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durchzukämmen
Über den schwarzweg
Nov 5, 2015 21:17
8 yrs ago
6 viewers *
German term

Kusselgelände

German to English Other Military / Defense
sentence: Sämtliche M.G . erhalten den Auftrag, ***Kusselgelände*** und Waldrand mit Feuer durchzukämmen.

context: ww2 document

This term may be of interest. I have seen it before in similar context.
Proposed translations (English)
3 +1 (lay down machine-gun fire on) scrubland

Discussion

sparta1978 (asker) Apr 14, 2016:
Vielen Dank. Gute Diskussion Kameraden.
Clive Phillips Nov 10, 2015:
@Björn Yes, you're right. The Wiki reference does indeed indicate sparse bushes and (stunted) trees. I suppose I was thinking of dense cover of ling, cranberries and bilberries.
Björn Vrooman Nov 10, 2015:
@Clive Funny, I know Soltau, actually. I was only asking because your Wiki reference says "spärlicher Bewuchs von," but I understand your point about limited height.
Clive Phillips Nov 10, 2015:
@Björn Sometimes scrub (vegetation consisting mainly of brushwood or stunted forest growth) is not sparse. It can be dense. What does characterise it, however, is its limited height.
The terms 'shrub' and 'scrub' are etymologically related.
In a previous job, one of my responsibilities touched on the effects of British battle tank manoeuvres in the so-called Red Areas of the Soltau-Lüneburg Training Area. One of the regular tasks of the local German nature conservation bodies in the Lüneburger Heide was heathland management including 'Entkusselung' - the removal of pine and birch saplings to encourage growth of ling.
Der Begriff Kussel bezeichnet eine Wuchsform von Pflanzen. Eine Kussel ist ein einzeln stehender verkümmerter junger Baum, insbesondere eine niedrige, buschig wachsende Kiefer.
Der Begriff wird heute vor allem im Zusammenhang der Entkusselung verwendet. Beim Militär wird ein spärlicher Bewuchs mit einzelnen Büschen und Sträuchern Kusselgelände genannt; die Art des Geländes ist bei taktischen Überlegungen zu berücksichtigen.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kussel
Björn Vrooman Nov 10, 2015:
@Clive Thank you and I agree with your added note, I saw that too in the manual. One other link to a scrub "stand-alone":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creosote_bush_scrub

If, for whatever reason, one does not want to choose scrubland, Clive, what do you think about a simple "sparse vegetation"?
"Military training for World War II occurred on upland surfaces with sparse vegetation and well-developed desert pavement of cobble-to-gravel–sized sediment."
https://books.google.de/books?id=Db8-BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA155&lpg=P...

PS: It should be noted that I usually see Kusselgelände in connection with "Waldrand."
Clive Phillips Nov 10, 2015:
@Sparta Please see my latest note in my answer. Also see:
US Army Corps of Engineers ® Engineer Research and
Development Center: Standard for Ground Vehicle Mobility: February 2005
Terms used: scrub, scrub/brush, scrub/brush/bush.
www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA433075
Björn Vrooman Nov 10, 2015:
Military dictionary See: https://books.google.de/books?id=WA3SBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA216&lpg=P...

Am not sure how often "Kusselgelände" appears in your text, so you could as well treat it as an "anomaly" here (so you can take a word of your own choosing). But I think it is further corroborated here:
https://books.google.de/books?id=mXsoAQAAIAAJ&q=scrubland "w...

It's about scrub typhus (also mentions "shrubland" there), so while it may be from another WW2 region, "scrub" should definitely be an established word:
https://books.google.de/books?id=mXsoAQAAIAAJ&q=scrubland "w...
Clive Phillips Nov 10, 2015:
@Björn Good examples!
Björn Vrooman Nov 10, 2015:
@Sparta How about this one here:
"After an hour, the shelling ceased. A few miles north, across
a no-man's-land of shallow ditches and draws, thousands of
German soldiers checked their weapons one last time and
stepped forward. Operation Fischfang — "Catch Fish" — aimed
at destroying the Allied beachhead, had begun. Not since the
blitzkrieg of spring 1940, when the Germans had rolled to Paris
in less than six weeks, had so large an attacking force gathered to do battle in the west. The path to victory lay along the crucial route to Rome — the Via Anziate — which bisected ugly scrubland, marshes, and woods. If Wehrmacht armor could advance south along that route, the Germans would be able to push the Allies — some 100,000 men — into the Tyrrhenian Sea."
https://archive.org/stream/WorldWar2Marapr2014/WorldWarIi201...

"At night we would watch them fly over the Crumbles, a low lying stretch of shingled scrubland to the east of Eastbourne where there were anti-aircraft gun emplacements;"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/27/a42068...
Bernd Runge Nov 5, 2015:
Duden meint Ku|schel, Kus|sel, die; -, -n (nordd. für niedrige Kiefer; Gebüsch)
Also wahrscheinlich: Waldrand und Gebüschfläche mit MG-Feuer belegen

Proposed translations

+1
28 mins

(lay down machine-gun fire on) scrubland

"Scrub" means low shrubs, mixed with grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Scrublands are sometimes known as heathlands.

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Note added at 32 mins (2015-11-05 21:49:56 GMT)
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'Entkusseln' entails removing pine saplings to maintain heathland.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 36 mins (2015-11-05 21:53:32 GMT)
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Or: (clear) scrubland (with machine-gun fire).

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 days (2015-11-10 17:05:33 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Reply to Asker: Are you translating into British English or American English? In the infantry manual you quote, on page 2-135 below the illustration is a section on placement of tanglefoot obstacles: "Tanglefoot should be sited in scrub, if possible, using bushes as supports for part of the wire. On open ground, short
pickets should be used." In your context, 'scrub' would do. 'Scrubland' may be preferable in other contexts.
Reference:

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrubland

Note from asker:
Clive and Björn - good job. you helped me to understand what it is. I am tempted to used schrubland but... when i think to reading and writing military reports, i do not recall this word... a good gauge of vocabulary used in US Military is found in FM books, like FM 7-8 manual for the infantry. https://www.scribd.com/doc/111437447/FM-7-8-Infantry-Rifle-Platoon-and-Squad-2001 Bushes perhaps? Any better terms?
Peer comment(s):
agree Björn Vrooman : Nice to see you here again. Scrubland also known as shrubland and the German Kuschelgelände (see Duden or http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=182828). Not too cozy, though, I imagine.
11 hrs
Thank you, Björn. Yes. "Kuschel: niedrige, buschig wachsende Kiefer." Certainly not cosy under MG fire!
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