Battle of Kursk

by Tom Zola

  When it comes to ranks, we did translate them to obtain a better reading experience, although in direct speech we sometimes kept original German or Russian ranks – that depends on the overall paragraph and how it would influence readability. Take a look at the glossary of characters below to find out about the actual ranks they possess.

  On the other hand, in the original text there are a lot of references to typical German trivia, which gave all of us a hard time translating them. Things like the military function of a “Kompanietruppführer” only exists in the German Army. There is no translation, no comparable function in other armed forces, and it even is very difficult to explain its meaning without a deep understanding of the functioning of the German military. So, what should we do with such things? How should we translate the text in a way that its originality does not get lost, but that it is at the same time fully understandable in English? Believe me, finding that balance is no easy task! I hope we have gotten most things right!

  Our overall goal was to provide a very unique reading experience for English readers. This text is written by a former German soldier (me), it focuses on a German perspective and is very technical in its details. I often find posts and articles on the Internet that are about Germany or the German Army, written by foreigners in English, and that hilariously mistake our very special little German idiosyncrasies (no accusation meant, I would struggle similarly trying to understand a culture I am a total stranger to). Thus, I hope it is interesting for you to read something from Germany that really tries to translate these idiosyncrasies correctly into English. Nevertheless we tried everything to preserve a special German touch. That is why we sometimes left a German word or phrase in the text. At the same time, we tried to ensure that English readers can understand everything without using a dictionary or Wehrmacht textbook from time to time and that the whole thing stays readable.

  Another thing we did in order to manage this balancing act is that we separated German words for better readability and understanding although they are not separated originally. We Germans are infamous for our very long words like Bundeswehrstrukturanpassungsgesetz or Donau-Dampfschifffahrtsgesellschaft. In English words are separated way more often to keep them short. Germans say Armeekorps, English folks say army group. So for example we made Panzer Korps out of Panzerkorps in the text hoping that this will help you to read the book without stumbling too often.

  The PANZERS series consists of 12 books, and I promise in book 12 I provide a satisfying ending. No cliffhangers! In book 2 I introduce my major American protagonist to the story: Private First Class Tom Roebuck. Fighting continues and catapults the reader into the battlefields of the Pacific, China, the polar region and so on in the books to come. Besides a strong focus on German soldiers, there are chapters about British, Japanese, Russian characters and even more from other nations.

  Additionally, EK-2 Publishing holds a bunch of other German military literature licenses that we really would love to introduce to English readers. So, stay tuned for more to come! And please give us feedback on what you think about this book, our project and the EK-2 Publishing idea of bringing military literature from the motherland of military to English readers. Also let us know how we can improve the reading experience for you and how we managed the thin red line between readability and originality of the text.

  We love to hear from you!!

  info@ek2-publishing.com

  (I am connected to this email address and will personally read and answer your mails!)

  In the following I provide some additional information: a glossary of all words and specialist terms you may have stumbled upon while reading, an overview of Wehrmacht ranks, German military formation sizes and abbreviations, a glossary of all characters as well as a sketch of the Kursk salient. Since I wrote those glossaries myself, too, I recommend you keep the German accent …

  Glossary

  76 millimeter divisional gun M1942: Soviet field gun that produced a unique sound while firing, which consisted of some kind of hissing, followed by the detonation boom. Therefore the Germans Wehrmacht soldiers called it “Ratsch Bumm”.

  Abwehr: German Military Intelligence Service

  Afrika Korps: German expeditionary force in North Africa; it was sent to Libya to support the Italian Armed Forces in 1941, since the Italians were not able to defend what they had conquered from the British, and desperately needed some backing. Hitler’s favorite general Rommel was the Afrika Korps’ commander. Over the years he gained some remarkable victories over the British, but after two years of fierce fighting … two years, in which the Axis’ capabilities to move supplies and reinforcements over the Mediterranean Sea constantly decreased due to an Allied air superiority that grew stronger by the day, Rommel no longer stood a chance against his opponents. Finally the U.S.A. entered the war and invaded North Africa in November 1942. Hitler prohibited the Afrika Korps to retreat back to Europe or even to shorten the front line by conducting tactical retreats. Because of that nearly 300 000 Axis soldiers became POW’s, with thousands of tons of important war supplies and weapons getting lost as well when the Afrika Korps surrendered in May 1943, just months after the 6th Army had surrendered in Stalingrad.

  In the PANZERS series von Witzleben allows the Afrika Korps to retreat just in time. Axis forces abandon North Africa by the end of 1942, saving hundreds of thousands of soldiers and important war materiel.

  Arabic numerals vs. Roman numerals in German military formation names: I decided to keep Arabic as well as Roman numerals in the translation, therefore you will find a 1st Squad, but a II Abteilung. Normally all battalions and corps have Roman numerals, the rest Arabic ones.

  Armee Abteilung: More or less equivalent to an army. The Germans of WW2 really had confusing nomenclature to organize and name their military formations.

  Assault Gun: Fighting Vehicle intended to accompany and support infantry formations. Assault guns were equipped with a tank-like main gun in order to combat enemy strongholds or fortified positions to clear the way for the infantry. An assault gun had no rotatable turret, but a casemate. This made them very interesting especially for Germany, because they could be produced faster and at lower material costs than proper combat tanks.

  Assistant machine gunner: In the Wehrmacht you usually had three soldiers to handle one MG: a gunner and two assistants. The first assistant carried the spare barrel, as well as some small tools for cleaning and maintaining the weapon, plus extra belted ammunition in boxes. The second assistant carried even more ammunition around. In German the three guys are called: MG-1, MG-2 and MG-3.

  Ausführung: German word for variant. Panzer IV Ausführung F means that it is the F variant of that tank. The Wehrmacht improved their tanks continuously, and gave each major improvement a new letter.

  Babushka: Russian word for “grandmother” or “elderly woman”.

  Balkenkreuz: Well-known black cross on white background that has been used by every all-German armed force ever since the first German unification, and also before by the Prussian military.

  Battle of Stalingrad: The battle of Stalingrad is often seen as the crucial turning point of the war between the Third Reich and the Soviet Union. For the first time the Wehrmacht suffered an overwhelming defeat, when the 6th Army was encircled in the city of Stalingrad and had to surrender after it had withstood numerous Soviet attacks, a bitterly cold Russian winter, and a lack of supplies and food due to the encirclement. Hitler was obsessed with the desire to conquer the city with the name of his opponent on it – Stalin – and thus didn’t listen to his generals, who thought of Stalingrad as a place without great strategic use.

  In reality the battle took place between August 1942 and February 1943. The encirclement of the Axis forces was completed by the end of November 1942. The Axis powers lost around 300 000 men. After surrendering, 108 000 members of the 6th Army became POW’s, of which only 6 000 survivors returned to Germany after the war.

  In the PANZERS series, von Witzleben liste
ns to his generals and withdraws all troops from the city of Stalingrad in time. Thus the encirclement never happens.

  Beck Doctrines: A set of orders issued by President of the Reich Ludwig Beck that demands a humane treatment of POW’s and civilians in occupied territories. The doctrines are an invention of me, neither did they exist in reality, nor was Beck ever President of the Reich (but the main protagonists of the 20 July plot, of whom Beck was one, wanted him for that very position).

  Bohemian Private: In German it is “Böhmischer Gefreiter”, a mocking nickname for Hitler, which was used by German officers to highlight that Hitler never got promoted beyond the rank of private in World War I. Besides basic training Hitler never attended any kind of military education. It is said that President Hindenburg first came up with this nickname. He did not like Hitler, and wrongfully believed he was from the Braunau district in Bohemia, not Braunau am Inn in Austria.

  Brandenburgers: German military special force (first a component of the Abwehr; but as of 1st April 1943 reassigned to the Wehrmacht), that includes many foreign soldiers able to conduct covert operations behind enemy lines. The name “Brandenburgers” refers to their garrison in Brandenburg an der Havel (near Berlin).

  Büchsenlicht: Büchse = tin can (also archaic for a rifle); Licht = light; having Büchsenlicht means that there is enough daylight for aiming and shooting.

  Churchill tank: Heavy British infantry tank, with about 40 tons it was one of the heaviest Allied tanks of the war. Through the Lend-Lease policy it saw action on the Russian side, too. Its full name is Tank, Infantry, Mk IV (A22) Churchill.

  Clubfoot: Refers to Joseph Goebbels, a high-ranking Nazi politician, one of Hitler’s most important companions and Reich Minister of Propaganda (Secretary of Propaganda). He coined names like “Vergeltungswaffe” (= weapon of revenge) for the A4 ballistic missile, and glorified a total war, meaning all Germans – men, women, elderly and children alike – had to contribute to “final victory”. He is one of the reasons why German children, wounded, and old men had to fight at the front lines during the last years of the Third Reich. “Clubfoot” refers to the fact that Goebbels suffered from a deformed right foot.

  Commissar Order: An order issued by the Wehrmacht’s high command before the start of the invasion of the USSR that mandated the shooting of any Soviet political commissar, who had been captured. In May 1942 the order was canceled after multiple complaints from officers, many of them pointing out that it made the enemy fight until last man standing instead of surrendering to German troops. In the Nuremberg Trials the Commissar Order was used as evidence for the barbaric nature of the German war campaign.

  Comrade: This was a hard one for us. In the German military the term “Kamerad” (plural = “Kameraden”) is commonly used to address fellow soldiers, at the same time communists and social democrats call themselves “Genosse” in German. In English there only is this one word “comrade”, and it often has a communistic touch. I guess a US-soldier would not call his fellow soldiers “comrade”? Since the word “Kamerad” is very, very common in the German military we decided to translate it with “comrade”, but do not intend a communistic meaning in a German military context.

  Danke: Thank you in German

  Eastern Front Medal: Awarded to all Axis soldiers who served in the winter campaign of 1941/1942.

  Edi: Eduard Born’s nickname

  Eiserner Gustav: German nickname for Ilyushin Il-2 “Shturmovik” (= iron Gustav). Gustav is a German male first name.

  Elfriede: Nickname Engelmann gave his Panzer IV. Elfriede was a common German female given name during that time.

  Endsieg: Refers to the final victory over all enemies.

  Éxgüsee: Swiss German for “sorry”. By the way, German dialects can be very peculiar. Bavarian, Austrian, Low German or other variations of German are hard to understand even for Germans who are not from that particular region. Especially Swiss German is one not easy to understand variation of German, so often when a Swiss is interviewed on German TV subtitles are added. For interregional communication matters most Germans stick to High German, which is understood in all German-speaking areas.

  Fat Pig: Refers to Hermann Göring, one of Nazi Germany’s most influential party members. As the commander of the Luftwaffe he was responsible for a series of failures. He also was infamous for being drug-addicted and generally out of touch with reality. Moreover he coveted military decorations, and therefore made sure that he was awarded every medal available despite the fact that he did not do anything to earn it. Göring was the highest-ranking Nazi leader living long enough to testify in the Nuremberg Trials. He committed suicide to avoid being executed by the Allies.

  Ferdinand: Massive German tank destroyer that later was improved and renamed to “Elefant” (= Elephant, while Ferdinand is a German given name – to be precise, it is Ferdinand Porsche’s given name, founder of Porsche and one of the design engineers of this steely monster). Today the Porsche AG is known for building sports cars.

  Like many other very progressive German weaponry developed during the war, the Ferdinand suffered from Hitler personally intervening to alter design and production details. Hitler always thought himself to be cleverer than his engineers and experts. E.g. he forced the aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt to equip its jet-powered fighter aircraft Me 262 as a dive bomber, while it was constructed to be a fighter and while the Luftwaffe already had lost air superiority in all theaters of war (so you need fighters to regain air superiority before you can even think about bombers). Same story with the Ferdinand: Hitler desperately wanted the Ferdinand to take part in the battle of Kursk, so he demanded its mass production on the basis of prototypes that hadn’t been tested at all. German soldiers had to catch up on those tests during live action! Despite its enormous firepower, the Ferdinand proved to be full of mechanical flaws, which led to lots of total losses. Due to a lack of any secondary weapon and its nearly non-movable main gun, the Ferdinand was a death trap for its crew in close combat. Another problem was the Ferdinand’s weight of around 65 tons. A lot of bridges and streets were too weak or narrow to survive one of these monsters passing by, let alone a whole battalion of them.

  Nevertheless, the heavy tank destroyer proved to be a proper defense weapon that could kill a T-34 frontally at a distance of more than two miles.

  Its full name is Panzerjäger Tiger (P) “Ferdinand” (or “Elefant”) Sd.Kfz. 184. Sd.Kfz stands for “Sonderkraftfahrzeug” meaning “special purpose vehicle”.

  Frau: Mrs.

  Front: May refer to a Soviet military formation, equal to an army group

  Führer: Do I really have to waste any words about the most infamous German Austrian? (By the way, it is “Führer”, not “Fuhrer”. If you cannot find the “ü” on your keyboard, you can use “ue” as replacement).

  Gestapo: Acronym for “Geheime Staatspolizei” (= Secret State Police), a police force that mainly pursued political enemies of the state.

  Gröfaz: Mocking nickname for Adolf Hitler. It is an acronym for “greatest commander of all times” (= größter Feldherr aller Zeiten) and was involuntarily coined by Field Marshal Keitel. During the battle of France Keitel, who was known for being servile towards Hitler, hailed him by saying: “My Führer, you are the greatest commander of all times!” It quickly became a winged word among German soldiers – and finally the acronym was born.

  Grüessech: Swiss salute

  Heeresgruppe: Army group. The Wehrmacht wasn’t very consistent in naming their army groups. Sometime letters were used, sometimes names of locations or cardinal directions. To continue the madness, high command frequently renamed their army groups. In this book “Heeresgruppe Mitte” refers to the center of the Eastern Front (= Army Group Center), “Heeresgruppe Süd” refers to the southern section (= Army Group South).

  Heimat: A less patriotic, more dreamy word than Vaterland (= fatherland) to address one’s home country.

  Heinkel He 177 Greif: German long-range he
avy bomber. “Greif” means griffin. The Germans soon coined the nickname “Fliegendes Reichsfeuerzeug” (= flying Reich lighter) due to the fact that the He 177’s engines tended to catch fire while the bomber was in the air.

  Henschel Hs 127: German ground-attack aircraft designed and produced mainly by Henschel. Due to its capabilities to destroy tanks German soldiers coined the nickname “can opener”.

  Herein: German word for “come in”. Hey, by the end of this book you will be a real German expert!

  Herr: Mister (German soldiers address sex AND rank, meaning they would say “Mister sergeant” instead of “sergeant”)

  Herr General: In the German military, it does not matter which of the general ranks a general inhabits, he is always addressed by “Herr General”. The same as in the US military.

  Hiwi: Abbreviation of the German word “Hilfswilliger”, which literally means “someone who is willing to help”. The term describes (mostly) Russian volunteers who served as auxiliary forces for the Third Reich. As with many military terms from the two world wars, “Hiwi” has deeply embedded itself into the German language. A lot of Germans use this word today to describe unskilled workers without even knowing anything about its origin.

  HQ platoon leader: In German “Kompanietruppführer” refers to a special NCO, who exists in every company. The HQ platoon leader is best described as being the company commander’s right hand.