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Phil's World War II pages - Glossary of WWII terms Category: History and Culture > WWII Date & country: 14/11/2007, UK Words: 262

ABC
American-British-Canadian talks in 1941

Abwehr
Intelligence service for the German Armed Forces - run by Admiral Canaris

Accolade
Operational code-name for Allied attempt to capture the Dodecanese Islands in the Agean.

Acrobat
Code name for British advance on Tripoli in 1941.

Adlertag
Code name for the day of intense German air attack on Britain (Eagle Day) 15th September 1940.

AEF
Allied Expeditionary Force

AK
Armja Krajowa ('Home Army') - The Polish Resistance

Aktion T4
Extermination of mentally ill and handicapped patients by the Nazi authorities. (Named after Tiergartenstrasse 4, the address of Nazi Central Office in Berlin.)

Allgemeine SS
Standard branch of the SS, as opposed to the military or armed Waffen SS.

Allies
Those countries fighting against the Axis powers. i.e. Britain, France, USA, Canada, USSR etc

Altreich
Term used to describe Germany before the annexation of Austria.

Amt Mil
German Army intelligence organization which succeeded the Abwehr.

Anakim
Code name for the Allied re-occupation of Burma in 1944.

Anschluss
German annexation of Austria in March 1938.

Anti-Comintern Pact
Agreement by Germany, Japan and Italy to oppose the Communist International organisation

Anton
Code name for the German occupation of Vichy France, November 1942 - later known as Atilla

Anvil
Operational code name for the Allied invasion of the South of France, August 1944.

ANZAC
Australia and New Zealand Army Corps

Arcadia
Code name for the first Anglo-American conference in Washington, December 1941.

Argonaut
Code name for the Anglo-American-Soviet conference at Yalta, February 1945.

Argument
Operational code name for Allied air attacks on German factories in February 1944.

Aspirin
British equipment used for jamming German Knickebein radar

Atilla
Code name for the German occupation of Vichy France, November 1942

Atlantic Charter
Anglo-American declaration that stated the countries aims for the outcome of the war.

Aufbau Ost
Operational code name for the German build-up of arms prior to the invasion of the Soviet Union

August Storm
Operational code name for the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, August 1945.

Avalanche
Operational code name for the Allied invasion at Salerno, September 1943

Avonmouth
Operational code name for the Allied attacks in Narvik, May 1940.

Axis
Alliance between Germany, Italy and Japan. Originally the Rome-Berlin Axis (i.e. a North-South line between the two capitals), later became the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis.

Bagration
Operational codename for Soviet strategic offensive against the German Army Group Centre, June 1944.

Barbarossa
Operational code name for the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. (Barbarossa, or 'Red Beard' was the nickname for Emperor Frederick I, who attempted to unify Germanic states in the 12th century.)

Battleaxe
Operational code name for the British offensive in North Africa intended to relieve Torbuk, June 1941

Baytown
Operational code name for the Allied landings in southern Italy, September 1943

BCRA
Bureau Centrale de Renseignements et d'Action - de Gaulle's secret intelligence service

BEF
British Expeditionary Force

Benjamin
Code name for British Jamming equipment to counter German 'Y-Beams'

Bernhard
Operational code name for German scheme to counterfeit British bank notes and put them into circulation - began in 1942.

Bertram
Operational code name for the British deception operations prior to El Alamein offensive, North Africa October 1942

Bestrafung
Operational code name for German 'punishment' air attacks on Belgrade, April 1941

Blitzkrieg
Lightning War - a term used to describe the rapid German invasions using fast, piercing armoured formations

Bodenplatte
Base Plate - Operational code name for the German air offensive against Allied airfields in north-western Europe, January 1945

Bodyguard
Operational code name for the deception operations intended to conceal Allied intentions in north-west Europe from 1944

Bolero
Operational code name for the build up of US forces in Britain prior to the invasion of France

Bomb, The
Slang term for the computers used at Bletchley Park, England, to decode German Enigma messages

Brevity
Operational code name for the British offensive in the Halfaya Pass, May 1941

Brimstone
Operational code name for the proposed Allied invasion of Sardinia, 1944

Bromide
Code name for British Jamming equipment used to counter German 'X-Beams'

Bulge, Battle of the
Term used to describe the actions following the German offensive through the Ardennes forests in December 1944.

Buzz Bomb
Nickname for the German V-1 flying bomb

Capital
Operational code name for the recapture of northern Burma in 1944

Case Green
Operational code name for the intended German military invasion of Czechoslovakia

Case Red
Operational code name for counterstrike against France in the event of an attack on Germany from the West

Case White
Operational code name for the German invasion of Poland

Case Yellow
Operational code name for the German invasion of the Netherlands, Belgium and France

Catapult
Operational code name for the destruction of the French Fleet by the British in North Africa, July 1940

Catchpole
Operational code name for the US assault on the Marshall Islands, 1944

CCS
Combined Chiefs of Staff (Allies)

Chain Home
British air-defence radar

Chastise
Operational code name for the 'Dam Busters' raid by 617 squadron RAF in May 1943, on the Mohne, Eder and Sorpe dams in the Ruhr area of Germany

Chindits
Long-range penetration troops (British and Gurkha) who worked behind the Japanese lines in Burma.

CIGS
Chief of the Imperial General Staff (British)

Citadel
Operational code name for the German attack on the Soviet forces near Kursk, July 1943

Cobra
Operational code name for the American breakout from Normandy in July 1944

Cockade
Operational code name for Allied deception operations intended to draw attention away from Normandy prior to D-Day

Comintern
Communist International organisation created to promote the spread of communism from the Soviet Union - disbanded in 1943.

Commando Supremo
Italian supreme command

Compass
Operational code name for British operations in Egypt against the Italians in December 1940

COSSAC
Chief of Staff, Supreme Allied Commander. HQ of the CCS in London.

Crossbow
Operational code name for Allied attacks on V-1 launch sites

Crusader
Operational code name for British attempts to relieve Torbruk beginning in November 1942

Demon
Operational code name for the British evacuation of Greece in April 1941

Diadem
Operational code name for Allied offensive in Italy towards Rome in 1944

Division
A basic army formation made up of between 12,000 and 18,000 men

Domino
British equipment used to counter the German Y-Beam (Y-Gerat) bombing system

Downfall
Operational code name for the planned Allied assault on Japan in 1945

Dragoon
Operational code name for Allied operations in the South of France formerly known as Anvil

DUKW
An amphibious truck used by the Allies

Dynamo
Operational code name for the British evacuation of Dunkirk in May/June 1940

Galvanic
Operational code name for the US occupation of the Gilbert Islands - November 1943

GC&CS
Government Code and Cipher School - based at Bletchley Park, England

Gestapo
Geheime Staatspolizei - the German Secret State Police

GKO-GOKO
Soviet State Defence Committee

Gold
Code name for one of the landing beaches in Normandy (in the British/Canadian sector)

Gomorrah
Operational code name for the RAF bombing of Hamburg in July/August 1943

Goodwood
Operational code name for the Allied breakout from Normandy via Caen in July 1944

Gothic Line
German defence line in Italy - north of Florence

Granit
Operational code name for the US operations in the Central Pacific - March 1944

Greif
Operational code name for the dropping of English-speaking German Troops wearing American uniforms behind the Allied lines in the Ardennes, prior to Hitler's last offensive in the west

Grenade
Operational code name for the US offensive in the Rhineland - February 1945

Gustav Line
German defence line in Italy - centred on Monte Cassino

Herbstnebl
Autumn Mist - Operational code name for the German offensive in the Ardennes, December 1944 - Also known as The Battle of the Bulge

HIWI
Hilfsfreiwillige - German Army volunteer forces usually made up of Soviet volunteers

Holocaust
The act of genocide carried out by Germany on the Jewish population of Europe

Huff-Duff
HF/DF - High Frequency / Direction Finding - British radio detection system used to pinpoin the direction of broadcasts from German submarines and ships and thus locate the transmitting craft

Humint
Human Intelligence - Intelligence gathered by spies and informers (as opposed to signals intelligence or SIGINT)

Husky
Operational code name for the Allied landings in Sicily - July 1943

IA
Indian Army

Ichi Go
Operational code name for the Japanese offensive operations in Eastern China - April 1944

IFF
Identification Friend or Foe - Radio device fitted to aircraft in order to identify the aircraft as friendly when approaching home radar stations

INA
Indian National Army