Talk:Glossary of German military terms

message: 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)
thread_title: Comments

message: 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)
replies: text: Err, Bundesweher= "Federal Defense" (Bund = "federation, union") Solicitr (talk) 17:03, 28 November 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Wehrmacht 

message: 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)
replies: text: 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)
thread_title:  Hmm, some odd translations 

message: 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)
thread_title:  "Völkisch" and other non-military terms? 

message: 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)
thread_title:  Franctireure 

message: 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)
thread_title:  Gustloff 

message: 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)
thread_title:  Taking the ''Fall'' 

message: 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)
thread_title:  Tiger 

message: 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)
replies: text: 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)
replies: text: I added Kehlstein Haus to the definition. --DanielCD 15:26, 31 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  American Terminology within German terms 

message: 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)
thread_title: Wiktionary

message: --CopyToWiktionaryBot 23:59, 6 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: 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)
replies: text: While Abteilung literally means "detachment" (away-part-ing), in the German military usage it became the standard term for battalion equivalents in nearly every branch except the infantry and cavalry.  A Schwerer Panzerabteilung comprised three tank companies, commanded (usually) by a major- i.e. a battalion.--Solicitr (talk) 17:09, 28 November 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  2007-02-6 Automated pywikipediabot message 

message: 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)
replies: text: 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)
replies: text: While Abteilung literally means "detachment" (away-part-ing), in the German military usage it became the standard term for battalion equivalents in nearly every branch except the infantry and cavalry.  A Schwerer Panzerabteilung comprised three tank companies, commanded (usually) by a major- i.e. a battalion.--Solicitr (talk) 17:09, 28 November 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Watch your language

message: 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)
replies: text: Whoever said that the Bundeswehr does not use Jawohl - I wonder in which Bundeswehr he served. It is one of the first things to associate with military style for a German, so even from this point of view, it wouldn't simply have been possible to change that. Also, they didn't reintroduce things they were afraid to introduce in 1956 - rather the other way round (due to 68s movement pressure etc). It is true that if you are on colloquial terms with your NCOs and answer a Jawohl or the, actually, only correct form "Jawohl Herr e.g. Oberfeldwebel" , you might hear a "Ein Ja hätte mir genügt" ("A simple yes would have sufficed for me") but that's a question of particular style, and not present in boot camps. (However, the even more military-sounding "Jawoll" is not in use in the military, nor, I think, ever was.) The German sentence above should have been "Das habe ich ja wohl gemacht", with an emptyspace, and it has nothing to do with Jawohl. But, yes, it is correct German to say Jawohl instead of Ja, just as it would be correct English to say "Yes, Sir" (emphasis on the first syllable, not only on the second) to a person you call Sir.--77.4.79.32 (talk) 00:16, 13 December 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Jawohl! 

message: 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)
replies: text: Also, Ersatz, for a strange reason (it does not have this meaning in the German language, besides this bureaucratism) means something like recruitment. Hence, these offices are known as Kreiswehrersatzämter. --77.4.79.32 (talk) 00:19, 13 December 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  FuG & Ersatz 

message: 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)
replies: text: I honestly cannot recall ever hearing such a term. Askari Mark (Talk) 02:51, 26 November 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: It certainly happened, but I never heard a single term used to describe it, either. Rumiton (talk) 11:39, 18 February 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Looking for German term 

message: According to M4 Sherman the German Tiger crews called the Sherman tanks for Tommy cookers, because they easily blew up. What's that in German? --Regards, Necessary Evil (talk) 17:45, 1 July 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Sorry- the malign influence of the movie Patton again, I fear. Petrol/gasoline engines were not the problem (all German tanks used them too)- the problem was poor ammunition stowage, a design defect eventually rectified by the use of glycerine-solution 'tubs.'  In many cases "brewed-up" Shermans were found to have their fuel tanks intact and unburned.--Solicitr (talk) 17:13, 28 November 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Tommy cooker 

message: I see this has been added with the translation Kampf Geschwader... I have also seen Kampf Gruppe (roughly battle wing) and this makes more sense. Also they flew a variety of aircraft, incl Heinkels. Comments? Rumiton (talk) 11:33, 18 February 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: zbV in German usually means zur besondere verwendung (for special purposes) which in English roughly means "supernumerary" or extra to establishment.139.48.25.60 (talk) 20:57, 19 May 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: KGzbV

message: I'm fairly confused. At least two thirds of the terms don't belong here, in my humble opinion anyway (I'm a native German speaker and have some decent military understanding). There are two types of words here that bother me: 
1.) Terms which have nothing to do with the military (Eisenbahn, Gift, Grenze, tot, Zeit). If someone were to find one of these in a book or something, they could easily look them up in a dictionary. This page should be for stuff you don't find in a dictionary.
2.) Nazi Germany related vocabulary with no relation to the military whatsoever. Yeah yeah, here comes the German trying to clean up the past ... but actually Gestapo, BDM, "Arbeit macht Frei" ... these have nothing to do with the military. This whole page reads like a glossary of Nazi terms. One can undoubtedly argue that things like the BDM, Hitlerjugend oder the Gestapo were organised in a military-like fashion, but then again everything was organised in a military, or rather paramilitary-like fashion. In my opinion, the only Nazi era terms which should be in this list is vocabulary directly related to the Wehrmacht or one of its branches Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine or Waffen-SS (as de facto fourth branch). No Allgemeine-SS, no Nazi Party organisations (you could fill a list then times larger than this one), no Shoah vocabulary (I really don't want to start a discussion about the Wehrmacht's involvment, so please ...) Anyway, in terms of what I would consider a true glossary of military terms, check out this German wiktionary page on military terms. Obviously that's way too extensive, but there's some very important stuff there like "abseilen" or "Biwak" that any soldier learns on day one. So, before I start cleaning up and then someone comes along and says this is not what a glossary should look like or that it's not NPOV because KZ guards wore uniforms and uniforms are military and so this belongs here too ... well, what does belong here and what doesn't? -Gruendlich (talk) 21:58, 9 March 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: This site has evolved and grown quickly. I think most of the terms now here are of interest, but I agree we have departed from a strictly military context. Perhaps the page should be renamed Glossary of German WW2-related terms? Rumiton (talk) 12:26, 28 October 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  To clarify: what belongs here and what doesn't? 

message: "...the most junior of the unteroffiziere mit portpee". What is a portpee? Rumiton (talk) 12:26, 28 October 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: As you were, I worked it out. Should be Portepee, a swordknot. I'll make the change. Rumiton (talk) 13:01, 29 October 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: A portepee was originally a certain item of the officers' uniform which was "granted" to the higher ones of the ncos, hence the distinction. For all practical matters, there are simply two classes of ncos and the higher one is called with, the lesser without portepee. Due to Auftragstaktik and the fact that the Reichswehr during the Weimar Republic could only have so and so many officers, ncos with portepee often stand in for where other armies use officers, though.--2001:A61:260D:6E01:3824:5023:620E:5FF5 (talk) 12:26, 9 March 2018 (UTC)
thread_title: Feldwebel

message: Asking for help from native German speakers again. We have this phrase translated as "the dream is over." To me it reads a little more imperatively. I would think something like, "Stop dreaming!" or "Wake up!" Comments? Rumiton (talk) 03:14, 29 October 2013 (UTC)
thread_title: Aus der Traum

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: I think it is a Luftwaffe listening station scope_creep (talk) 13:55, 6 December 2017 (UTC)
thread_title: Meldekopf 

message: Isn't that an American term translated into German? If you want to load a Mauser rifle it cannot be locked, because then you can't pull back the bolt. Creuzbourg (talk) 23:42, 23 March 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  "sichern und laden" – "lock and load".