Battle of Kursk

by Tom Zola

  II’s, III’s, IV’s: In German you sometimes would say “Zweier” (= a twoer), when talking about a Panzer II for example. We tried our best to transfer this mannerism into English.

  Ilyushin Il-2 “Shturmovik”: Very effective Russian dive bomber, high in numbers on the Eastern Front and a very dangerous tank hunter. There are reports of groups of Shturmoviks having destroyed numerous panzers within minutes. Stalin loved this very aircraft and personally supervised its production. The German nickname is “Eiserner Gustav” (= Iron Gustav). Gustav is a German male given name.

  Iron Cross: German war decoration restored by Hitler in 1939. It had been issued by Prussia during earlier military conflicts, but in WW2 it was available to all German soldiers. There were three different tiers: Iron Cross (= Eisernes Kreuz) – 2nd class and 1st class; Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross (= Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes) – Knight’s Cross without any features, Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves, Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords, Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamond, and Knight’s Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamond; and Grand Cross of the Iron Cross (= Großkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes) – one without additional features, and one called Star of the Grand Cross. By the way the German abbreviation for the Iron Cross 2nd class is EK2, alright?

  Island monkeys: German slur for the British (= Inselaffen)

  Ivan: As Englishspeakers give us Germans nicknames like “Fritz”, “Kraut” or “Jerry”, we also come up with nicknames for most nationalities. Ivan (actually it is “Iwan” in German) was a commonly used nickname for Russians during both World Wars.

  Jawohl: A submissive substitute for “yes” (= “ja”), which is widely used in the German military, but also in daily life

  K98k: Also Mauser 98k or Gewehr 98k (Gewehr = rifle). The K98k was the German standard infantry weapon during World War 2. The second k stands for “kurz”, meaning it is a shorter version of the original rifle that already had been used in World War 1. Since it is a short version, it is correctly called carbine instead of rifle – the first k stands for “Karabiner”, which is the German word for carbine.

  Kama: Refers to the Kama tank school, a secret training facility for German tank crews in the Soviet Union. After World War 1 the German Armed Forces (then called “Reichswehr”) were restricted to 100 000 men because of the Treaty of Versailles. Also, no tanks or other heavy weaponry were permitted. The Germans sought for other ways to build up their own tank force, so they came to an agreement with the Soviet Union over secretly training German tankers at Kama. The German-Soviet cooperation ended with the rise of the Nazis to power in Germany.

  Kamerad/Kameraden: See Comrade

  Kampfgruppe: Combat formation that often was set up temporarily. Kampfgruppen had no defined size, some were the size of a company, others were as big as a corps.

  Kaputt: German word for “broken”; at one point in the story Pappendorf uses this word describing a dead soldier. This means that he reduces the dead man to an object, since “kaputt” is only used for objects.

  Katyusha: Soviet multiple rocket launcher. The Katyusha was feared by all German soldiers for its highly destructive salvos. Because of the piercing firing sound, the Germans coined the nickname “Stalin’s organ” (= Stalinorgel).

  Knight’s Cross: See Iron Cross

  Kolkhoz: Also collective farm; alleged cooperatively-organized farming firm. Kolkhozes were one important component of the Soviet farming sector. In the eyes of the Soviet ideology they were a counter-concept to private family farms as well as to feudal serfdom. In reality kolkhozes were pools of slavery and inequality.

  KV-2: Specs: Armor plating of up to 110 millimeters thickness, a 152-millimeters howitzer as main gun; ate Tiger tanks for breakfast … if its crew managed to move that heavy son of a bitch into a firing position in the first place.

  Lager: Short for “Konzentrationslager” = concentration camp

  Landser: German slang for a grunt

  Luftwaffe: German Air Force

  MG 34: German machine gun that was used by the infantry as well as by tankers as a secondary armament. And have you ever noticed that some stormtroopers in the original Star Wars movie from 1977 carry nearly unmodified MG 34s around?

  MG 42: German machine gun that features an incredible rate of fire of up to 1 500 rounds per minute (that’s 25 per second!). It is also called “Hitler’s buzzsaw”, because a fire burst literally could cut someone in two halves. Its successor, the MG 3, is still in use in nowadays German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr).

  Millimeter/centimeter/meter/kilometer: Since Germans make use of the metric system you will find some of those measuring units within direct speeches. Within the text we mostly transferred distance information into yards, miles or feet.

  Moin: Means: good morning. “Moin” or “Moin, Moin” are part of several dialects found in Northern Germany. Pay this region a visit and you will hear these greetings very often and actually at EVERY time of the day.

  MP 40: German submachine gun, in service from 1938 to 1945

  NCO corps: This was a hard one to translate, since we did not find any similar concept in any English armed force. The NCO corps (= Unteroffizierskorps) refers to the entity of German non-commissioned officers. It is neither organized nor an actual active force by any means, but more of an abstract concept of thought.

  Officer corps: Same thing as in NCO corps. The officer corps (= Offizierkorps) refers to the entity of German officers. It is neither organized nor an actual active force by any means, but more of an abstract concept of thought.

  Pak: German word for anti-tank gun (= abbreviation for “Panzerabwehrkanone”)

  Panther: Many experts consider the Panther to be the best German WW2 tank. Why, you may ask, when the Wehrmacht also had steel beasts like the Tiger II or the Ferdinand at hand? Well, firepower is not everything. One also should consider mobility, production costs, and how difficult it is to operate the tank as well as maintain and repair it on the battlefield. While the hugest German tanks like the Tiger II suffered from technical shortcomings, the Panther was a well-balanced mix of many important variables. Also it featured a sloped armor shape that could withstand direct hits very well. Since the Panther tank development was rushed and Hitler personally demanded some nonsensical changes, the tank finally also suffered from some minor shortcomings; nevertheless it proved to be an effective combat vehicle after all.

  Panzer 38(t): Or Panzerkampfwagen 38(t) was a small Czechoslovak tank adopted by the Wehrmacht after it occupied Czechoslovakia. The 38(t) was no match for Russian medium tanks like the T-34, and was only adopted because the German Armed Forces desperately needed anything with an engine in order to increase the degree of motorization of their troops.

  Whenever you find a letter in brackets within the name of a German tank, it is a hint at its foreign origin. For example, French tanks were given an (f), Czechoslovak tanks a (t). Since the 38(t) was riveted instead of welded, each hit endangered the crew, even if the round did not penetrate the armor. Often the rivets sprung out because of the energy set free by the hit. They then became lethal projectiles to the tankers.

  Panzer II: Although being a small and by the end of the 1930’s outdated tank, the Panzer II was the backbone of the German Army during the first years of the war due to a lack of heavier tanks in sufficient numbers. With its two-centimeter cannon it only could knock at Russian tanks like the T-34, but never penetrate their armor. The full name is Panzerkampfwagen II (= tank combat vehicle II).

  Panzer III: Medium German tank. Actually the correct name is Panzerkampfwagen III (= tank combat vehicle III). Production was stopped in 1943 due to the fact that the Panzer III then was totally outdated. Even in 1941, when the invasion of Russia started, this panzer wasn’t a real match for most medium Soviet tanks anymore.

  Panzer IV: Very common German medium tank. Actually the correct name is Panzerkampfwagen IV (= tank combat vehicle IV). I know, I know … in video games and movies it
is all about the Tiger tank, but in reality an Allied or Russian soldier much more often saw a Panzer IV than a Tiger. Just compare the numbers: Germany produced around 8 500 Panzer IV’s of all variants, but only 1350 Tiger tanks.

  Panzergrenadier: Motorized/mechanized infantry (don’t mess with these guys!)

  Papa: Daddy

  Penalty area: Soccer term for that rectangular area directly in front of each soccer goal. When a rival striker enters your team’s penalty area, he or she intends to score a goal against you. By the way, soccer is an enhanced, more civilized version of that weird game called “American Football” – just in case you wondered)

  Plan Wahlen: A plan that was developed by Swiss Federal Council Wahlen in order to ensure food supplies for the Swiss population in case of an embargo or even an attack of the Axis powers. Since Hitler had started to occupy all neighboring nations he considered to be German anyway, a German attack on Switzerland felt very real for the Swiss. Because of the war they suffered supply shortages and mobilized their army. They even suffered casualties from dogfights with misled German and Allied bombers, because Swiss fighter planes attacked each and every military aircraft that entered their airspace (later they often “overlooked” airspace violations by Allied planes, though). Switzerland also captured and imprisoned a good number of German and Allied pilots, who crash-landed on their soil.

  Since the war raging in most parts of Europe influenced the Swiss, too, they finally came up with Plan Wahlen in 1940 in order to increase Swiss sustenance. Therefore every piece of land was used as farmland, e.g. crops were cultivated on football fields and in public parks.

  I think the situation of Switzerland during the war is a very interesting and yet quite unknown aspect of the war. I therefore used the Taylor episode to explore it.

  Order of Michael the Brave: Highest Rumanian military decoration that was awarded to some German soldiers, since Rumania was one of Germany’s allies until August 1944.

  Reichsbahn: German national railway (Deutsche Reichsbahn)

  Reichsheini: Mocking nickname for Heinrich Himmler (refers to his function as “Reichsführer SS” (= Reich Leader SS) in combination with an alteration of his first name. “Heini” is also a German offensive term used for stupid people.

  Reichskanzler: Chancellor of the German Reich

  SA: Short form for “Sturmabteilung” (literally: storm detachment); it had been the Nazi Party’s original paramilitary organization until it was disempowered by the SS in 1934.

  Scheisse: German for “Crap”. Actually it is spelled “Scheiße” with an “ß”, but since this letter is unknown in the English language and since it is pronounced very much like “ss”, we altered it this way so that you do not mistake it for a “b”.

  Same thing holds true for the characters Claassen and Weiss. In the original German text both are written with an “ß”.

  Scho-Ka-Kola: Bitter-sweet chocolate with a lot of caffeine in it

  Sepp: Short form of Josef, nickname for Engelmann

  Sherman Tank (M4): Medium US-tank that was produced in very large numbers (nearly 50 000 were built between 1942 and 1945) and was used by most Allied forces. Through the Lend-Lease program the tank also saw action on the Eastern Front. Its big advantage over all German panzers was its main gun stabilizer, which allowed for precise shooting while driving. German tankers were not allowed to shoot while driving due to Wehrmacht regulations. Because of the missing stabilizers it would have been a waste of ammunition anyway. The name of this US-tank refers to American Civil War general William Tecumseh Sherman.

  Let’s compare the dimensions: The Third Reich’s overall tank production added up to around 50 000 between the pre-war phase and 1945 (all models and their variants like the 38(t) Hetzer together, so: Panzer I’s, II’s, III’s, IV’s, Panthers, Tigers, 38(t)’s, Tiger II’s and Ferdinands/Elefants combined)!

  Sir: Obviously Germans do not say “Sir”, but that was the closest thing we could do to substitute a polite form that exists in the German language. There is no match for that in the English language: In German, parts of a sentence change when using the polite form. If one asks for a light in German, one would say “Hast du Feuer?” to a friend (familiar form), but “Haben Sie Feuer?” to a stranger or any person with whom one has not yet agreed to use the familiar form. During the Second World War the German polite form was widespread; in very conservative families children had to use the polite form to address their parents, and even some couples used it between themselves. Today the polite form slowly is vanishing. Some companies like Ikea even address customers informally in the first place – something that was an absolute no-go 50 years ago.

  In the one scene where the Colonel argues with First Lieutenant Haus he gets upset, because Haus does not say “Sir” (once more: difficult to translate). In the Wehrmacht a superior was addressed with “Herr” plus his rank, in the Waffen SS the “Herr” was left out; a soldier was addressed only by his rank like it is common in armed forces of English-speaking countries. So the colonel is upset about Haus carrying on with his old Waffen SS habits by leaving out the “Herr”.

  Another scene that makes use of the German polite form is the one between Berning and Bongartz, when the private tells the sergeant his first name. Doing this in German means offering to drop the polite form. Normally the older or higher ranked person offers this to the younger one or subordinate (in the military as well as in civil life, e.g. in firms), not the other way round, which makes Bongartz’s attempt unusual.

  SS: Abbreviation of “Schutzstaffel” (= Protection Squadron). The SS was a paramilitary Nazi-organization, led by Heinrich Himmler. Since the SS operated the death camps, had the Gestapo under their roof as well as had their own military force (Waffen SS) that competed with the Wehrmacht, it is not easy to outline their primary task during the era of the Third Reich. Maybe the SS is best described as some sort of general Nazi instrument of terror against all inner and outer enemies.

  Stavka: High command of the Red Army

  Struwwelpeter: Infamous German bedtime kid’s book that features ten very violent stories of people, who suffer the disastrous consequences of their misbehavior. Need an example? One story features a boy, who sucks his thumbs until a tailor appears cutting the boy’s thumbs off with a huge scissor. The book definitely promises fun for the whole family!

  (Nowadays it is not read out to kids anymore, but even I, who grew up in the 90’s, had to listen to that crap). In the U.S.A. the book is also known under the title “Slovenly Peter”.

  Stahlhelm: German helmet with its distinctive coal scuttle shape, as Wikipedia puts it. The literal translation would be steel helmet.

  Stuka: An acronym for a dive bomber in general (= “Sturzkampfbomber”), but often refers to that one German dive bomber you may know: the Junkers Ju 87.

  Sturm: Among other things Sturm is an Austrian idiom for a Federweisser, which is a wine-like beverage made from grape must.

  Tank destroyer: Tanks specifically designed to combat enemy tanks. Often tank destroyers rely on massive firepower and enhanced armor (the latter is achieved by a non-rotatable turret that allows for thicker frontal armor).

  T-34: Medium Russian tank that really frightened German tankers when it first showed up in 1941. First, the T-34 was superior to all existing German tanks (with the exception of Panzer IV variant F that was equipped with a longer cannon and thicker armor). The T-34 was also available in huge numbers really quickly. During the war the Soviet Union produced more than 35 000 T-34’s, plus more than 29 000 of the enhanced T-34/85 model! Remember the Sherman tank? So the production of only these two tanks outnumbered the overall German combat tank production by a factor of more than two!

  T-70: Light Soviet tank that weighted less than 10 tons. Although it was a small tank that featured a 45-millimeter main gun, one should not underestimate the T-70. There are reports of them destroying Panthers and other medium or heavy German panzers.

  Tiger tank: Heavy German combat
tank, also known as Tiger I, that featured a variant of the accurate and high-powered 88-millimeters anti-aircraft cannon “Acht-Acht”. The correct name is Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger (= tank combat vehicle VI Tiger).

  Tin can: During World War 2 some German soldiers called tanks ”tin cans” (= Büchse), so we thought it would be nice to keep that expression in the translation as well.

  SU-122: Soviet assault gun that carried a 122-millimeter main gun, which was capable of destroying even heavy German tanks from a fair distance.

  Vaterland: Fatherland

  Waffen SS: Waffen = arms; it was the armed wing of the Nazi Party’s SS organization, which was a paramilitary organization itself.

  Waidmannsheil: German hunters use this call to wish good luck (“Waidmann” is an antique German word for hunter, “Heil” means well-being). As with many hunting terms, Waidmannsheil made its way into German military language.

  Wound badge: German decoration for wounded soldiers, or those who suffered frostbite. The wound badge was awarded in three stages: black for being wounded once or twice, silver for the third and fourth wound, gold thereafter. US equivalent: Purple Heart.