Details, Explanation and Meaning About Glossary of German WWII military terms

Glossary of German WWII military terms Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description

This is a list of words, terms, concepts, and slogans that were used by the German military during World War II. Some have also been used in other times, and some are still in use today. Ranks and translations of the nicknames German's gave their vehicles during the war are included. Also included are some general terms from the German language found frequently in military jargon. Some terms are from the general German cultural background, others are given to show a change that was made before or after the Nazi era. Some factories that were the primary producers of military equipment, especially tanks, are also given.

Table of contents
1 Glossary
2 List of German Military Ranks
3 List of Code Names for Major German Operations
4 References
5 See also

Glossary

A

  • abgeschossen -- shot down; destroyed
  • Abschnitt -- sector, district
  • Abteilung (Abt.) -- detachment, batallion
  • Abwehr -- defense; however, this term was also a name for the counter-espionage service of the high command, headed by Admiral Canaris.
  • Abzeichen -- insignia; badge of rank, appointment or distinction
  • Aggregat-4 (A4) -- earlier name for the German V2 rocket.
  • Allgemeine-SS -- general body of the Schutzstaffel consisting of full-time, part-time, and honorary members.
  • Amt -- office, main office branch
  • Amt Mil -- German Army intelligence organization which succeeded the Abwehr.
  • Angriff -- attack
  • "Arbeit macht frei" -- Work makes you free.; notorious slogan seen in some concentration camps.
  • Armeekorps -- infantry corps
  • Armee-Nachrichten-Führer -- Army Signals Officer, served on the staff HQ of an Armee.
  • Armee-Pionier-Führer -- Army Engineer Officer, served on the staff HQ of an Armee.
  • Armee-Sanitäts-Abteilung -- Army medical unit
  • Attentat - assassination attempt
  • Aus der Traum -- lit. The dream is over; a slogan painted by German soldiers near the end of the war expressing the surreality of their situation.
  • Aufklärung -- reconnaissance
  • Aufklärungs-Abteilung -- reconnaissance unit or batallion, also used to designate certain battalion-sized units.
  • Ausführung (Ausf.) -- version, model, variant
  • Auszeichnung -- accolade, distinction

B

C

D

  • Daimler Benz (DB) -- Producer of military vehicles
  • Deutsches Afrika Korps (DAK) -- German troops send to North Africa under the command of Erwin Rommel to prevent the loss of Lybia by the Italians.
  • 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 camp inmates, forced them to march westward. Thousands died in these marches.
  • Drahtverhau -- barbed-wire entanglement. Slang term used by German soldiers during World Wars I and II for a military-issue mixture of dried vegetables.

E

  • Eagle's Nest -- name given to Hitler's mountain-top home at Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps, also known as the Berghof.
  • Einheit -- detachment or unit
  • Einsatz -- duty, mission, encouragement
  • Einsatzbereit -- statement meaning, "Ready for action."
  • Einsatzgruppen -- battalion-sized, mobile killing units of the Security Police and SS Security Service that followed the German armies into the Soviet Union in June 1941. These units were supported by units of the uniformed German Order Police 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 -- Subdivisions of the Einsatzgruppen which took care of the mobilization and killing of Jews during the German invasion into the Soviet Union.
  • Eisenbahn -- iron way; railroad
  • Eisernes Kreuz - iron cross; medal awarded for valorious service
  • Elektra -- a German radio-navigational system
  • Endlösung -- the "Final Solution"; refers to the genocide planned against the Jewish people.
  • Enigma -- German message encryption equipment.
  • Erkennungsmarke -- identity tag; "dog tag"
  • Ersatz -- substitute, replacement; could refer to replacement troops or any substance used in place of another, e.g., ersatz coffee, ersatz rubber, etc.
  • Etappendienst -- German naval intelligence department
  • Exerzierpanzer -- practice or exercise tank

F

Freya radar -- first operational radar with the Kriegsmarine

G

  • Gauleiter -- supreme territorial or regional party authority(-ies)
  • Gebirgsjäger -- mountain troops
  • Gefallen -- killed, dead
  • Geheim -- secret
  • Geheimfernschreiber -- cipher machine
  • Gemeindepolizei -- local police
  • Gendarmerie -- rural police
  • Generalfeldmarschall -- Field Marshal
  • Generalkommando -- The headquarters of an army corps
  • Generalstabs des Heeres -- German Army General Staff
  • Geschütz -- gun
  • Gestapo -- Geheime Staatspolizei, lit. secret state police; the official state secret police force of Nazi Germany, coordinated with the Kripo under the SD.
  • Gift -- poison; giftig: poisonous/toxic
  • Gleichschaltung -- coordination, coordination of everything into Nazi ideals.
  • Gothic Line -- German defence line in Italy, north of Florence.
  • Grabenkrieg -- trench warfare
  • Granatwerfer -- grenade thrower; mortar
  • Grenadier -- historic German term used to refer to infantrymen, usually a specialist in the use of a particular weapon or tactic.
  • Grenze -- border
  • Gewehr -- rifle, such as the Gewehr 43.
  • Gröfaz -- German soldiers' derogatory acronym for Grösster Feldherr aller Zeiten, a title publicized by Nazi propaganda to refer to Adolf Hitler during the early war years; lit. "Greatest War Lord of all Time".
  • Gruppe -- group
  • Gustav Line -- German defence line in Italy, centred on Monte Cassino.

H

  • Hakenkreuz -- the Swastika
  • Handelsmarine -- German merchant marine
  • Hannoversche Maschinenbau AG (Hanomag) -- producer of military vehicles
  • Haubitze -- howitzer
  • Heer -- regular German Army
  • Heimatschuss -- homeland shot; a wound not severe anough to be permanently disabling but of enough severity to require evacuation from the battlefront. The German soldier's equivalent of the American G.I.'s "million-dollar wound."
  • Heldenklau - stealing or snatching of heroes; slang term used to denote the practice of commandeering rear-echelon personnel for front-line service.
  • Hilfsfreiwillige (HIWI) - German Army volunteer forces usually made up of Soviet volunteers serving in non-combat capacities.
  • Hinterhalt -- ambush
  • Hitler Jugend -- Hitler Youth organization
  • Höckerhindernisse -- anti-tank obstacles often refered to as "Dragon's Teeth".
  • Hoheitsabzeichen -- national insignia (eagle and swastika)
  • Hummel -- bumble-bee; nickname for a piece of mobile artillery.

I

  • Infanterie -- infantry
  • Ivan -- German slang for a Soviet soldier (similar to "Kraut", the American slang term for Germans).

J

K

L

M

  • MAN -- German armed anti-nazi resistance group named after the MAN engineering works in Bavaria.
  • Mannschaften -- enlisted personnel
  • Maus -- mouse; nickname for a large, heavy tank that never passed beyond prototype stage.
  • Maybach (M) -- a company that manufactured engines for many of the German panzers.
  • Maschinenfabrik Augsburg Nürnberg (MAN) -- Augsburg-Nuremberg Machine Company; a German engineering works and truck manufacturer.
  • Maschinenfabrik Niedersachsen Hannover (MNH) -- weapon (tank) development and production firm.
  • Maschinengewehr (MG - pronounced emm-gay) -- machine gun, as in the MG-42.
  • Maschinenpistole (MP) -- submachine gun, as in the MP40.
  • Milice -- paramilitary police force of Vichy France (Milice Française).
  • Mine (pl. minen) -- an anti-personnel, tank, or boat mine.
  • Munitionsschlepper -- munitions or ammunition carrier.
  • Mütze -- cap or small hat, such as the M43 field cap, also known as the einheitsfeldmütze.

N

O

  • Ober -- higher
  • Oberkommando des Heeres -- Army High Command
  • Oberkommando der Kriegsmarine -- Navy High Command
  • Oberkommando der Luftwaffe -- Supreme Command of the Air Force
  • Oberkommando der Wehrmacht -- Armed Forces High Command
  • Offizier-Lager (Oflag) -- officer camp; German prisoner of war camp for Allied officers.
  • Orstkampf -- combat in towns
  • Osten -- east
  • Ostpreußen -- Province of East Prussia

P

  • Panzer -- armor; derived from Old French pancier, meaning "armor for the belly".
  • Panzerabwehrkanone (PaK) -- anti-tank gun
  • Panzerbefehlswagen (Pz.Bef.Wg) -- the commanding tank of any panzer detachment.
  • Panzergrenadier -- mobilized or armored infantry
  • Panzerjäger -- armor or tank hunter, anti-tank weapon
  • Panzerkampfwagen (Pzkpfw.) -- lit. armored fighting vehicle; usually a reference to a type of tank.
  • Panzerzerstörer -- tank destroyer; name was sometimes also given to units in an attempt to boost morale.
  • Pionier (pl. pioniere) -- combat engineer
  • Porsche (P) -- company that designed and produced tanks and other military vehicles. They now produce cars.

Q

  • Quist -- One of several manufacturers of German helmets both during and after WWII.

R

  • Reich -- realm, empire
  • Reichsführer-SS -- Reich Leader of the SS, an office held by Heinrich Himmler.
  • Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA) -- Reich Security Main Office; orgainisation created by Himmler to coordinate all German security and police departments, including the Gestapo, Kripo and SD.
  • Reichstag -- the German Parliament
  • Reichswehr -- name for the German Armed Forces under the Weimar Republic, from 1919 to 1935.
  • Ritterkreuz -- Knight's Cross (of the Iron Cross); award for valorious service for those who had already received the Iron Cross. 7318 of these were awarded during the war.
  • Ritterkreuzträger - a holder of the Knight's Cross.
  • 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

S

T

  • Tauchpanzer -- submersible tank
  • Tiger -- nickname given to the Panzer VI Tiger I and Tiger II series of tanks, as well as the larger Jagdtiger.
  • Tropenhelm -- pith helmet; a wide rimmed helmet used in tropical areas, most notably by the Afrika Korps.
  • Tot -- dead
  • Totenkopf -- death's head;
  • Totenkopfverbände -- Death's Head units, employed earlier as guards in concentration camps, later became the first unit of the Waffen-SS, the Totenkopfdivision
  • Totenkopfwachsturmbanne -- Death's head Guard battalions; units of the SS that guarded concentration camps during the war

U

V

  • V1 Rocket -- The first of the operational German weapons of vengeance, or "Vergeltungswaffen" - the V-1 was a pilotless flying bomb powered by a pulse-jet engine and carried a 850 kg (1875 lb) high-explosive warhead. They had a range of up to 200 km. nicknamed "buzz bombs" by allied troops due to the sound they made.
  • V2 Rocket -- Also known as the A4, the successor to the V-1 was a long range rocket powered by liquid oxygen and alcohol, it had a 975 kg (2150 lb) high-explosive warhead and a range of 320 km.
  • V3 -- Long-range, smooth-bore gun designed to fire shells carrying up to a 10 kg (22 lb) high-explosive warhead at a range of 93 km. It was never very successful as most installations were destroyed by bombing before they could be used.
  • Vernichtungslager -- Extermination camp
  • Versuchskonstruktion -- prototype
  • Vichy France -- French regime set up in the city of Vichy under Marshal Petain in collaboration with the Germans following the fall of France in 1940. It governed the southern half of France until its dissolution in 1944.
  • Volkssturm -- People's defense force, made up mostly of older men and boys.

W

  • Wabos -- in U-boat terminology, the nickname for wasserbomben, lit. depth charges.
  • Waffe (pl. Waffen) -- weapon, or can be an adjective meaning "armed".
  • Waffen-SS -- militarized combat branch of the SS.
  • Wagen -- vehicle, car
  • Wehrmacht -- German armed forced under the Third Reich consisting of three branches: the Heer (Army), the Luftwaffe (Air Force), and the Kriegsmarine (Navy).
  • Wehrmachtsadler -- the Wehrmacht's eagle insignia
  • Wehrmachtsgefolge -- Armed Forces Auxiliaries. These include those organizations that were not a part of the armed forces but which served such an important support role that they were given protection under the Geneva Convention and/or militarizied. The armed forces auxiliaries consisted in part of the Reicharbeitsdienst, NSKK, Organization Todt, and the Volksturm.
  • Werwolf -- German guerrilla fighters dedicated to harass Allied rear areas. Initially conceived as an adjunct to the Jagd-Kommando units and placed under the command of Otto Skorzeny, the idea was later appropriated by Joseph Goebbels to represent the general rising up of the German people to defend against foreign invasion. It was not widely effective or organized, and there were only a few known instances of involvement, mainly after the war ended and mostly in the Eastern regions.
  • Wespe -- wasp
  • Westen -- west
  • Wilhelm Gustloff -- A German hospital ship sunk by a Soviet submarine's torpedo attack on January 30, 1945. The sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff is the single deadliest sinking in maritime history, killing between 6,000 and 10,000 people, most of whom were civilian refugees and wounded German soldiers.
  • Wolfsschanze -- Wolf's Lair; code name for Hitler's headquarters near Rastenburg in East-Prussia.
  • Wotan (navigation) -- alternative name for Y-Gerät radio radio navigation system.
  • Wuerzburg radar -- German radar went into service in 1940 and over 3,000 of all variants were built.

X

  • X-Gerät -- equipment for using "X" guidance on German aircraft.

Y

  • Y-Beam -- German aircraft navigational system which utilized a single station that radiated a directional beam plus a ranging signal which the bomber picked up and re-transmitted to enable the ground controllers to compute the range and know when to order the bombs to be dropped.
  • Y-Gerät -- equipment for using "Y" guidance on German aircraft.

Z

  • Z3 computer -- developed by Konrad Zusein 1941, it was destroyed by bombardment in 1944
  • Zeltbahn -- a triangular or square shelter quarter made of closely-woven water-repellent cotton duck. It could be used on its own as a poncho or put together with others to create shelters and tents. Also called Zeltplane.
  • Ziel -- target, objective
  • Zimmerit -- an anti-magnetic mine paste applied on the armor of German tanks to prevent magnetic mines from being attached. It was similar to cement, and was applied on the tanks with rake, giving the vehicle a rough appearance. From the summer of the 1943 to mid-1944 zimmerit became a standard characteristic on many German panzers.
  • Zitadelle -- citadel
  • Zur besonderen Verwendung (z.b.V.) -- for special use
  • Zyklon-B -- commercial name for the prussic acid (hydrocyanic acid) gas used in German extermination camps.

List of German Military Ranks

Approximate ranks relative to US ranks:

List of Code Names for Major German Operations

The German term for Operation is Unternehmen, lit. undertaking.

  • Adlertag -- Eagle day; code name for the day of intense German air attack on Britain, 15th August 1940. Also called Adlerangriffe; Eagle attack.
  • Anton -- code name for the German occupation of Vichy France, November 1942; later known as Atilla.
  • Atilla -- code name for the German occupation of Vichy France, November 1942
  • Aufbau Ost -- Eastern buildup; operational code name for the German build-up of arms prior to the invasion of the Soviet Union
  • Barbarossa -- operational code name for the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. Barbarossa, or "Red Beard" was the nickname for Emperor Frederick I, who attempted to unify Germanic states in the 12th century.
  • Bernhard -- operational code name for German scheme to counterfeit British bank notes and put them into circulation; began in 1942.
  • Bestrafung -- operational code name for German "punishment" air attacks on Belgrade, April 1941.
  • Bodenplatte -- Base plate; operational code name for the German air offensive against Allied airfields in north-western Europe, January 1945.
  • Eiche -- Oak; operational code name for the plan to rescue Mussolini by the fallschirmjäger of the Luftwaffe.
  • Greif -- Griffin; operational code name for the dropping of English-speaking German troops wearing American uniforms behind the Allied lines in the Ardennes, prior to the Battle of the Bulge.
  • Fall Grün -- Case green; operational code name for the intended German military invasion of Czechoslovakia.
  • Fall Rot -- Case red; operational code name for counterstrike against France in the event of an attack on Germany from the West.
  • Fall Weiß -- Case white; operational code name for the German invasion of Poland.
  • Fall Gelb -- Case yellow; operational codename for the German invasion of the Netherlands, Belgium and France.
  • Felix -- operational codename for the German plan to capture Gibraltar in 1941. It never took place.
  • Fischfang -- Fish trap; operational code name for the German counter attack on the Allied beachead at Anzio in February 1944.
  • Herbstnebel -- Autumn mist; operational codename for the German offensive in the Ardennes, December 1944 - Also known as The Battle of the Bulge.
  • Nordlight -- Northern lights; operational codename for the German attack on Leningrad in 1942.
  • Paukenschlag -- Drumroll or Drumbeat; operational codename of the offensive against Allied shipping in US and Caribbean waters in the first half of 1942.
  • Pastorius -- operational codename for a U-boat spy operation involving U-202 and U-548 setting 8 agents ashore in the USA in June 1942.
  • Reinhard -- operational code name for the entire process of building extermination camps, deportation of Jews first to ghettos, then to the camps for extermination and incineration. The operation was named for SD chief Reinhard Heydrich.
  • Seelöwe -- Sea Lion; operational codename for the planned German assault on Great Britain in 1940/41. It never took place.
  • Taifun -- Typhoon; operational codename for the German push towards Moscow in September 1941.
  • Tiger -- operational codename for the German advance through the Maginot Line on the French border in June 1940. (The name was also the operational code name for a British convoy to Egypt in May 1941.)
  • Wintergewitter -- Winter gale; operational codename for the unsuccessful German attempt to relieve the 6th Army at Stalingrad in December 1942.
  • Zitadelle -- Citadel; operational code name for the German attack on the Soviet forces near Kursk, July 1943.

References

See also


This is an Article on Glossary of German WWII military terms. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Glossary of German WWII military terms


Google
 
Web www.E-paranoids.com

Search Anything

 


Google Tips | Indiamobiles.com | IndiaArts : The complete India Art
Coming Soon >> Seocountry | A2zsms | Sms resource | Desi Jokes
E-paranoids Homepage | E-paranoids In German | E-paranoids In French

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Wikipedia