| Abwehr |
Amt Ausland/Abwehr im Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (Foreign Affairs/Defence Office of the Armed Forces High Command). The German intelligence-gathering agency that dealt exclusively with Human Intelligence |
| APIU |
Army Photographic Interpretation Unit |
| AMIU |
Mediterranean Photographic Interpretation Centre |
| AMGOT |
Allied Military Government of Occupied Territories |
| ANSI |
Analyst, Special Intelligence |
| AOER |
Army Officers Emergency Reserve |
| APIC |
Air Photo Interpretation Centre |
| APIS |
Air Photographic Interpretation Section |
| APR |
Air Photographic Reading |
| Askari |
Generic term for East African soldier |
| ASU |
(IRA) Active Service Unit |
| ASO |
Area Security Officer |
| ATS |
Auxiliary Territorial Service |
| AXIS |
Alliance of Germany, Italy and Japan |
| BAOR |
British Army of the Rhine |
| BBC |
British Broadcasting Service |
| BEF |
British Expeditionary Force |
| BRIXMIS |
British Military Mission |
| BSSO |
British Services Security Organisation |
| BZO |
British Zone of Occupation |
| CMP |
Corps of Military Police |
| CF |
Chaplain to the Forces |
| CSDIC |
Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre |
| CSM |
Company Sergeant Major |
| DCI |
Defence Council Instruction |
| DMI |
Director, Military Intelligence |
| DOBOPS |
Director of Borneo Operations |
| DSO |
(MI5) Defence Security Officer Distinguished Service Order |
| DZ |
(Parachute) Drop Zone |
| EOD |
Explosive Ordnance Device |
| EOKA |
Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston (National Organization of Cypriot Fighters) |
| EW |
Electronic Warfare |
| FA |
Football Association |
| FIO |
Field Intelligence Officer |
| FINCO |
Field Intelligence Non Commissioned Officer |
| FS |
Field Security |
| FSRD |
Field Security Reserve Detachment |
| FSO |
Field Security Officer |
| FSP |
Field Security Police. |
| FSS |
Field Security Section |
| G |
General Staff |
| G2 |
General Staff (Intelligence) |
| G (B) |
General Staff (Counter Intelligence) |
| G (C) |
General Staff (Censorship) |
| G (Int) |
General Staff (Operational Intelligence) |
| G (S) |
General Staff (Signals Intelligence and Electronic Warfare) |
| G (Sy) |
General Staff (Security) |
| GCHQ |
Government Communications Headquarters |
| GHQ |
General Headquarters |
| Gestapo |
Geheime Staatspolizei (Secret State Police) |
| GS |
General Staff |
| GSO |
British term for General Staff Officer graded (Grade) 1 |
| |
(lieutenant colonel), G2 (major) and G3 (captain) |
| HMS |
His/Her Majesty’s Ship |
| HMAS |
His/Her Majesty’s Australian Ship |
| HPSS |
Home Port Security Section |
| HQ |
Headquarters |
| IRA |
Irish Republican Army |
| ISOS |
‘Intelligence Services, Oliver Strachey’ information |
| J2 |
Joint Staff Intelligence and Security Branch |
| JARIC |
Joint Air Reconnaissance Centre |
| JIC |
Joint Intelligence Committee |
| JFHQ |
Joint Force Headquarters |
| JNCO |
Junior Non Commissioned Officer – corporals and lance corporals |
| JSIW |
Joint Services Interrogation Wing |
| Kempei Tei |
Japanese Military Police |
| KGB |
Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti (Committee for State Security). Prime post-1945 Soviet internal security, intelligence and secret police organization during that time |
| LRDG |
Long Range Desert Group |
| M |
Mobilization |
| MC |
Military Cross |
| MCP |
Malay Communist Party |
| MEF |
Middle East Forces |
| MI |
Military Intelligence |
| MI5 |
Military Intelligence Section 5 (The Security Services) |
| MI6 |
Military Intelligence Section 6 (The Security Intelligence Services) |
| MBE |
Member of the British Empire |
| MM |
Military Medal |
| MSO |
Mixed Services Organisation |
| NATO |
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation |
| NCO |
Non Commissioned Officer |
| NKVD |
Narodnyy Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del (People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs). Soviet internal security function |
| OBE |
Order of the British Empire |
| PAI Force |
Persia and Iraq Force |
| PI |
Photographic Interpreter |
| PJHQ |
Permanent Joint Headquarters |
| POW |
Prisoner of War |
| PWE |
Political Warfare Executive |
| PX |
Post Exchange store operated by US Army and US Air |
| |
Force |
| RAF |
Royal Air Force |
| RAOC |
Royal Army Ordnance Corps |
| RASC |
Royal Army Service Corps |
| RCT |
Royal Corps of Transport (US) Regimental Combat Team |
| RE |
Royal Engineers |
| RSM |
Regimental Sergeant Major |
| RUC |
Royal Ulster Constabulary |
| SAS |
Special Air Service |
| SD |
Sicherheitdienst – Nazi Party intelligence organization |
| SEATO |
South East Asia Treaty Organisation |
| SO2 G2 |
Staff Officer, Grade 2 (a major), Intelligence |
| SO3 G2 |
Staff Officer, Grade 3 (a captain) Intelligence |
| SHAEF |
Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force |
| SNCO |
Senior Non Commissioned Officer – sergeants and staff sergeants and equivalents |
| SOE |
Special Operations Executive |
| SOXMIS |
Soviet Military Mission |
| SS |
Schutzstaffel (Protection Squadron) |
| Sy |
Security |
| TA |
Territorial Army |
| TAVR |
Territorial Army and Volunteer Reserve |
| UN |
United Nations |
| UNHCR |
UN High Commission for Refugees |
| USA |
United States of America |
| USMC |
United States Marine Corps |
| USSR |
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics |
| Waffen-SS |
Military Wing of the SS |
| WIS |
Wireless Intelligence Section |
| WMD |
Weapons of Mass Destruction |
| WRAC |
Women’s Royal Army Corps |