German tactical signs

[Larry Reese]

NATO was based loosely on the WWII US Army organizational symbology. Some of the minor problems with it (NATO symbology), in my opinion, is that is has changed over the years (which it was designed to do; if you use the guidelines to develop the new symbols you need; and don't go absolutely crazy like the Bundeswehr, which added literally hundreds of new symbols on their end, greatly complicating the overall symbol system) and basically assumes everything is mechanized (which for NATO was mostly true, but not applicable to WWII and others). The symbols were standardized under the Standardization Agreement (STANAG ) No. 2019, 2nd Edition. I've mainly had occasion to use US Army [FM 21-30] and Bundeswehr [zDv 1/11] manuals dealing with the symbols, but other NATO members should be similar.

I've always felt the WWII German symbology to be unnecessarily overly complicated, almost to a fetishishtic extent (like many of their weapon systems and actual organizations) and find it interesting that this bent continued even under NATO.

Anyway, my two cents. Great find; just not my cup of tea.

LR