M
Marine-Artillerie-Abteilung:
land-based naval coast defense artillery battalion
Marine-Flak-Abteilung:
land-based naval antiaircraft artillery battalion
Marinegruppenkommando:
Naval Group Command; a regional command of the
Kriegsmarine, controlling all naval assets within a
geographical area of responsibility
Marineoberkommando:
Naval Higher Command; an administrative command of the
Kriegsmarine, controlling all shore stations and
land-based naval assets within a geographical area of
responsibility; subordinate to a
Marinegruppenkommando
Maschinengewehr:
machine gun
Militarbefehlshaber:
Military Governor; a general officer responsible for
administration and exonomic matters in occupied territories
under military control
Minenräumboot:
coastal minesweeper
Minensuchboot:
ocean minesweeper
Mörser: lit. mortar; heavy howitzer
with a caliber of 210mm or greater
motorisiert (mot.):
motorized; appended to unit designations when necessary,
e.g. Artillerie-Regiment (mot.)
Musikkorps:
military band
N
Nachtjagdgeschwader (NJG):
lit. night hunter wing;
Luftwaffe
night fighter wing
Nachrichtentruppen:
signal troops
Nachschubtruppen:
supply troops
Nahaufklärungs-Gruppe (NAGr):
from 1943 the designation for a
Luftwaffe long-range air reconnaissance group
Nebeltruppen: lit.
smoke troops; rocket artillery troops, originally intended
for chemical warfare
Nebelwerfer: lit.
smoke thrower; rocket artillery launcher
O
Oberbefelshaber:
commander-in-chief
Oberbefelshaber des
Heeres (ObdH):
Commander-in-Chief of the Army
Oberkommando des Heeres
(OKH): High Commmand of the Army
Oberkommando der
Luftwaffe (OKL): High Command of the Air Force
Oberkommando der Marine (OKM):
High Command of the Navy
Oberkommando der
Wehrmacht (OKW): High Command of the Armed Forces
Ordnungspolizei (Orpo):
Order Police; Nazi Germany's uniformed national police
force, units of which served with the Army in the field,
mostly on occupation and security duty in the rear zone of
the field armies; see also Kommandant des
rückwärtiges Armeegebiet,
Sicherheits-Division
Ostmedaille:
East Medal; Eastern Front campaign medal officially titled
the Winter Battle in the East 1941-42 Medal; German soldiers
nicknamed it the
Gefrierfleischorden
(Frozen Meat Order)
Osttruppen:
lit. Eastern Troops; Soviet citizens serving with the German
Army as volunteers; recruited from prisoners of war and
among the USSR's disaffected ethnic groups; see also
Hilfswillige
P
Panzer: lit. armor;
term designating troops and units of the armored branch of
service, e.g. Panzertruppen, Panzer-Division
Panzerabwehrkanone
(PAK):
antitank gun
Panzerarmee:
armored army;
an army headquarters
controlling a variable number of panzer corps, 1942-45
Panzerarmee Afrika:
German-Italian field force including the Deutsches Afrika
Korps and the Italian X and XX Corps (1942-43)
Panzerbefhelwagen (Bef Panzer): command tank; a tank
fitted with extra radio equipment; early models had the main gun
removed
Panzer-Division:
armored division
Panzerfaust: lit.
armored fist; a one-shot disposable infantry antitank
weapon, introduced in 1943
Panzergrenadier: designation for motorized infantry
troops and units after 1942; see also
Schützen
Panzergruppe:
armored group; an army-echelon headquarters controlling a
variable number of motorized or panzer corps, 1940-42
Panzergruppe Afrika:
original designation of
Panzerarmee Afrika
(1941-42)
Panzerjäger:
lit. tank hunter; antitank troops and units
Panzerkampfwagen:
lit. armored battle vehicle; general term for tanks, often
shortened to Panzer
Panzerkorps:
armored corps; headquarters controlling 2-4 panzer and
motorized infantry divisions
Panzer-Lehr-Division:
lt. Armored Demonstration Division; elite division formed in
late 1943 from training units of the
Ersatzheer
(Replacement
Army) to bolster the anti-invasion defenses in France;
though numbered as the 130.
Panzer-Division it was always better known by its
original name.
Panzerschiff: lit.
armored ship; battlecruiser or armored cruiser (pocket battleship)
Panzerschreck:
lit. armor terror; nickname given to the
Raketenpanzerbüchse 54,
an 88mm
antitank rocket launcher similar to the US bazooka
Pionier: lit.
pioneer; term designating troops and units of the engineer
branch of service, e.g. Pionier-Bataillon
R
Radfahr:
bicycle
Radfahrschwadron:
lit. bicycle squadron; the
bicycle infantry company of an infantry division
reconnaissance battalion
Reichführer-SS:
SS National Leader; Heinrich Himmler's title as commander of the entire SS
organization, including the Waffen-SS
Reichsheer: formal title of the German Army under the
Weimar Republic, 1919-33
Reichsmarine: formal title of the German Navy under the
Weimar Republic, 1919-33
Reichswehr:
name given to the armed forces of the Weimar Republic
1919-33; formally denoting both the Army and the Navy but in
common parlance used for the Army
Reiter:
lit. rider; a cavalry trooper
Reiter-Regiment:
cavalry regiment
Reiterschwadron:
lit. rider squadron; cavalry
company of an infantry division reconnaissance battalion or
cavalry regiment
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen
Kreuzes:
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross; Nazi Germany's highest
military decoration, instituted on 1 September 1939, awarded
in five grades
Rückwärtiges Heeresgebiet:
Army Group Rear Area; communications/logistics zone behind
the front
S
Schlachtgeschwader (SchlG,
SG):
Luftwaffe
ground attack wing
Schlachtschiff:
battleship
Schnellboot (S-Boot):
motor torpedo boat, similar to the US Navy PT boat
Schnellkampfgeschwader
(SKG): lit. fast battle wing;
Luftwaffe
fast light bomber wing
Schnelltruppen:
lit. fast troops; motorized or bicycle-mounted troops and
units
Schützen:
rifleman; designation for
motorized infantry troops and
units assigned to panzer divisions, 1935-42; see also
Kradschützen,
Panzergrenadier
Schützenpanzerwagen (SPW):
armored infantry vehicle; name given to the armored
halftracks used mainly by the panzer and panzer grenadier
divisions, e.g. the SPW 251.
Schutzstaffel (SS):
lit. protection squad;
a Nazi Party organization, originally part of the
Sturmabteilung
(SA or Stormtroopers); under
Reichführer-SS
Heinrich Himmler it controlled the regime's entire security
apparatus and maintained its own armed force, the
Waffen-SS
Schwadron:
squadron; designation for company-size units of the cavalry
Seeaufklärungsgruppe (SAGr):
Luftwaffe long-range maritime air reconnaissance group
Seekriegsleitung (SKL):
Naval War Staff, the general staff of the Kriegsmarine
Seeverteidigung (SVT):
Naval Defense Zone; headquarters controlling coast defense
artillery and other naval assets in a coastal sector
Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS
(SD): Security Service of the SS National Leader; the
intelligence arm of the SS
Sicherheits-Division: a second-line infantry division
configured for rear-area security and occupation duties; see
also
Kommandant des rückwärtiges Armeegebiet,
Landesschützen,
Ordnungspolizei
Sondertruppen der Reichführer-SS
(RFSS):
Special Troops of the SS National Leader; nondivisional
combat troops, the Waffen-SS equivalent of the Army's Heerestruppen
Sonderverband:
lit. special unit; term used for units formed for some
special purpose or mission
SS-Totenkopfverbände
(SS-TV): lit. SS Death's Head Units; the branch of the
SS charged with concentration camp administration and,
ultimately, with the Final Solution; SS-TV personnel
were also used to form the SS-VT-Division Totenkopf
(mot.), later the
3. SS-Panzerdivision
Totenkopf
SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS-VT):
lit. SS Dispositional Troops, usually translated as SS
Special Service Troops; designation for the armed combat
branch of the SS up to July 1940; see also Waffen-SS
Stab: staff; denotes both staff personnel and the
unit headquarters itself, e.g. Regimentsstab
Staffel (Sta):
squadron;
a Luftwaffe unit analogous to
the US Army Air Forces
squadron
Standarte:
term used by the SS-VT for its regiments; when the
SS-VT was redesignated as the Waffen-SS in 1940,
Standarte was replaced by Regiment; see also
Sturmbann
Stellungskrieg: positional warfare
Stukageschwader
(StG): Luftwaffe dive bomber wing
Sturmbann: term used
by the SS-VT for its battalions; when the SS-VT
was redesignated as the Waffen-SS in 1940,
Sturmbann was replaced by Bataillon; see also
Standarte
Sturzkampfflieger (Stuka):
dive bomber
Sturmgeschütz (StuG):
assault gun; term for armored vehicles mounting a gun in an armored casement; employed as an infantry
support or antitank weapon, e.g. the StuG III, based on the
Panzer III tank chassis and armed with a 75mm gun.
Sturmhaubitz (StuH):
assault howitzer; similar to the
Sturmgeschütz
but mounting a 105mm howitzer
Sturmpioniertruppen:
lit. assault pioneer troops; engineer troops with a combat
role
T
Torpedoboot:
torpedo boat, similar to the
US Navy destroyer escort
Truppenschule: military school for branch-specific
officer advanced training, e.g. Panzertruppenschule I
U
Unterseeboot
(U-Boot):
lit. undersea boat; submarine
V
Vergeltungswaffen: lit. vengeance weapons;
collective name for the cruise missile (V-1),
ballistic missile (V-2) and other advanced weapons
developed by Germany during the war
Volksgrenadier (VG):
lit. people's grenadier; designation for infantry divisions
of the 32nd Wave, raised 1944-45
Volksstrum: Nazi
Party-controlled militia raised for territorial defense
1944-45
W
Waffen-SS: lit.
Armed SS;
designation for the armed combat branch of the
SS from July
1940; see also
SS-Verfügungstruppe
Waffenfarben:
corps colors; the branches of the German Army had
distinguishing colors, e.g. white for infantry, golden
yellow for cavalry, red for artillery; on uniforms it
appeared as piping on caps and shoulder straps
Wehrkreis: lit.
defense circle; military district, a home-based
administrative command of the Army; at the beginning of the
war there were 21
Wehrkreise
Wehrmacht: lit.
defense force; collective term for the WW II-era German
armed forces
Wehrmachtbeamter:
armed forces official; a uniformed civil servant performing
administrative duties for the armed forces
Wehrmachtbefehlshaber:
Armed Forces Commander; a general officer commanding all
troops in an occupied territory under civil administration
Z
Zerstörer: (naval vessel) destroyer;
(aircraft) twin-engine fighter
Zerstörer-Geschwader (ZG):
lit. destroyer wing; Luftwaffe twin-engine fighter
wing
zur besonderen Verwendung (zbV):
for special purpose; designation appended to units raised
for specific missions
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