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celestine47

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It is probably worth owning the Vocabularyof German Military Terms of July 1918, reprinted as ISBN 1-870423-53-4 jointly in 1995 by IWM London and the Battery Press, Nashville. It is particularly good for abbreviations. Like all dictionaries and wordlists, it will only take you so far, but sometimes it has helped me out with really obscure items or obsolete words.

Jack

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It is probably worth owning the Vocabularyof German Military Terms of July 1918, reprinted as ISBN 1-870423-53-4 jointly in 1995 by IWM London and the Battery Press, Nashville. It is particularly good for abbreviations. Like all dictionaries and wordlists, it will only take you so far, but sometimes it has helped me out with really obscure items or obsolete words.

Agreed. It was compiled by the GHQ Intelligence Section and is evidently a 'working glossary' of terms encountered in their work' (some entries are incomplete or have a ?). Like all such collections, it frustrates when it doesn't have the word you want, but it's especially good for WW1 British English renderings of terms that have changed/evolved or become obsolete since that time, and the 42-page index of abbreviations is invaluable. A Google search suggests that new copies of the re-printed edition are still available.

Mick

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Agreed. It was compiled by the GHQ Intelligence Section and is evidently a 'working glossary' of terms encountered in their work' (some entries are incomplete or have a ?). Like all such collections, it frustrates when it doesn't have the word you want, but it's especially good for WW1 British English renderings of terms that have changed/evolved or become obsolete since that time, and the 42-page index of abbreviations is invaluable. A Google search suggests that new copies of the re-printed edition are still available.

Mick

I got mine from Tom Morgan...he may still have them.

Paul

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Because this is the better solution! :P

Egbert,

I found the link for the other online dictionary that is perhaps better than LEOS:

http://www.sensagent.com/dictionnaires/de-de

Paul

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Just to return briefly to books available in English. I can recommend 'Wings of War' by Rudolf Stark. Originally published in 1933 there was reprint in 1973. It concerns the last year if the war and is translated in an easy readable style - if slightly florid in parts. It certainly conveys the atmosphere of front line flying and is particularly strong on the chaos in Germany in November 1918 when the survivors of the squadron tried to make their way back home and ran into soldiers' councils, breakdown of law and order etc

Jack

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Thanks Germans and German-speakers for the translations. The last of my German ancestors to come to the the U.S. arrived here in the early 1860s so the language skills have died out.

I learned a bit when I was there, but I kick myself for not making a greater effort. Maybe at the ripe old age of 54 I should learn German, for no good reason at all, other than that it is a thing that must be done.

Pete Eisen

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I have been researching german personal accounts which were translated into English, including novels,remenicences and diaries - army navy and flying services, for the past three years. Excluding accounts written by senior officers I now have a bibliography of some 120 and am hoping for eventual publication. The various suggestions offered by Forum Members will give you a good start - virtually all are obtainable - I use abebooks.com. But if I can help further let me know.

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What I've always been amazed by is the wealth of material on Germany in WW2 available in English - memoirs, diaries, letters, not to mention divisional histories, battle accounts - compared with WW1. The material is out there in German (and German publishers are still producing it to this day), it's just that no-one has really tried to tap it...

Good luck with the bibliography, a very worthwhile project. I produced a similar one for the Normandy campaign and posted it over at the Feldgrau forum.

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What I've always been amazed by is the wealth of material on Germany in WW2 available in English - memoirs, diaries, letters, not to mention divisional histories, battle accounts - compared with WW1. The material is out there in German (and German publishers are still producing it to this day), it's just that no-one has really tried to tap it...

Good luck with the bibliography, a very worthwhile project. I produced a similar one for the Normandy campaign and posted it over at the Feldgrau forum.

Halder,

I know these sources are being utilized more. There are authors out there working on producing works in English using German sources. I agree with you totally on the value of these works, and also the amount of good German reference works out there that would be valuable in English.

One thing to keep in mind on these projects is that publishers have to be convinced there is a market for such things....

Paul

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Halder,

I know these sources are being utilized more. There are authors out there working on producing works in English using German sources. I agree with you totally on the value of these works, and also the amount of good German reference works out there that would be valuable in English.

One thing to keep in mind on these projects is that publishers have to be convinced there is a market for such things....

Paul

Hi Paul,

I know Pal Jack's German Army on the Somme has gone down very well (it's coming out in paperback shortly). It's produced by the same publishers are my book and they've told me to keep on producing books from the German viewpoint "because there's an appetite for them" which is good, so I hope that the tide has turned. The only down side is that all my efforts and energies are directed towards WW2. It's going to be 15-20 years before I turn my attention to WW1, sadly. Odd, as it's my foremost interest. :huh:

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  • 2 weeks later...
The English translation of Das Wäldchen 125/Copse 125 (1930) is by Basil Creighton, who also translated In Stahlgewittern/Storm of Steel (1929). I don't have an original German edition, but comparing the German text in the 1978 Klett-Kotta 'Sämtliche Werke' (Erste Abteilung, Tagebücher I, Band 1 - Der Erste Weltkrieg) with the 1930 Chatto & Windus English edition, it's clear that the German has been revised, sometimes extensively — presumably by Jünger himself, just as he also revised (and re-revised) SoS. So, you have a choice — find an original German edition and read it in Fraktur, or read the revised version in modern type.

Mick

I have just finished SoS, the (latest?) version by Maichael Hofman, pub 2003. ISBN 0-713-99594-7 who takes the earlier Creighton version to task I found the book very interesting.

However, was the Officer/Enlisted man relationship in the German army accurate? It presents a very different picture in my opinion than that of the British Army in 'Our Privates We' No wonder 'Jerry'(respect) kept going for so long, in both wars.

Zac

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  • 2 weeks later...

A classic, for those who want to avoid the "masses" is

Education before verdun by Arnold Zweig.

About 10 copies on American ebay right now at not bad prices (mainly buy it now)

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