Anybody here willing to translate a German document for me?

[csziggy]

I'm going through old family stuff and found a copy of a narration by my grandfather about his experiences with the American Expeditionary Forces in France Aug-Nov 1918. Included with that letter is a copy of a German document. It looks as though it had been nailed up somewhere. At the top it says "Merkblatt fur den Gasfchutz" (the "u" in "fur" has an umlaut over it) and under that is a numbered list. I suspect it was a notice for the French villagers.

I'd love to see a translation to find out what it is. Is anyone here willing and able to translate this for me? I can put a jpg up on my website and point a volunteer to it.

Thanks!

[applegrove]

1. Wein is di post often Otto? Nine zee ist amzonta gueshlochen.

That is all I know. LOL!

[csziggy]

2. That's more than I know - most of the German I know I learned from Hogan's Heroes

I did take half a quarter of German in college just before I dropped out, but I never took it again when I finished my degree.

I suppose I could enable German characters and transcribe the text into Google translator, but I was hoping someone who is fluent in German would be interested in finding out what this document is about.

[applegrove]

5. I totally made up the spelling in my quote. Nobody could know less German than I.

[csziggy]

7. LOL, couldn't prove it by me! n/t

[Ptah]

3. "Instruction card for the gas protection"

According to: http://babelfish.yahoo.com/

[csziggy]

6. Now why didn't I think of that? D'oh!

Google translator says "Leaflet for the protection of gas" - which makes sense since part of the challenge for Granddad's company was finding fuel, once they found trucks. I bet this came off a German fuel depot.

He was in the Army Corps of Engineers. Since they missed the fighting in the areas where he was posted, mostly they rebuilt roads. They used anything they could find to make what must have ended up gravel roads - rubble from bombed out buildings, rocks, and at last resort they used abandoned German munitions to blow up German bunkers and used the concrete from them to fill the roads.

Aside from the narrative letter he wrote to his parents, I also found in the National Archives a copy of his report written for the Army Corps of Engineer official records. While his personal narrative is interesting, it does not give a complete view of what he was doing. The official report is very dry, so the two together give a much more complete picture of his time in France in 1918.

[LeftOfSelf-Centered]

13. It might actually be referring to nerve gas

Far as I remember it was used a lot in WWI, so the leaflet might be instructions on how to protect yourself in case of a nerve gas attack.

Also the term "Gas" in German is not used to refer to fuel (for vehicles etc.) like it is in English, it only refers to things that are gaseous (as opposed to solid or liquid). :)

[GermanDem]

14. I am a native German speaker, and

you are exactly correct! This is most likely an instruction on how to protect yourself from poisonous gas, which was used a lot in WWI.

[ohiosmith]

4. Memorandum for Protection

[Maccagirl]

8. It sounds like you already have your answer, but Duer Miss Honeychurch

is a lovely German lady who would be a help to you.

[csziggy]

10. Thank you! I'll PM her tomorrow

I will try using the Google translate tool and see what I get. I was encouraged that it corrected my non-German "u" in my test of it. But I am too tired tonight to try, so I'll do it tomorrow. If the automated translation tool makes a hash of it, I'll PM Miss Honeychurch and ask for her help.

[rug]

9. I don't know but even "pass the butter" in German sounds menacing.

[RedCloud]

11. herman cain once said "nein, nein, nein". So maybe he knows?

[Throd]

12. Ich ben ein Gerbiliner