Strange Luftwaffe Abbreviation

[Larry deZeng]

Horst W. wrote in part:

Another term could be Gleisgebunden= rail-mounted

but just a guess

This is the best guess yet, even though it does not appear in any of the terminology and abbreviations handbooks. Horst-Adalbert Koch's 1954 682-page masterpiece on the Flakartillerie does not show it either and if it were to appear anywhere, it would be there. Neither does the Feldpostübersicht, which is fastidious about giving the full designation of any and all units of the Wehrmacht. Further, the Eisenbahn Flak units used the suffix "(Eisb.)" or "(Eis.)" and Eisenbahn-Transport-Flak units used "(ETr)". Also, Gleis does not seem to have been abbreviated. For example, "Gleiskette" was abbreviated as "Gleisk."

However, "Gn" almost certainly has to do with the unit's transport capability or requirements, its weapons or its employment. Accordingly, your "guess" may be correct.

Thanks!

L.

[egbert]

gn=gezogen, i.e. by Sonderkraftfahrzeug (SdKfz) ; pick one of the many variants

[Dan History]

Originally Posted by Larry deZeng

Many thanks for giving this a "go", Dan. The abbreviation for Grenadier was "Gren" and, if pressed for space such as on a situation map, "Gr"

Larry, I am glad to be embarrassed by a clearly incorrect guess this time, especially since it looks like we have the answer!

As always, I will eagerly await your message

Originally Posted by egbert

gn=gezogen, i.e. by Sonderkraftfahrzeug (SdKfz)

Originally Posted by egbert

(v) at least today means "V-gestellt"= Verteidigungsfall gestellt. Which means the unit is only to be activated in war time.

Egbert, I think gezogen should be right. Gleisgebunden is a term never used in the context of wartime anti-aircraft units, as Larry has mentioned above, so gezogen is the best match suggested so far.

In documents of wartime flak units, (v) is always contrasted with (o) - ortsfest. (v) is therefore verlegbar or verlegefähig - capable of being moved, or towed. This is not to be confused with (mot.) - motorised. Flak units with a (v) designation had guns which were capable of being moved, but often these units did not in fact have prime movers, so they could not easily move to a different sector. On the other hand, ortsfest units were incapable of any movement, just as any other artillery equipped with guns on fixed mountings.

Regards,

Dan

[Larry deZeng]

Dan H. wrote in part:

In documents of wartime flak units, (v) is always contrasted with (o) - ortsfest. (v) is therefore verlegbar or verlegefähig - capable of being moved, or towed. This is not to be confused with (mot.) - motorised. Flak units with a (v) designation had guns which were capable of being moved, but often these units did not in fact have prime movers, so they could not easily move to a different sector. On the other hand, ortsfest units were incapable of any movement, just as any other artillery equipped with guns on fixed mountings.

The moving was done by Flak-Transportbatterien, of which there were well over 100 at peak, with 3 or 4 of them attached to each Flak-Division and several others to each Flakkorps.

L 2763 (1 Mar 38) Flak-Transport-Batterie (mot.)
Had 3 officers, 1 official, 203 men with
7 cars, 10 motorcycles, 2 heavy motorcycles with sidecars, 9 light trucks, 44 medium trucks
and 49 self-propelled prime movers (i.e., Hanomag halftracks of various size and weight).

L.

[egbert]

(v) at least today means "V-gestellt"= Verteidigungsfall gestellt. Which means the unit is only to be activated in war time. In peacetime the equipment is garaged and will be manned by core experienced career soldiers filled up with majority of peacetime trained reservists.
This is an important designator when unit will be employed/tasked with difficult missions....