Lebel: Long rifle used by the French Armed Forces at the time of the Second World War.
Lebensraum: (Ger.) Living space. Room to breathe.
Leberwurst: German word for ‘liver sausage’.
Lecker: Colloquial German word for ‘tasty’, or ‘delicious’.
Lederhosen: Bavarian leather shorts, or breeches.
L’Embuscade: (Fr.) The ambush.
Lieber Gott ich bitte Dich, Behüte und Beschütze mich, Amen: (Ger.) ‘Dear God, I beg you, protect and guide me, Amen.’
Lou Cantou: (Old Fr.) Patois for the central fireplace in a peasant farm.
Machs gut: (Ger.) ‘Let everything go well’. ‘Do it well’.
Mädchen: (Ger.) Girl.
Maquis: French wartime resistance movement based in the countryside and stemming from the word Maquis, meaning scrub, bush, or brush.
Marc: Raw spirit, akin to cognac, distilled from the residue of winemaking.
Marcassin: French term for the young of the wild boar.
Marrons Glacés: French term for chestnuts preserved and coated with sugar.
Makhorka: Type of Russian tobacco, for chewing or smoking.
Méchoui: A French community barbecue consisting of a whole roast sheep. The word originates from the North African Maghreb.
Mensch: Colloquial German equating to ‘Man!’, or ‘Oh boy!’. Literally means ‘man’.
Milice: See Miliciens
Miliciens: Members of the Milice. Founded on January 31st 1943, the Milice was formed from militant pro-German French citizens. They wore the trappings and insignia of Nazi storm troopers, including a khaki shirt and black tie, dark blue trousers and jacket, and a ‘Chasseur Alpin’ beret, army shoes, leggings, and a wide military belt with a gun holster suspended from it. Their insignia consisted of a white gamma symbol signifying the ram sign of the zodiac. The armed groups of the Milice were known as the Franc-Garde, and they wore the white gamma symbol on a black background, in the form of a shoulder patch.
Moue: (Fr.) A pout or pucker of the lips. Can be sexy, disdainful or fake melancholic.
Muschi: German slang for the vagina.
Nahkampfmesser: A fighting knife specifically designed for close combat.
Nous allons vous fusiller: (Fr.) ‘We are going to execute you’. Fusiller specifically means by shooting.
Oh Weh: Colloquial German expression equating to ‘Oh dear!’ or ‘Woe is me’. Weh literally means pain, grief or sorrow.
On ne vous veut pas de mal, vous savez: French for ‘we don’t mean you any harm, you know’.
Oustal: South Western French word equating to the farm as family unit centred around the communal fireplace, but incorporating a larger, almost mystical significance, relating to community.
Pansement: (Fr.) A dressing.
Pantoufles: (Fr.) Carpet slippers.
Panzerfaust: German-made anti-tank weapon in the form of a bazooka-like rocket launcher. Literally means ‘tank fist’.
Papirosu: Cigarette made of Russian Makhorka (q.v.) tobacco, usually rolled inside a piece of newspaper.
Parcelles: French word literally meaning ‘parcels’, and indicating separate sections of land.
Pasajes: (Sp.) Passages. Entrances. In the context of the place name, Pasajes de San Juan, meaning a way into a port.
Paysanne: (Fr.) A peasant woman, of farming stock.
Patois: A local French dialect.
Perinde ac si cadaver essent: (Lat.) In the earliest days of the Jesuit order, members were obliged to obey their superiors ‘as if they were already corpses’.
Pervitine: A form of Benzedrine used by German soldiers on the front line to keep awake during extended actions.
Petrolette: Maquis slang for a Sten gun.
Pfennigs: German word for penny. One hundred pfennigs made up a Deutschmark.
Phytologiste: (Fr.) Dealer in herbal and plant remedies.
Plus ça change: (Fr.) ‘The more things change…’ the more they remain the same.
Pomoshch: Russian word for ‘We surrender!’
Popovs: An alternative German army name for Russian soldiers. See Ivans
Poule Au Pot: (Fr.) Literally chicken in the pot, cooked with a herb and onion sauce, white wine, and an egg, ham and chicken liver stuffing.
Pounti: (Fr.) A batter made with spinach and prunes. Sometimes pork is added when available.
Pourboire: (Fr.) Tip. Gratuity.
Pour Le Mérite: Germany’s highest military decoration during the First World War, equating to the Second World War’s ‘Knight’s Cross’. The words are French, meaning ‘For Merit’.
Propriétaire: French word meaning ‘landowner’. In the context of regional peasant culture it implies a ‘smallholder’, or someone owning any quantity of land, however tiny.
Putain: French word for a whore, or prostitute. Often used as an expletive. See Putain de merde
Putain de merde: (Fr.) ‘Fucking shit’. When used as an exclamation, the word ‘putain’ often takes on the connotation of ‘fucking’, rather than specifically of ‘whore’.
Quatsch: (Ger.) Rubbish. Nonsense.
Qu’est ce que tu attends?: (Fr.) What are you waiting for?
Qui est là?: (Fr.) Who’s there?
Quinquina: (Fr.) Quinine tonic wine.
Ratissage: (Fr.) A ‘raking’ or ‘combing’. A word often used by the Milice for round-up operations against ‘undesirable elements’.
Reinkultur: German word literally meaning ‘in its purest form’. The word is untranslatable into English, carrying, as it does, supremacist overtones when used in a Second World War military/philosophical setting.
Reitstiefel: German word meaning ‘riding boot’, but referring, in a military context, to an officer’s boot.
Relève: (Fr.) Compulsory labour service.
Rote Grütze: (Ger.) Literally, ‘red groats’ or ‘pieces’. A red fruit pudding typical of Bavaria, using any available form of red fruit, including redcurrants, strawberries, raspberries, cherries, blueberries and blackcurrants.
Sabots: (Fr.) Clogs. See also Galoches
Sales Boches: French wartime expression meaning ‘dirty Germans’, Boches being the expression most obviously equating to the British Army slang word for Germans, ‘Kraut’.
Salle à manger: (Fr.) Dining room.
Samahonka: A Russian home-brewed alcoholic drink.
Sanglier: (Fr.) Wild boar.
Sans peur et sans reproche: (Fr.) ‘Without fear and without reproach.’ Attributed to Pierre du Terrail, Chevalier de Bayard.
Sapperlot: Old-fashioned Bavarian slang, meaning ‘my God’ or ‘upon my soul’.
Schande: (Ger.) ‘Shame. Shame.’
Scheiß, du. Es ist nur ein Mann: (Ger.) ‘Shit. It’s only one man.’
Scheisse: Colloquial form of the German word Scheiß, meaning ‘shit’.
Schirmmütze: German word for an officer’s peaked cap. Literally meaning ‘umbrella’ or ‘shield’ hat.
Schleuhs: Slang Maquis expression for Germans. See also: Stols, Schloks
Schloks: Slang Maquis expression for Germans. See also: Stols, Schleuhs
Schloß: German word for ‘castle’. Can equate to the British ‘stately home’.
Schmarren: Bavarian slang for nonsense, trash or rubbish.
Schwarze Korps: Name of the weekly in-house SS newspaper. Literally means ‘Black Corps’, referring to the black uniforms of the SS.
Schwesterlein: (Ger.) Little sister.
SD: See Sicherheitsdienst
Seefest: A lake festival usually held in high summer in Bavarian lakeside towns.
Ségala: Old-fashioned local term describing the Aveyron district of France, stemming from the belief that only seigle q.v. (rye) would grow in that difficult terrain, and implying that it was the place of a people who ate rye bread.
Seigle: The French word for rye, the basis of pain de seigle (rye bread).
Servus: Bavarian or Austrian term meaning both ‘hello’ and ‘goodb
ye’, depending on the context of the meeting.
Sicherheitsdienst: Literally, the ‘security service’. The intelligence branch of the SS, responsible for both internal security and for activities against partisans and civilians in occupied countries.
Sieg Heil: The German words used when giving the Hitler salute in the fifteen years before and during the Second World War. Literally means ‘hail victory’, although a subtext may be assumed to refer to the literal meaning of Heil, namely ‘luck’, ‘good health’ or ‘salvation’.
Signal: Illustrated wartime magazine and political mouthpiece of the Nazi party, dedicated to the glorification of the armed forces and the Axis struggle.
Soldbuch: (Ger.) Military pay book, carried at all times by all members of the German armed forces.
Sonderkommando: Special detachments of the SS employed for political or police orientated tasks during the Second World War, most particularly in the occupied territories. The expression later became associated (when details came to light) with detachments of male Jews forcibly used for body disposal in extermination camps.
Souillarde: The storeroom (a scullery/larder really), situated just off the main living area in a south-western French farmhouse, containing mostly food and kitchen equipment.
Sou: French five centimes coin. Colloquially used to mean small amounts of money.
Source: (Fr.) A spring, or wellhead.
Spätzle: A type of doughy noodle much used in Bavaria and Austria, often accompanying venison or game dishes.
Speisekammer: (Ger.) Larder or pantry. In Bavaria, the traditional place where preserved meats and salamis are hung.
Spiess: German expression implying ‘middle class’ or ‘philistine’. It was also the slang term used by military underlings for a sergeant-major. Its literal meaning equates with the French term ‘petit bourgeois’.
SS-Brigadeführer: Major General. In the German Wehrmacht the equivalent would be Generalmajor.
SS-Haupsturmführer: Captain. In the German Wehrmacht the equivalent would be Hauptmann.
SS-Oberschütze: Senior Private. A position attained after more than six months’ continuous service.
SS-Obersturmführer: 1st Lieutenant. In the German Wehrmacht the equivalent would be Oberleutnant.
SS-Rottenführer: Corporal. In the German Wehrmacht the equivalent would be Obergefreiter.
SS-Schütze: Private. The same word was used in the German Wehrmacht.
SS-Sturmbannführer: Major. In the German Wehrmacht the equivalent would be Major.
SS-Sturmscharführer: Sergeant-major. In the German Wehrmacht the equivalent would be Stabsfeldwebel.
Steiner: A German military vehicle most closely resembling a jeep.
STO: The Service de Travail Obligatoire, or obligatory work service foisted on the French by the German wartime authorities.
Stols: Slang Maquis expression for Germans. See also: Schleuhs, Schloks
Storch: A Fieseler Storch reconnaissance aircraft, much used by German forces during the Second World War.
Sturmgeschützabteilung: (Ger.) ‘Assault gun section’. Cannons of different diameter were mounted on modified tank chassis to provide mobile support for infantry positions in the absence of conventional supporting artillery.
‘Suivez-moi, que j’aille un peu montrer mon habit par ville.’: ‘Follow me, so that I may show off my new outfit to everyone in town.’
Tafelmusik: (Ger.) Musical entertainment provided at a banquet, or formal dinner.
Teppichfresser: A German army slang word for Adolf Hitler, literally meaning ‘carpet eater’ and referring to Hitler’s notorious rages, during which he is said to have ‘chewed the carpet’ in his anger.
Tisane: (Fr.) Herb Tea.
Torril: (Fr. Patois) Also known as Le Tourin. A quickly made soup, consisting of fried onion slices, water, bread, and, where possible, some eggs, which were turned over and seasoned with vinegar.
Transhumance: (Fr.) The moment, on the Sunday nearest to the 25th May, that the cows, decked out in garlands of flowers, move up to their mountain pastures from the valley bottoms.
Un Amour Comme Le Notre: (Fr.) ‘A Love Like Ours.’ (Author’s translation appears in text)
Underberg: Company manufacturing a famous German alcoholic herbal remedy, founded in 1862, renowned for its calming effect on upset stomachs, and for its anti-hangover properties.
Un repas sans fromage est une belle à qui il manque un oeil: (Fr.) ‘A meal without cheese is like a beautiful woman with only one eye.’
Untersturmführer: The SS rank equivalent of a Second Lieutenant.
Uradel: The oldest level of the German nobility, made up of those houses which, by no later than 1400 (in other words from ‘time immemorial’), were either members of the knightly class or patricians of a free Imperial city such as Frankfurt/Main. There are considerably fewer Uradel families than Briefadel ones, due to the fact that many families have died out over the centuries, or have bred down. No Uradel have been created in more than 600 years.
Valhalla: The great ‘hall of the slain’ of the Ǽsir or Asgard, in Gladsheim (‘region of joy’), in which fallen warriors, in Teutonic and Scandinavian mythology, were welcomed by Odin for an eternity of fighting and feasting in his service.
Vanillensoße: (Ger.) Vanilla sauce.
Vent D’autan: (Fr.) A wind which blows from the Southeast and which is renowned for its temperamental effect on local populations. Literally means ‘southerly’, or ‘strong and hot’ despite the fact that the wind is often accompanied by heavy rain.
Verdammte Schweinerei: (Ger.) Damned filthy trick!
Verflucht noch mal: (Ger.) Damn it to hell!
‘Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust’: The German name of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cantata No. 170. Literally means ‘pleasant rest, beloved soul’s delight’.
Vin de Noix: (Fr.) A liquorous wine made of walnuts.
Waffen-SS: The military side of the SS, as opposed to the political side which policed and administered the extermination camps. The Waffen-SS equated more to the original Wehrmacht (q.v.), and its officers and men prided themselves on their fighting ability and knightly spirit.
Walpurgisnacht: (Ger.) ‘Walpurgis night’. Normally on the eve of May Day, when the pagan witch-world was deemed to hold its orgies and revelries. Walpurga was an English nun sent, among others, to bring Christianity to Germany. She was later sanctified. She is regarded as a protectress against the magic arts, despite the fact that her relics themselves emit a kind of bituminous oil with magic healing properties.
Wehrmacht: The German Armed forces (comprising the Army, Navy and Air Force) from the mid-1930s through to the end of the Second World War and onwards. Hitler decreed the name change from its precursor, the Weimar Republic’s Reichswehr, in 1935.
Wittelsbach: The surname of the traditional ruling family of Bavaria, which can trace its descent to well before the year 900. The surname itself was taken in 1124, and the family provided three kings of Germany, as well as the kings of Sweden between 1654 and 1718.
Wolfsangel: The distinctive battle rune unit insignia of the Das Reich division, designed by SS-Gruppenführer Hausser in February 1943, which incorporated the ancient rune traditionally used to ward off wolves.
Zeltbahn: (Ger.) A triangular waterproof poncho that could double as a stretcher or, when several were joined together, as a tent.
Zinc: The counter in a French bar, traditionally made of zinc.
Zu Befehl: (Ger.) At your orders!
Zwetschenkuchen: Plum cake, typical of Bavaria.
First published in the United Kingdom in 2019 by Canelo
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Copyright © Mario Reading, 2019
The moral right of Mario Reading to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
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ISBN 9781788634663
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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The Occupation Secret Page 39