What is the Jagdgeschwader?

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Karelia
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Re: What is the Jagdgeschwader?

#16

Post by Karelia » 26 Nov 2015, 19:56

durb wrote:The Finnish translation of Staffel/squadron and Gruppe seems actually to be different of German/British translation:

Staffel = in Finnish this is lentue which in English means "a flight" however in English Staffel is often translated as "squadron" as by size it was equal to RAF squadron but in Finnish translation more weight is put on the organizational tree in which Staffel was not more than just a "flight"...
Gruppe = in Finnish this is laivue which in English means "a squadron" but which in English is translated as a "group" and again Finnish translation differs from the English one because the main emphasis is on the organizational structure...
Geschwader = in Finnish this is lentorykmentti which in English means a "aviation regiment" which in English is "wing/group" - a bigger aviation wing/group consisting of two or more aviation wings/groups

It is not just the size of the unit but also its organizational place in air force structure which should be taken in account and this may be litte confusing. For example the Finnish Air Force had by the late 1939 just one "hävittäjälentorykmentti" (fighter aviation regiment) which was composed by two "lentolaivue" (squadron) of which one had as many as 36 planes and the other had just 10 planes. So the bigger squadron appeared as big as a RAF "wing" (or US "group") and the smaller squadron was quite like the RAF squadron of the time but organizationally both "lentolaivue" were equally "squadrons" in Finnish Air Force organization structure. Finnish laivue is translated in English literally as a "squadron" but its size could vary from RAF squadron (German Staffel) to RAF wing (German Gruppe).

Let´s also compare German Luftwaffe units with those of French/Spanish/Italian/Russian concepts:

Staffel = escadrille (French)/ escuadrilla (Spanish) /squadriglia (Italian) / eskadrilja (Russian) = squadron
Gruppe = groupe (French)/ grupo (Spanish)/ gruppo(Italian) /polk (Russian) = wing (British)/group (US)/aviation regiment
Geschwader = escadre (French) / escuadra (Spanish) / stormo (Italian)/ brigada (Russian) = group (British), wing (US)/aviation brigade
I agree with you about the sizes and organisational structure. We obviously have a different approach on translating.

The problem is the same as with the ranks: should one translate the word or the meaning? E.g. should German "Generaloberst" be translated in Finnish as "kenraalieversti" (a direct translation) or simply as kenraali (an equivilant rank). Personally I prefer to translate it as "kenraalieversti" and understand, that in Finland it equals "kenraali".

In the same fashion I also prefer to translate e.g. a Squadron as "laivue" and understand, that in different countries it might mean slightly different things.

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