Adventures in My Youth

Glossary

Abteilung / Abt. – Battalion / department / section, dependent upon context

alte Hasen – lit. ‘old hares’, i.e. ‘old hands’

Baubataillon – Construction battalion

Ersatz – Replacement

Etappenschweine – lit. ‘Rear-area pigs’, contemptuous term used by frontline soldiers for men who populated rear-area postings avoiding seeing action

Fahnenjunkerunteroffizier – Non-commissioned officer cadet

Feldgendarmerie – Field police

Feldwebel – Sergeant

Festung – Fortress, or more usually referring to a ‘fortified place’

Gebirgsjäger – Mountain troops

Gefreiter – Lance-corporal

General der Artillerie – General of artillery

Generalfeldmarschall – Field Marshall

General der Infanterie – General of infantry

Generalleutnant – Lieutenant-General

Generalmajor – Major-General

Generaloberst – General

Hauptfeldwebel – Senior sergeant

Hauptmann – Captain

Heeresgruppe – Army group

Heimatschuss – Soldiers’ term for a wound that would require its recipient to be shipped home for treatment

Heimatkehrer – lit. ‘Homecomers’, used to refer to German soldiers returning from captivity after WWII

Hilfsarbeiter – Labourer, possibly foreign

Hilfswilliger – Auxiliary, usually non-Germans assisting military formations in a non-combat capacity

Hochdeutsch – lit. ‘high German’, equivalent of ‘the Queen’s English’

Infanteriegeschütz – Infantry gun

Kampfgruppe – Battle group

Kreis – Administrative region, approximately equivalent to a county in size

Kreisstadt – Chief town in a Kreis

Kübelwagen – Jeep, command car

Landesschützen – Regional defence troops

Landser – Nickname for German soldiers, equivalent to the British ‘Tommy’ or US ‘G.I.’

Leutnant – Lieutenant

Marschbataillon – Personnel replacement transfer battalion

Nebelwerfer – Rocket launcher

Oberfähnrich – Officer candidate

Oberfeldwebel – Master sergeant

Obergefreiter – Corporal

Oberleutnant – First lieutenant

Oberst – Colonel

Oberstleutnant – Lieutenant-colonel

Panzer Abteilung – Tank battalion

Panzerjäger – Tank hunter

Ratschbum – German slang term for the Soviet 76mm gun

SS-Unterscharführer – SS sergeant

SS-Untersturmführer – SS second lieutenant

Stadtkreis – District formed by a town

Stahlhelm – Steel helmet

Stellungsbaustab – Trench construction staff

Sturmgeschütz – Assault gun

Sturmgewehr – Assault rifle

Unteroffizier – NCO/sergeant

Volk – lit. ‘People’ but in German the term encompasses a pseudo-mystical reference to the way that the people, the land they live in etc. are inextricably linked

Volksartilleriecorps – People’s artillery corps

Volksgrenadier – People’s grenadier

Volkssturm – German equivalent of the Home Guard

Wehrkreis – Military area/district, a German administrative area for military purposes