(no subject)

[herr_0berst]

The concept employed in the contemporary BMW ad on the left is by no means new to the German mind. The instruction manual for the WWII German heavy tank Tiger [wiki], known as Tigerfibel [wiki][www], personified the tank as "Elvira Tiger", a young lady (on the right). Remarkably different from the usual style of German military manuals, Tigerfibel is well-illustrated and much of it is written as poetry in a humorous manner. { Complete 90+ page Tigerfibel }

Comments

WWII German Manuals

[fjr-wertheimber.livejournal.com]

Actually, you'd be surprised; a LOT of the WWII German manuals (especially those produced for foreign speakers serving within the Wehrmacht, such as the Finnish SS) relied heavily on humor, sex, and creativity to get the point across. They worked so well that the modern US Army has taken the point and run with it with it's Preventive Maintenance Monthly comics...

Re: WWII German Manuals

[maxwelld.livejournal.com]

To be perfectly honest, I don't really know all that much about WWII German military manuals, so I basically took the information about the Tigerfibel being different in terms of the presentation style for granted.

It seems only logical though -- sex and 'humor' have been used heavily in military propaganda [e.g.] -- why not use them in the manuals?