Colin Gee - Stalemate

Boyes: .55-inch anti-tank rifle employed by the British Army but phased out in favour of the PIAT.

Brandenburghers: Rough German equivalent of commando, who were trained more in the arts of stealth and silent killing.

Bren Gun: British standard issue light machine-gun.

Browning Hi-Power: 9mm handgun with a 13 round magazine, used by armies on both sides during WW2.

Brylcreams: Slang expression for RAF aircrew.

Buffalo: British term for the LVT or Amtrak, the amphibious tracked vehicle that became a mainstay of the Pacific War, and featured in all major Allied amphibious operations from Guadalcanal onwards.

Bund Deutsche Madel: The League of German Girls, young females’ organisation of the Nazi Party.

Bundook: Derived from the Indian language, slang for a rifle.

C47: US development of the DC3, known in British operations as the Dakota. Twin-engine transport aircraft.

Camel: US cigarette brand

Canso: RCAF designation for the Catalina.

Caudillo: Political-military leader, in this case, referring to Franco.

Cavalry: The German army had cavalry until the end, all be it in small numbers. The SS had two such divisions, the 8th and 22nd.

Centurion I: British heavy tank, equipped with the 17pdr and a Polsten cannon.

Chekist: Soviet term used to describe a member of the State Security apparatus, often not intended to be complimentary.

Chesterfield: American cigarette brand.

Chickamauga: A battle in the American Civil War, fought on 19th to 20th September 1863. It was a Union defeat of some note, and second only to Gettysburg in combined casualties.

Colibri: High-class men’s accessories producer, initially specialising in cigarette lighters.

Colloque Biarritz: The fourth symposium based at the Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg.

Combat Command [CC]: Formation similar to an RCT, which was formed from all-arms elements within a US Armored Division, the normal dispositions being CC’A’, CC’B’ and CC’R’, the ‘R’ standing for reserve.

Comet: British medium tank armed with a 77mm high-velocity gun.

Corvette: Small patrol and escort vessel used by Allied navies throughout WW2.

Court of Bernadotte: The Court of the Swedish Royal Family.

Deuxieme Bureau: France’s External Military Intelligence Agency that underwent a number of changes post 1940 but still retained its ‘Deux’ label for many professionals.

Douglas DC-3: Twin-engine US transport aircraft, also labelled C-47. [Built by the Russians under licence as the Li-2]

DP-28: Standard Soviet Degtyaryov light machine-gun with large top mounted disc magazine containing 47 rounds.

Duke of York: British battleship of the King George V class. Survived WW2 and was scrapped in 1957.

Dva: In Russian, the number two.

EBW: Explosive bridge-wire detonators.

Edelzwicker: Alsatian wine that is a blend of noble and standard grapes, and as a result is sometimes hit and miss, sometimes superb.

Elektroboote: A Type XXI U-Boat

ESM: Explosive Lens Maths. The complex array of calculations that come together to design the shaped charges in a nuclear device.

Falke: Infrared sighting system, installed on some German vehicles, especially useful for night fighting.

Fallschirmjager: German Paratroopers. They were the elite of the Luftwaffe, but few Paratroopers at the end of the war had ever seen a parachute. None the less, the ground divisions fought with a great deal of élan and gained an excellent combat reputation.

Fat Man: Implosion-type Plutonium Bomb similar in operation to ‘The Gadget’.

FBI: Federal Bureau of Intelligence, which was also responsible for external security prior to the formation of the CIA.

FFI: Forces Francaises de L’Interieur, or the French Forces of the Interior was the name applied to resistance fighters during the latter stages of WW2. Once France had been liberated, the pragmatic De Gaulle tapped this pool of manpower and created ‘organised’ divisions from these, often at best, para-military groups. Few proved to be of any quality and they tended to be used in low-risk areas.

FG42: Fallschirmgewehr 42, a hybrid 7.62mm weapon which was intended to be both assault rifle and LMG.

Firefly, Fairey: British single-engine carrier aircraft, used as both fighter and anti-submarine roles.

Firefly, Sherman V: British variant of the American M4 armed with a 17-pdr main gun, which offered the Sherman excellent prospects for a kill of any Panzer on the battlefield.

Fizzle: Failure of a nuclear device to properly explode, but which can result in radioactive product being distributed over a sizeable local area.

Flak: Flieger Abwehr Kanone, anti-aircraft guns.

Fuhrer-Begleit-Brigaden: German army armoured formation, formed from the Wehrmacht’s Fuhrer Escort. Considered an elite formation, it was part of the Grossdeutschland detachments.

Gamayun: Creature from Russian folklore with the body of a large bird and the head of a beautiful woman.

GAVCA: Grupo de Aviação de Caça [Portuguese] Translated literally means ‘fighter group’, the 1st GAVCA serving within the Brazilian Expeditionary Force.

GAZ: Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod, Soviet producers of vehicles from light car through to heavy trucks.

Gebirgsjager: German & Austrian Mountain troops.

Gestapo: GeheimeStaatsPolizei, the Secret Police of Nazi Germany.

Gitanes Mais: French cigarette brand.

GKO: Gosudarstvennyj Komitet Oborony or State Security Committee, the group that held complete power of all matters within the Soviet Union.

Grease gun: US issue submachine-gun, designated the M3. Cheaper and more accurate than the Thompson.

Green Devils: Nickname for the German Airborne troops, the Fallschirmjager.

Greenhorn: An inexperienced soldier.

Groβdeutschland: German Army unit, considered to be its Elite formation. Sometimes mistaken for SS as they wore armband, although on right arm, not the left, as SS formations did.

GRU: Glavnoye Razvedyvatel’noye Upravleniye of Soviet Military Intelligence, fiercely independent of the other Soviet Intelligence agencies such as the NKVD.

Haft-Hohlladung magnetic mine: Often known as the Panzerknacker, this was a hollow charge magnetic AT mine.

Halifax, Handley Page: British four-engine heavy bomber.

Hapsburg: European monarchy that ruled Austro-Hungary amongst other European states.

Harai Ritual: Harai or Harae are rituals for purifying and removing factors such as sin, uncleanliness, and bad luck from objects, places, and people.

Hauptmann: Equivalent of captain in the German army.

Hellcat Tank Destroyer, M18: US tank destroyer armed with a 76mm gun. Capable of high speed.

Hero of the Soviet Union award: The Gold Star award was highly thought of and awarded to Soviet soldiers for bravery, although the medal was often devalued by being given for political or nepotistic reasons.

Hitler Youth [Hitler Jugend]: Young males’ organisation of the Nazi Party.

Hohenzollern: Noble house of Germany, Prussia, and Romania.

Horsch 108: German transport that served throughout WW2 in a variety of roles from officer’s car to ambulance.

HVAP: High-velocity armour piercing.

IL-4, Ilyushin: Soviet twin-engine medium bomber.

Infected Fleas: Factual Japanese weapon. A load of infected fleas were dropped on Quzhou in 1940, resulting n the deaths of over 2000 people.

IR: Infrared, a technology that the Germans pursued late in the war.

IS-II: Soviet heavy tank with a 122mm gun and 1-3 mg’s

IS-III: Iosef Stalin III heavy tank, which arrived just before the German capitulation and was a hugely innovative design. 122mm gun and 1-2 mg

JagdPanther: SP version of the Panther tank, armed with the 88mm gun.

JagdPanzer IV: SP version of the Panzer IV, armed with the 75mm gun.