Luftwaffe Officer Career database now available

[Doug Stankey]

Gentlemen!

Larry and I wish to announce that our Luftwaffe Officer career database is now available for download by any interested party via the Michael Holm's website at www.ww2.dk.

It contains everything we currently have about officer careers and follows our rules for content and format.
It is in the form of several pdfs which can be downloaded, viewed, searched and, in segments, copied. Please read the copyright disclaimer.

It is our intention that this be made available to interested parties for the purpose of preserving our work for the future and to further the general good of development of the field.

Periodically (once in a year or two) we will replace the segments with updated sections as worthwhile amounts of change accumulate.

Please send any corrections/ updates/ elaborations to me (Doug) at : Luftoffzfeedback@shaw.ca. Please include substantiation for the change because without confidence in it, we can't incorporate it.


Enjoy!

HLdZ
DGS

[yogybär]

As far as I know you via your posts here and the Schlachtflieger-book, this supposedly is a truly great piece of information! Also the adress where it can be found supports this very positive prejudice.

Thank you very much in advance. I am sure this will help my hobby-work and also I hope to be able to support this project.

[SES]

Dear Larry and Doug,
What a tremendous piece of work, the list of abbreviations is in itself a nugget.
I very much look forward to going through the lists and using them in my research.
One small point. You have like scores of others before you translated zbV almost literally to "for special purpose". The correct transliteration is "provisional" i.e. "not in the normal establishment/organisation". Knowing Larry's attention to detail I trust my comment will be appreciated.
bregds
SES

[Larry deZeng]

Originally Posted by SES

Dear Larry and Doug,
What a tremendous piece of work, the list of abbreviations is in itself a nugget.
I very much look forward to going through the lists and using them in my research.
One small point. You have like scores of others before you translated zbV almost literally to "for special purpose". The correct transliteration is "provisional" i.e. "not in the normal establishment/organisation". Knowing Larry's attention to detail I trust my comment will be appreciated.
bregds
SES

Hi SES,

Many thanks for your commentary on "z.b.V." (zu besonderer Verwendung, or zur besonderen Verwendung). The reason we translated it as we did is because we used the translations provided in: Air Ministry (A.I.12), "Manual of German Air Force Terminology, German - English, Part I - Administrative and General Terms" (London, Air Intelligence Directorate, n.d.), p.13. We used this Manual with premeditated intent for just this purpose: to avoid squabbles over terminology. However, since your translation as "provisional" and accompanying definition also fits very nicely indeed, Doug will add it to our list of future amendments as an "add on". In other words, we will add "provisional - not in the normal establishment or organisation" to what we already give. Since this meaning and definition was well-known to the Allies and one they used for their own units when applicable, it must have been an omission of error on their part not to include it. Interestingly, there was another term that is usually translated as "provisional": an der Kommandoweg aufgestellt. This was used for units formed in the field by a senior field command on a provisional basis with a duration of no longer than 6 months. Its existence past 6 months could only be authorized by the Organisationsabteilung/Ob.d.L.

Cheers,

Larry

[SES]

Hi Larry,
Thank you very much for your long response and I'm so glad you saw my point. As we both know ADI documents have to taken with a grain of salt.
bregds
SES

[berkyboy]

Hi Larry, etc.
Congratulation on a great site. Now we have the task to analise/peruse in order to help with our research; the ball is in our court.
Great work, I like it.
berkyboy

[CJE]

Originally Posted by SES

Dear Larry and Doug,
What a tremendous piece of work, the list of abbreviations is in itself a nugget.
I very much look forward to going through the lists and using them in my research.
One small point. You have like scores of others before you translated zbV almost literally to "for special purpose". The correct transliteration is "provisional" i.e. "not in the normal establishment/organisation". Knowing Larry's attention to detail I trust my comment will be appreciated.
bregds
SES

I am sorry to have this old thread pop up again, but would it mean that the transport units had been considered as "provisional/not in the normal organization" for over 7 years?
It makes no sense, does it?

[Larry deZeng]

And who, dear SES, is the supreme authority who has irrevocably given forth English language definitions for all German military abbreviations and set them in concrete for all time and ever after? There isn't a single one of the more than 20,000 translations that at least one person won't find something to argue over.

We used the Manual of German Air Force Terminology: German - English, prepared and publishd by the Air Intelligence Section 12 of the British Air Ministry in 1945-46 as a standardized reference for the use of all the Allied Powers as our source for translations. These are the ones we used.

The abbreviation "z.b.V." is given as "zur besonderen Verwendung" and translated into English as: "special duties (literally 'for special employment')" (see page 13 of the cited Manual).

Personally, you can call it anything you like. That would be fine with me. It may well be that you are right and the Air Ministry is wrong. But Doug and I had to use a generally accepted standardized source to prevent eternal squabbling and nitpicking over the translation of some word or other.

If I already addressed this complaint earlier, then I apologize for repeating myself.

Larry

[CJE]

Some units, such as the Jagdgeschwader zbV, surely were "provisional".
As for the transport units, I read somewhere (a long time ago) that this designation (KG zbV) had been given to raise the morale of the crews who had been promised to be part of the striking arm of the Luftwaffe (bombers) but were mainly used for pizzas delivery.
If this story is true, it would fully explain the "special duties" designation.
But is it?

[hucks216]

Truely outstanding and everyone who collects items (and/or researches) Luftwaffe officers will owe you a debt of gratitude for the publication of these lists.