Compo: British army slang for its ‘composite’ rations in tins.
Coup de main parties: Assault troops to be landed by glider very close to an objective to seize it by surprise, like those who seized Pegasus Bridge in Normandy.
Divers: Onderduikers, literally under-divers, were those who had gone into hiding from the Nazis, including Jews, those evading forced labour, and members of the underground on the run.
DZ: Drop zone.
Fallschirmjäger: German paratrooper belonging to the Luftwaffe. By 1944 there were few Fallschirmjäger left who had taken part in parachute operations, such as the invasion of Holland and Belgium in May 1940, and the invasion of Crete in May 1941. Most were Luftwaffe ground crew transferred into so-called Fallschirmjäger regiments and divisions in 1944.
Firing on fixed lines: Machine guns can be set up by day with particular settings to allow them to be fired later in darkness on fixed lines at a certain height in a particular direction to cover likely enemy routes of approach.
Forward air controllers: Specially trained air force or army NCOs and officers in radio vehicles who could direct air strikes by radio.
Jedburgh teams: The British SOE (Special Operations Executive), in co-operation with the American OSS (Office of Strategic Services), trained small multi-national groups to parachute in to join local Resistance groups in 1944 to create mayhem behind German lines in the liberation of western Europe. During Operation Market Garden, a Jedburgh team was allocated to each airborne division, each with a Dutch officer, to liaise with local Resistance groups and organize their activities in support of the Allied forces.
Kampfgruppe: Battle group.
KP (or LKP): The Landelijke Knokploegen (Fighting Group) was the main Dutch organization which engaged in sabotage. Between 500 and 1,000 strong.
Landser: The German name for an ordinary front-line soldier.
LO: The Landelijke Organisatie voor Hulp aan Onderduikers, the Central Government Organizations for Help to People in Hiding. This helped onderduikers, or ‘divers’ (qv), to survive by providing false or stolen ration books, and arrange their exfiltration from the Netherlands. Jews, shot-down Allied airmen and Resistance members on the run from the Germans were helped along escape lines running through Belgium and France to Spain.
LZ: Landing zone.
MI9: The British organization to help prisoners of war or those trapped behind enemy lines to escape.
Micks: Guards nickname for members of the Irish Guards.
Moffen: Derogatory Dutch name for Germans, more or less the equivalent of ‘Krauts’.
Nebelwerfer: German six-barrelled rocket-firing mortar which made a screaming, braying noise. This led to British soldiers calling it the ‘moaning minnie’ or the ‘screaming meenie’. Americans called it the ‘screaming meemie’.
NSB: Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging (National Socialist Movement).
Oberst i.G.: Oberst im Generalstab, or colonel of the general staff.
OD: The Orde Dienst (Order Service) had the mission of preparing for the return of the Dutch government from London as the country was liberated. Its organization was based on officers and civil servants of the original administration from 1940. Its duty was to gather intelligence and maintain order during the interregnum. Its intelligence arm was the GDN (Geheim Dienst Nederland). For example in Eindhoven, the GDN based itself in the local museum to camouflage the coming and going of informants.
Orders group: British army term for a meeting summoned by a commander to deliver operational orders and other instructions.
PAN: Partisanen Actie Nederland: this was another Resistance group separate from the KP and from March 1944 was particularly strong in Eindhoven and the surrounding area. It could call some 600 young men into action when necessary.
PIAT: The Projector Infantry Anti-Tank was the British counterpart to the American bazooka. It was spring-loaded and fired its bomb just over a hundred metres.
Polder: The low-lying areas and fields reclaimed in the Netherlands which usually lay below sea-level and were protected by dykes.
Reichsarbeitsdienst (RAD): The Reich Labour Service.
Royal Tiger: The seventy-two-ton Mark VI Tiger II tank was called a Königstiger, but this has usually been wrongly translated as King Tiger, when in fact it refers to the Royal, or Bengal, Tiger.
RVV: The Raad van Verzet (Council of Resistance) helped onderduikers and carried out acts of sabotage. During Operation Market Garden, the government-in-exile in London gave the RVV the important role of organizing the railway strike which so enraged the Germans.
SD: Sicherheitsdienst, the SS intelligence agency. During the war it was part of the Reich Main Security Office along with the Gestapo (secret police) and other such agencies.
Stick: An aircraft load of paratroopers, usually about eighteen men.
Stonk: British Army slang for a mortar bombardment.