landsturm

[ German lahnt-shtoorm ]

noun

1. a general draft of people in time of war.
2. the force so drafted or subject to such draft, consisting of all who are capable of bearing arms and not in the army, navy, or Landwehr.

Landsturm

/ ˈlantʃtʊrm /

noun

1. a reserve force; militia
2. a general levy in wartime

Word History and Origins

Origin of landsturm¹

1805–15; < German: literally, land storm

Word History and Origins

Origin of landsturm¹

C19: literally: landstorm; originally a summons to arms by means of storm-warning bells

Example Sentences

The gangs had names such as the Edelweiss Pirates, the Navajos, the Black Gang, the Lechler Landsturm.

From Literature

From this day on he was under military law as a member of a Landsturm regiment.

From Project Gutenberg

Landsturm, lant′stōōrm, n. in Germany and Switzerland, a general levy in time of national emergency—in the former including all males between seventeen and forty-five: the force so called out.

From Project Gutenberg

An elderly Landsturm private armed with a loaded rifle and a saw-bayonet occupies one corner of our carriage, so that there is not much room to lie down.

From Project Gutenberg

October 31.—General von Bissing, commanding the district, inspected the Landsturm battalion here to-day.

From Project Gutenberg