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German Panzers are known for their systematic numbering system - company - platoon - number. But sometimes, albeit less common than allied vehicles, soldiers named their "comrades". Paula and Wilma are probably the best known names for Panzer IV lovers (SS-Panzer-Regiment 12).
Vehicle names are most frequently found on armored cars. Names of towns (Köln†), name of animals (Biber†), and name of famous characters (Scharnhorst†) are common choice for the crew. Gretchen† could be a girlfriend's name. Within artillery units, alphabets were used to identify individual guns. Alex† is a less common name than Anton for the gun #1, but probably any names that began with an A was OK. Gun #2 could have been named with a B, like Bismarck†, but when I see one of these Bisons named Alter Fritz, I ask myself: which is it, gun A or gun F? Maybe it's not related to ABC at all.
Struggle through the infinite land of Russia was a truely dangerous adventure. This eight-wheeler carried the name Stropp†. Mr. Garski kindly provided me with the following explanation: "The german word 'Stropp' come from the late Latin respectively dutch. It's the naval word for a rope, cable loop. In german linguistics it means a long difficult journey - like the campaign in Russia!" Also: "Even "Stropp" is a designation for a rascal / a naughty boy in the Westphalia/Ruhr area, where I come from." Now we see how interesting it is to pursue this kind of markings, don't we?
Mr. Zöller provided me with another interesting picture. Here the good old Tante† is painted with a name Wandervogel. This name also reminds us of the hardships they had to endure. To quote him: "The literal meaning of "Wandervogel" is "bird of passage", however the German word actually has a much more romantic connotation and ring to it, as in "free spirit" or "independence", raising images of a person travelling at leisure. "Wandervogel" also was a popular youth movement in the beginning of the 20th Century, which later was incorporated into the HJ".
Thank you, Mr. Garski & Mr. Zöller! For a man from a foreign country it is sometimes very difficult to know this kind of information, I appreciate your help!
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