rwcanuck Posted January 22, 2000 Share Posted January 22, 2000 Does anyone know how Germany picked such great names as the Panther, Tiger, Puma, and now the Leopard, etc for its Armored Fighting Vehicles? I think the names themselves helped contribute to the outstanding qualites of these great German AFVs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Zigster Posted January 22, 2000 Share Posted January 22, 2000 Don't forget the Lynx, the Harrier... and of course, the Mouse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwcanuck Posted January 22, 2000 Author Share Posted January 22, 2000 The Lynx was another great name. Must be some humour in the way they name AFVs..the Maus for the largest AFV and the Goliath for the smallest AFV I guess if the war went on we might have seen the name Cheetah as some sort of fast super tank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott C Posted January 22, 2000 Share Posted January 22, 2000 rwcanuk said: I guess if the war went on we might have seen the name Cheetah as some sort of fast super tank Either that, or the Cheetah would be an ultra-heavily armored behemoth with a top speed of about 15 mph... ------------------ Questions, comments, arguments, refutations, criticisms, and/or sea stories? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killmore Posted January 22, 2000 Share Posted January 22, 2000 I would name the mouse the lion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Zigster Posted January 22, 2000 Share Posted January 22, 2000 I almost forgot the elephant and the rhinoceros. I don't know the origin of the names, but a perusal of the list leaves a clue. All of the named vehicles were designed and constructed after the war began (even those based on pre-war designs or concepts). The PzKw IV was the last pre-war designed tank. Probably a security/secrecy thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guachi Posted January 22, 2000 Share Posted January 22, 2000 Something about German AFV names that has been bothering me. Why are, when someone is writing in English, are the Panther, Tiger, and occasionally the Lynx written in English, but all the other German AFVs written in German? Panther, Tiger, Lynx but Marder, Hetzer, Brummbaur, Wespe, Hummel, Grille, etc. Anybody have a clue? Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berlichtingen Posted January 22, 2000 Share Posted January 22, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by guachi: Something about German AFV names that has been bothering me. Why are, when someone is writing in English, are the Panther, Tiger, and occasionally the Lynx written in English, but all the other German AFVs written in German? Panther, Tiger, Lynx but Marder, Hetzer, Brummbaur, Wespe, Hummel, Grille, etc. Anybody have a clue?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Panther and Tiger are the German words. I don't recall ever seeing the Luchs called Lynx until this board. One other thing... its Brummbär Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullethead Posted January 22, 2000 Share Posted January 22, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Why are, when someone is writing in English, are the Panther, Tiger, and occasionally the Lynx written in English, but all the other German AFVs written in German?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Panther and Tiger I think are the same in German as English. Lynx is Luchs, however, which to English ears sounds more like you're getting ready to spit, so I can see them translating that one. My own personal favorite AFV name is Hetzer, and this just doesn't sound as cool when translated into English. It's kinda like that Brit plane, the Spitfire. Cool-sounding name, eh? You can really picture the name being appropriate as the 8 MGs flicker on the wing. But the original name suggested by the designer was Shrew. While these are certainly ferocious animals, they're pretty small and the name doesn't sound cool anyway. So somebody took another meaning for "shrew" (as in "The Taming of the..") and substituted a cool-sounding synonym. The rest is history. But I keep waiting for some women's rights group to try to get the name banned, because the double meaning in use here is "bitch" -Bullethead [This message has been edited by Bullethead (edited 01-21-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Zigster Posted January 22, 2000 Share Posted January 22, 2000 I prefer the translations for those words where the original German is hard to get my tongue around. Luchs is an easy one, but it's a nasty sound in English -- sorta reminiscent of tossin' a loogie. Lynx sounds much more cool. Same for the Wespe -- if it's pronounced right, it sounds like a small Italian scooter with a model airplane engine in it, so I stick with Wasp at least in conversation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guachi Posted January 22, 2000 Share Posted January 22, 2000 You know, I could have just gotten off my lazy ass and walked across the street to Barnes & Noble and looked in a German-English dictionary. It never occurred to me that the names were the same. I thought maybe it was because they were the most well-known, or something. Jason Isn't the small Italian scooter the Vespa? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fionn Posted January 22, 2000 Share Posted January 22, 2000 Those which have German names in habitual use are ones which aren't that impressive if translated. E.g. " Bumble Bee", "Ambusher" "Grizzly Bear" etc aren't "cool". BTW 1 picture request to the first person to give me the rough specifications of the Cheetah and 1 more picture request to the first person who came up with the specifications for this AFV Yes, Cheetah was the name proposed for a German MBT (they liked their wild cats ). ------------------ ___________ Fionn Kelly Manager of Historical Research, The Gamers Net - Gaming for Gamers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattias Posted January 22, 2000 Share Posted January 22, 2000 Flakpanzer 38(t) Ausf L Gepard / Sd.Kfz. 140 -Panzerkampfwagen 38 fur 2cm Flak 38. 140 produced between November 1943 and February 1944 1 Converted Nov 1943 Model: Ausfuhrung A Weight: 9400kg Crew: 4 men Engine: Praga EPA / 6-cylinder / 125hp Speed: Road 42km/h Cross-Country 15km/h Range: Road 250km Cross-Country 160km Lenght: 4.60m Width: 2.12m Height: 2.40m Armament: Single 20mm Flak 38 L/112.5 gun (or possibly 20mm Flak 30 in some vehicles) Ammo: 1040 Rounds. 360 HE tracer, 360 HE, 320 AP Armor: 8-25mm Model: Ausfuhrung G Weight: 9850kg Crew: 4 men Engine: Praga EPA / 6-cylinder / 125hp Speed: Road 42km/h, Cross-Country 15km/h Range: Road 250km, Cross-Country 160km Lenght: 4.61m Width: 2.14m Height: 2.40m Armament: Single 20mm Flak 38 L/112.5 gun (or possibly 20mm Flak 30 in some vehicles) Ammo: 1040 Rounds. 360 HE tracer, 360 HE, 320 AP Armor: 8-50mm Conflicting sources it seems... M. [This message has been edited by Mattias (edited 01-22-2000).] [This message has been edited by Mattias (edited 01-22-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattias Posted January 22, 2000 Share Posted January 22, 2000 - [This message has been edited by Mattias (edited 01-22-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattias Posted January 22, 2000 Share Posted January 22, 2000 - [This message has been edited by Mattias (edited 01-22-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Zigster Posted January 22, 2000 Share Posted January 22, 2000 The name Leopard was also given to the next series of recce tanks based on the Pz II after the Lynx. None were ever produced. The turret of the Leopard eventually went into production on the Puma armoured car. Bumblebee and Grizzly Bear not cool? I beg to differ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattias Posted January 25, 2000 Share Posted January 25, 2000 Fionn, could you please give the reply to your question Is the Gepard a SPAA conversion of the Pz. 38 (t) or is it something else? M. [This message has been edited by Mattias (edited 01-25-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fionn Posted January 25, 2000 Share Posted January 25, 2000 Mattias, I didn't notice any question previously.. Check your previous post . I was puzzled why you gave all those details but figured I was just missing something. Personally I don't see what you mean by conflicting.. I don't see any conflict there.. ------------------ ___________ Fionn Kelly Manager of Historical Research, The Gamers Net - Gaming for Gamers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts