Talk:Glossary of German military terms

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Right now there is a little cross-over with the Gl. of the Third Reich article. We can weed these out in time. Most terms come from my knowledge of German and stuff encountered in my reading. I have some references I'm also going to out in. I think this list will be really useful to people doing research or building models or even learning German! I see potential for a WWII American/Japanese/Italian/British Glossaries that might make a series. Dunno yet what the limits/potentials are. Dangers are of turning Wikipedia into a large Dictionary of glossaries; but I think there is a definite place for things like this if one doesn't get too carried away with it. A lot of these terms came from my model building: tank descriptions on boxes and part descriptions and terms on the instructions ("nicht kleben!") and such. ALL contributions welcome. List is far, far, far from complete. Don't see something that belongs here? Add it! Could use someone who is more expert in tank detachments/army organization, ranks and such.--DanielCD 02:11, 27 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Can somebody check the spelling of Goldfasan? I've seen "pheasant" rendered "fasen". Also, check the translation of "kriegsgericht"; I'd render it "military court", not (precisely) "court martial" (tho I suspect that's the common usage). Trekphiler 07:53, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Wehrmacht

I use to play Panzer Leader when I was a kid. I liked the game. But I am certainly no expert on German military terms. Could you add when to use Reichwehr and Wermahct? At what periods and times does one use this terms.WHEELER 23:10, 27 Jul 2004 (UTC)

All three terms are in there, including Bundeswehr. Before 1935 it was Reichswehr (state or national defence), then the Nazis changed it to Wehrmacht (defense force/resistance power), and then in 1945 it was changed to Bundeswehr (people's defense) to clear away past Nazi association.--DanielCD 13:31, 28 Jul 2004 (UTC)


[edit] Hmm, some odd translations

Fahnenheid = literally: "Oath to the flag". Could still be an Euphemism for an oath to Hitler directly :-)

Bundeswehr = Federal defence.

Kim Bruning 18:37, 28 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Peoples' is sort of Federal, can roughly be the same. But you are right, Federal certainly works better. :)) --DanielCD 20:20, 28 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Ja, wouldn't "People's defense" be Volkswehr? I speak no German, though, so I'm just going off the cognates and other German words which have been appropriated by English-speakers. Ellsworth 17:49, 14 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Well, words can have dual meanings/connotations, etc. No biggie.

To all: Please help to combine definitions where terms are really similar. I think SS has more than one entry; I'll look at it again later. But article size is really big now. Try to put appropriate entries in Glossary of the Third Reich. THANKS ! to all the contributers though; this is probably the best such glossary I've ever seen! --DanielCD 14:46, 21 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Volkswehr is "people's defense"; & wasn't the "militia" at the end of the war called Volkswehr? Or was it Volkssturm? Trekphiler 07:32, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] "Völkisch" and other non-military terms?

The definition of "völkisch" has been changed, but I don't think either version is really a military term. There are others. This article is large; should we weed out the ones that aren't strictly military?

If you can find ones that might better go into Glossary of the Third Reich or elsewhere, please do. I agree that due to size constraints we should prune it some. I've done it in the past, but people keep adding more. Adding more is good, but anyone who wants to prune out the non-military stuff is welcome to do so. Also, anyone who wants to make another article for the WWII German operations names, that would be nice and would help with size. --DanielCD 17:32, 6 Feb 2005 (UTC)


Greuelerzählungen does not mean "numerous atrocities". It means "horror stories" or "stories about atrocities". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.62.244.56 (talk) 15:03, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

Fasan is the correct spelling of the German word for pheasant. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.62.244.56 (talk) 15:15, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Franctireure

2 problems. One, it isn't strictly "terrorist", tho I don't doubt the Germans felt like it, but guerrilla. Second, it isn't German, it's French, literally "free shooter". Trekphiler 07:34, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Gustloff

I deleted this:

  • 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.

While true, it's not a military term. Also, it has a smell of POV to me. Trekphiler 08:14, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Taking the Fall

I question describing Fall as "operational codename". My understanding of the term suggests a planning document, as in "Plan Orange", as opposed to "Operation Neptune". Trekphiler 08:24, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Tiger

I deleted this:

"(The name was also the operational code name for a British convoy to Egypt in May 1941.)"

While true, it isn't a German term... Trekphiler 08:34, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] American Terminology within German terms

I am under the impression that this is merely German military slang. I am 100% certain that the Eagle's Nest is not known as that in German, it is the Kehlstein Haus.

There are other terms in the mix. Are these to stay or to be deleted?TchussBitc 13:07, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

It's a multipurpose glossary. There's nothing that says it's simply German language terms. If there is something like the Kehlstein Haus, that would likely make a great addition to the definition. Also, I don't see any problem with mentioning that the English terms are only known in English and don't originate from German. There may need to be some tightening of additions, but don't just start chopping. --DanielCD 15:19, 31 August 2006 (UTC)
I added Kehlstein Haus to the definition. --DanielCD 15:26, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Wiktionary

This isn't a candidate for Wiktionary since it isnt a simple definition and if you did move it you would also need to move everything in the entire Category:Glossaries. --DanielCD 14:30, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

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[edit] Watch your language

Speaking no German (but having read about the German military for yrs...), I have 2 questions: Abteilung (Abt.) doesn't mean "battalion", does it? That's battalion (yep, same as English), isn't it? Plural battalionen? And, isn't the plural for Einsatzkommandos Einsatzkommandoen? Trekphiler 03:48, 3 March 2007 (UTC)

Abteilung is more of a general word meaning (in a mil. sense) "unit", or possibly "section, department". As for Kommandos, the plural for that is actually Kommandos, with just the "s", so Einsatzkommandos would be right. --DanielCD 04:30, 3 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Jawohl!

jawohl — simply the word "yes" with the emphatic "wohl", which one might translate as "Yes, indeed!" or "Absolutely yes!" Widely used in WWII, it became so strongly associated with the war, that it is not used in the modern German Army (the Heer).

Thats not right, you have to say "jawohl" and not only "ja". Perhaps they changed it after a "safe time distance" to the WWII . They reintroduced some other things too. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 212.201.85.163 (talk) 18:02, 13 April 2007 (UTC).

Jawohl is simply emphatic. It is not only military. I think that impression only comes from non-German speakers watching WWII movies. It is also an adverb. "Das habe ich jawohl gemacht!" means somthing like "I did so do it!" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.62.244.56 (talk) 15:11, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] FuG & Ersatz

FuG (Funk-Gerät, radio or radar transceiver, many types) abreviation appears in quite a few texts. Perhaps it may be added here. Pavel Vozenilek 01:47, 14 October 2007 (UTC)

Also the word ersatz does appear in many WWII related texts. Pavel Vozenilek 23:12, 24 October 2007 (UTC)


Ersatz means replacement. Ersatzteil means replacement part - from Teil, part. Of course it appears all over the place. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.62.244.56 (talk) 15:07, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Looking for German term

I thought there was a German term for a threat that included killing a German soldier who did not follow orders. The threat was that the soldier would be killed along with every living member of his family and his extended family. I have been looking for it but I cannot find it. If someone knows of this term please post it here. I'm doing research for a book and I'm not finding the German term I'm looking for.

AustinFictionWriter (talk) 18:13, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

I honestly cannot recall ever hearing such a term. Askari Mark (Talk) 02:51, 26 November 2007 (UTC)