

The Soldier (German: Soldat) is the common enemy infantry unit that Captain B.J. Blazkowicz faces in his campaign against Deathshead in Wolfenstein: The New Order, Wolfenstein: The Old Blood.
Overview[]
The standard Nazi rank-and-file are encountered in vast quantities by the player throughout the game. Individually, they are easy to deal with. They can be easily evaded by Blazkowicz going stealthy, and can be taken out fairly easily by Throwing Knives or several pistol shots. Individually they are also fairly weak: even when alerted to his presence, a single soldier is almost always no match for Blazkowicz. All variants of the Soldier encountered throughout the game are mere reskins of each other and behave just the same way- down to individual stats. This may produce interesting scenes where a cloth-uniformed Luftwaffe soldier will take as many 7.92mm bullets as a heavily-armored Nazi regular to kill.
At this time in history, basically all nations and countries have submitted to Nazi forces by now, and uprising attempts are not even very common, except in parts of France and the Tunisia Campaign. The very design of the Soldier 1960 seems to be rugged, more armored look, almost acting more so as a specialized police force instead of an army unit. However, this does not hinder their ferocity.
With that said, however, Nazi Solders are not to be underestimated. Their sheer number is more than enough to compensate for each individual's lackluster performance, and can overwhelm Blazkowicz easily if he lets his guard down. They are also deployed as escorts to the vastly more powerful Super Soldiers and Guard Robots and can serve as distractions to allow their larger comrades to unload on a busy player.
Strategy[]
- Despite the predictable nature of their AI, Nazi Soldiers are capable of basic combat maneuvers and will use their numbers to their advantage. Keeping to a sizable piece of cover is recommended to conserve health on lower difficulties and becomes an almost necessity on higher ones if the player is to survive an encounter.
- Soldiers like to flank, and will spray your position with suppressing fire. They make informed use of cover, and will lean out behind it at different heights. However, their average accuracy and low damage-per-bullet often lets you soak up several shots without really needing to care, unless on higher difficulties.
- Enemy soldiers will chuck grenades at the player more often on higher difficulties, a good situational awareness is needed to avoid taking damage while in cover.
- In Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, starting at chapter 6, some soldiers can and will become Shamblers when killed, though this can be prevented by shooting off their heads or by goring them completely with Grenades, Kampfpistole rockets, or Shotgun shots.
- Shoot a standard soldier in the head even when the soldier is already dead yields a helmet in most cases, which can be used to replenish Blazkowicz's armor.
Variants[]

Nazi Soldier 1946.
For his regiment of Nazi soldiers, Deathshead has hand-picked the most loyal and fearsome combatants the Heer (army) has to offer. As part of this elite force, Deathshead's soldiers are promised high-ranking positions in the Nazi Party once the war is won. Judging by the posters in Deathshead's compound in 1946, the packs they wear are likely to keep them from being shocked by the Baltisches Auge's electrical cannon. The packs seem to be able to detect when the Soldiers are dead and will turn off when a Soldier dies or is turned into a Shambler. Their helmets can be taken off by a headshot.
They are only encountered in The Old Blood and the prologue chapter of The New Order. In the Old Blood, there are Elite variants with separate character descriptions.

Nazi Soldier 1960.
As technology advanced, the regular infantry has been equipped with an even tougher suit to fend off against any uprising attempts. They are sometimes confused with members of the Deathshead's Commandos due to having similar armour and uniforms. This variant of the Nazi Soldier is the only enemy not seen in the characters roster in the extras menu, and is essentially one of the central mascots of The New Order, alongside B.J. Blazkowicz, himself.
They replace their 1946 counterparts after the time skip and are encountered in virtually every (post-prologue) level of the game except for the Lunar Base mission.
Their headgear cannot be taken off even after they died just like Deathshead's Commando and unlike other soldiers.
They are referred to as Black Guard in the game files, and Deathshead Elite Units by Fergus or Wyatt in the level Return to London Nautica.
They wear heavy armour and have roughly twice the durability of most regular soldiers. They are elite rank troops.

Luftwaffe Trooper.
Luftwaffe grunts are fearless and skilled combatants equipped with assault rifle 1960. Individuals are carefully selected to ensure that the proud Luftwaffe of Germania consists of only the most dedicated and pure of blood.
They are only encountered in and around the London Nautica.

Kriegsmarine Trooper.
More formally known as the Marine-Infanterie, these are naval infantry units specializing in marine warfare. They carry assault rifles and grenades like other infantry units. Their helmets can be taken off if they have one.
Kriegsmarine troops are only encountered during the U-boat mission.

Space Scientist.
Because of the dangers associated with isolation, the scientists on Moon Base One work in shifts of between six months up to a year before being given time off.
They are only encountered on the Lunar Base, and can't be directly fought.

1960's Afrika Korps.

Prison Guard.

Riot Guard.

Space Marine.

Space Trooper.

SS Commando.

Fire Trooper.

Rocket Trooper.

Elite Soldier.
The Elite soldiers of the SS Paranormal Division are feared and respected for being brutal and merciless. Unlike regular soldiers, they are elite rank troops equipped with better armor and health. Their primary weapon is the Sturmgewehr 1946. These troopers appear to be prototypes of the Nazi Soldier 1960.
The noticeable differences between elite and regular soldiers are the deeper voices, more modern armor, and new gas masks. The tesla generator is integrated into the armor and doesn't turn off when the soldier dies. And the helmet cannot be taken off by head shots or melee attacks.

Sniper.
Trivia[]
- Corpses of soldiers that have been killed from a takedown cannot have their helmets removed.
- In The Old Blood, soldiers carrying tesla backpacks, when killed with shotgun blast to center of torso (either from front or behind) will also make a hole in backpack. Despite this, backpack dont have interior texture and player looking at certain angle can see through the inner part of backpack, as its invisiable when looking at hole.
- Some enemies like the inspector from prologue can be seen wearing standard uniform withouth armor plates, which looks like the German soldiers' former uniforms used before the Third Reich made a technological leap. Finding this uniform variant is rare.
- There are unused camouflaged and gray uniform variants of the 1946 Soldier that can be found in game files. However, it seems that gray uniform texture is used by marksmen, though marksman uniform has lighter color.
- The Old Blood soldiers have a slightly different appearance than the 1946 ones in The New Order. TOB soldiers have a higher quality belt, and a darker backpack.
- The 1946 variations of infantry, sniper and elite soldiers in TOB, and TNO are equipped with K98 ammo pouches for the Karabiner 98K. However, the weapon is not seen or used by any enemy in-game.
- In asylum cutscene, when B.J summaries his stay with Anya's family, Friedrich Keller is accompained by Deathshead's Commando carrying StG 60. This may imply 1946 uniform was withdrawn from service in 1950s.
- Despite its name, Deathshead's Commando is not as dangerous as game menu describes it. Most part of gameplay are treated as light soldiers and disappear after Chapter 10: Berlin Catacombs without explanation. They're not part of the raid to Kreisau hideout and can't be seen anywhere in Deathshead's Compound. Even prison guards appear like corpses in compound cell block.
- The 1960 standard soldier appears for first time in Chapter 3: A New World in the east section of Oderbrücke checkpoint. However, you won't get a collectable character model, like Stomper in Chapter 1.
- The uniform of 1960 soldiers is very familiar to the Helghast infantry from Killzone and Protect Gear of the Kerberos Special Unit, as seen in The Red Spectacles, StrayDog: Kerebos Panzer Cops, and Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade.
- There's a light armored variant of soldiers in 1960, similar to prison guards. They wear same uniforms, but unlike them, don't use riot masks. They are rather rare in that they are only seen during events/cutscenes such as those who escort Frau Engel in Berlin Night Train and some corpses inside the trains in Chapter 12 - Gibraltar Bridge.
- It is strange that Luftwaffe soldiers are described to carry shotguns. In game, they only wield the Assault Rifle 1960. However, there are several Fire troopers guarding the London Nautica, this indicate that the soldiers may be equipped with heavy equipment same as Fire troopers.
- The Kriegsmarine soldier's blue uniform is very similar to the SS uniform in Wolfenstein 3D, albeit with white boots instead of black shoes.
- The existence of Afrika Korps in 1960 presumably means that the Tunisian Campaign did not result in Nazi loss in 1943 or never ended in the game's universe. Furthermore, it is hinted to still be going on without signs of resolution as troops are still being sent from mainland Europe during the game's events, despite the extreme technological leaps made by the Nazis.
- All soldiers in game have the cuff title Heimatschutz, meaning "homeland protection". It is possible these soldiers are part of the Nazi equivalent of a home guard.
Gallery[]
Humans | Commander · Deathshead's Commando · Fire Trooper · Riot Guard · Rocket Trooper · Soldier · Space Marine · Space Trooper |
---|---|
Machines | Baltisches Auge · Drone · Guard Robot · Heavy Robot · Herr Faust · Panzerhund · Zeppelin |
Creatures | Kampfhund · Supersoldaten |
Bosses | London Monitor · Prototype Robot · Deathshead (Mechanical Powered Armor) |
Humans | Soldier · Commander · Heavy Soldier · Marksman |
---|---|
Machines | Drone · Panzerhund · Laderoboter |
Creatures | Kampfhund · Supersoldaten · Shambler |
Bosses | Rudi Jäger · The Monstrosity |