They called us kraut, heini, hun...

GJO · 02-23-14, 04:43 AM

We have forgotten many of those names now but during the Second World War, as in the First, German Combatants mostly referred to the Brits as 'Tommies' and their British counterparts called the Germans 'The Bosch' or 'Jerries'. The former being the usual choice of officers and the latter in more general use with other ranks. I believe that the modern usage of derogatory expletives was far less common among the well disciplined sailors and soldiers of that era - on both sides.

One of Churchill's famous techniques that caused great irritation in the German homeland was his frequent and deliberate mis-pronunciation of German names and words. Whereas German propaganda broadcasts to Britain were very careful in emulate the received pronunciation of the BBC.

02-23-14, 04:43 AM	#2
GJO Engineer Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: On the Oxford Canal in England Posts: 202 Downloads: 40 Uploads: 0	We have forgotten many of those names now but during the Second World War, as in the First, German Combatants mostly referred to the Brits as 'Tommies' and their British counterparts called the Germans 'The Bosch' or 'Jerries'. The former being the usual choice of officers and the latter in more general use with other ranks. I believe that the modern usage of derogatory expletives was far less common among the well disciplined sailors and soldiers of that era - on both sides. One of Churchill's famous techniques that caused great irritation in the German homeland was his frequent and deliberate mis-pronunciation of German names and words. Whereas German propaganda broadcasts to Britain were very careful in emulate the received pronunciation of the BBC.