Last updated 12 October 2004
Glossary
| A Gp | Army Group |
| AAF | Army Air Forces |
| AAR | After Action Report |
| AEAF | Allied Expeditionary Air Force |
| AEF | American Expeditionary Force (World War 1) |
| AGO | The Adjutant General's Office |
| AI | Armored infantry |
| Alligator | Amphibian tracked vehicle |
| AnIage | Appendix or annex |
| AUS | Army of the United States |
| Bailey bridge | Portable steel bridge of the "through" type. The roadway is supported by two main trusses composed of io‑foot sections called panels" pinned together to form a continuous truss. Capacity may be increased by adding extra trusses alongside the first, by adding an extra truss on top of the first to make a second story, or by both means. |
| Bangalore torpedo | Metal tube packed with high explosive |
| BAR | Browning automatic rifle |
| Baustandskarte | German engineer map, showing status of construction |
| Bazooka | Rocket launcher, hand‑carried |
| Bazooka pants | Additional armor to protect tank tracks from antitank fire |
| BBC | British Broadcasting Corporation |
| Bouncing Betty | Bounding type of German antipersonnel mine that explodes three to five feet in the air |
| Burp gun | German submachine gun |
| CCA | Combat Command A, one of the major, flexible, combat formations in armored division |
| CCB | Combat Command B, in armored division |
| CCD | Combat Command D, in French armored division |
| CCL | Combat Command L, in French armored division |
| CCR | Reserve Combat Command, in armored division |
| CCS | Combined Chiefs of Staff |
| CCV | Combat Command V, in French armored division |
| C-in-C | Commander in Chief |
| Cofs | Chief of Staff |
| Dragon's teeth | Concrete pillars or iron posts erected as tank barriers |
| DSC | Distinguished Service Cross |
| DUKW |
2 1/2-ton, 6 X 6 amphibian truck, used for short runs from ship to shore
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| Ersatzheer | German Replacement Army |
| ETO | European Theater of Operations |
| ETOUSA | European Theater of Operations, U.S. Army |
| Ex O | Executive officer |
| FA | Field artillery |
| Fahnenjunkerschule | German officer candidate school |
| Feldgendarmerie | German military police |
| Feldgericht | Military tribunal of summary nature |
| Feldheer | Field army |
| Festung | Fortress |
| FFI | French Forces of the Interior |
| Flash-hider salt | Chemicals mixed with explosive to reduce muzzle flash |
| Fliegerkorps | Corps-type operational command of the Luftwaffe |
| Fuesilier battalion | Separate infantry battalion performing both reconnaissance and support in German division. |
| FUSA | First U.S. Army |
| FWD | Forward headquarters |
| G-1 | Personnel section of divisional or higher staff |
| G-2 | Intelligence section |
| G-3 | Operations section |
| G-4 | Supply section |
| General der Luftwaffe beim Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres | Air Force general acting as liaison officer with Commander in Chief of the Army |
| Gen. Qu. | General Quartiermeister (Chief of supply and administartion for the Geman Army) |
| Gen. St. d. H. | Generalstab des Heeres (General Staff of the Army) |
| Gkdo. | Generalkommando (Corps-type headquarters) |
| GMDS | German Military Documents Section, AGO |
| Grouser | Steel piece welded to tank track to increase traction in mud |
| Halb-soldaten | "Half‑soldiers": over‑age or inferior German soldiers |
| Half-track | Combination wheeled and tracked armored personnel carrier |
| Heeresarchiv | German Army Archives |
| Heeresara | Surgeon General of the German Army |
| Hilfswillige | Volunteer auxiliaries (non‑German) |
| Hiderjugend | Hitler Youth |
| Jabo | German nickname for fighter‑bomber |
| Jagdkorps | German fighter‑plane command, corps type |
| Jeep | Y4‑ton vehicle, personnel carrier |
| Kampfgruppe | German combat group of variable size |
| Kdtr. d. Bef. | Kommandantur der Befestigungen (Fortification Command) |
| KIA | Killed in action |
| KTB | Kriegstagebuch (war diary) |
| Lagebuch | Collection of reports, usually on the military situation |
| Landesschuetzen | Home Guard, sometimes employed outside Germany |
| Luftflotte | An air force of the Luftwaffe |
| Luftwaffe | German Air Force |
| M-4 (Sherman) | American medium tank |
| Marching fire | Firing by troops'while erect and advancing |
| Mark IV | German medium tank |
| Mark V (Panther) | German medium tank with heavy armor and high velocity gun |
| MG 34 | German machine gun, model 1934 |
| MIA | Missing in action |
| Mil | Military Intelligence Interrogation |
| MLR | Main line of resistance |
| MP | Military police |
| Mtzd | Motorize |
| Nachrichtenschule | Signal school |
| Napalm | Incendiary bomb containing butane and petroleum jelly |
| NCO | Noncommissioned officer |
| OB WEST | Oberbefehlshaber West (Highest German ground headquarters of the Western Front) |
| Obkdo. |
Oberkommando (Headquarters of an army or higher military organization) |
| OKH | Oberkommando des Heeres (High Command of the Army) |
| OKW |
Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (High Command of the Armed Forces) |
| ONI | Office of Naval Intelligence |
| OP | Observation post |
| Org. Abt. | Organizations Abteilung (Staff subdivision in charge of organization) |
| Ostheer | German Army on the Eastern Front |
| Panther (Mark V) | German medium tank with heavy armor and high velocity gun |
| Panzerfaust | Recoilless antitank grenade launcher, hand‑carried |
| Paihfinders | Aircraft that lead a formation to the drop zone, release point, or target |
| Persondakten | Individual personnel files of German officers |
| POL | Petrol, oil, and lubricants |
| Road runner | Artillery fire Which is "walked" along a road to cover successive segments |
| S-1 | Personnel section of regimental or lower staff |
| S-2 | Intelligence section |
| S-3 | Operations section |
| S-4 | Supply section |
| SG | Smoke generator |
| SGS | Secretary of the General Staff |
| SHAEF | Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force |
| Shell-rep team | Team for reporting rate and type of enemy artillery fire |
| S-mine | German antipersonnel mine |
| SS | Schutzstaffel (Elite Guard) |
| Stab Gen. Art. | Chief Artillery Officer at...beim... |
| Stellung | Selected position, sometimes organized |
| TAC | Tactical Air Command |
| TD | Tank destroyer |
| TF | Task force |
| Tiger | German heavy tank |
| T/O | Table of Organization |
| Todt workers | Laborers on fortifications, the name being derived from the name of a German official |
| Tommy gun | Thompson submachine gun |
| TOT | Time on target, a method of timing artillery fire from various points to fall on a given target simultaneously |
| Tree burst | Explosion of shells against trees, designed to destroy troops underneath |
| TUSA | Third U.S. Army |
| Unterfuehrerschule | Noncommissioned officers' school |
| USFET | U.S. Forces, European Theater |
| USO | United Service Organizations |
| VG | Volksgrenadier |
| Volksdeutsche | Citizens of a country other than Germany who were considered Germans racially |
| Volkssturm | A people's militia, partially organized in one of the last steps of German mobilization for total war |
| Wablen‑SS | SS as a military organization |
| WDGO | War Department General Orders |
| Wehrkreis | German Army administrative area, for the most part inside Greater Germany |
| WFSt | Wehrmachtfuehrungsstab (Armed Forces Operations Staff) |
| WIA | Wounded in action |
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Last updated 12 October 2004 |