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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

SHAEF
Supreme Headquartes Allied Expeditionary Force

Shingle
Operational code name for the Allied landings at Anzio - January 1944

SIM
Servizio Informazione Segreto - the Italian secret sevice

Sledge-hammer
Operational code name for a planned Allied invasion of France in 1942

SOE
Special Operations Executive - British organisation responsible for training and co-ordinating the operations of partisan groups in occupied countries

SS
Schutzstaffeln - 'Protection Units' - The principal elite organisation of the Nazi party which consisted of the Allgemeine (General) SS and Waffen (Armed) SS, the latter forming military divisions as part of the Wehrmacht. The SS also included organisations such as the RSHA.

Stavka
The highest political-military authority of the Soviet Union

Sword
Code name for the D-Day landing beaches of Lion-sur-Mer - June 1944

Symbol
Code name for the Allied conference at Casablanca - January 1943

Taifun
Typhoon - Operational code name for the German push towards Moscow - September 1941

Ten-Go
Operational code name for the Japanese naval operations at Okinawa and Iwo Jima beginning April 1945

Terminal
Code name for the Allied conference in Potsdam - July 1945

TF
Task Force

Thunderclap
Operational code name for the Allied bombing of Dresden - February 1945

Tidal Wave
Operational code name for the US bombing of the Romanian oilfields of Ploesti - August 1943

Tiger
1. Operational code name for the German advance through the Maginot Line on the French border - June 1940 2. Operational code name for a British convoy to Egypt in May 1941

Torch
Operational code name for the Allied landings in North West Africa - November 1942

Totalize
Operational code name for the Canadian advance towards Falaise, France - August 1944

Trident
Code name for the third Allied conference in Washington - May 1943

Tripartite Pact
Formal agreement of alliance between Germany, Italy and Japan - an expansion of the Axis nations - signed 27th September 1940

Ultra
Code name and security caveat given to decoded messages and intelligence originating from German Enigma encrypted sources

Uranus
Operational code name for the Soviet counter-offensive at Stalingrad to surround the German 6th Army - November 1942

USAAF
United States Army Air Force

USN
United States Navy

USS
United States Ship

Utah
Code name for D-Day landing area near Les Dunes de Vatreville, Normandy

UXB
Unexploded bomb

Valkyrie
Operational code name for the Schwarze Kapelle plot to overthrow the Hitler regime - July 1944

Varsity
Operational code name for the Allied crossing of the Rhine using airborne troops - March 1945

Vichy France
French regime set up in collaboration with the Germans following the fall of France in 1940 - headed by Marshal Petain and based in the city of Vichy it governed the southern half of France until its dissolution in 1944

Volkssturm
The German Home Guard

Vulcan
Operational code name for the Allied offensive in Tunisia - May 1943

WAAC
Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (USA)

WAAF
Women's Auxiliary Air Force (British)

Waffen SS
The branch of the SS which formed military fighting divisions

Wehrmacht
The German armed forces - headed by the OKW

Weserubung
River Exercise - Operational code name for the German invasion of Denmark and Norway - April 1940

Window
Also known as Chaff - metallic foil strips dropped from bombers to give the appearance to German radar of mass formations of aircraft

Wintergewitter
'Winter Storm' - Operational code name for the unsuccessful German attempt to relieve the 6th Army at Stalingrad - December 1942

Wolfschanze
Wolf's Lair - code name for Hitler's headquarters near Rastenburg in East-Prussia

WPD
War Plans Department (US)

WRNS
Women's Royal Naval Service (British)

WVS
Women's Voluntary Service (British)

XX-committee
British intelligence organisation used to feed false information to Germany e.g by the use of double-agents

Zeppelin
Operational code name for deception operations in the Balkans in 1943

Zitadelle
Citadel

Zyklon-B
Commercial name for the prussic acid gas used in German extermination camps

A-Force
British intelligence organization responsible for deception and espionage in the Mediterranean and Middle East.

A4
Aggregat 4 - earlier name for the German V2 rocket

D-Day
The first day of the Allied invasion of Normandy - June 6th 1944 - D stands for 'Day'

H2S
British airborne radar used for identifying and locating ground targets

Q-Ships
Armed Allied decoy ships used to lure Axis submarines to the surface, where they could be attacked by gunfire

U-Boat
Unterseeboot - 'under sea boat'- Abbreviated name for German submarines

U-Go
Operational code name for the Japanese push towards India from Burma - March 1944

V-1
The first of the operational German weapons of reprisal or 'Vergeltungswaffen' - the V-1 was a pilotless flying bomb powered by a pulse-jet engine and carried a 850kg (1875lb) high-explosive warhead, and had a range of up to 200km

V-2
Also known as the A4, the successor to the V-1 was a long range rocket powered by liquid oxygen and alcohol, it had a 975kg (2150lb) high-explosive warhead and a range of 320km

V-3
Long-range smooth-bore gun designed to fire shells with up to 10kg (22lb) high-explosive warhead and a range of 93km - never very successful as most installations were destroyed by bombing before they could be used

V-E Day
Victory in Europe Day - 8th May 1945

V-J Day
Victory over Japan Day - 15th August 1945

X-craft
A type of midget submarine

X-Gerat
German bomber radio-navigational equipment

Y-service
British signals staff responsible for the interception of enemy radio and telephone messages