Yet ANOTHER German nickname for the IL 2...

[NickM]

I was reading Franz Kurowski's book "Luftwaffe Aces" & came across yet another nickmame the Germans used for the IL2 Sturmovik: 'the butchers'; sounds like a pretty cool yet scary nickname but I was wondering if that expression is less due to the casualties the IL inflicted on the German Army & more related to the German expression for slaughterhouse work, "schlacht", which of course, is also the term used to refer to German ground attack units? Well what say the experts? Or is this just a figment of Kurowski's overheated prose?

NickM

[Ruy Horta]

IMHO it is just a bad translation of the more general term "ground attacker".

Jäger
Bomber
Schlächter

etc

[Boandlgramer]

the german word for butcher is "metzger " or even schlachter (not schlächter)
but the groundattack planes (schlachtflugzeuge ) were called ( nicknamed ) "schlächter" , from the word "schlacht".
the german word " schlacht " translate means " battle " .
maybe a bit hard to understand for non german speaker.

[NickM]

Ruy & Boandgramer:

thank you both! Boandgramer, you're quite right about my being a non german speaker; I only thought I KNEW the meaning of 'schlacht' from that book on FW190s the National Air & Space Museum published (it's called "Focke Wulf FW 190: Workhorse of the Luftwaffe', in case you're interested!); the expression 'slaughter' was the definition they gave to schlacht;

thanks again!

nickm

[Rasmussen]

Boandlgramer wrote : "maybe an bit hard to understand for non german speaker" --- he is right with his words because his explanation of the word "Schlächter" isn't correct in German linguistic usage. "Schlächter" doesn't came from "Schlacht" (battle) but from the verb "schlachten". The "Schlachter" is the traditional profession, the "Schlächter" is in the German linguistic usage an person like psychopatic killer, who kills a lot of poeple in a short time with atrocius methods. So the word "slaughter" describe the word "Schlächter" much better than "battle".

One of the problems of non German speaker is the usage of one word in many meanings. It's necessary to know the complete kontext. So it's possible that one soldier understood the "Schlächter" as an possibility to express the word "Schlachtflugzeug" and the other person beside meant the "killer in the air", "murdered" his comrades without the chance of resistance.

German is an wonderful language ... and a hard too.

Best wishes
Rasmussen

[Boandlgramer]

oh mann,
rasmussen.
das wort schlächter in verbindung mit einem flugzeug ist gewiss als abkürzung für schlachtflugzeuge verwendet worden.
so wurden eben diese flugzeuge genannt, die sich unmittelbar in das schlachtgeschehen einmischten. damit sind aber nicht bombenflugzeuge gemeint.

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Rasmussen

Boandlgramer wrote :"Schlächter" doesn't came from "Schlacht" (battle) but from the verb "schlachten".

However you argue it, German and English are related languages and the root word "Schlacht" relates to "slaughter." In English, a slaughterman kills animals, a butcher cuts up the meat from there on. Obviously the two trades overlapped.

The analogies between slaughter for food and battle are obvious - sharp implements and blood everywhere for a start - so trying to separate the different uses of the word is pretty hopeless. If you read about ground fighting, a lot of writers use the term "the butcher's bill" to describe the casualty rate.

BTW: remember that the title of Kurt Vonnegut's novel "Slaughterhouse 5" referred to his time as a PoW whose "prison camp" was "Schlachthof 5" in Dresden.