Abort—German for latrine or lavatory.
Abwehr—German military intelligence.
ADC—aide-de-camp. Junior officer serving as personal assistant to a general staff officer.
Altburgund—German name for Schubin from 1941. The name never caught on, with Germans in the town sticking with Schubin.
Amerikaner—German for American.
Amerikanski—Polish and Russian for American.
Appell—German for roll call.
Appellgrund—parade ground in a camp, where Appell was held.
Asselin—code name for escape tunnel at Oflag XXI-B Schubin dug from main Abort. Named after Canadian POW Eddy Asselin, who masterminded it.
Aussie (Ozzie)—Australian.
Big S—British code name for head of security on POW camp escape committee.
Big X—British code name for head of POW camp escape committee.
Bulletin, The—daily handwritten American newssheet at Oflag 64.
burp gun—American slang for a submachine gun.
Circuit, the—exercise track around the inside of POW camp wire. Also, The Circuit, name of Stalag Luft 3 South Compound newsletter.
CO—commanding officer.
cookhouse tunnel—escape tunnel at Oflag XXI-B Schubin.
Cooler—British and American slang for separate solitary confinement jail in POW camps.
CPM—Captured Personnel and Materiel branch of US Military Intelligence.
ESCOM—USAAF Eastern Command, based at airfields in Russia during 1944–1945.
Ferret—British and American slang for specialist German POW camp guard whose job was to unearth escape activities and contraband. At Oflag 64, the Ferret was the American nickname for the German sergeant who was the camp’s chief ferret.
Flak—German for antiaircraft gun/s or fire. Abbreviation of Fliegerabwehrkanonen.
Fudge—high-energy POW escape food, in cake form.
G-2—American military intelligence.
Generalmajor—German major general.
Geneva Convention—Third Geneva Convention of 1929. International agreement on the conduct of war, in particular covering the treatment of prisoners of war.
Gestapo—Geheime Staatspolizei, German secret police.
Goo—high-energy POW escape food, in cake form.
goon—British and American slang for German POW camp guard.
goon box—British and American slang for German sentry box.
goon tower—British and American slang for German guard tower.
greatcoat—long, thick military overcoat.
Great Escape, the—Stalag Luft 3 escape by 76 Allied POWs from 13 countries in March 1944. Three reached Britain; the rest were recaptured. Fifty were subsequently executed by the Gestapo. The escape’s name came from the international bestselling book by the Australian author and former POW Paul Brickhill, who participated in the escape’s preparations. Brickhill wrote the story five different ways before the book finally was published in 1950. It became a one-off NBC TV drama in 1951 featuring Rod Steiger; the most famous adaptation of Brickhill’s book is John Sturges’ 1963 Hollywood movie version.
Hanomag—lightly armored German halftrack truck.
Hauptmann—German captain.
Hetzer—German 75 mm tank destroyer.
honey wagon—POW slang for vehicle used to remove sewage pumped from camp latrines.
Hundeführer—German dog handler.
Item, The—monthly American camp newspaper at Oflag 64.
Jerry—British and American slang for a German.
Klim—tinned powdered milk received by American and British POWs in Red Cross food parcels. Empty Klim cans were used in escape apparatus, and for stage equipment in Oflag 64’s Little Theater.
Kommandant—German commandant.
Kommandantur—German command center at POW camp, outside the prisoner compound.
Kraut—American slang for a German.
kriegie—American and British slang for POWs in German camps. Abbreviation of German Kriegsgefangener. Also sometimes written “kriegy.”
kriegieitis—American POW term for the chronic depression that seized some prisoners.
Kriegie Kollege—American school for inmates of Oflag 64, operated by inmates. Also called the Altburgund Academy by some kriegies.
Kriegsgefangener—German for prisoner of war.
Kripo—Kriminalpolizei. German criminal police.
Lager—German for camp.
Lageroffizier—German officer of the day in POW camps.
Lazarett—German military hospital.
Leutnant—German lieutenant.
Limey—American slang for a British serviceman.
Little Theater—theater created in a barrack block at Oflag 64 by American inmates.
Luftwaffe—German Air Force.
machine pistol—submachine gun with a pistol grip.
mess—dining area in a military camp.
MI9—British WWII security bureau responsible for aiding POW escapees and obtaining information from or via POWs. Part of same military intelligence agency as the more famous MI5 and MI6.
Mixture, the—high-energy POW escape food, in cake form.
MO—medical officer.
M3—American light tank. Known as the Stuart in British and Australian armies, which also used it.
NCO—noncommissioned officer.
NKVD—Peoples’ Commissariat for Internal Affairs. Russian state security agency. Forerunner of KGB.
Oberfeldwebel—German master sergeant.
Oberleutnant—German first lieutenant.
Oberst—German colonel.
Oberstleutnant—German lieutenant colonel.
Offizierslager—German for officers’ camp.
Oflag—Offizierslager.
Oflag 6-B—Allied officer POW camp at Warburg, Germany, 1941–1945.
Oflag 64—American officer POW camp at Schubin, Poland, 1943–1945.
Oflag VII-A/Z—Allied officer POW camp at Rotenburg, Germany, 1943–1945.
Oflag XIII-B—American and Serbian officer POW camp at Hammelburg, Bavaria, 1943–1945.
Oflag XXI-B—British and American officer POW camp at Schubin, Poland, 1942–1943.
OSS—Office of Strategic Services. US spy agency, forerunner of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Personalkarte—German record card for POWs.
POW—prisoner of war.
RAF—Royal Air Force. British air force.
RAMPs—Returned Allied Military Personnel.
recon—reconnaissance.
rugger—rugby football.
Russkies—American slang for Russians.
SAO—senior American officer.
SBO—senior British officer.
Schmeisser—Allied nickname for German MP38 and MP40 submachine gun/machine pistol.
Schubinite—the author’s term for a Schubin POW or former Schubin POW.
security committee—at Oflag 64, the American POW escape committee.
Sherman—American M4 medium tank.
6 × 6—six-wheel, 2.5 ton, American-built Studebaker truck.
SOE—Special Operations Executive. British intelligence and sabotage agency that operated agents behind enemy lines.
Sonderführer—special appointed Nazi rank; not an enlisted man, but not an officer either.
Spandau—Allied name for German MG42 machine gun.
SPG—self-propelled gun.
SS—Schutzstaffel, “defense force,” Nazi German special corps. Originally Adolf Hitler’s bodyguard. Later encompassed all Nazi security agencies and police.
Stalag—abbreviation of Stammlager. German POW camp, usually only for enlisted men, but for all ranks at Luftwaffe-controlled camps.
Stalag Luft 3—air force POW camp at Sagan, Silesia. Sometimes incorrectly written as Stalag Luft III.
Stalag XIII-B—POW camp for enlisted men at Hammelburg, Bavaria. On the northern side of Oflag XIII-B.
Stalag XXI-D—POW camp for enlisted men at Posen, Poland.
stooge—British and American slang for a POW on lookout duty to prevent German discovery of escape activities or material.
Strasse—German for street.
S-2—intelligence officer on US Army headquarters staff. At Oflag 64, the title of head of the escape committee.
tanker—tank crew member.
Task Force Baum—US Third Army task force sent by General George S. Patton to rescue Schubin POWs from Oflag XIII-B at Hammelburg.
Unteroffizier—German corporal.
USAAF—United States Army Air Force.
VE Day—Victory in Europe Day, May 8, 1945.
Volkssturm—German home guard, made up of civilians without uniform.
Vorlager—enclosed area before the camp proper.
Waffen-SS—military wing of the SS. Fielded infantry and armored units.
Weasel—American M29 amphibious armored vehicle. Also, at Oflag 64, American nickname for the deputy ferret, a German corporal of the security detail.
Wehrmacht—German army.
XO—American executive officer, second in command.
X Organization—British code name for POW camp escape committee.