Abbreviations on charts
 

Mr. Prien,

I'm reading through volume 9 part III about JG 5, and I have some questions about the charts.

In the victory charts, what does N.N. mean?

And why, when there is a known pilot, is the victory number sometimes still ( .)?

In the loss charts, what do the various abbreviations in the last column mean, i.e.

rt. 2 +
rt. 4 +
ws. 9 +
ws. 9 + 1
ge. 11 +
ge.10 + 1
sw. << + 1
PD + EG
etcetera.

Again in in the loss charts, column 4 shows the status of the pilot. I assume that a cross means dead, verw. means wounded, and verl. means missing, but what do these mean?

(v.)
v.
KG
(KG)

Thank you.

Re: Abbreviations on charts
 

Hi Gary,

N.N. means name not known

rt. is the abbreviation for rot meaning red
ws. = weiss = white
ge. = gelb = yellow
sw. = schwarz = black

The numbers are tactical markings and the bar after the balkenkreuz "+" identifies the gruppe

see the following link
http://www.xs4all.nl/~rhorta/jgmark.htm

ws. 9+I would be White 9 of III.Gruppe

PD + EG is what is known as stammkennziechen which are factory codes.

verw. means verwundet = wounded
verl. means verletz = injured
v. means vermissen = missing
(v.) means missing but returned later
KG. means kampfgefangen = captured (POW)
(KG.) probably means captured but escaped later

I appologise for any errors with the translation as my German is very poor.

Best Regards

Andy Fletcher

Re: Abbreviations on charts
 

A couple of small errors in the above:

verletzt = injured
vermisst = missing
KG = Kriegsgefangener = Prisoner of War

I worked out what "N.N." meant from the context but as fro the words it stands for: «Name nicht gemeldet» maybe? (name not reported). It would work well in English though ("No Name").

Re: Abbreviations on charts
 

Thank you!

Re: Abbreviations on charts
 

Dear Nick,

the "N.N." is an abbreviation for a person so far not identified; it's origins are Latin for sure although there is some dispute as to what it actually stands for - it can be either " nomen nescio " ( literally translated: " I don't know the name " ) or " nomen nominandum ", which would translate as " name yet to be given ". Apparently the former solution is the more likely one but I have no ways to tell for sure.

Be this as it may, "N.N." in German is a common way to name a person whose exact name you don't know, if you pardon me that game with words.

Hope this helps.

Regards

Jochen Prien

Re: Abbreviations on charts
 

Hello Mr. Prien,

Does that mean that the original German documents didn't list a victor, or is there some uncertainty for another reason?