Quick Troops

Tactical Symbols

Symbols for units of the Quick Troops ( Schnelletruppen) bore a radical that combined the pennant of the cavalry with the wheel of motorized troops.  As this “branch radical” reminded readers of the petroleum-powered character of the units depicted, there was no need to add the double-wheel radical that indicated that the unit traveled in motor vehicles.  At the same time, the glyphs for units equipped with vehicles other than garden-variety trucks included radicals that resembled those vehicles.

For tank units, the type-of-vehicle radical was a rhomboid reminiscent of the heavy tanks of the First World War.  For armored car and motorcycle units these were, respectively, stylized armored cars and a radical that looked like an abstraction of the front half of a motorcycle.  For units equipped with anti-tank guns mounted on tracked armored vehicles, the type-of-vehicle radical combined the anti-tank type-of-unit radical with an oval.