Landser Lingo / der Erste Zug This is an excellent list of original Wehrmacht slang terms that are not often found in publications. They are organized as follows: -German Phrase: “literal translation”; actual meaning .
Good find Ray, but he made an little error the term: Mündungsschoner: “muzzle cap”; a bad soldier " didn´t mean a bad soldier it means the Condom!
Landser Lingo Translation by Bradley R. HubbardThis is an excellent list of original Wehrmacht slang terms that are not often found in publications. They are organized as follows: -German Phrase: “literal translation”; actual meaning . The original text can be found at: http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Soldat/Landserausdruecke-R.htm. As in every army there were slang expressions used in the colloquial language of the Soldiers of the Wehrmacht. These expressions are and were difficult for outsiders to understand. Aal: “eel”; torpedo Alter: “elder”; superiors, usually the company commander Alter Mann: “old man”; with the Afrikakorps used for Italian meat-products (Fleischkonserven) Anschiß: “shit on”; criticism from superiors aussteigen: “to step out”; euphamism for leaving a destroyed ship, plane, or tank a.v.: proper abbreviation for Arbeitsverwendungsfähig which means “one who is able to be used for work” but disqualified from combat duty (k.v.). Used here as a pun for ausgezeichnete Verbindungen which means “excellent connections” Bauchbinde: “gut bind”; belt Beutegermane: “Booty-Teuton” foreign volunteer, also used for the Volksdeutsche (perhaps inferring that they were collaborating exclusively for the benefits) Blechhut: “sheet metal hat”; helmet Blechkrawatte:“sheet metal necktie”; the Knight’s Cross Donnerbalken: “thunderbeam”; latrine Eiserne Kuh:“iron cow”; canned milk Emil: the German name “Emil”; a pilot Fahrkarte: “a ticket”; a miss, a shot that “travelled” into the distance Feldküchensturmabzeichen: “field kitchen assault badge”; the War Merit Cross Fernkampfmedaille: “long distance fighting medal”; the War Merit Cross (suggesting the holders were far from the actual fighting when they earned it) Feuerpause: official command/term for “cease fire”; a cigarette break Fliegerbier: “pilot beer “; lemonade Franz: the German name “Franz”; an observer in a plane Fußlappenindianer: “Footwrap Indian”; Infantryman Gebetsbuch: “prayer book”; a Hauptfeldwebel’s notebook Gefrierfleischorden: “order of the frozen meat”; the East Front Medal Gulaschkanone: “goulash cannon”; field kitchen Halseisen: “neck iron” the Knight’s Cross Halsschmerzen: “neck ache”; had by someone who wants to earn the Knight’s Cross Heimatschuß: “homeland shot”; a light wound that would send a Soldier home Heldenkeller: “Hero cellar”; an air raid bunker Heldenklau: “Hero thief”; an officer who collects stragglers for redeployment Himmelfahrtskommando: roughly, a “Ride to heaven command”; a deployment with little chance of survival Himmelsabwehrkanone: roughly, an “Anti-heaven cannon”; an onboard physician in the Kreigsmarine hinrotzen: literally, “to sniff back one’s snot”; get into hasty cover Hitlersäge: “Hitler saw”; an MG42 HJ-Spätlese: “a late/vintage Hitler Jugend”; the Volkssturm Hoffnungsbalken: “Hope bars”; the tress on an officer candidate’s shoulder boards Horst Wessel Suppe: “Horst Wessel Soup”; Meat and other good things that “marschieren im Geiste mit”/ “march along with in spirit” (in other words, good things that should be in the soup and aren’t. but are there in spirit. A huge pun on the famous Horst Wessel Lied) Hühneralarm: “Hen alarm”; a late alarm (coming from the expression "erst das Ei, dann das Gackern"/ “first the egg, then the cackle”) Hundemarke: “dog tag”; the German identity disc Hurratüte: “a Hurrah! bag”; helmet Intelligenzstreifen: “intelligence stripes”; stripes on the trousers of the general staff Itaka:short for “Italienischer Kamerad”; Italian Comerade Kantinenorden: “Order of the Cafeteria”; the War Merit Cross Karo einfach: “Easy Diamonds”, a card-game reference; stale bread Karussell: “Carousel”, “Roundabout”; air combat where the opponents circle around each other Kattun: “cotton” or “denim”; to receive heavy fire Kettenhund: “chain dog”; a Feldgendarm Kiste: “crate”; a plane Knarre: “Rattle”; rifle Koffer: “suitcase”; a heavy grenade Kolbenringe- “piston rings”; the double litzen on the arm of a Hauptfeldwebel Kriegverlägerungskreuz: “War Displacement Cross”; War Merit Cross (in other words, one who was displaced or removed from the war) Krüppelgarde: “crippled gard”; Volkssturm Küchenbulle: “kitchen cop”; a cook Kurbelei: Luftkampf k.v.: proper abbreviation for kriegsverwendungsfähig meaning “fit for use in war”, used here as a pun for keine Verbindungen “no connections”, kann verrecken “can croak(die)”, or krepiert vielleicht “to death perhaps” k.v.H.: proper abbreviation for kriegsverwendungsfähig Heimat meaning “fit for use in war at home", used here as a pun for kann vorzüglich humpeln “can convincingly hobble” Lametta: “tinsel”; medals and tresse langmachen: “to make long”; take cover, lay down Latrinenparole: “latrine passwords”; gossip Leithammel: “bellwether” (some kind of ram);an Unteroffizier Lysol: (I think this is the brand of disinfectant); a sharp schnapps drank by occupation troops in France Makkaroni: “macaroni”; an Italian Maskenball: “masquerade”; popular harassment for instructors who constantly change into different uniforms Mündungsschoner: “muzzle cap”; NS-Röhre: “National Socialist tube”; a U-Boat Oberschnäpser: “Oversnapper”(?); an Obergefreiter Panzer-Anklopf-Gerät: “Panzer knocking device” (as in knock at a door); term for the 37mm Pak Papieroffizier: “paper officer”; someone in a propaganda company Papiersoldat: “paper soldier”; someone in a clerical unit Pappkamerad: “cardboard comrade”; a human cutout for target practice Parteihut: “party hat”; helmet Partisanen: “partisans”; lice pumpen: “pumps”; German exercise called Kneibeugen, often used for disclipine Querschläger: “ricochet”; an unpopular soldier Rabatz: “to kick up a fuss” used for many unpleasant situations, great disorder, violent enemy fire Ratschbumm: (phonetic sound?); a Soviet direct fire gun where the report is heard as the shot hits Reichsheini: "slang nickname for “Reichsführer der SS Heinrich Himmler” robben: “crawl”; slang for low crawling Rückgrat der Armee: “Backbone of the Army”; and Obergefreiter, also the experienced Landser Sandlatscher: “sans traipser”; an infantrymen (Afrika Korps?) Schleifer: “grinder”; a brutal training officer, with tankers it also meant a Panzer in need of repair Schmalspuroffizier: “narrow gauge officer”; the Sonderführer ranks that wore narrow shoulder boards Schlumpfschütze: “smurf soldier”; a bad soldier Schütze Arsch: “soldier ass”; the “last” and worst soldier Spargel: “asparagus”; the periscope on a U-boat Spiegelei: “fried egg”; the German Cross in Gold Spund: “bung”; a young soldier or recruit Stalintorte: “Stalin cake”; stale bread stiften gehen: “to move it”; to flee Tante Ju: “Aunt Ju” the outdated but still-used transport plane Ju 52 Taschenflak: “pocket Flak”; a pistol Tiefflieger: "strafer", an idiot Untergefreiter: “Under Gefreiter” (a non-existent German military rank); a civilian V3: (the last German “miracle weapon” after the V1 and V2 rockets); derogatory for Volkssturm verheizen: “to burn”; to senselessly sacrifice soldiers Wanzenhammer: “bug hammer”; a pipe (also used to smack bugs with apparently) Wehrbeitrag: “war contribution”; to conceive a child during leave Wolkenquirl: “cloud whisk”; a helicopter Zielwasser: “prize water”; schnapps Zigarettenbüchse: “cigarette tin”; the gas mask canister, which was usually used for other things Zwölfender: “Twelver”; a career soldier whose term is 12 years, especially used for a Stabsfeldwebel
Kettenhund was used to describe the S.S. wasn't it? At least, in the final days of the war. Or maybe it was Kettlehund?
Yep. definitely the Chain dogs were the Field Coppers/monkeys/MPs. You see 'Kettlehund' on a couple of inferior forums as a misspelling, but don't think it was ever actually used. maybe as a joke for Gulasch Kannonieren?
Gulaschkanonen are the most important things in war! Without them you have no warm meals and as we always said in the Army "Ohne Mampf kein Kampf"! This means no fight without an good meal before it! The Kettenhunde word was used during war because no one liked this idiots. The same today!
That's excellent. Some are not too diffcult to guess , calling their allies "Makkaroni". I wonder if they were called "Sauerkraut" in return
My Grandpa told me that the italians had some tinned meat with the sign "A.M." on it and the italians called them something like "Asino Morte" Dead Donkey or they called it "Armer Mussolini" which is Poor Mussolini. And they called the Feldjäger aka Kettenhunde also Bachstelzen (wagtails) for the reason that they do have a shield on their breast too!
I'm actually reading a book right now called the Life and Death of Afrika Korps, it too mentions the "Armer Mussolini" bit too!
Mehar, my Grandpa was in Africa with the "Brigade Ramcke", and from there he knows this food. But he said the "collected" Corned Beef from the English Army was much better.
So in a way, some slang was essentially universal among the theater, interesting. Can't forget the British Jam or Italian oil either!