What derogatory nicknames (the counterpart of "krauts", "jerries" etc) did German soldiers and civilian use to refer to their opponents in the world wars? I only know two nicknames from WW2: Iwan (mostly used in singular form) for Russians, and Tommy for Brits.
What did German soldiers call American soldiers in WW2?
Ami – German slang for an American soldier. Ärmelband – cuff title. Worn on the left sleeve, the title contains the name of the wearer's unit or a campaign they are part of.
Germany’s Perspective on the Major Allied Armies of WW2 - Where Did they Rank Them?
What do Germans call the British?
The German, the French and the British Commonwealth armies used the name "Tommy" for British soldiers. "Tommy" is derived from the name "Tommy Atkins" which had been used as a generic name for a soldier for many years (and had been used as an example name on British Army registration forms).
What derogatory nicknames (the counterpart of "krauts", "jerries" etc) did German soldiers and civilian use to refer to their opponents in the world wars? I only know two nicknames from WW2: Iwan (mostly used in singular form) for Russians, and Tommy for Brits.
It is easy to see why the British Army became known as the 'Redcoats'. But what about 'Tommies'? It is said that the Duke of Wellington, when being asked to name a typical British soldier, thought for a while and remembered a man who had served under him, many years before.
British soldiers who fought in the Revolutionary War are often called "redcoats'' because of their uniform color. When the conflict began, American Revolutionaries came up with negative names for these soldiers, based on that coloring, including “lobsters” and “bloody backs.”
Tommies, Pommies, Redcoats and Limeys. Have you ever wondered why British Soldiers are referred to as Tommies? You can see the reference everywhere from the Poetry of Rudyard Kipling to contemporary historical works like The Last Fighting Tommy by Harry Patch.
The name may simply be an alteration of the word German. Alternatively, Jerry may possibly be derived from the stahlhelm introduced in 1916, which was said by British soldiers to resemble a "jerry" (chamber pot).
Devil Dog. We got our nickname Devil Dogs from official German reports which called the Marines at Belleau Wood Teufel Hunden. It has been said that this nickname came about from Marines being ordered to take a hill occupied by German forces while wearing gas masks as a precaution against German mustard gas.
A British person, especially one from England. (Originally applied to an immigrant from the British Isles.) The word pom has its origin in wordplay. An early, derisory term for an immigrant in Australia was the rhyming slang jimmygrant (sometimes written as Jimmy Grant), recorded in 1844.
In September 1939 Germany invaded Poland. The attack touched off the world struggle that Churchill would later call "The Unnecessary War" because he felt a firm policy toward aggressor nations after World War I would have prevented the conflict.
Tommy – the trench slang for the British soldier. Examples of recruitment papers shown to those who enlisted had the name Tommy Atkins, thus, the term. For the Americans, however, they referred to their British allies as Woodbines or Limeys.
Blighty, a nickname for Britain, or more specifically England, originated during the Victorian rule of India. The word comes from the Urdu word vilayati which means foreign, British, English or European. A mishearing changed the v to a b, and bilayati became Blighty (Oxford English Dictionary).
Among other things not very nice we call Royal Marines seahats. We also use the hat name for regular army and call the SF superhats, that term can also be used for someone from the regular army who is an excellent soldier. It's all “mostly” in good fun.
Squaddie - a soldier . Commonly used mis-spelling of the word 'swaddy'. This derived from the days of the army in India when swaddies were irregular Indian troops used as 'cannon-fodder' and for fatigues. What do the British call their army?
Accounts of the time usually refer to British soldiers as "Regulars" or "the King's men". However, there is evidence of the term "red coats" being used informally, as a colloquial expression.
The National Archives has been criticised for warning readers about Winston Churchill's use of the term “Huns” to describe the Germans. Research by the government's official archive publisher highlighted the word used by the Second World War leader.
Germans in the United Kingdom form one of the largest minority groups in the country. Today, there are many Germans living in the United Kingdom, and many Britons or German British (German: Deutsch-Briten) have German ancestry, including the British royal family.
