AASF Advanced Air Striking Force
AI Air Interceptor
AOC Air Officer Commanding
ARP Air Raid Precautions
ASDIC British naval vessels’ onboard sonar
Auftragstaktik mission command
BdU Befehlshaber der U-boote (C-in-C of German submarines)
BEF British Expeditionary Force
Bewegungskrieg operational war of movement
Bren British light machine gun
chasseurs alpins French mountain troops
CIGS Chief of the Imperial General Staff
C-in-C Commander-in-Chief
CIO Congress of Industrial Organizations
CO Commanding Officer
CP Command Post
EG Royal Navy Escort Group
Fahnenjunker officer cadet
Fallschirmjäger German paratroopers
Feldwebel German non-commissioned officer equivalent to sergeant
GC&CS Government Code and Cypher School (Bletchley Park)
Gebirgsjäger German mountain troops
Geschwader Luftwaffe group of squadrons (staffeln)
He Heinkel
HF/DF High Frequency Direction Finding
Huff-Duff slang for HF/DF
HX North America to UK convoy route
IFF Identification Friend or Foe
JG Jagdgeschwader – fighter group
Ju Junkers
KG Kampfgeschwader – bomber group
Kriegsmarine German Navy
leaguer night-time tank formation – a rough circle usually
Lehrgeschwader training group
Luftwaffe German Air Force
Me Messerschmitt
MG machine gun
MG34 machinegewehr or German machine gun, first built in 1934
MOMP Mid-Ocean Meeting Point
MP40 machinepistole or German sub-machine gun, first produced in 1940
NCO non-commissioned officer
NCS Naval Control of Shipping
NDAC National Defense Advisory Commission (US)
NEF Newfoundland Escort Force
NJG Nachtjagdgeschwader – night fighter group
Oberjäger most junior NCO in the German airborne and mountain divisions
OKH Oberkommando des Heeres – Supreme Army Command
OKM Oberkommando der Marine – Supreme Naval Command
OKW Oberkommando der Wehrmacht – Combined Operations Staff
ON(F) British to North America fast convoy route
ON(S) British to North America slow convoy route
OPM Office of Production Management
OTU Operational Training Unit
Panzer German term for a tank. There were a number of variants or ‘marks’, usually written as Mk I, Mk II, etc
RAD Reichsarbeitsdienst – Reich Labour Service, for teenage boys between school and joining the military.
RCN Royal Canadian Navy
Regia Aeronautica Royal Air Force (Italian)
Regio Esercito Royal Army (Italian)
RNR Royal Navy Reserve
RNS Reichsnährstand – Department of Food and Agriculture
RWM Reichswirtschaftministerium – Reich Ministry for Economic Affairs
SC North America to UK slow convoy route
Schmeisser Allied slang for a German sub-machine gun
Schwerpunkt main point of attack
SIM Servizio Informazioni Militari – the Italian Military Intelligence Service
SL Sierra Leone to UK slow convoy route
SOE Special Operations Executive
SOE Senior Officer Escorts
sortie individual operational flight by a pilot, so a squadron of e.g. twelve aircraft could fly up to twelve sorties at any one time
Spandau Allied slang for a German machine gun
Staffel German squadron
StG Sturmkampfflugzeuggeschwader – Stuka bomber group
Sturzkampfflugzeug Stuka dive-bomber
TA Territorial Army
UMW United Mine Workers
WACI Western Approaches Convoy Instructions
Wehrmacht German armed forces
1WO 1st Watch Officer
Zerstörer Destroyer. Luftwaffe name for the Messerschmitt 110
ZG Zerstörergeschwader – Messerschmitt 110 fighter group