| AWOL | Absent without leave |
| DAK | (Deutsches Afrika-Korps) German African Corps |
| EKI | (Eisernes Kreuz Erster Klasse) Iron Cross First Class |
| EKII | (Eisernes Kreuz Zweiter Klasse) Iron Cross Second Class |
| Gestapo | (Geheime Staatspolizei) Secret State Police |
| KdF | (Kanzlei des Fuhrers) The Führer’s chancellery (not to be confused with the same abbreviation used for Kraft durch Freude of the German Labor Front) |
| NCO | Noncommissioned officer |
| NSDAP | (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter-Partei) Nazi Party |
| OKH | (Oberkommando des Heeres) Army High Command |
| OKL | (Oberkommando der Luftwaffe) Air Force High Command |
| OKM | (Oberkommando der Marine) Navy High Command |
| OKW | (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht) Armed Forces High Command |
| OT | (Organization Todt) forced labor camps |
| POWs | Prisoners of war |
| RMI | (Reichsministerium des Innern) Reich Ministry of the Interior |
| SA | Sturmabteilung storm detachment, a Nazi Party paramilitary formation |
| SD | (Sicherheitsdienst) security and intelligence service of the SS |
| SPD | Social Democratic Party of Germany |
| SS | (Schutzstaffel) the most feared organization of the Third Reich: the Gestapo, SD, and the Waffen-SS were all part of the SS |
| Waffen-SS | Armed Forces of the SS |