwader (JG) — single-engine fighter wing/group, literally hunting squadron.
Jagdpanzer — "hunting tank"; armoured casemate-style self-propelled tank destroyer.
Jagd-Kommando — "hunting commando"; generally refers to a commando outfit that remained behind enemy lines when an area was overrun and would carry out sabotage and other guerrilla actions. These units did not generally operate as such and were later taken over by the SS and used as frontline combat troops in 1944-1945.
Jäger — [1] light infantry; used alone or as part of a specialty such as Gebirgsjäger or Fallschirmjäger. [2] Fighter Airplane. The root Jagd- is also used in its literal meaning of "hunter" for weapon systems such Jagdtiger.
jawohl — simply the word "yes" with the emphatic "wohl", which one might translate as "Yes, indeed!", "Aye, aye, sir!" or "Absolutely yes!" Widely used in World War II.
Junkerschule — SS officer academy.
[edit] K
Kadavergehorsam — "absolute duty and blind obedience till death."; lit.: "carcass obedience"
Kameradschaft — small military unit, or phrase for "comrade support amongst soldiers" (see Volkgemeinschaft).
Kampf — struggle, fight or conflict.
Kampfflotte — battle fleet.
Kampfgeist — fighting spirit.
Kampfgeschwader (KG) — bomber wing (USAAF practice)/group (RAF practice)
Kampfgruppe—1. an Army battlegroup or task force; formal designation of an ad hoc task force, or informal description of a combat unit at greatly reduced strength. 2. In the Luftwaffe, a bomber unit equivalent to a US/French group or a British Commonwealth wing.
Kampfmesser — combat knife.
Kampfplan — battle plan.
Kampfschwimmer — frogman.
Kampfzone — battle zone.
Kampfwunde — battle injury.
Kanone — gun (as opposed to a howitzer).
Kanonier — gunner
Kapitän — Naval rank of Captain; in full Kapitän zur See (KzS or Kpt.z.S.) ;literally, Sea Captain. Commanded any capital ship.
Kapitänleutnant (Kptlt.) — Naval rank of Lieutenant Commander or (literally) Captain Lieutenant. Officers of this rank generally command small vessels such as U-boats and minesweepers. The rank is often shortened to "Kaleun", with junior officers addressing people of this rank as "Herr Kaleun".
Kapitulation — surrender.
Kapo — overseer, NCO (sl). Esp. a prisoner who acted as an overseer of his fellow inmates in the Nazi concentration camps (see Konzentrationslager).
Kartenstelle — mapping detachment, normally part of staff company of a division or higher
Kaserne — barracks.
Kavallerie — cavalry.
Kessel(schlacht) — cauldron
Kette — chain, in the air force a sub-unit of 3—6 aircraft
Ketten — chains, chain-drive, tracks (e.g. Panzerketten)
Kettenantrieb — track, such as a tank track; tracked vehicle.
Kettenhund — "chained dog", slang for a Military Policeman (derived from the metal gorget worn on a chain around the neck).
Kettenkraftrad — a tracked motorcycle; also Kettenkrad.
Kindersärge — "children's coffins", slang term applied to small, wooden antipersonnel box-mines.
KLA: Kriegsschiffbaulehrabteilung — was a warship-construction training division which supervised a Baubelehrung.
Kleinkampfverband (K-Verband) — special naval operations unit, comprising a few frogmen.
Kleinkrieg — guerrilla war.
Knickebein — "crooked leg", also "bent leg" (in the sense of "dogleg"); German navigational system using radio beams to guide bombers.
Knochensammlung — gathering the bones of dead soldiers.
Kochgeschirr - mess tin
Kolonne — column, also supply units (e.g. leichte Infanterie-Kolonne)
Kommandanten-Schießlehrgang — U-boat Commander's Torpedo Course.
Kommando — command; detachment; detail.
Kommissarbefehl — the notorious 6 June 1941 "Commissar Order" to kill all political commissars in the Red Army and civil government.
Kompanie — company, unit.
Kompaniechef — company commander
Kompaniefeldwebel — company first sergeant
Kompanieführer — substitute company commander in case of absence or if the ‘Kompaniechef ’ is only an honorary function (similar to a Colonel-in-Chief)
Kompanietruppführer — Company headquarters section leader
Konteradmiral — Naval rank of Rear Admiral.
Konzentrationslager (KZL) — concentration camp.
Korvettenkapitän (K.Kpt) — Naval rank of (literally) "Corvette Captain". The grade senior to Kapitänleutnant; frequently translated as either Lieutenant Commander or Commander. Typically commanded a destroyer.
Krad (Kraft-Radfahrzeug) — motorcycle (dated).
Krad-Melder — motorcycle dispatch rider
Kradschütze(n) — motorcycle unit or soldier.
Kraft — strength.
Kraftei - literally "power-egg", used both for the unitized aviation engine installation system that combined all major engine ancillary components (radiator, oil cooler, etc.) with the engine itself, into a single interchangeable unit for ease of field maintenance and rapid replacement, or as a slang term for the short-fuselaged Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet rocket fighter.
Krankenstation — sick bay of a ship.
Krankenträger — stretcher bearer
Kraut — for sauerkraut; slang term used by Americans to refer to Germans.
Krieg or Krieg(s)- — "war" or "wartime-".
Kriegserlebnis — (myth of the) war experience.
Kriegsfischkutter (KFK) — patrol vessels constructed to a fishing-vessel design; (see Vorpostenboote).
Kriegsflagge — "war ensign"; military form of the national flag, quartered by a black cross with an Iron Cross in the canton.
Kriegsgefangener — prisoner of war.
Kriegsgericht — court-martial; slang for a war dish or poor meal. Also "Militärgericht".
Kriegsmarine — German Navy, 1935-1945.
Kriegsneurose — battle fatigue. Mod. post traumatic stress disorder.
Kriegstagebuch — war diary.
Kriminalpolizei (Kripo) — "Criminal Police" — In Nazi Germany, it became the national Criminal (investigative) Police Department for the entire Reich in July 1936. It was merged, along with the Gestapo, into the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo). Later, in 1939, it was folded into the RSHA.
Krupp (Kp) — famous German steel producer, manufactured most of the tanks, howitzers and heavy mortars, as well as armour plates for battleships (most famously the Bismarck).
Krupp-Daimler (KD) — See Krupp.
Kübel — literally, "bucket" or "tub", short for Kübelwagen, open-topped military utility cars.
Kugel — "bullet" (also "ball").
Kugelfest — bullet-proof.
Kugelblitz — literally "ball lightning", fireball.
KwK — abbreviation for "Kampfwagenkanone", the turret-mounted main (cannon) armament of a main battle tank.
[edit] L
Ladeschütze — loader
Lager — camp.
Landekopf — beachhead.
Landratsamt — civil administration office.
Landsturm — historically, infantry of non-professional soldiers; a kind of militia.
Landser — historical term for a German infantryman; slang: "Schütze Arsch".
Landwehr — Territorial Army, a type of militia.
Landsturm — fourth levy
Lastensegler — cargo glider
Latrinenparole — "latrine talk", rumor.
laufende Nummer — serial number.
Lebensraum — "living space", or in Hitler-speak the minimum space the German people needed to live in.
Lehr — "demonstration"; usually part of the name of an elite formation used as or mobilized from instructional troops (e.g., Panzer-Lehr-Division).
leicht — "light", usually to refer a lighter type, such as light tank: leichter Panzer. Several classes of divisions were also classified as "light".
Leuchtpistole — flare pistol
Leuchtgeschoss/-granate — star shell
Leutnant — Army rank, equivalent to Second Lieutenant
Leutnant zur See — Naval rank, equivalent to Lieutenant, junior grade
Lichtenstein — German airborne radar used for nightfighting, in early UHF-band BC and C-1 versions, and later VHF-band SN-2 and SN-3 versions.
Lorenz Schlüsselzusatz — German cipher machine.
Lorenz (navigation) — pre-war blind-landing aid used at many airports. Most German bombers had the radio equipment needed to use it.
"Los!" — "Go!" or "Away!" Also the U-boat command to fire a torpedo ("Fire!")
Luchs — "lynx"; nickname given to the Model L version of the Panzer II.
Leuchtkugel — signal flare.
Luftangriff — air attack, air raid.
Luftschutz — air raid protection
Luftwaffe — "air force"; the German Air Force.
Luftwaffenhelfer — "Luftwaffe assistant"; see FlaK-Helfer.
Luftschutzpolizei — air raid wardens.
[edit] M
Mannschaften — enlisted personnel
Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg (M.A.N.) — Augsburg-Nuremberg Machine Factory; a German engineering works and truck manufacturer. Now called MAN AG, and primary builder of the Panther tank.
Maschinenfabrik Niedersachsen Hannover (MNH) — weapon (tank) development and production firm.
Maschinengewehr (MG) — machine gun, as in the MG42.
Maschinengewehrschütze — machine gunner
Maschinenkanone (MK) - an autocannon used for aircraft armament, as with the MK 108 30mm calibre weapon.
Maschinenpistole (MP) — submachine gun, as in the MP40.
Maschine — "machine". Commonly used as airplane or engine.
Maultier — SdKfz 4 half-track truck, German for mule
Maus — "mouse"; nickname for a large, Porsche-designed super-heavy tank, the heaviest tank ever actually built and tested, that never passed beyond prototype stage.
Maybach (M) — a German automotive and engineering company.
Melder — runner
Meldereiter - horse despatch rider
Metox — radar warning receiver (named for manufacturer) fitted to U-boats; superseded by Naxos-U
Milchkuh — "milk cow", nickname for the Type XIV resupply U-boat.
Militär — military.
Militärnachrichtendienst — military intelligence.
Mine (pl. Minen) — an anti-personnel, tank or ship mine.
Mineneigenschutz (MES) — ship's degaussing cable; literally "mine self-protection".
Minensuchboote (M-boats) — large minesweepers.
Mißliebige — undesirables.
Mitarbeiter — assistant clerk
Motorkanone — engine-mounted autocannon armament firing through a hollow propeller shaft on fighter aircraft.
MP(i) — sub-machine gun
Mörser — mortar
Munitionskanonier — ammunition handler
Munitionsschlepper — ammunition carrier.
Munitionsschütze — ammunition handler
Mütze — cap or small hat, such as the M43 field cap, also known as the Einheitsfeldmütze.
[edit] N
Nachricht(en) — signals / news / communication, also intelligence.
Nachrichtendienst — intelligence
Nachrichtenoffizier — signals officer
Nachrichtentruppen — Signal Corps.
Nachschub — supply
Nachschubtruppen — supply troops.
Nacht und Nebel — "night and fog"; code for some prisoners that were to be disposed of, leaving no traces; bei Nacht und Nebel (idiom) — secretly and surprisingly, at dead of night.
Nachtjagdgeschwader (NJG) — night-fighter wing/group.
Nahkampfmesser — close-combat fighting knife.
Nahverteidigungswaffe — "close defense weapon"; an attachment to Panzers to combat close-assaulting infantry.
Nashorn — "rhinoceros", nickname for a type of tank destroyer.
Nationalsozialistische Führungsoffiziere (NSFO) — National Socialist Leadership Officers.
Naxos radar detector — "Naxos Z" was developed for night fighters, "Naxos U", was provided to U-boats, to locate Allied H2S microwave-band radar transmissions.
Nebelwerfer (Nb. W) — "fog thrower"; rocket artillery, multi-barrel rocket launchers that could be used for smoke or high-explosive projectiles.
Niederlage — defeat.
Norden — north.
Notsignal — distress signal.
NSKK — the Nationalsozialistisches Kraftfahrerkorps, or National Socialist Motor Corps.
Nummer (Nr.) — "number"; used to describe some divisional organizations with a unit number but no combat assets, often converted to ordinary divisions later on. (E.g., Division Nr. 157.)
[edit] O
Ober-* — higher; part of several military ranks and titles like Oberleutnant and "Oberkommando".
Oberst — German equivalent of a Colonel.
Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres (Ob.d.H.) — Commander-in-Chief of the Army.
Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH) — "High Command of the Army" and Army General Staff from 1936 to 1945.
Oberkommando der Kriegsmarine (OKM) — "High Command of the (War) Navy".
Oberkommando der Luftwaffe (OKL) — "High Command of the Air Force".
Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) — "High Command of the Armed Forces". The OKW replaced the War Ministry and was part of the command structure of the armed forces of Nazi Germany.
Offizier im Generalstab — General Staff officer
Offizier-Lager (Oflag) — "officer camp"; German prisoner-of-war camp for Allied officers.
Ordnungspolizei (Orpo) — "order police" - the regular uniformed police after their nationalization in 1936.
Ordonnanzoffizier — aide-de-camp
Ortskampf — combat in towns, urban warfare.
Osten — east.
Ostfront — eastern front (Russian Front)
Ostjuden — eastern Jews in Poland.
Ostmark — lit. Eastern Border, post-Anschluss Austria.
Ostpreußen — province of East Prussia.
[edit] P
Panjewagen — one-horse carriage.
Panzer — "armour"; German word is derived from Old French pancier, meaning "armour for the belly". It can refer to a tank (see Panzerkampfwagen below) or to an armoured formation. (Panzer Division is literally "Tank Division"; the adjective for "armoured" is gepanzert.)
Panzerabwehrkanone (PaK) — anti-tank gun; literally, "tank defence cannon", also used for the main armament for a typical casemate style turretless German tank destroyer.
Panzerbefehlswagen (Pz. Bef.Wg) — the commanding tank of any panzer detachment; also used of purpose-built command tanks with extra radio gear.
Panzerbüchse — anti-tank rifle
Panzerbüchsenschütze — anti-tank rifleman
Panzerfaust — literally "armour fist"; a light disposable infantry anti-tank weapon, a small recoilless gun firing a fin-stabilized shaped charge grenade, and a forerunner of the Soviet RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) although the Panzerfaust was not rocket-propelled.
Panzerführer — tank commander
Panzerkommandant — tank commander
Panzerschreck — literally "armour terror," officially Raketenpanzerbüchse "rocket armour rifle;" a heavy re-usable infantry anti-tank weapon firing a rocket-propelled 88mm shaped charge grenade. Also called Ofenrohr ("stovepipe") for its appearance.
Panzergrenadier — mechanized infantry; a soldier belonging to a mechanized infantry unit.
Panzerjäger — "tank hunter(s)", anti-tank troops; also used by extension for their self-propelled tank destroyers (e.g., the Elefant) until superseded by the Jagdpanzer ("hunting tank") term.
Panzerkampfwagen (Pzkpfw.) — "armoured fighting vehicle"; usually a reference to a type of tank with a 360º fully rotating turret for the main armament.
Panzerschiffe — "armoured ships"; i.e.,"pocket battleships".
Panzertruppen — tank forces.
Papier — paper. Often used as paper of identification.
Papierkrieg — paper war. Expression describing the struggle to keep up with reports and record keeping
Partei — political party.
Pionier (pl. Pioniere) — combat engineer.
Planoffizier — Triangulation officer
Porsche (P) — company that designed and produced tanks and other military vehicles. They now produce cars.
Putsch — coup d'état; the sudden overthrow of a government by a small group, usually the military.
Pyrrhussieg — Pyrrhic victory.
[edit] Q
Quartiermeister — quartermaster
Quist — one of several manufacturers of German helmets both during and after World War II.
[edit] R
Radikale Niederwerfung — ruthless suppression.
Räumboot — small minesweeper
Rasputitsa — slang for watery, mud-filled trenches or landscape in Russia.
Räumboote (R-boot) — small motor minesweepers.
Regierung — government.
Regimentsadjutant - regiment adjutant
Regimentsarzt — Regimental Medical Officer
Regimentschef — colonel of the regiment
Regimentsführer - substitute for the colonel of the regiment
Regimentskommandeur - commander of the regiment
Regimentsveterinär — regimental veterinarian
Reich — realm, empire.
Reichsarbeitsdienst (RAD) — compulsory labor service in Nazi Germany.
Reichsbahn — railway system.
Reichsführer-SS — Reich Leader of the SS, an office held by Heinrich Himmler.
Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA) — "Reich Main Security Office or Reich Security Head Office"; created by Himmler in September 1939 to combine all German security and plainclothes police departments, including the Gestapo, Kripo and SD (Sicherheitsdienst der SS) into one umbrella organization with seven departments.
Reichswehr — name for the German Armed Forces under the Weimar Republic, from 1919 to 1935.
Reiter — cavalryman. See also Ritter.
Rekrut — coll. rookie, recruit, member of the military in the basic training
Rettungsboot — lifeboat.
Richtkreisunteroffizier — Gun Director (NCO)
Richtschütze — aiming gunner.
Ritter — knight, cavalier.
Ritterkreuz — "knight's cross", usual abbreviated name for the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes (see next entry)
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes — Knight's Cross (of the Iron Cross); award for valorous service for those who had already received the Iron Cross. Highest award class for bravery under fire or military leadership. 7318 of these were awarded during the war. Previous recipients of the Ritterkreuz would be awarded a higher degree of the same award, and then successively higher ones. The higher degrees are, in ascending order:
Ritterkreuz mit Eichenlaub — "knight's cross with oak leaves". 890 recipients during the war.
Ritterkreuz mit Eichenlaub und Schwerten — "knight's cross with oak leaves and swords". 159 recipients total, plus one honorary recipient (Japanese admiral Isoroku Yamamoto)
Ritterkreuz mit Eichenlaub, Schwerten und Brillanten — "knight's cross with oak leaves, swords, and diamonds": 27 recipients total.
Ritterkreuz mit Goldenem Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillanten: "knight's cross with golden oak leaves, swords, and diamonds": only one recipient.
Ritterkreuzauftrag, "Knight's Cross job" — soldiers' slang for a suicidal mission.
Ritterkreuzträger — a holder of the Knight's Cross.
Rittmeister — Captain, used instead of Hauptmann in the cavalry, reconnaissance, and horse-transport waffen.
Rollkommando — small motorized (rolling) taskforce (non military: band for hit-and-run krime)
Rommelspargel — "Rommel's asparagus"; slanted and barb-wired poles placed in key places behind the Atlantic Wall with the intention of preventing paratroop and glider landings.
Rotes Kreuz — Red Cross.
RSO — the Raupenschlepper Ost fully tracked artillery towing vehicle.
Rückzug — retreat.
[edit] S
S-mine — a common type of anti-personnel landmine.
SA — see Sturmabteilung.
Sachbearbeiter — clerk
die Sahnefront — (cream front) occupied Denmark World War II, a lot of food, minuscule fighting.
Sanitäter ('Sani') — combat medic
Sanitätsoffizier — Medical officer
Sanitätsunteroffizier — Medical NCO
Sanka — acronym for Sanitätskraftfahrtzeug, a term for German field ambulances.
Saukopf — "pig's head", used to refer to the shape of a gun mantlet or mount.
Schanzzeug — entrenching tool; slang term for fork and knife.
Scharfschütze — "sharpshooter"; sniper, marksman.
Schatten — "shadow"; used to describe division headquarters that controlled just a few combat assets, usually for the purpose of misleading enemy intelligence.
Scheisskommando — latrine detail as referred to by survivors of the Konzentrationslager.
Scheuch-schlepper - the adapted three-wheel agricultural tractor used to tow the Luftwaffe's Komet rocket fighter on the ground.
Schiffchen — side cap
Schirmmütze — officer's and senior NCO's peaked cap
Schirrmeister — Harness keeper
Schlacht — battle. "Von" is used for a general location and "um" is used for what exactly was being fought over; for example, the Battle of Midway is referred to as the "Schlacht um Midway" while the Battle of Trafalgar is called the "Schlacht von Trafalgar".
Schlachtschiff — battleship.
Schleichfahrt — silent running.
schnell — fast.
Schnellboot (S-Boot) — motor torpedo boat (British term: "E-boat", for "enemy").
Schnelle Truppen — mechanized troops (whether armour or infantry).
Schräge Musik — "slanted music", obliquely upward/forward-firing offensive German night fighter armament.
Schutzpolizei — "protection police", the municipal police; largest component of the uniformed police or Ordnungspolizei.
Schutzstaffel (SS) – "Protection Squadron", a major Nazi organization that grew from a small paramilitary unit that served as Hitler's personal body guard into militarily what was in practical terms the fourth branch of the Wehrmacht. It was not legally a part of the military (and therefore wore the national emblem on the left sleeve instead of over the right breast pocket). "SS" is formed from (S)chutz(s)taffel. Had a tri-force structure: Allgemeine-SS or "General SS", general main body of the Schutzstaffel; SS-Totenkopfverbände responsible for the concentration camps; SS-Verfügungstruppe made up of military "dispositional" troops which in 1940 officially became part of the Waffen-SS.
Schürze — "skirting", armour skirting added to tanks to give additional protection.
Schussline — line of fire.
Schütze — rifleman; see also Scharfschütze.
Schützenpanzerwagen (SPW) — armoured half-track or self propelled weapon.
Schutzhaft — "protective custody"; a euphemism for the power to imprison people without judicial proceedings, typically in concentration camps.
Schutzhaftbefehl — "protective custody order"; document declaring that a detained person desired to be imprisoned; normally this signature was forced by torture.
Schwadron (plural: Schwadrone) — "squadron"; used in the cavalry, a squadron was basically company-sized.
Schwadronführer — company commander in the cavalry
Schwadrontruppführer — company HQ section leader
Schwarm — Flight (military unit)
Schwarze Kapelle — "Black Orchestra"; a term used to describe a group of conspirators within the German Army who plotted to overthrow Hitler and came near to successfully assassinating him on 20 July 1944.
Schweinereien — "scandalous acts" (lit.: "acts of a pig"); (in a military context) crimes against civilians.
schwer — (1) adjective meaning "heavy", the word "gross" (large) can mean the same; (2) hard/difficult.
Schwerer Kreuzer — heavy cruiser.
Schwerpunkt — main axis of attack
Schwert — sword.
Schwimmpanzer — amphibious or "swimming" tank.
SD — see Sicherheitsdienst.
SdKfz — Sonderkraftfahrzeug
Seekriegsleitung (SKL) — directorate of the Naval War.
Sehrohr — periscope; literally "looking tube".
Sehrohrtiefe — periscope depth.
Seitengewehr — bayonet.
Selbstfahrlafette — self-propelled gun carriage.
Selbstschutz — ethnic German civilian militia.
Sicherheitsdienst (SD) — "security service"; the SS and Nazi Party security service. Later, the main intelligence-gathering, and counter-espionage sections of the RSHA; originally headed by Reinhard Heydrich.
Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo) — "security police", the combined forces of the Gestapo and KriPo, made up of the Reich's criminal investigators and secret state police.
"sichern und laden" — "lock and load".
Sicherungsflottillen — (1) escort ships, (2) paramilitary organization of unemployed ex-soldiers, who were recruited to protect Nazi speakers, and because of their clothing were called "Brown Shirts".
Sieg — victory.
Sigrunen — the name of the double "S" runes used by the SS.
SiPo — see Sicherheitspolizei.
Sippenhaftung — the practice of arresting members of a person's family for political crimes or treason committed by that person.
Soldat — soldier/enlisted man.
Soldbuch — pay book carried by every member of the German armed forces. Unit information, a record of all equipment issued, and other details were entered into this book.
Sollstärke — authorized strength
Sonderbehandlung — "special treatment"; a Nazi euphemism meaning torture or killing of people in detention.
Sonderfahndungslisten — wanted-persons list.
Sonderkommando — "special unit"; an official term that applied to certain German and foreign SS units that operated in German-occupied areas, who were responsible for the liquidation of persons not desirable to the Nazi government; ALSO: Jewish inmates of extermination camps, assigned to clear gas chambers of corpses, etc.
Sonderkraftfahrzeug (Sd. Kfz.) — "special-purpose motor vehicle", usually abbreviated and referring to an Ordinance Inventory Number.
Sonderreferat — special administrative section.
Späher — scout.
Spähtrupp - combat patrol
Spähwagen — armoured car, scout/reconnaissance vehicle.
Sperrlinie — blocking line.
Sperrschule — Mine Warfare School at Kiel-Wik.
Spieß — "pike"; colloquial name for the mustering and administrative non-commissioned officer of a company, the Hauptfeldwebel. Typically held the rank of Oberfeldwebel or Stabsfeldwebel. He exercised more authority than his American counterpart (First Sergeant), but his duties did not ordinarily include combat leadership.
Spion — spy.
Sprengstoff — explosive material.
SS — see Schutzstaffel.
SS-TV — SS-Totenkopfverbände (SS Death's Head Units).
SS-Verfügungstruppen — "units available" or military formations of the SS; became the core of the Waffen-SS formed in August 1940.
Stab (pl. Stäbe) — "staff", sometimes HQ.
Stabschef — chief of staff.
Stabsfeldwebel — lit. "Staff Sergeant", but roughly equivalent to Sergeant Major: the highest non-commissioned officer rank.
Stacheldraht — barbed wire.
Stadtkommandant — military commander of a city.
Staffel — squadron; the smallest operational air unit, and the primary operational unit of the World War I era Luftstreitkräfte.
Staffelführer
Staffelkapitän
Stahlhelm — (1) literally "steel helmet"; (2) inter-war nationalist organization.
Stalag — acronym for Stammlager, German prisoner-of-war camp for ranks other than officers.
Stalinorgel — "Stalin's Organ"; nickname for the Katyusha rocket launcher.
Stammkennzeichen — four-letter radio identification code applied to factory-fresh Luftwaffe aircraft, also used for prototype identification, not used on non-day-fighter aircraft assigned to a particular Luftwaffe wing, where a Geschwaderkennung code would be used instead.
Standarte — SS unit equivalent to a regiment.
Stellung — position
Stellungskrieg — attrition warfare.
Stellungsunteroffizier — gun position NCO
Steuerbord — starboard side of a ship.
Stielhandgranate — stick hand grenade: the "potato masher" Model 24 grenade.
Stoßtrupp — small unit as shock or attack troops.
Strategischer Sieg — strategic victory.
Stube — room in the barracks, quarters
Stuka — acronym for Sturzkampfflugzeug, literally, "dive-bombing aircraft". Particularly associated with the German Ju-87 dive bomber, although the German term refers to any dive bomber.
Stukageschwader — a dive bomberwing/group, later Schlachtgeschwader in a ground support role (SG).
Stupa — a Sturmpanzer IV assault gun.
Sturm — assault.
Sturmabteilung (SA) — "storm battalion," stormtroopers, not part of the army. In the beginning the Nazi Party's "Brown Shirt" bully-boys and street brawlers which grew by 1934 into a paramilitary force of nearly a half-million men; after the purge of its leadership by the Schutzstaffel (SS) and Gestapo during the Night of the Long Knives rapidly decreased in numbers and influence.
Sturmbann [plural: Sturmbanne] — lit. "storm band," a battalion; used by SA and SS units until 1940.
Sturmgeschütz (StuG) — self-propelled assault gun, such as the Sturmgeschütz III.
Sturmgewehr — assault rifle.
StuK - Sturmkanone, prefix for the main armament of any German self-propelled artillery, also "StuH" for Sturmhaubitze, when a howitzer was used instead on a tracked chassis.
Stützpunkt — military base.
Süden — south.
Swastika — English term for the German Hakenkreuz.
sWS — Schwere Wehrmachtschlepper, late World War II "replacement" half-track vehicle.
[edit] T
Tagesbefehl — order of the day
tauchen — dive; submerge.
Tauchpanzer — submersible tank.
Teilkommando — a small, section-sized command group.
Testflug — flight test, shakedown cruise
Tiger — name given to the PzKW Panzer VI "Tiger I" and "Tiger II" series of tanks, as well as the Jagdtiger tank destroyer, based on the Tiger II, and Sturmtiger, built on the Tiger I's chassis.
Todesmärsche — "Death marches" — at the end of the war when it became obvious that the German army was trapped between the Soviets to the east and the advancing Allied troops from the west, the Nazis, in an attempt to prevent the liberation of concentration camp inmates, forced them to march westward toward Germany proper. Thousands died in these marches.
Tommy — German slang for a British soldier (similar to "Jerry" or "Kraut", the British and American slang terms for Germans).
Totenkopf — "death's head",skull and crossbones, also the nickname for the Kampfgeschwader 54 bomber wing of the World War II era Luftwaffe.
Tornister - Back pack
Totenkopfverbände — "Death's Head units", employed as guards in Nazi concentration camps, many later became the members of units of the Waffen-SS, such as the SS Division Totenkopf.
Totenkopfwachsturmbanne — Death's Head Guard battalions; units of the SS that guarded concentration camps during the war.
Treffer — hit. Mostly in past tense. "Torpedo getroffen!" = "Torpedo hit!" or "Torpedo impact!"
Tropenhelm — pith helmet; a wide-rimmed fabric-covered cork helmet used in tropical areas, most notably by the Afrika Korps.
Trupp (pl. Trupps) — Smallest tactical unit of 2 to 8 men, best comparing to Fireteam but also used in non-combat tasks as logistics.
Truppe (pl. Truppen) — summarising term for armed forces, in some context it stands for the enlisted personnel.
Truppenamt — "Troop Office", the disguised Army General Staff after the Versailles Treaty abolished the German Army General Staff.
Truppenarzt — physician in units and sub-units with organic medical sections, e.g. Regimentsarzt, Bataillonsarzt
Truppführer — team leader
[edit] U
UAA — see U-Fahrausbildungslehrgang.
U-bootjäger (UJ-boats) — steam trawlers equipped for anti-submarine operations.
U-Fahrausbildungslehrgang — where submarine personnel learned to operate U-boats.
U-Lehrdivision (ULD) — U-boat Training Division (see Kommandanten-Schießlehrgang).
Untermenschen — those peoples the Nazis derided as "subhuman" (see Entmenscht).
Unteroffizier — (1) a non-commissioned officer; (2) the lowest NCO rank, typical for e.g. infantry squad leaders and functionally equivalent to US Sergeant or UK Corporal.
Unteroffiziere mit Portepee — senior NCO; lit. "underofficer with sword-knot."
Unteroffiziere ohne Portepee — junior NCO; lit. "underofficer without sword-knot."
Unterführer — summarized term for all non-commissioned officers; literally: "subleaders".
Unterseeboot (U-boot) — literally, "undersea boat"; submarine. In the English-speaking world, there is a distinction between "U-boat" and "submarine": "U-boat" refers to a German submarine, particularly the ones used during the world wars. In German, there is no distinction as "U-boat" is used for any submarine, such as "Deutsche U-boot" or "Amerikanische U-boot".
Ural bomber - Luftwaffe General Walter Wever's initiative to build Germany's first four engined strategic bomber at the dawn of the Third Reich, with prototypes coming from Dornier and Junkers. After Wever's death in 1936, the program was shelved.
Urlaub — furlough; also: vacation.
UvD — Unteroffizier vom Dienst - Sergeant in charge of CQ
[edit] A
A-Stand — Forward defensive gunner's position on aircraft.
abgeschossen — shot down; destroyed by means of firing.
Abschnitt — sector, district
Abteilung (Abt.) — a battalion-sized unit of artillery or cavalry, in other contexts a detachment or section.
Abteilungsarzt — battalion physician
Abteilungschef — battalion commander in artillery and cavalry formations
Abteilungsführer — substitute battalion commander in artillery and cavalry formations
Abteilungsveterinär — battalion veterinarian
Abwehr — "defense"; as a shortening of Spionage Abwehr (spy defense) the term referred to the counter-espionage service (German Secret Service) of the German High Command, headed by Admiral Canaris. Also an element in such compounds as Fliegerabwehr-Kanone "anti-aircraft gun."
Abzeichen — insignia; badge of rank, appointment or distinction.
Adlerangriff — "Eagle Attack"; term for projected "decisive attack" by the Luftwaffe on RAF Fighter Command.
Aggregat 4 (A4) — original name of the German V2 rocket.
AGRU-Front — Technische Ausbildungsgruppe für Front U-Boote – technical training group for front-line U-boats.
AK — Alle Kraft (voraus), naval command for flank speed. Also "Äusserste Kraft!"
Aal — "eel"; slang for torpedo.
"Alarm!" — U-boat order to activate the alarm and begin a crash dive. Also "Fire!", "Air raid!", etc.
Alarmtauchen — crash dive.
"Alle Maschinen stop!" — naval command: "Stop all engines".
"Alle Mann von Bord!" — naval command; "All hands, abandon ship!"
Allgemeine SS — "General SS", general main body of the Schutzstaffel made up of the full-time administrative, security, intelligence and police branches of the SS as well as the broader part-time membership which turned out for parades, rallies and "street actions" such as Kristallnacht; also comprised reserve and honorary members.
Alte Hasen — "Old hares"; slang for military veterans who survived front-line hardships.
Amerika Bomber - A spring 1942 aviation contract competition for a Luftwaffe trans-oceanic range strategic bomber, only resulting in a few completed prototype aircraft from two firms, and many advanced designs that mostly remained on paper.
Ami — German slang for an American soldier.
Ärmelband — cuff title. Worn on the left sleeve, the title contains the name of the wearer's unit or a campaign they are part of. Cuff titles are still used in the German Army and Luftwaffe.
Amt — office, main office branch.
Amt Mil — German Army intelligence organization which succeeded the Abwehr.
Angriff — attack.
Angriffsmuster — attack pattern.
Angriffsziel — attack objective.
Armee — army, typically a numbered army.
Armeeabteilung — command between a corps and an army, an enlarged corps headquarters.
Armeekorps — infantry corps.
Armee-Nachrichten-Führer — Army Signals Officer, served on the staff HQ of an Army.
Armeeoberkommando — Field Army Command.
Armee-Pionier-Führer — Army Engineer Officer, served on the staff HQ of an Army.
Armee-Sanitäts-Abteilung — Army medical unit.
Artillerie — artillery.
Atomwaffe — nuclear weapon.
Atomkrieg — nuclear war.
ausgefallen — Statement that equipment is down, has failed, is out of action.
aufgelöst — "dissolved"; disbanded, written off the order of battle.
Aufklärung — reconnaissance.
Aufklärungs-Abteilung — reconnaissance unit or battalion, also used to designate certain battalion-sized units.
"Auftauchen!" — "surface the boat".
Auftragstaktik — mission-type tactics, the central component of German warfare since the 19th Century
Aus der Traum — literally, "The dream is over"; a slogan painted by German soldiers near the end of the war expressing the surreality of their situation.
Ausführung (Ausf.) — version, model, variant, batch, for non-aviation related vehicles and ordnance.
Ausführung!/Ausführen! — command to execute a given order
Ausrüstung — equipement
Ausschreitungen — bloody atrocities (see Greuelerzählungen).
Auszeichnung — medal, accolade, distinction.
[edit] B
B-Stand — Dorsal (top of fuselage) defensive gunner's position on aircraft.
Backbord — Port side of a ship.
Balkenkreuz — equal-armed black cross flanked in white, the emblem used on military aircraft and vehicles until V-E Day
Banditen — bandits, partisans in occupied territories in World War II; bewaffnete Banden — armed gangs; Soldaten in Zivilkleidung — soldiers in civilian dress; (see Franktireure).
Bandengebiet — territory controlled by partisan squads in occupied territories during World War II.
Bataillon — battalion
Bataillonsadjutant - battalion adjutant
Bataillonsarzt — battalion physician
Bataillonsführer — substitute battalion commander
Bataillonskommandeur — battalion commander
Batallionsveterinär — battalion veterinarian
Batterie — battery, artillery piece; also used for an electrical battery.
Batteriechef — battery commander
Batterieführer — substitute battery commander
Batterieoffizier — Gun Position Officer
Baubelehrung — vessel familiarization; when a boat or ship crew studied the construction of a new vessel; see "KLA."
Baubeschreibung — General arrangement drawing sheet, giving basic dimensions and other measurement & physical parameters (materials, dihedral angles, etc.), of either German front line, or Beute, or "captured" Allied aircraft, in World War I.
Baupionier — army construction engineer.
B-Dienst — Beobachtungsdienst, literally, "observation service"; German Navy cryptanalytical department.
BDM Bund Deutscher Mädel — League of German Girls, the girls' segment of the Hitler Youth.
BdU — Befehlshaber der U-Boote – Commander-in-Chief of the U-boats (Admiral Karl Dönitz); see FdU.
Befehl (pl. Befehle) — order, command. "Zu Befehl!" was an affirmative phrase on par with "Jawohl".
Befehlshaber — commander-in-chief; lit. "one who has (the power to issue) commands." Sometimes also used to refer to the headquarters of a C-in-C as an alternative to Hauptquartier.
Benzin — gasoline, petrol.
Benzintank — fuel tank.
Beobachter — artillery or air observer
Beobachtungsoffizier — Artillery observer
Beobachtungswagen — observation or reconnaissance vehicle.
Bereitschaft — readiness.
Bergepanzer — armoured recovery vehicle.
Betriebstoff — fuel
Beschlagschmied — blacksmith; see Hufbeschlagschmied.
Beutepanzer — captured tank or armoured vehicle.
Bewährungseinheit — probationary unit
BK — Bordkanone. heavy-calibre (usually over 30 mm) cannon for offensive use on aircraft.
Blechkoller — "tin fright"; in U-boats, a form of nervous tension that could be caused by depth charge attacks and resulted in violence or hysteria.
Blechkrawatte — "tin necktie," slang for the Knight's Cross
Blitzkrieg — "lightning war"; not a widely used German military term, this word became popular in the Allied press and initially referred to fast-moving battle tactics developed principally by German military theorists, most notably Erwin Rommel, Heinz Guderian, and Erich von Manstein, using massed tanks and ground-attack bombers to speedily penetrate enemy lines at points and move to their rear, causing confusion and panic among enemy forces.
Bola — contraction of Bodenlafette, a lightly armoured casemate-style of bulged ventral defensive gunner's position, using only flexible (unturreted) weapon mounts, a common fitment on German bomber aircraft designs, usually under the nose.
Bomber B - the abortive aviation contract competition meant to replace all previous Luftwaffe medium bombers with a single design, meant to be used for all but the longest-range missions, and function as a combination of medium and heavy bomber.
Brotbeutel — haversack
Brücke — bridge. Can mean either the road structure or a ship's command center, also the supporting framework that existed below the bird-like monoplane wings of the earlier examples of the Etrich Taube before World War I.
Brückenleger — bridgelayer.
Brummbär — "grumbling bear"; a children's word for "bear" in German. It was the nickname for a heavy mobile artillery piece.
Bundes — federal.
Bundeswehr — "Federal Defense Force", name adopted for the West German armed forces after the fall of the Third Reich. (Between 1945 and 1955 there was no German army.) The Bundeswehr consists of the Heer (Army), Luftwaffe (Air Force) and Marine (Navy), as well as (since the late 1990s) the Streitkräftebasis (Joint Service Support Command) and Zentraler Sanitätsdienst (Central Medical Service).
Bürger — citizen.
Bürgerkrieg — civil war.
[edit] C
C-Stand — Ventral (underside of fuselage) defensive gunner's position on aircraft.
Chef — commander of a unit or sub-unit, e.g. Regimentschef. A substitute in case of absence would be referred to as Regimentsführer etc.
Chef des Generalstabes — Chief of the General Staff.
[edit] D
Daimler-Benz (DB) — A producer of military vehicles, and engines to power both German aircraft and surface vehicles.
Deutsches Afrikakorps (DAK) — German troops sent to North Africa under the command of Erwin Rommel to prevent the loss of Libya to the British by the Italians. The term is properly used to refer to Rommel's original force of two divisions that landed in Libya on February 14, 1941 (which stayed as a distinct formation for the remainder of the North African Campaign), but is often used to describe all German forces that operated in North Africa, eventually consisting of several divisions and corps and formed into an entire Panzer Army.
Dienst — service.
Division — in the army and air force a military formation, in the navy either a sub-unit of a squadron or trainings units of battalion size
Divisionsarzt — Medical officer of a division
Divisionskommandeur — General officer commanding a division
Dienstdolch — service dagger (uniform dagger).
Drahtverhau — barbed-wire entanglement. Slang term used by German soldiers during World Wars I and II for a military-issue mixture of dried vegetables.
Drang nach Osten — "Push to the East", Germany's ambitions for territorial expansion into Eastern Europe.
Düppel — German code name for radar chaff, used by the Royal Air Force as Window, possibly from düpieren (to dupe). or from a suburb of Berlin of the same name, where it was allegedly first found near.
[edit] E
Eagle's Nest — English name given to Hitler's mountain-top summerhouse at Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps, not far from the Berghof. In German, it is known as the Kehlsteinhaus. Hitler, however, only visited the property ten times and each visit was under 30 minutes.
EGz.b. V. — Einsatzgruppe zur besonderen Verwendung – SS Special Purpose Operational Group.
Ehrendolch — literally, "honor dagger", a presentation dagger awarded for individual recognition, especially by the SS.
Eichenlaubträger — holder of Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
Eid — oath. The current oath when joining the Bundeswehr is "Ich gelobe, der Bundesrepublik Deutschland treu zu dienen, und das Recht und die Freiheit des deutschen Volkes tapfer zu verteidigen" ("I pledge to faithfully serve the Federal Republic of Germany and to bravely defend the right [law] and the freedom of the German people"). For soldiers joining for an extended period of time beyond the mandatory conscription of nine months, "so wahr mir Gott helfe" ("so help me God") is optionally added.
Einfall — invasion.
Eingeschlossen — encirclement, surrounded, cut off.
Einheit — detachment or unit.
Einheitsfeldmütze - standard field cap
Einsatz — duty, mission, deployment, action.
Einsatzbereit — statement meaning, "Ready for action."
Einsatzgruppen — "mission groups", or "task forces". Einsatzgruppen were battalion-sized, mobile killing units made up of SiPo, SD or SS Special Action Groups under the command of the RSHA. They followed the Wehrmacht into occupied territories of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. These units were supported by units of the uniformed German Order Police (Orpo) and auxiliaries of volunteers (Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, and Ukrainian). Their victims, primarily Jews, were executed by shooting and were buried in mass graves from which they were later exhumed and burned. At least a million Jews were killed in this manner. There were four Einsatzgruppen (A, B, C, D), which were subdivided into company-sized Einsatzkommandos.
Einsatzkommando — company-sized subunits of the Einsatzgruppen which took care of the mobilization and killing of Jews, Communists and others during the German invasion into the Soviet Union.
Einwohner — resident, inhabitant.
Eisenbahn — "iron road"; railroad.
Eisernes Kreuz — "iron cross"; medal awarded for valorous service, and the German national military insignia from 1910 to the beginning of spring 1918, and once again from 1955 (with the establishment of the Bundeswehr) to today.
Elefant — "Elephant"; a heavy Panzerjäger (tank hunter or tank destroyer) built on the chassis of Porsche's unsuccessful prototypes for the Tiger tank, and mounting the 88mm L/71 PaK 43.
Elektra — a German radio-navigational system.
Endlösung or Endziel — the "Final Solution"; refers to the genocide planned against the Jewish people.
Endsieg — final victory.
Enigma — German message encryption equipment.
Ententeich — duck pont, maritime manoeuvre to create an area of calm sea in order to lower boats into the water or land aircraft
Entmenscht — dehumanized (see Untermenschen).
Entscheidender Sieg — decisive victory.
Erobert — conquered.
Erkennungsmarke — identity tag; "dog tag".
Erprobungsstelle — test centre
Ersatz — substitute, replacement, reserves; could refer to replacement troops or any substance used in place of another (e.g., ersatz coffee, ersatz rubber, etc.).
Ersatzbataillone or Marschbataillone — coherent military replacement groups.
Etappendienst — German naval intelligence department.
Etappenschwein — (slang) "rear swine" (REMF).
Exerzierpanzer — practice or exercise tank.
[edit] F
Fahne (pl. Fahnen) — flag or banner.
Fahnenschmied — farrier NCO
Fahnenflucht — desertion
Fähnrich zur See — lowest naval officer rank, equivalent to Cadet or Ensign (literal meaning, "naval ensign-bearer")
Fallschirmjäger — paratroopers; German airborne troops.
FdU — Führer der U-Boote; Commander-in-Chief of U-boats (used from World War I to 1939, when the title was reduced to "Regional Commander").
Feigling — coward.
Feind — enemy. "Feindlich-" is used as an adjective, such as "feindliche Truppen" (enemy troops) or "feindliche Stellung" (enemy position).
Feindfahrt — "enemy trip"; in U-boat terminology, a war cruise or combat patrol against the enemy.
Feindbild — "enemy image"; prejudiced 'bogeyman' image of the enemy.
Feld — field.
Feldersatzbatallion — field replacement battalion, usually one per infantry division
Feldflasche — canteen
Feldflieger Abteilung — "field airmen's section", abbreviated as "FFA". The earliest form of Luftstreitkräfte military flying unit in World War I, first formed in 1914 with six two-seater observation aircraft per unit.
Feldgendarmerie — Field Gendarmerie or "Field Police", the military police units of the Wehrmacht.
Feldgrau — "field gray"; term used to describe the color of the ordinary German soldier's tunic – by extension the soldiers themselves.
Feldjäger — military police detachments formed late in the war to root out deserters; later the name was applied to all military police units of the postwar Bundeswehr.
Feldkoch — cook
Feldlazarett — field hospital.
Feldpolizeibeamter — field police officer
Feldpost, Feldpostbrief — mail to and from troops at the front.
Feldwebel — non-commissioned rank in the Heer and Luftwaffe, the most junior of the "Unteroffiziere mit Portepee" (senior NCO) ranks. Approximately equal to staff sergeant.
Feldzug — military campaign
Fernglas — binoculars; literally "remote glass"..
Fernmelde- — telecommunication
Feldpost — field post
Fernsprech- — telephone
Festung — fortress.
"Feuer auf mein Kommando" — "fire on my command".
"Feuer Frei" — "fire at will".
Feuerschutz — suppressive fire, covering fire.
Feuerwerker — ordnance NCO
FlaK — Fliegerabwehrkanone, Flug(zeug)abwehrkanone – air defense gun; anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) (e.g., the "eighty-eight").
FlaK-Helfer — "FlaK helper"; often underaged auxiliaries used to load and operate FlaK batteries and man searchlight batteries.
Flakpanzer — armoured self-propelled antiaircraft gun, such as the Möbelwagen.
Flammpanzer — flame-throwing tank.
Flammenwerfer — flame-thrower.
Fliegerabwehr-Abteilung — anti-aircraft battalion.
Fliegerabwehrkanone — see FlaK.
Fliegerschwert — airman's sword (part of an officer's regalia).
Flotte — naval fleet.
Flucht nach vorn — "flight to the front"; trying to assault rather than wait or retreat while under threat.
Flüchtlingslager — refugee camp.
Flugzeug — aircraft.
Flug(zeug)abwehrkanone — see FlaK.
Flugzeugträger — aircraft carrier.
Fluten — U-boat order; "Flood the tanks!"
Forschungsamt — intelligence service of the Luftwaffe.
Frachter — freighter.
Franktireure — terrorists; (see Freischärler).
Franktireurkrieg — terrorist warfare.
Fregattenkapitän — Naval rank, literally meaning "Frigate Captain", in between Korvettenkapitän and Kapitän zur See. Commanded a light cruiser, or served as the executive officer on a capital ship, hence often translated as Commander
Freikorps — volunteer corps; (see Freiwillige).
Freischärler — irregular or guerrilla (see Widerstandskräfte).
Freischärlerunwesen — "pestering by guerrillas"; guerrilla activities or terrorist incidents.
Freiwillige — volunteer.
Fremde Heere Ost/West (FHO/FHW) — Foreign Armies East/West, staff intelligence specialist on the subject.
Frieden — peace.
Fritz-X — The Luftwaffe's radio-controlled glide bomb, precursor to today's "smart weapons" or PGM's.
Fronterlebnis — front experience.
Frontgemeinschaft — front-line comradeship or community; group of front-line combat soldiers.
Frontkämpfer — front line soldier.
Frontschwein — soldier serving long at the front.
Der Führer — "The Leader"; title used by Adolf Hitler: Mein Führer, Der Führer.
Führerbunker — (literally meaning "shelter [for the] leader" or "[the] Führer's shelter") was located about 8.2 metres beneath the garden of the old Reich Chancellery building at Wilhelmstraße 77, and about 120 metres north of Hitler's New Reich Chancellery building in Berlin. This underground bunker was Hitler's last FHQ and where he and his wife Eva Braun ended their lives on 30 April 1945.
Führerhauptquartiere (FHQ), a number of official headquarters especially constructed in order to be used by the Führer.
Führersonderzug, a special train built for and used by the Führer.
Führer — in the army a substitute commander of a unit or sub-unit in absence of the regular commander (see 'Chef'); in the navy a flag officer (e.g. Führer der Uboote)
SS-Führungshauptamt — SS Leadership Head Office, the administrative headquarters of the Waffen-SS.
Funke — 1) radio [die Funke, f., slang abbreviation for Funkgerät]; 2) spark [der Funke, m.]; the literal (pre-radio) meaning of the word.
Funker — radio operator (from funken [verb], to transmit by radio).
Funkgerät (prefix: FuG) — generic term for radio and airborne IFF, RDF and airborne and some ground based Radar equipment.
Funkmessbeobachtungsgerät (FuMB) — radar detector.
Füsilier — historic term often used to refer to light infantry, originally named after the fusil, or musket, such troops once carried. During World War II, a name given to infantry formations with some reconnaissance abilities that replaced an infantry division's reconnaissance battalion mid-war when the Germans reduced the number of standard infantry battalions in their divisions from 9 to 6.
Futtermeister — Quartermaster responsible for fodder
Freya radar — first operational radar with the Kriegsmarine.
[edit] G
Gabelschwanzteufel — P-38 Lightning "Fork Tailed Devil".
Gasmaske — gas mask
Gasmaskenbehälter — gas mask container
Gaspistole — starting pistol; a gun that fires blanks.
Gauleiter — supreme territorial or regional Nazi party authority(-ies).
Gebirgsjäger — mountain troops; a mountain "unit", might be described as either Gebirgs or Gebirgsjäger.
Gebirgstruppe — mountain troops
gefallen — fallen, killed in action
Gefecht — combat, action
Gefechtsgepäck — infantry assault pack
Gefechtsstand — command post.
Gefechtsstationen — naval term, "battle stations" or (more literally) "combat stations".
Gefreiter — enlisted rank, senior to privates but not considered an NCO.
Gegenangriff — counterattack.
Gegenoffensive — counter-offensive.
geheim — secret.
Geheime Feldpolizei (GFP) — Secret Field Police. It was Germany's secret military police that was organised by the German high command (OKW) in July 1939 to serve with the Wehrmacht. It was mainly designed to carry out security work in the field, as the executive agent of the Abwehr.
Geheimfernschreiber — (literally, "secret distance writer") cipher machine.
Geleit — escort.
Geleitschutz — convoy.
Gemeindepolizei — local police.
Gemeinschaft — community.
Generalfeldmarschall — Field Marshal.
Generalkommando — the headquarters of an army corps.
Generalstab des Heeres (Gen. St.d. H.) — German Army General Staff.
gepanzert — armoured.
Geschütz — cannon, gun.
Geschützführer — gun captain / commander / layer.
Geschwader — literally "squadron", in World War II Luftwaffe usage, the same as a USAAF aviation wing of World War II. Equivalent to the French escadre or Italian squadriglia. In English, the translation varies. In naval usage, it has the same meaning as an English squadron. In Luftstreitkräfte and Luftwaffe usage:
Luftstreitkräfte World War I: A unit of four fighter Staffeln, as in JG I, the famous "Flying Circus", initially led by Manfred von Richthofen.
Luftwaffe World War II: 1 Geschwader was divided in 3 Gruppen of 3 (or rarely 4) Staffeln each. (Staffel of 9-12 aeroplanes). It was a unit equivalent to a British Commonwealth air force group, a US wing or a Soviet air regiment.
Luftwaffe post World War II: 1 Geschwader is divided in a Technical Gruppe and a Flying Gruppe of 2-3 Staffeln. It is a unit equivalent to a British Commonwealth air force wing or a US group.
Geschwaderkennung — the two-character alphanumeric identification code used by a non-day-fighter Geschwader for unit identification, that appeared to the left of the fuselage Balkenkreuz on most World War II Luftwaffe aircraft.
Gestapo — Geheime Staatspolizei – Secret State Police. Originally the Prussia secret state police and later (as part of the SiPo then merged into the RSHA) the official secret police force of Nazi Germany. Gestapo was derived as follows: Geheime Staatspolizei.
Gewehr — rifle, such as the Gewehr 43.
Gift — poison; giftig: poisonous, toxic.
Gleichschaltung — "coordination", coordination of everything into Nazi ideals.
Gliederung — table of organisation
Goldfasan (Golden pheasant) — derogatory slang term for high-ranking Nazi Party members. Derived from the brown-and-red uniforms similar to the colors of male pheasants and the perceived behaviour of high-ranking party officials living in peace and luxury at home.
Gothic Line — German defense line in Italy, north of Florence.
Grabenkrieg — trench warfare.
Granate — grenade, used not only for hand grenades (Handgranate) but also for other explosive ordnance such as mortar (Werfgranate) and armor-piercing (Panzergranate) shells.
Granatwerfer — mortar.
Grenadier — traditional term for heavy infantry, adopted during World War II from mid-war onward as a morale-building honorific often indicative of low-grade formations.
Grenze — border.
Grenzschutz — border patrol.
Greuelerzählungen — numerous atrocities.
Gröfaz — German soldiers' derogatory acronym for Größter Feldherr aller Zeiten, a title initially publicized by Nazi propaganda to refer to Adolf Hitler during the early war years; literally, the "Greatest Field Commander of all Time".
Grundausbildung (abbr. Grundi)[1] — basic training
Gruppe — In the army it is the equivalent to a squad, a Luftwaffe gruppe was equivalent to a US/French group or a British Commonwealth wing.
Gruppenführer - squad leader, also a Nazi party rank
Gruppenhorchgerät (GHG) — hydrophone array.
Gruppenstab — command staff.
Gustav Line — German defense line in Italy, centered on the monastery of Monte Cassino.
GvD — Gefreiter vom Dienst — soldier who is the runner of CQ
[edit] H
Hafen — harbor. "Flughafen" is airport.
Hakenkreuz — (literally, "hooked cross") the version of the swastika used by the Nazi Party.
"Halbe Fahrt!" — Naval command calling for half-speed. "Halbe Fahrt voraus" is "half-speed ahead" and "Halbe Fahrt zurück" is "half-speed reverse".
Halsschmerzen — "sore throat" or "itchy neck;" used of a reckless or glory-seeking commander, implying an obsession with winning the Knight's Cross
Halt — Stop! Freeze!
Handelsmarine — German merchant marine.
Hannoversche Maschinenbau AG (Hanomag) – producer of military vehicles, principally the SdKfz 251 medium-armoured halftrack.
"Hart..." — Naval command calling for a sharp turn. "Hart Backbord" is "hard-a-port" and "Hart Steuerbord" is "hard-a-starboard".
Härteübung — hardiness training.
Haubitze — howitzer.
Hauptamt Sicherheitspolizei (HA-SiPo) — Security Police headquarters.
Hauptbahnhof - central station.
Hauptfeldwebel - company first major
Hauptkampflinie (HKL) — literally main combat line, official term for "front" until the end of World War II
Hauptmann — army captain.
Hauptquartiere (HQ) — headquarters.
Hauptstadt — capital city.
Hauptwachtmeister - company first sergeant in artillery and cavalry units.
Heckenschützen — terrorist-snipers.
Heckstand — tail gun defensive position on aircraft.
Heer — regular German Army. Can also be used for any national army.
Heeresgruppenkommando (HGr.Kdo) — Army Group Command.
Heimat — home, homeland.
Heimatkurs — the way home. Literally "homeland course".
Heimatschuß — "homeland shot"; a wound not severe enough to be permanently disabling, but of sufficient severity to require evacuation from the battlefront. The German soldier's equivalent of the American G.I.'s "million-dollar wound" or the British soldier's "Blighty wound."
Heldenklau — "stealing" or "snatching of heroes"; slang term used to denote the practice of commandeering rear-echelon personnel for front-line service.
Henschel — firm responsible for many German World War II weapons systems for both the Wehrmacht Heer and the Luftwaffe, especially the heavy Tiger I and Tiger II tanks and the Henschel Hs 293 guided anti-ship missile.
"Herr..." — In past and modern German military protocol, "Herr" ("mister") is said before ranks when someone is addressing a person of higher rank. For example, a lieutenant ("Leutnant") would address his captain as "Herr Hauptmann" ("Mr. Captain"). Superior officer address subordinates with "Herr" and their last name or simply their rank, but not adding "Herr" to the rank.
Hetzer — agitators, also the unofficial name of a certain late-war model of German tank destroyer.
Hilfswillige (Hiwis) — German Army volunteer forces usually made up of Soviet volunteers serving in non-combat capacities.
Himmelfahrtskommando — literally, "trip to heaven mission", a suicide mission.
Hinterhalt — ambush.
Hitler-Jugend (HJ) — Hitler Youth. The German youth organization founded by the Nazi Party (NSDAP). Made up of the Hitlerjugend proper, for male youth ages 14–18; the younger boys' section "Deutsches Jungvolk" for ages 10–14; and the girls' section "Bund Deutscher Mädel" (BDM).
Hitlersäge — "Hitler saw", nickname of the MG42 machine gun
HJ-Fahrtenmesser — common dagger specially designed for the Hitler Jugend
Höckerhindernisse — anti-tank obstacles often referred to as "Dragon's Teeth".
Hoheitsabzeichen — national insignia e.g. on a tank or aircraft.
Hohentwiel — FuG 200 UHF-band (500 MHz) maritime patrol airborne radar gear. Hubschrauber — helicopter.
Hufbeschlagschmied, farrier.
Hummel — "bumble-bee"; nickname for a piece of mobile artillery.
Hundehütte — literally, "dog house", punishment hut.
[edit] I
Indianer — Indians. Luftwaffe slang for an enemy fighter (from the game of cowboys and Indians.)
Infanterie — infantry.
Iststärke — actual strength (compared to Soll-Stärke)
Iwan — German slang for a Soviet soldier (similar to "Jerry" or "Kraut", the British and American slang terms for Germans).
[edit] J
Jabo (Jagdbomber) — fighter-bomber.
Jagdgeschwader (JG) — single-engine fighter wing/group, literally hunting squadron.
Jagdpanzer — "hunting tank"; armoured casemate-style self-propelled tank destroyer.
Jagd-Kommando — "hunting commando"; generally refers to a commando outfit that remained behind enemy lines when an area was overrun and would carry out sabotage and other guerrilla actions. These units did not generally operate as such and were later taken over by the SS and used as frontline combat troops in 1944-1945.
Jäger — [1] light infantry; used alone or as part of a specialty such as Gebirgsjäger or Fallschirmjäger. [2] Fighter Airplane. The root Jagd- is also used in its literal meaning of "hunter" for weapon systems such Jagdtiger.
jawohl — simply the word "yes" with the emphatic "wohl", which one might translate as "Yes, indeed!", "Aye, aye, sir!" or "Absolutely yes!" Widely used in World War II.
Junkerschule — SS officer academy.
[edit] K
Kadavergehorsam — "absolute duty and blind obedience till death."; lit.: "carcass obedience"
Kameradschaft — small military unit, or phrase for "comrade support amongst soldiers" (see Volkgemeinschaft).
Kampf — struggle, fight or conflict.
Kampfflotte — battle fleet.
Kampfgeist — fighting spirit.
Kampfgeschwader (KG) — bomber wing (USAAF practice)/group (RAF practice)
Kampfgruppe—1. an Army battlegroup or task force; formal designation of an ad hoc task force, or informal description of a combat unit at greatly reduced strength. 2. In the Luftwaffe, a bomber unit equivalent to a US/French group or a British Commonwealth wing.
Kampfmesser — combat knife.
Kampfplan — battle plan.
Kampfschwimmer — frogman.
Kampfzone — battle zone.
Kampfwunde — battle injury.
Kanone — gun (as opposed to a howitzer).
Kanonier — gunner
Kapitän — Naval rank of Captain; in full Kapitän zur See (KzS or Kpt.z.S.) ;literally, Sea Captain. Commanded any capital ship.
Kapitänleutnant (Kptlt.) — Naval rank of Lieutenant Commander or (literally) Captain Lieutenant. Officers of this rank generally command small vessels such as U-boats and minesweepers. The rank is often shortened to "Kaleun", with junior officers addressing people of this rank as "Herr Kaleun".
Kapitulation — surrender.
Kapo — overseer, NCO (sl). Esp. a prisoner who acted as an overseer of his fellow inmates in the Nazi concentration camps (see Konzentrationslager).
Kartenstelle — mapping detachment, normally part of staff company of a division or higher
Kaserne — barracks.
Kavallerie — cavalry.
Kessel(schlacht) — cauldron
Kette — chain, in the air force a sub-unit of 3—6 aircraft
Ketten — chains, chain-drive, tracks (e.g. Panzerketten)
Kettenantrieb — track, such as a tank track; tracked vehicle.
Kettenhund — "chained dog", slang for a Military Policeman (derived from the metal gorget worn on a chain around the neck).
Kettenkraftrad — a tracked motorcycle; also Kettenkrad.
Kindersärge — "children's coffins", slang term applied to small, wooden antipersonnel box-mines.
KLA: Kriegsschiffbaulehrabteilung — was a warship-construction training division which supervised a Baubelehrung.
Kleinkampfverband (K-Verband) — special naval operations unit, comprising a few frogmen.
Kleinkrieg — guerrilla war.
Knickebein — "crooked leg", also "bent leg" (in the sense of "dogleg"); German navigational system using radio beams to guide bombers.
Knochensammlung — gathering the bones of dead soldiers.
Kochgeschirr - mess tin
Kolonne — column, also supply units (e.g. leichte Infanterie-Kolonne)
Kommandanten-Schießlehrgang — U-boat Commander's Torpedo Course.
Kommando — command; detachment; detail.
Kommissarbefehl — the notorious 6 June 1941 "Commissar Order" to kill all political commissars in the Red Army and civil government.
Kompanie — company, unit.
Kompaniechef — company commander
Kompaniefeldwebel — company first sergeant
Kompanieführer — substitute company commander in case of absence or if the ‘Kompaniechef ’ is only an honorary function (similar to a Colonel-in-Chief)
Kompanietruppführer — Company headquarters section leader
Konteradmiral — Naval rank of Rear Admiral.
Konzentrationslager (KZL) — concentration camp.
Korvettenkapitän (K.Kpt) — Naval rank of (literally) "Corvette Captain". The grade senior to Kapitänleutnant; frequently translated as either Lieutenant Commander or Commander. Typically commanded a destroyer.
Krad (Kraft-Radfahrzeug) — motorcycle (dated).
Krad-Melder — motorcycle dispatch rider
Kradschütze(n) — motorcycle unit or soldier.
Kraft — strength.
Kraftei - literally "power-egg", used both for the unitized aviation engine installation system that combined all major engine ancillary components (radiator, oil cooler, etc.) with the engine itself, into a single interchangeable unit for ease of field maintenance and rapid replacement, or as a slang term for the short-fuselaged Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet rocket fighter.
Krankenstation — sick bay of a ship.
Krankenträger — stretcher bearer
Kraut — for sauerkraut; slang term used by Americans to refer to Germans.
Krieg or Krieg(s)- — "war" or "wartime-".
Kriegserlebnis — (myth of the) war experience.
Kriegsfischkutter (KFK) — patrol vessels constructed to a fishing-vessel design; (see Vorpostenboote).
Kriegsflagge — "war ensign"; military form of the national flag, quartered by a black cross with an Iron Cross in the canton.
Kriegsgefangener — prisoner of war.
Kriegsgericht — court-martial; slang for a war dish or poor meal. Also "Militärgericht".
Kriegsmarine — German Navy, 1935-1945.
Kriegsneurose — battle fatigue. Mod. post traumatic stress disorder.
Kriegstagebuch — war diary.
Kriminalpolizei (Kripo) — "Criminal Police" — In Nazi Germany, it became the national Criminal (investigative) Police Department for the entire Reich in July 1936. It was merged, along with the Gestapo, into the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo). Later, in 1939, it was folded into the RSHA.
Krupp (Kp) — famous German steel producer, manufactured most of the tanks, howitzers and heavy mortars, as well as armour plates for battleships (most famously the Bismarck).
Krupp-Daimler (KD) — See Krupp.
Kübel — literally, "bucket" or "tub", short for Kübelwagen, open-topped military utility cars.
Kugel — "bullet" (also "ball").
Kugelfest — bullet-proof.
Kugelblitz — literally "ball lightning", fireball.
KwK — abbreviation for "Kampfwagenkanone", the turret-mounted main (cannon) armament of a main battle tank.
[edit] L
Ladeschütze — loader
Lager — camp.
Landekopf — beachhead.
Landratsamt — civil administration office.
Landsturm — historically, infantry of non-professional soldiers; a kind of militia.
Landser — historical term for a German infantryman; slang: "Schütze Arsch".
Landwehr — Territorial Army, a type of militia.
Landsturm — fourth levy
Lastensegler — cargo glider
Latrinenparole — "latrine talk", rumor.
laufende Nummer — serial number.
Lebensraum — "living space", or in Hitler-speak the minimum space the German people needed to live in.
Lehr — "demonstration"; usually part of the name of an elite formation used as or mobilized from instructional troops (e.g., Panzer-Lehr-Division).
leicht — "light", usually to refer a lighter type, such as light tank: leichter Panzer. Several classes of divisions were also classified as "light".
Leuchtpistole — flare pistol
Leuchtgeschoss/-granate — star shell
Leutnant — Army rank, equivalent to Second Lieutenant
Leutnant zur See — Naval rank, equivalent to Lieutenant, junior grade
Lichtenstein — German airborne radar used for nightfighting, in early UHF-band BC and C-1 versions, and later VHF-band SN-2 and SN-3 versions.
Lorenz Schlüsselzusatz — German cipher machine.
Lorenz (navigation) — pre-war blind-landing aid used at many airports. Most German bombers had the radio equipment needed to use it.
"Los!" — "Go!" or "Away!" Also the U-boat command to fire a torpedo ("Fire!")
Luchs — "lynx"; nickname given to the Model L version of the Panzer II.
Leuchtkugel — signal flare.
Luftangriff — air attack, air raid.
Luftschutz — air raid protection
Luftwaffe — "air force"; the German Air Force.
Luftwaffenhelfer — "Luftwaffe assistant"; see FlaK-Helfer.
Luftschutzpolizei — air raid wardens.
[edit] M
Mannschaften — enlisted personnel
Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg (M.A.N.) — Augsburg-Nuremberg Machine Factory; a German engineering works and truck manufacturer. Now called MAN AG, and primary builder of the Panther tank.
Maschinenfabrik Niedersachsen Hannover (MNH) — weapon (tank) development and production firm.
Maschinengewehr (MG) — machine gun, as in the MG42.
Maschinengewehrschütze — machine gunner
Maschinenkanone (MK) - an autocannon used for aircraft armament, as with the MK 108 30mm calibre weapon.
Maschinenpistole (MP) — submachine gun, as in the MP40.
Maschine — "machine". Commonly used as airplane or engine.
Maultier — SdKfz 4 half-track truck, German for mule
Maus — "mouse"; nickname for a large, Porsche-designed super-heavy tank, the heaviest tank ever actually built and tested, that never passed beyond prototype stage.
Maybach (M) — a German automotive and engineering company.
Melder — runner
Meldereiter - horse despatch rider
Metox — radar warning receiver (named for manufacturer) fitted to U-boats; superseded by Naxos-U
Milchkuh — "milk cow", nickname for the Type XIV resupply U-boat.
Militär — military.
Militärnachrichtendienst — military intelligence.
Mine (pl. Minen) — an anti-personnel, tank or ship mine.
Mineneigenschutz (MES) — ship's degaussing cable; literally "mine self-protection".
Minensuchboote (M-boats) — large minesweepers.
Mißliebige — undesirables.
Mitarbeiter — assistant clerk
Motorkanone — engine-mounted autocannon armament firing through a hollow propeller shaft on fighter aircraft.
MP(i) — sub-machine gun
Mörser — mortar
Munitionskanonier — ammunition handler
Munitionsschlepper — ammunition carrier.
Munitionsschütze — ammunition handler
Mütze — cap or small hat, such as the M43 field cap, also known as the Einheitsfeldmütze.
[edit] N
Nachricht(en) — signals / news / communication, also intelligence.
Nachrichtendienst — intelligence
Nachrichtenoffizier — signals officer
Nachrichtentruppen — Signal Corps.
Nachschub — supply
Nachschubtruppen — supply troops.
Nacht und Nebel — "night and fog"; code for some prisoners that were to be disposed of, leaving no traces; bei Nacht und Nebel (idiom) — secretly and surprisingly, at dead of night.
Nachtjagdgeschwader (NJG) — night-fighter wing/group.
Nahkampfmesser — close-combat fighting knife.
Nahverteidigungswaffe — "close defense weapon"; an attachment to Panzers to combat close-assaulting infantry.
Nashorn — "rhinoceros", nickname for a type of tank destroyer.
Nationalsozialistische Führungsoffiziere (NSFO) — National Socialist Leadership Officers.
Naxos radar detector — "Naxos Z" was developed for night fighters, "Naxos U", was provided to U-boats, to locate Allied H2S microwave-band radar transmissions.
Nebelwerfer (Nb. W) — "fog thrower"; rocket artillery, multi-barrel rocket launchers that could be used for smoke or high-explosive projectiles.
Niederlage — defeat.
Norden — north.
Notsignal — distress signal.
NSKK — the Nationalsozialistisches Kraftfahrerkorps, or National Socialist Motor Corps.
Nummer (Nr.) — "number"; used to describe some divisional organizations with a unit number but no combat assets, often converted to ordinary divisions later on. (E.g., Division Nr. 157.)
[edit] O
Ober-* — higher; part of several military ranks and titles like Oberleutnant and "Oberkommando".
Oberst — German equivalent of a Colonel.
Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres (Ob.d.H.) — Commander-in-Chief of the Army.
Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH) — "High Command of the Army" and Army General Staff from 1936 to 1945.
Oberkommando der Kriegsmarine (OKM) — "High Command of the (War) Navy".
Oberkommando der Luftwaffe (OKL) — "High Command of the Air Force".
Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) — "High Command of the Armed Forces". The OKW replaced the War Ministry and was part of the command structure of the armed forces of Nazi Germany.
Offizier im Generalstab — General Staff officer
Offizier-Lager (Oflag) — "officer camp"; German prisoner-of-war camp for Allied officers.
Ordnungspolizei (Orpo) — "order police" - the regular uniformed police after their nationalization in 1936.
Ordonnanzoffizier — aide-de-camp
Ortskampf — combat in towns, urban warfare.
Osten — east.
Ostfront — eastern front (Russian Front)
Ostjuden — eastern Jews in Poland.
Ostmark — lit. Eastern Border, post-Anschluss Austria.
Ostpreußen — province of East Prussia.
[edit] P
Panjewagen — one-horse carriage.
Panzer — "armour"; German word is derived from Old French pancier, meaning "armour for the belly". It can refer to a tank (see Panzerkampfwagen below) or to an armoured formation. (Panzer Division is literally "Tank Division"; the adjective for "armoured" is gepanzert.)
Panzerabwehrkanone (PaK) — anti-tank gun; literally, "tank defence cannon", also used for the main armament for a typical casemate style turretless German tank destroyer.
Panzerbefehlswagen (Pz. Bef.Wg) — the commanding tank of any panzer detachment; also used of purpose-built command tanks with extra radio gear.
Panzerbüchse — anti-tank rifle
Panzerbüchsenschütze — anti-tank rifleman
Panzerfaust — literally "armour fist"; a light disposable infantry anti-tank weapon, a small recoilless gun firing a fin-stabilized shaped charge grenade, and a forerunner of the Soviet RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) although the Panzerfaust was not rocket-propelled.
Panzerführer — tank commander
Panzerkommandant — tank commander
Panzerschreck — literally "armour terror," officially Raketenpanzerbüchse "rocket armour rifle;" a heavy re-usable infantry anti-tank weapon firing a rocket-propelled 88mm shaped charge grenade. Also called Ofenrohr ("stovepipe") for its appearance.
Panzergrenadier — mechanized infantry; a soldier belonging to a mechanized infantry unit.
Panzerjäger — "tank hunter(s)", anti-tank troops; also used by extension for their self-propelled tank destroyers (e.g., the Elefant) until superseded by the Jagdpanzer ("hunting tank") term.
Panzerkampfwagen (Pzkpfw.) — "armoured fighting vehicle"; usually a reference to a type of tank with a 360º fully rotating turret for the main armament.
Panzerschiffe — "armoured ships"; i.e.,"pocket battleships".
Panzertruppen — tank forces.
Papier — paper. Often used as paper of identification.
Papierkrieg — paper war. Expression describing the struggle to keep up with reports and record keeping
Partei — political party.
Pionier (pl. Pioniere) — combat engineer.
Planoffizier — Triangulation officer
Porsche (P) — company that designed and produced tanks and other military vehicles. They now produce cars.
Putsch — coup d'état; the sudden overthrow of a government by a small group, usually the military.
Pyrrhussieg — Pyrrhic victory.
[edit] Q
Quartiermeister — quartermaster
Quist — one of several manufacturers of German helmets both during and after World War II.
[edit] R
Radikale Niederwerfung — ruthless suppression.
Räumboot — small minesweeper
Rasputitsa — slang for watery, mud-filled trenches or landscape in Russia.
Räumboote (R-boot) — small motor minesweepers.
Regierung — government.
Regimentsadjutant - regiment adjutant
Regimentsarzt — Regimental Medical Officer
Regimentschef — colonel of the regiment
Regimentsführer - substitute for the colonel of the regiment
Regimentskommandeur - commander of the regiment
Regimentsveterinär — regimental veterinarian
Reich — realm, empire.
Reichsarbeitsdienst (RAD) — compulsory labor service in Nazi Germany.
Reichsbahn — railway system.
Reichsführer-SS — Reich Leader of the SS, an office held by Heinrich Himmler.
Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA) — "Reich Main Security Office or Reich Security Head Office"; created by Himmler in September 1939 to combine all German security and plainclothes police departments, including the Gestapo, Kripo and SD (Sicherheitsdienst der SS) into one umbrella organization with seven departments.
Reichswehr — name for the German Armed Forces under the Weimar Republic, from 1919 to 1935.
Reiter — cavalryman. See also Ritter.
Rekrut — coll. rookie, recruit, member of the military in the basic training
Rettungsboot — lifeboat.
Richtkreisunteroffizier — Gun Director (NCO)
Richtschütze — aiming gunner.
Ritter — knight, cavalier.
Ritterkreuz — "knight's cross", usual abbreviated name for the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes (see next entry)
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes — Knight's Cross (of the Iron Cross); award for valorous service for those who had already received the Iron Cross. Highest award class for bravery under fire or military leadership. 7318 of these were awarded during the war. Previous recipients of the Ritterkreuz would be awarded a higher degree of the same award, and then successively higher ones. The higher degrees are, in ascending order:
Ritterkreuz mit Eichenlaub — "knight's cross with oak leaves". 890 recipients during the war.
Ritterkreuz mit Eichenlaub und Schwerten — "knight's cross with oak leaves and swords". 159 recipients total, plus one honorary recipient (Japanese admiral Isoroku Yamamoto)
Ritterkreuz mit Eichenlaub, Schwerten und Brillanten — "knight's cross with oak leaves, swords, and diamonds": 27 recipients total.
Ritterkreuz mit Goldenem Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillanten: "knight's cross with golden oak leaves, swords, and diamonds": only one recipient.
Ritterkreuzauftrag, "Knight's Cross job" — soldiers' slang for a suicidal mission.
Ritterkreuzträger — a holder of the Knight's Cross.
Rittmeister — Captain, used instead of Hauptmann in the cavalry, reconnaissance, and horse-transport waffen.
Rollkommando — small motorized (rolling) taskforce (non military: band for hit-and-run krime)
Rommelspargel — "Rommel's asparagus"; slanted and barb-wired poles placed in key places behind the Atlantic Wall with the intention of preventing paratroop and glider landings.
Rotes Kreuz — Red Cross.
RSO — the Raupenschlepper Ost fully tracked artillery towing vehicle.
Rückzug — retreat.
[edit] S
S-mine — a common type of anti-personnel landmine.
SA — see Sturmabteilung.
Sachbearbeiter — clerk
die Sahnefront — (cream front) occupied Denmark World War II, a lot of food, minuscule fighting.
Sanitäter ('Sani') — combat medic
Sanitätsoffizier — Medical officer
Sanitätsunteroffizier — Medical NCO
Sanka — acronym for Sanitätskraftfahrtzeug, a term for German field ambulances.
Saukopf — "pig's head", used to refer to the shape of a gun mantlet or mount.
Schanzzeug — entrenching tool; slang term for fork and knife.
Scharfschütze — "sharpshooter"; sniper, marksman.
Schatten — "shadow"; used to describe division headquarters that controlled just a few combat assets, usually for the purpose of misleading enemy intelligence.
Scheisskommando — latrine detail as referred to by survivors of the Konzentrationslager.
Scheuch-schlepper - the adapted three-wheel agricultural tractor used to tow the Luftwaffe's Komet rocket fighter on the ground.
Schiffchen — side cap
Schirmmütze — officer's and senior NCO's peaked cap
Schirrmeister — Harness keeper
Schlacht — battle. "Von" is used for a general location and "um" is used for what exactly was being fought over; for example, the Battle of Midway is referred to as the "Schlacht um Midway" while the Battle of Trafalgar is called the "Schlacht von Trafalgar".
Schlachtschiff — battleship.
Schleichfahrt — silent running.
schnell — fast.
Schnellboot (S-Boot) — motor torpedo boat (British term: "E-boat", for "enemy").
Schnelle Truppen — mechanized troops (whether armour or infantry).
Schräge Musik — "slanted music", obliquely upward/forward-firing offensive German night fighter armament.
Schutzpolizei — "protection police", the municipal police; largest component of the uniformed police or Ordnungspolizei.
Schutzstaffel (SS) – "Protection Squadron", a major Nazi organization that grew from a small paramilitary unit that served as Hitler's personal body guard into militarily what was in practical terms the fourth branch of the Wehrmacht. It was not legally a part of the military (and therefore wore the national emblem on the left sleeve instead of over the right breast pocket). "SS" is formed from (S)chutz(s)taffel. Had a tri-force structure: Allgemeine-SS or "General SS", general main body of the Schutzstaffel; SS-Totenkopfverbände responsible for the concentration camps; SS-Verfügungstruppe made up of military "dispositional" troops which in 1940 officially became part of the Waffen-SS.
Schürze — "skirting", armour skirting added to tanks to give additional protection.
Schussline — line of fire.
Schütze — rifleman; see also Scharfschütze.
Schützenpanzerwagen (SPW) — armoured half-track or self propelled weapon.
Schutzhaft — "protective custody"; a euphemism for the power to imprison people without judicial proceedings, typically in concentration camps.
Schutzhaftbefehl — "protective custody order"; document declaring that a detained person desired to be imprisoned; normally this signature was forced by torture.
Schwadron (plural: Schwadrone) — "squadron"; used in the cavalry, a squadron was basically company-sized.
Schwadronführer — company commander in the cavalry
Schwadrontruppführer — company HQ section leader
Schwarm — Flight (military unit)
Schwarze Kapelle — "Black Orchestra"; a term used to describe a group of conspirators within the German Army who plotted to overthrow Hitler and came near to successfully assassinating him on 20 July 1944.
Schweinereien — "scandalous acts" (lit.: "acts of a pig"); (in a military context) crimes against civilians.
schwer — (1) adjective meaning "heavy", the word "gross" (large) can mean the same; (2) hard/difficult.
Schwerer Kreuzer — heavy cruiser.
Schwerpunkt — main axis of attack
Schwert — sword.
Schwimmpanzer — amphibious or "swimming" tank.
SD — see Sicherheitsdienst.
SdKfz — Sonderkraftfahrzeug
Seekriegsleitung (SKL) — directorate of the Naval War.
Sehrohr — periscope; literally "looking tube".
Sehrohrtiefe — periscope depth.
Seitengewehr — bayonet.
Selbstfahrlafette — self-propelled gun carriage.
Selbstschutz — ethnic German civilian militia.
Sicherheitsdienst (SD) — "security service"; the SS and Nazi Party security service. Later, the main intelligence-gathering, and counter-espionage sections of the RSHA; originally headed by Reinhard Heydrich.
Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo) — "security police", the combined forces of the Gestapo and KriPo, made up of the Reich's criminal investigators and secret state police.
"sichern und laden" — "lock and load".
Sicherungsflottillen — (1) escort ships, (2) paramilitary organization of unemployed ex-soldiers, who were recruited to protect Nazi speakers, and because of their clothing were called "Brown Shirts".
Sieg — victory.
Sigrunen — the name of the double "S" runes used by the SS.
SiPo — see Sicherheitspolizei.
Sippenhaftung — the practice of arresting members of a person's family for political crimes or treason committed by that person.
Soldat — soldier/enlisted man.
Soldbuch — pay book carried by every member of the German armed forces. Unit information, a record of all equipment issued, and other details were entered into this book.
Sollstärke — authorized strength
Sonderbehandlung — "special treatment"; a Nazi euphemism meaning torture or killing of people in detention.
Sonderfahndungslisten — wanted-persons list.
Sonderkommando — "special unit"; an official term that applied to certain German and foreign SS units that operated in German-occupied areas, who were responsible for the liquidation of persons not desirable to the Nazi government; ALSO: Jewish inmates of extermination camps, assigned to clear gas chambers of corpses, etc.
Sonderkraftfahrzeug (Sd. Kfz.) — "special-purpose motor vehicle", usually abbreviated and referring to an Ordinance Inventory Number.
Sonderreferat — special administrative section.
Späher — scout.
Spähtrupp - combat patrol
Spähwagen — armoured car, scout/reconnaissance vehicle.
Sperrlinie — blocking line.
Sperrschule — Mine Warfare School at Kiel-Wik.
Spieß — "pike"; colloquial name for the mustering and administrative non-commissioned officer of a company, the Hauptfeldwebel. Typically held the rank of Oberfeldwebel or Stabsfeldwebel. He exercised more authority than his American counterpart (First Sergeant), but his duties did not ordinarily include combat leadership.
Spion — spy.
Sprengstoff — explosive material.
SS — see Schutzstaffel.
SS-TV — SS-Totenkopfverbände (SS Death's Head Units).
SS-Verfügungstruppen — "units available" or military formations of the SS; became the core of the Waffen-SS formed in August 1940.
Stab (pl. Stäbe) — "staff", sometimes HQ.
Stabschef — chief of staff.
Stabsfeldwebel — lit. "Staff Sergeant", but roughly equivalent to Sergeant Major: the highest non-commissioned officer rank.
Stacheldraht — barbed wire.
Stadtkommandant — military commander of a city.
Staffel — squadron; the smallest operational air unit, and the primary operational unit of the World War I era Luftstreitkräfte.
Staffelführer
Staffelkapitän
Stahlhelm — (1) literally "steel helmet"; (2) inter-war nationalist organization.
Stalag — acronym for Stammlager, German prisoner-of-war camp for ranks other than officers.
Stalinorgel — "Stalin's Organ"; nickname for the Katyusha rocket launcher.
Stammkennzeichen — four-letter radio identification code applied to factory-fresh Luftwaffe aircraft, also used for prototype identification, not used on non-day-fighter aircraft assigned to a particular Luftwaffe wing, where a Geschwaderkennung code would be used instead.
Standarte — SS unit equivalent to a regiment.
Stellung — position
Stellungskrieg — attrition warfare.
Stellungsunteroffizier — gun position NCO
Steuerbord — starboard side of a ship.
Stielhandgranate — stick hand grenade: the "potato masher" Model 24 grenade.
Stoßtrupp — small unit as shock or attack troops.
Strategischer Sieg — strategic victory.
Stube — room in the barracks, quarters
Stuka — acronym for Sturzkampfflugzeug, literally, "dive-bombing aircraft". Particularly associated with the German Ju-87 dive bomber, although the German term refers to any dive bomber.
Stukageschwader — a dive bomberwing/group, later Schlachtgeschwader in a ground support role (SG).
Stupa — a Sturmpanzer IV assault gun.
Sturm — assault.
Sturmabteilung (SA) — "storm battalion," stormtroopers, not part of the army. In the beginning the Nazi Party's "Brown Shirt" bully-boys and street brawlers which grew by 1934 into a paramilitary force of nearly a half-million men; after the purge of its leadership by the Schutzstaffel (SS) and Gestapo during the Night of the Long Knives rapidly decreased in numbers and influence.
Sturmbann [plural: Sturmbanne] — lit. "storm band," a battalion; used by SA and SS units until 1940.
Sturmgeschütz (StuG) — self-propelled assault gun, such as the Sturmgeschütz III.
Sturmgewehr — assault rifle.
StuK - Sturmkanone, prefix for the main armament of any German self-propelled artillery, also "StuH" for Sturmhaubitze, when a howitzer was used instead on a tracked chassis.
Stützpunkt — military base.
Süden — south.
Swastika — English term for the German Hakenkreuz.
sWS — Schwere Wehrmachtschlepper, late World War II "replacement" half-track vehicle.
[edit] T
Tagesbefehl — order of the day
tauchen — dive; submerge.
Tauchpanzer — submersible tank.
Teilkommando — a small, section-sized command group.
Testflug — flight test, shakedown cruise
Tiger — name given to the PzKW Panzer VI "Tiger I" and "Tiger II" series of tanks, as well as the Jagdtiger tank destroyer, based on the Tiger II, and Sturmtiger, built on the Tiger I's chassis.
Todesmärsche — "Death marches" — at the end of the war when it became obvious that the German army was trapped between the Soviets to the east and the advancing Allied troops from the west, the Nazis, in an attempt to prevent the liberation of concentration camp inmates, forced them to march westward toward Germany proper. Thousands died in these marches.
Tommy — German slang for a British soldier (similar to "Jerry" or "Kraut", the British and American slang terms for Germans).
Totenkopf — "death's head",skull and crossbones, also the nickname for the Kampfgeschwader 54 bomber wing of the World War II era Luftwaffe.
Tornister - Back pack
Totenkopfverbände — "Death's Head units", employed as guards in Nazi concentration camps, many later became the members of units of the Waffen-SS, such as the SS Division Totenkopf.
Totenkopfwachsturmbanne — Death's Head Guard battalions; units of the SS that guarded concentration camps during the war.
Treffer — hit. Mostly in past tense. "Torpedo getroffen!" = "Torpedo hit!" or "Torpedo impact!"
Tropenhelm — pith helmet; a wide-rimmed fabric-covered cork helmet used in tropical areas, most notably by the Afrika Korps.
Trupp (pl. Trupps) — Smallest tactical unit of 2 to 8 men, best comparing to Fireteam but also used in non-combat tasks as logistics.
Truppe (pl. Truppen) — summarising term for armed forces, in some context it stands for the enlisted personnel.
Truppenamt — "Troop Office", the disguised Army General Staff after the Versailles Treaty abolished the German Army General Staff.
Truppenarzt — physician in units and sub-units with organic medical sections, e.g. Regimentsarzt, Bataillonsarzt
Truppführer — team leader
[edit] U
UAA — see U-Fahrausbildungslehrgang.
U-bootjäger (UJ-boats) — steam trawlers equipped for anti-submarine operations.
U-Fahrausbildungslehrgang — where submarine personnel learned to operate U-boats.
U-Lehrdivision (ULD) — U-boat Training Division (see Kommandanten-Schießlehrgang).
Untermenschen — those peoples the Nazis derided as "subhuman" (see Entmenscht).
Unteroffizier — (1) a non-commissioned officer; (2) the lowest NCO rank, typical for e.g. infantry squad leaders and functionally equivalent to US Sergeant or UK Corporal.
Unteroffiziere mit Portepee — senior NCO; lit. "underofficer with sword-knot."
Unteroffiziere ohne Portepee — junior NCO; lit. "underofficer without sword-knot."
Unterführer — summarized term for all non-commissioned officers; literally: "subleaders".
Unterseeboot (U-boot) — literally, "undersea boat"; submarine. In the English-speaking world, there is a distinction between "U-boat" and "submarine": "U-boat" refers to a German submarine, particularly the ones used during the world wars. In German, there is no distinction as "U-boat" is used for any submarine, such as "Deutsche U-boot" or "Amerikanische U-boot".
Ural bomber - Luftwaffe General Walter Wever's initiative to build Germany's first four engined strategic bomber at the dawn of the Third Reich, with prototypes coming from Dornier and Junkers. After Wever's death in 1936, the program was shelved.
Urlaub — furlough; also: vacation.
UvD — Unteroffizier vom Dienst - Sergeant in charge of CQ
