Glossary of German military terms

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

This is a list of words, terms, concepts, and slogans that have been or are used by the German military. Ranks and translations of nicknames for vehicles 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.

Glossary

A

  • A-Stand – forward defensive gunner's position on aircraft.
  • abgeschossen – shot down; destroyed by means of firing.
  • Abschnitt – sector, district.
  • Ablösungsdivision – relief division (1917), later renamed Eingreif division (intervention division).
  • Abteilung (Abt.) – a battalion-sized unit of armor, 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
  • 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 under the direction of Hermann Göring, instituted to gain control of the skies from the Royal Air Force and soften Britain for the impending invasion forces planned in Operation Seelöwe (Sea Lion). These attacks ultimately failed and the air campaign is now known in the anglophone world as the Battle of Britain
    .
  • Hitler to provide him with three additional divisions of tanks, he very well could have gained command of the Suez Canal in early 1942 and cut off the vast supplies being sent from America to the Soviet Union via the Persian Gulf
    . In the end, the Afrika Korps was defeated by combined offensives from the British and Americans.
  • 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!" for Luftwaffe fighter pilots, 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 that 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.
  • Amerikabomber – 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.
  • Anton –
    German spelling alphabet for A equivalent to Alpha (e.g. Case Anton
    )
  • 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 that succeeded the Abwehr.
  • Amtsgruppe Allgemeine Wehrmachtsangelegenheiten (Office of General Military Affairs) – Department of the OKW responsible for general military affairs. in 1938–39, this office was called the Wehrwirtschaftsstab (Military Economics Staff).
  • Angriff – attack.
  • Angriffsmuster – attack pattern.
  • Angriffsziel – attack objective.
  • Ansatz (attack) – First World War military term, used in National Socialist vocabulary in the same ways as the word Einsatz, though less frequently; one referred to bringing a piece of equipment, troops or a weapon "zum Ansatz" (into attack, or play).
  • Anschluss – unification of Austria and Germany
  • Armee – a field army, typically a numbered army. During WW1 the armies Prussia, Bavaria and Württemberg were called Armeen. Cf. 'Heer'.
  • 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 – senior field army engineer officer, served on the staff HQ of an army.
  • Armee-Sanitäts-Abteilung – field army medical battalion.
  • Artillerie (Art.) – artillery.
  • Atomwaffe – nuclear weapon.
  • Atomkrieg – nuclear war.
  • Aufbau Ost (Buildup East) – code name for the preparatory measures taken amid great secrecy for the attack on the Soviet Union, now known as Operation Barbarossa.
  • 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.
  • Aufklärungsgruppe (Aufkl.Gr., later AGr) – "Reconnaissance group", an aerial recon group of the Luftwaffe, e.g. Aufklärungsgruppe 11
    .
  • "Auftauchen!" – "surface the boat".
  • Auftragstaktik – mission-type tactics, the central component of German warfare since the 19th century
  • Aus der Traum – "It's over!", "It's finished!", literally, "The dream is over"; a common German phrase for dashed hopes and a slogan painted by German soldiers near the end of the war expressing the inevitability of their situation.
  • Ausführung (Ausf.) – version, model, variant, batch, for non-aviation related vehicles and ordnance.
  • Ausführung!/Ausführen! – command to execute a given order
  • ausgefallen – statement that equipment is down, has failed, is out of action.
  • Ausrüstung – equipment
  • Ausschreitungen – bloody atrocities (see Greuelerzählungen).
  • Auszeichnung – medal, accolade, distinction.
  • außer Dienst (a.D.) – [literally: "out of service"] a retired officer. Example: Oberleutnant a. D. Johann Schmidt.

B

  • B-Stand – Dorsal (top of fuselage) defensive gunner's position on aircraft.
  • Backbord (Bb) –
    Port side
    of a ship.
  • 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.
  • Barbarossa (Red Beard) – code name for the massive Nazi attack against the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa) which began during June 1941 and failed miserably in the end despite early success. Operation Barbarossa is the English rendering of the German "Unternehmen Barbarossa." Barbarossa or `Redbeard' (Frederick I) lived from 1123 AD to 1190 and was both King of Germany and Holy Roman emperor from 1152–90. He made a sustained attempt to subdue Italy and the papacy, but was eventually defeated at the battle of Legnano in 1176. He was drowned in Asia Minor while on his way to the Third Crusade. Nonetheless, German superstition holds to this day and certainly was evoked by Hitler at the time, that Barbarossa rests in a mountain in Germany awaiting the moment to emerge and save Germany from certain defeat and to establish German ascendancy.
  • Bataillon (Btl.) – battalion
    • Bataillonsadjutant – battalion adjutant
    • Bataillonsarzt – battalion medical officer
    • Bataillonsführer – acting battalion commander
    • Bataillonskommandeur – battalion commander
    • Bataillonsveterinär – battalion veterinary officer
  • Batterie (Bttr.) –
    electrical battery. sometimes also called Akkumulator
    , abbreviated as Akku.
    • Batteriechef – battery commander
    • Batterieführer – acting 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/"captured" Allied aircraft, in World War I. The same term was used in the Third Reich era for more comprehensive, multi-page technical document works for factory proposals concerning combat aircraft designs to the RLM and Luftwaffe.[1]
  • 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.
  • B. d. U. – 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 officer
  • Beobachtungswagen – observation or reconnaissance vehicle.
  • Bereitschaft – readiness. In the German civil defense also a company size unit.
  • Bergepanzer – armoured recovery vehicle.
  • Berlin radar – most advanced airborne intercept radar of the WW II Luftwaffe in 1944–45, based on captured cavity magnetron technology, operated on SHF-band 3.3 GHz frequency
  • Beschlagschmied – farrier; see Hufbeschlagschmied.
  • Betriebstoff – fuel.
  • Beutepanzer – captured tank or armoured vehicle.
  • Beutewaffen - captured enemy weapons and munitions. Germany catalogued them by a code number, followed by a single code letter to indicate the nation that produced and used it.
  • Bewährungseinheit – disciplinary unit.
  • BK – Bordkanone. heavy-calibre (usually over 30 mm) cannon for offensive use on aircraft.
  • Blasen – U-boat order; "Blow the tanks!"
  • 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.
  • Blaukreuz – chemical warfare agent consisting of arsenic compounds, respiratory poison
  • 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 World War II-era 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, and meant to be powered by a pair of high-output aviation piston engines such as the Junkers Jumo 222.
  • 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.
  • Zentraler Sanitätsdienst
    (Central Medical Service).
  • Bürger – citizen.
  • Bürgerkrieg – civil war.

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
    .
  • Condor Legion – volunteer forces of the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe (6000 or more strong) sent by Hitler to assist Franco during the Spanish Civil War (1936) on the stipulations that it remained exclusively under German command. The aerial branch of the Condor Legion gained notoriety for their comprehensive bombing of the Spanish rebel lines and the surrounding civilian centers, most notably the Spanish city of Guernica on 27 April 1937. After the successful utilization of the Condor Legion, a homecoming parade was held in Berlin on 6 June 1939 to honor the 300 Germans who died fighting in the campaign.

D

  • der Landwehr (d. L.) - "of the Landwehr". A non-commissioned or commissioned officer in the Landwehr. Example: Oberleutnant d. L. Johann Schmidt.
  • der Reserve (d. R.) - "of the Reserve". A non-commissioned or commissioned officer in the Army Reserve. Example: Oberleutnant d. R. Johann Schmidt.
  • Dachschaden – "roof damage"; a head wound, more commonly used in the sense of "gone bonkers", "Section 8"
  • Daimler-Benz
    (DB) – a producer of military vehicles, and engines to power both German aircraft and surface vehicles.
  • Deckung — Cover. "In Deckung!" means "Take cover!", and "In Deckung bleiben!" means "Stay under cover!" Compare Tarnung, meaning "concealment" or "camouflage".
  • North African Campaign
    ), but often refers to all German forces that operated in North Africa, eventually consisting of several divisions and corps and formed into an entire Panzer Army.
  • Deutsche Ausrüstungswerke (DAW; German Armament Works) – an armaments organization established in 1939 under SS control.
  • Deutsche Minenräumleitung (DMRL) – German mine-sweeping group
  • 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 – commanding officer of a division, typically a General officer. In the imperial army this was the post of a Generalleutnant.
  • Dienstdolch – service dagger (uniform dagger).
  • Donnerbalken – "thunder beam"; latrine.
  • 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.

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, visited the property only ten times and each visit was under 30 minutes.
  • EG z.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.
  • Eingreif division – interlocking (counter-attack) division (1917–1918).
  • 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 that took care of the mobilization and killing of Jews, partisans, Communists and others during the German invasion into the Soviet Union.
  • Einsatz Reinhard (Mission/Action "Reinhard") – code name given on 4 June 1942 for the assignment to exterminate all Polish Jews in honor of SS Deputy Chief Reinhard Heydrich who had been assassinated by Czech nationalists during a covert operation.
  • Einsatztrupp (Troop Task Force) – smallest of the Einsatzgruppen units responsible for liquidations in the German-occupied territories.
  • 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.
  • Eiserne Kuh – "iron cow"; evaporated milk
  • Eiserne Ration – "iron ration"; emergency rations
  • El Alamein (October–November 1942) – crucial battle of WW2 pitting the British under General Montgomery's 8th Army (approximately 1200 tanks) against General Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps (500 tanks) and fought primarily in Egypt. Outnumbered and outgunned, the Germans never regained the operational initiative, forcing Rommel to withdraw the bulk of his forces into Libya, marking the final stages of the Nazis' North African campaign.
  • 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 pond, maritime manoeuvre to create an area of calm sea in order to lower boats into the water or land aircraft
  • Entmenscht – bestial, inhuman, brutish.
  • Entscheidender Sieg – decisive victory.
  • Entwicklung series, more commonly known as the E-series, was a late-World War II attempt by Germany to produce a standardised series of tank designs.
  • Einsatzgruppen reports – Einsatzgruppen commanders' report delivered daily to the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) in Berlin which comprehensively listed secretly coded murder activities in the occupied territories along the Eastern Front.
  • 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.
  • Erschießungsaktion – Shooting action usually carried out by a member of a firing squad (Erschießungskommando).
  • Etappendienst – German naval intelligence department.
  • Etappenschwein – (slang) "rear swine" (
    REMF
    ), a soldier with a safe job away from danger. Compare with Frontschwein.
  • Exerzierpanzer – practice or exercise tank.
  • Exzellenz – honorary address for a General officer from the rank of Generalleutnant upwards in the Prussian and Imperial Army

F

  • Fahndung Funk (F. Fu.: Radio Search) – department of German Military Intelligence tasked to locate forbidden radio transmitters in France.
  • Fahne (pl. Fahnen) – flag or banner.
  • Fahnenjunker – lowest officer candidate rank equivalent to Unteroffizier (Corporal)
  • Fahnenflucht – desertion
  • Fahnenschmied – farrier NCO
  • Fähnlein (Squad) – unit of the Deutsches Jungvolk within the Hitler Youth.
  • Fähnrich – officer candidate rank equivalent to Feldwebel (Sergeant). A Fähnrich is an NCO, though, and will have commensurable tasks.
  • Fähnrich zur See – naval officer candidate rank equivalent to Bootsmann (Petty Officer 1st Class). A Fähnrich zur See is an NCO, though, and will have commensurable tasks.
  • Fall – "case." A name for a German operation. The most important German offensives were called "cases," as they were viewed as problems to be solved.
  • Fallschirmjäger – paratroopers; German airborne troops.
  • FdM – Führer der Minensuchboote
  • FdU – Führer der Unterseeboote; Commander-in-Chief of U-boats (used from World War I to 1939, when the title was reduced to "Regional Commander").
  • FdV – Führer der Vorpostenboote
  • 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 Fliegertruppe German Army (Deutsches Heer) 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"; 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 sergeant.
  • Feldzug – military campaign
  • Fernglas – binoculars; literally "remote glass".
  • Fernmelde- – telecommunication.
  • Fernsprech- – telephone.
  • Festung – fortress.
  • "Feuer auf mein Kommando" – "fire on my command".
  • "Feuer Frei" – "fire at will".
  • Feuerschutz – suppressive fire, covering fire.
  • Feuerschutzpolizei - Fire Protection Police.
  • Feuerwerker – ordnance NCO
  • FlaK – Fliegerabwehrkanone, Flug(zeug)abwehrkanone – air defense gun;
    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.
  • employed on land, in self-propelled mounts and on ships
    .
  • Flammpanzer – flame-throwing tank.
  • Flammenwerfer – flame-thrower.
  • Flecktarn – spotted camouflage.
  • Fliegerabwehr-Abteilung – anti-aircraft battalion.
  • Fliegerabwehrkanone – see FlaK.
  • Fliegerbombe (FliBo) – aerial bomb
  • Fliegerdivision – lit. Flight division.
  • Fliegerkorps – lit. Flight corps
  • Fliegerschwert – airman's sword (part of an officer's regalia).
  • Fliegertruppe – part of the official name (Die Fliegertruppen des Deutschen Kaiserreiches) of the Imperial German Army Air Service, existing under that name from 1910 to October 1916, when it was reorganized as the Luftstreitkräfte.
  • Flotte – naval fleet
  • Flottille (Fl.) – flotilla.
  • Flucht nach vorn – "flight to the front"; trying to assault rather than wait or retreat while under threat.
  • Flüchtlingslager – refugee camp.
  • Flügelmann – wingman
  • Flugbombe V-1 (V-1 flying bomb) – pulse-jet engine powered flying bomb carrying high-explosive warhead known to the Allies as the "buzz bomb".
  • Flugzeug – aircraft.
  • Flug(zeug)abwehrkanone – see FlaK.
  • Flugzeugträger – aircraft carrier.
  • Fluten – U-boat order; "Flood the tanks!"
  • Formaldienst – drill and ceremony.
  • Forschungsamt – intelligence service of the Luftwaffe.
  • Forstschutz – see Forest Protection Command
  • Frachter – freighter.
  • Franktireure – Francs-tireurs
  • Franktireurkrieg – partisan 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). The Freikorps was an early volunteer paramilitary organizations formed in the wake of the German defeat in the First World War making up the German army in lieu of the restrictions mandated by the Treaty of Versailles; they consisted primarily of demobilized soldiers, disillusioned young men, and fanatical conservative nationalists who blamed Social Democrats, Jews, and communists for Germany's problems.
  • 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 PGMs.
  • Fronterlebnis – front experience. Fronterlebnis was a literary genre which romanticized the war experience and the camaraderie of being 'brothers-in-arms'.
  • Frontgemeinschaft – front-line comradeship or community; group of front-line combat soldiers.
  • Frontkämpfer – front line soldier
  • Frontschwein – (slang) "front pig" soldier serving long at the front, often used as an ironic accolade for a soldier with the will to fight. Compare with Etappenschwein.
  • 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.
  • Füsilierbataillon – in the Imperial army the 3rd battalion of a Grenadier-Regiment. Its designation was F, as in F/GR10 for Füsilierbataillon of the Genadier-Regiment 10.
  • Futtermeister – quartermaster responsible for fodder
  • Freya radar – first operational radar with the Kriegsmarine.

G

H

  • Hafen –
    harbour. "Flughafen" is airport
    .
  • Hafthohlladung – German magnetically-adhered, shaped charge anti-tank grenade munition, ironically the type of ordnance that if the Allies also possessed them, Zimmerit was meant to prevent the use of.
  • Hakenkreuz – (literally, "hooked cross") the swastika symbol 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 to describe 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 (
    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
    – main or central station.
  • Hauptfeldwebel – company sergeant-major or first sergeant.
  • Hauptkampflinie (HKL) – literally main combat line, official term for "front" until the end of World War II.
  • army captain
    .
  • Hauptquartiere (HQ) – headquarters.
  • Hauptstadt – capital city.
  • Hauptwachtmeister – company first sergeant in artillery and cavalry units.
  • Heckenschütze – "hedge marksman" hidden, ambushing sniper.
  • Heckschütze – tail gunner the man to handle the Heckstand.
  • 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 "
    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 – railroad locomotive and rolling stock manufacturer, and a 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. This practice was forbidden in the
    Himmler
    's egalitarian principles.
  • Hetzer – agitators; also a hunting dog and as such the unofficial name of a certain mid-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. Also named "Singende Säge" (singing saw), "Knochensäge" (bone saw) or "Hitlersense" (Hitler scythe)
  • HJ-Fahrtenmesser (Hitler Youth knife) – common knife specially designed for the Hitler Jugend.[4]
  • HJ-Spätlese – nickname for the Volkssturm.
  • 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.

I

J

K

  • "Kaczmarek" – wingman
  • Kadavergehorsam
    – "absolute duty and blind obedience till death."; lit.: "carcass obedience"
  • Kaiserliche Marine (KM) – Imperial German Navy
  • Kaiserlicher Yacht-Club (KYC) – Imperial Yacht Club
  • Kameradschaft – small military unit, or phrase for "comrade support amongst soldiers" (see Volkgemeinschaft).
  • Kampf – struggle, fight or conflict.
  • Kampfeinsitzer Kommando (KEK), the first specialist, single-seat armed scout/fighter units of the Fliegertruppe predecessor of the
    Jagdstaffeln
     fighter squadron units first formed in the late summer of 1916.
  • Kampfflotte – battle fleet.
  • Kampfgeist – fighting spirit.
  • Kampfgeschwader (KG) –
    RAF
    practice)
  • 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).
  • Karbol-Tränke – field dressing station
  • Kartenstelle – mapping detachment, normally part of staff company of a division or higher
  • Kaserne – barracks, casern.
  • Kavallerie (Kav.) – cavalry.
  • KdE – abbreviation for the Kommandeur der Erprobungsstellen, the commander of all German military aviation test facilities in World War II, an office held by Colonel (Oberst) Edgar Petersen late in the war.
  • Kesselschlacht – lit. "cauldron battle" encirclement often shortened to Kessel e.g. "Kessel von Stalingrad"
  • 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 that 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
  • Koffer – in the Bundeswehr a derogatory term for a raw recruit
  • Koffer, schwerer – large calibre shell, similar to the British coal box or the American trash can
  • Kolonne – column, also supply units (e.g. leichte Infanterie-Kolonne)
  • Kommandanten-Schießlehrgang – U-boat Commander's Torpedo Course.
  • Kommando (Kdo.) – command; detachment; detail.
  • Kommissarbefehl – the notorious 6 June 1941 "Commissar Order" to kill all political commissars in the Red Army and civil government.
  • Kompanie (Kp.) – 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 in civil use, but still common in the Bundeswehr).
  • 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, 1935–45.
  • Kriegsneurose –
    post traumatic stress disorder
    .
  • Kriegsstärkenachweisungen (KStN) – the German equivalent of the American table of organization and equipment (TO&E) or the British war establishment.
  • 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.

L

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.
  • Marineausrüstungsstelle (Mast.) – naval equipment store
  • Marinestosstruppkompanie (MSK) - elite German naval infantry of Kriegsmarine.
  • Maschinenfabrik Niedersachsen Hannover (MNH) – weapon (tank) development and production firm.
  • Maschinengewehr (MG) –
    MG42
    .
  • Maschinengewehrschütze – machine gunner
  • Maschinenkanone (MK) – an autocannon used for aircraft armament, as with the MK 108 30mm calibre weapon.
  • Maschinenpistole (MP or MPi) –
    MP40
    .
  • Maschine – "machine". Commonly used as airplane or engine.
  • Maskenball – German slang for fighting with NBC-protective gear, or at least with gas mask
  • Maultier – Sd.Kfz. 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
    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 inline-engined 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.

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) –
    group
    .
  • Nahkampfmesser – close-combat fighting knife.
  • Panzers to combat close-assaulting infantry
    .
  • Nashorn – "rhinoceros", nickname for a type of tank destroyer.
  • Nationalsozialistische Führungsoffiziere (NSFO) – National Socialist Leadership Officers.
  • H2S microwave-band radar transmissions, not able to detect American H2X
    radar gear.
  • Nebelwerfer (Nb. W) – "fog thrower"; rocket artillery, multi-barrel rocket launchers that could be used for smoke or high-explosive projectiles.
  • Neptun radar
    – Low-to-mid VHF band (125 to 187 MHz) airborne intercept radar for night fighter aircraft, to take the place of the Lichtenstein SN-2 unit, which had been compromised by July–August 1944.
  • Niederlage – defeat.
  • "Nicht Schiessen" – Don't shoot in German
  • Norden – north.
  • Notsignal – distress signal.
  • NSFK
    – the Nationalsozialistisches Fliegerkorps, or National Socialist Flyers Corps.
  • NSKK – the Nationalsozialistisches Kraftfahrerkorps, or National Socialist Motor Corps.
  • Nummer (Nr.) – "number"; some divisional organizations with a unit number but no combat assets, often converted to ordinary divisions later on. (E.g.,
    Division Nr. 157
    .)

O

  • Ober-* – higher; part of several military ranks and titles like Oberleutnant and "Oberkommando".
  • Oberst – lit. "Uppermost" or "Seniormost," 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.
  • Deutsches Heer
    .
  • 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 march, post-Anschluss Austria.
  • Ostlegionen – German eastern legions or eastern troops.
  • Ostpreußen – province of East Prussia.

P

Q

  • Quartiermeister – quartermaster
  • Quist – one of several manufacturers of German helmets both during and after World War II.

R

  • Radikale Niederwerfung – ruthless suppression.
  • minesweeper
    .
  • Rasputitsa – semi-annual mud-season in Eastern Europe
  • Regierung – government.
  • Regimentsadjutant – regiment adjutant
  • Regimentsarzt – Regimental Medical Officer
  • Regimentschef –
    colonel of the regiment
  • Regimentsführer – acting commanding officer of a regiment
  • Regimentskommandeur – commanding officer of a regiment
  • Regimentsveterinär – regimental veterinary officer
  • Reich – realm, empire.
  • Reichsarbeitsdienst
    (RAD) – compulsory labor service in Nazi Germany.
  • Reichsbahn – government railway system.
  • Reichsführer-SS – Reich Leader of the SS, an office held by Heinrich Himmler.
  • 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.
  • Ringkanone (Rk) – built-up gun
  • 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) task force (nonmilitary: band for hit-and-run crime)
  • 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
    .
  • Rotte – two of a kind, especially ships, boats or aircraft. Also the 'file' in rank and file
  • Rottenführer – leader of a 'rotte', also a Nazi rank
  • Rottenknecht – subordinate in a 'rotte'
  • Rottenmann – see 'Rottenknecht'
  • Rottmeister – first in a file of soldiers. Originally, soldiers would file 10 – 25 deep, but in the 19th century two files were standard, thus a 'rotte' described two of a kind. Also a (non-commissioned) officer in charge of a detachment of 50 cavalry.
  • RSO – the
    Raupenschlepper Ost
    fully tracked artillery towing vehicle.
  • Rückzug – retreat.

S

  • S-mine – a common type of anti-personnel landmine.
  • SA – see Sturmabteilung.
  • Sachbearbeiter – clerk
  • die Sahnefront – (the cream front)
    occupied Denmark during World War II, a lot of food, minuscule fighting.[5]
  • 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, alternatively called Topfblende in German military documents.
  • Schanzzeug – entrenching tool; slang term for fork and knife.
  • Schachtellaufwerk – name for the system of overlapped and interleaved road wheels used on German military half-track and armored fighting vehicles before and during World War II.
  • Scharfschütze – "sharpshooter"; sniper, marksman.
  • Schatten – "shadow"; 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 (named from the maker of the original agri-version) 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 – Supply Technician for vehicles, equipment and horse tack
  • 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 – lit. "fast troops" mechanized troops (whether armour or infantry).
  • Schräge Musik – "slanted music", obliquely upward/forward-firing offensive German night fighter armament.
  • Schutzpolizei – "protection police", the urban police; largest component of the uniformed police or Ordnungspolizei.
  • 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.
  • Schusslinie –
    line of fire
    .
  • Schütze – lit. shooter; member of the infantry. From 1920 to 1945 also the lowest military rank. 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.
    • Schwadronchef – company commander in the cavalry
    • Schwadronführer - acting company commander in the cavalry
    • Schwadrontruppführer – company HQ section leader in the cavalry
  • Schwarm – Flight (military unit)
  • Schwarze Kapelle – "Black Orchestra"; 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.
  • Sd.Kfz. – Sonderkraftfahrzeug
  • Seebataillon – naval infantry or marines.
  • Seekriegsleitung (SKL) – directorate of the Naval War.
  • Sehrohr – periscope; literally "looking tube".
  • Sehrohrtiefe – periscope depth.
  • Seitengewehr – bayonet.
  • Selbstfahrlafette – self-propelled gun carriage.
  • Selbstschutz – lit. "self protection"; ethnic German civilian militia in occupied Eastern Europe.
  • 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.
  • SMS – abbreviation for
    Seiner Majestät Schiff, the German Empire's equivalent of the British Royal Navy
    's "HMS" (His/Her Majesty's Ship) naval vessel naming prefix before 1918.
  • Soldat – military personnel in contrast to Beamte, Angesteller, Arbeiter.
  • 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"; during WWII, 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. During WWI, the term was used to refer to special fleet groups, i.e. the coastal defense force tasked with maintaining control over Dardanelles.
  • Sonderkraftfahrzeug (Sd. Kfz.) – "special-purpose motor vehicle", usually abbreviated and referring to an Ordnance Inventory Number.
  • Sonderreferat – special administrative section.
  • Späher – scout.
  • Spähtrupp – reconnaissance patrol
  • Spähwagen – armoured car, scout/reconnaissance vehicle.
  • Sperrfeuer – protective fire, curtain fire. Artillery barrage to stop advancing troops
  • Störfeuer – harassing fire
  • 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
    .
  • Sprung – an advance movement for infantry: jump up from cover, run a few steps, take cover again. Repeat.
  • "Sprung auf, marsch, marsch!" – command to initiate a Sprung
  • 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.
  • Staff Sergeant
    ", the highest NCO rank in the Wehrmacht but subordinate to the Spieß; the second highest NCO rank in the Bundeswehr.
  • Stacheldraht – barbed wire.
  • Stadtkommandant – military commandant of a city.
  • Staffel – squadron; the smallest operational air unit, and the primary operational unit of the World War I era Luftstreitkräfte.
  • 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
  • Standort – garrison
  • Standortältester – garrison commander
  • Stellung – position
  • Stellungskrieg – static warfare, contrary to Blitzkrieg, if neither of the conflict parties is able to overcome the defense with offensive operations, the result is an Abnützungskrieg.
  • Stellungsunteroffizier – gun position NCO
  • Steuerbord (Stb) – starboard side of a ship.
  • Stielhandgranate – stick hand grenade: the "potato masher"
    Model 24 grenade
    .
  • "stopfen" – a command to stop firing, probably derived from "stop your vents"
  • Stoßtrupp – small unit as shock or attack troops.
  • Stoß-[unit] – Stoßbataillon, Stoßregiment, Stoßdivision, a temporary designation for units, battalions, regiments or divisions that were held as mobile reserve and thus could be used to push (stoßen) an attacking force back in a counterattack. This term was first used in trench warfare in WWI, when in 1917 the defensive tactic of the German Army changed to in depth defense. The rationale was that frontline units in the trenches suffered so many casualties and material losses as not to be able to mount an effective counterstroke.
  • Strategischer Sieg – strategic victory.
  • Stube – room in the barracks, quarters
  • Stuka – acronym for Sturzkampfflugzeug, literally: "downfall combat aircraft" figuratively: *dive-bombing aircraft". Particularly associated with the German Ju 87 dive bomber
    , although the German term refers to any dive bomber.
  • Stukageschwader – a dive bomber
    group
    , later Schlachtgeschwader in a ground support role (SG).
  • Stupa – a Sturmpanzer IV assault gun.
  • Sturm – assault.
  • Sturmabteilung (SA) – "assault detachment," party militia, not part of the army. In the beginning the Nazi Party's "Brown Shirt" bully-boys and street brawlers that 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.
  • Sturmtrupp – assault troop, a specially drilled group of soldiers, usually a squad or a platoon, that was used for assaults on fixed positions in trenchwarfare. Later usage in WWII was for combat patrols with orders to infiltrate
  • Sturmbattaillon – assault battalion, specially trained and equipped battalions of the German Army in WWI, specifically created in 1917 and 1918 from the experience in trench warfare.
  • 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 war base.
  • Süden – south.
  • Swastika – English term for the German Hakenkreuz.
  • sWS –
    Schwere Wehrmachtschlepper
    , late World War II "replacement" half-track vehicle.

T

U

  • Ubootausbildungsabteilung (UAA) – see U-Fahrausbildungslehrgang.
  • Uboot-Abnahme-Kommission (UAK) – submarine acceptance commission
  • Ubootabwehrschule (UAS) – anti-submarine school
  • 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).
  • unabkömmlich (uk) – not available for military service
  • Uk (Schnellladekanone in Uboot-Lafette) – quick-firing gun with submarine mounting
  • 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 "Deutsches U-Boot" or "Amerikanisches 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.
  • Utof (Uboots-Torpedoboots-Fliegerabwehr-Lafette) – quick-firing gun in submarine-torpedo boat-anti-aircraft mounting
  • UvD –
    charge of quarters

V

  • pulse-jet engine and carried an 850 kg (1875 lb) high-explosive warhead
    . They had a range of up to 200 km. Nicknamed "buzz bombs" by Allied troops ("doodlebug" by Australians) due to the sound they made.
  • SRBM
    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 multiple-chamber large-calibre gun nicknamed the Hochdruckpumpe (high-pressure pump), 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.
  • Verband – formation (from a battalion to a brigade).
  • Verbindungsoffizier – liaison officer
  • verdächtige Elemente/Personen – suspicious elements/persons.
  • Verfügungstruppen – "[Special] Disposal Troops"; SS combat units, became the Waffen-SS in 1940.
  • Vergeltungsmaßnahmen – reprisals; retaliatory punitive measures.
  • Vernichtungskrieg – (1) "war of annihilation" against USSR civilians; (2) dogmatic offensive.
  • Vernichtungslager – extermination camp.
  • Verpflegung – food supplies
  • Verräter – traitor.
  • "Verstanden" –
    roger
    ".
  • Verstärkung – reinforcement.
  • Versuchs – experimental. Hence the "V" designation for any military aircraft prototype for the World War II era Luftwaffe. Originated by the Fokker Flugzeugbau in 1916, solely for its own experimental designs.
  • Versuchskonstruktion – prototype.
  • Verwendung – duty position
  • Veterinäroffizier – veterinarian officer
  • Vichy France – French regime set up in the city of Vichy under Marshal Philippe 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.
  • Vierling – German for "quadruple", referring to any weapons mount that used four machine guns or autocannon of the same make and model, in a single traversable and elevatible mount, used as part of the name for the
    MG 131
    12.7mm machine guns in an enclosed, powered defensive position for advanced German late-war bomber aircraft designs.
  • Vizeadmiral – naval rank of vice admiral
  • völkisch – popular, in the sense of "of the (German) populace." An adjective derived from "Volk" meaning "people," coming from the racist, nationalist ideology that divided people into "pure" Aryans and inferior Untermenschen.
  • Volksdeutsche – ethnic Germans.
  • Volksgemeinschaft – national community or civilian population; public support (see Kameradschaft).
  • Volksgrenadier – "People's Infantryman", a morale-building honorific given to low-grade infantry divisions raised or reconstituted in the last months of the war.
  • Volkskrieg – "People's War".
  • Volkssturm – people's semi-military defense force, made up mostly of boys and older men.
  • Volkstumskampf – ethnic struggle.
  • Vorausabteilung – advance detachment
  • Vorgeschobener Beobachter –
    forward observer
  • minesweeping
    gear. Also called Küstenfischkutter (KFK), as they were patrol vessels constructed to a fishing-vessel design.

W

X

Y

Z

  • Z-Plan (or Plan-Z) was the name given to the re-equipment and expansion of the Kriegsmarine (Nazi German Navy) as ordered by Adolf Hitler on 27 January 1939. The plan called for 10 battleships, four aircraft carriers, three battlecruisers, eight heavy cruisers, 44 light cruisers, 68 destroyers and 249 U-boats by 1944 that was meant to challenge the naval power of the United Kingdom. The outbreak of World War II in September 1939 came far too early to implement the plan.
  • Z3 – pioneering computer developed by Konrad Zuse in 1941, it was destroyed by bombardment in 1944.
  • z.b.V. – see
    zur besonderen Verwendung
    .
  • Zeit – time.
  • Zeitplan –
    timetable
    , schedule.
  • 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.
  • Zentralstelle II P – Central Office II P (Poland).
  • Zerstörer – destroyer, also the designation for a Luftwaffe heavy fighter combat aircraft.
  • Ziel – target, objective.
  • Zimmerit – an anti-magnetic mine paste applied on the armour of German tanks to prevent magnetic mines from being attached. It was similar to cement, and was applied on the tanks with a 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.
  • Zollgrenzschutz - (ZGS) Customs Border Guards.
  • Heer
    ) Army High Command (OKH) located approximately 20 miles west of Berlin in Zossen, Germany.
  • Zug – platoon or train.
  • Zugführer – platoon leader
  • Zugtruppführer – platoon HQ section leader
  • Zur besonderen Verwendung (z.b.V.) – for special employment. Sometimes a killing squad/unit, but also used for divisions raised for special reasons (e.g., the
    Division zbV Afrika
    ).
  • prussic acid (hydrocyanic acid) gas used in German extermination camps
    .

List of German military ranks

Main article:
World War II German Army Ranks and Insignia

Approximate ranks relative to US ranks:

  • General of the Armies of the United States
  • Generalfeldmarschall – General of the Army during World War II.
  • Generaloberst
    – General, literally "highest" or "supreme general", usually translated "Colonel-general"; not used in the Bundeswehr
  • General der Infanterie, Kavallerie, etc. – General (before 1956 equivalent to US Lieutenant General)
  • Generalleutnant – Lieutenant-General (before 1956 equivalent to US Major General)
  • Generalmajor – Major-General (before 1956 equivalent to US Brigadier General)
  • Brigadegeneral – Brigadier General; not used prior to the Bundeswehr
  • Oberst – Colonel, literally "highest"
  • Oberstleutnant – Lieutenant Colonel
  • Major – Major
  • Rittmeister
    – Captain
  • Oberleutnant – First Lieutenant
  • Leutnant – (Second) Lieutenant
  • Oberstabsfeldwebel/Oberstabsbootsmann – (Senior NCO)
  • Stabsfeldwebel/Hauptbootsmann – master sergeant (senior NCO)
  • Oberfeldwebel/Bootsmannsmaat – technical sergeant (senior NCO)
  • Fähnrich/Oberfähnrich – no perfect equivalent. Senior officer cadet with something like warrant officer status, used in functions like ensign, passed midshipman or 2nd lieutenant but not commissioned.
  • Fahnenjunker – no perfect equivalent. Most junior officer cadet with sergeant (US) or corporal (UK) status.
  • Feldwebel/Wachtmeister/Bootsmann – staff sergeant (senior NCO)
  • Unterfeldwebel – sergeant; formerly called Sergeant prior to 1921 (not in use in the Bundeswehr[6])
  • Stabsunteroffizer/Obermaat (junior NCO)
  • Unteroffizier/Maat – corporal (junior NCO) (since the Bundeswehr more comparable to petty officer)
  • Oberstabsgefreiter – (enlisted personnel); not used prior to the Bundeswehr.
  • Stabsgefreiter – (enlisted personnel)
  • Hauptgefreiter – (enlisted personnel); not used prior to the Bundeswehr.
  • Second Corporal
    in the Artillery.
  • Gefreiter – Private First Class (enlisted personnel). Historically, and up until 1945, the rank of Gefreiter was considered in English the equivalent to a British Army Lance Corporal rank.
  • Oberschütze – Senior Rifleman. Historical rank used up until 1945, not in use in the Bundeswehr.[6]
  • Gemeiner – Private (enlisted personnel). Historically, and up until 1918, the rank of Gemeiner was ordinarily used for an enlisted soldier of Private rank.
  • Grenadier/Schütze/Soldat/Matrose/Flieger/Sanitäter – Private (enlisted personnel)

For additional comparisons, see

Comparative military ranks of World War II
.

List of military operations

The German term for "Operation" is Unternehmen, literally "undertaking".

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Baubeschreibung des einmotorigen Jagdeinsitzers, Baumuster 162, mit TL-Triebwerk BMW 003 E-1 (in German)" (PDF). deutsche-luftwaffe.de. Heinkel Flugzeugwerke. 15 October 1944. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 August 2016. Retrieved July 6, 2016.
  2. ^ In the contexts of German language military aviation, a Staffel is between an English flight (with a normal strength of four to six aircraft) and a squadron (normally at least 12 aircraft and, historically, sometimes more than 18).
  3. ^ "Verteidigungsminister besucht "Grundi" in Roth". Retrieved 2008-10-23.
  4. Deutsches Historisches Museum
    . Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  5. ISBN 978-3-515-05887-2
    . Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  6. ^ a b "Galerie: Heer". Archived from the original on 2010-01-05. Retrieved 2008-10-23.

General references

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