Colin Gee - Stalemate

Jeep: ½ Ton 4x4 all terrain vehicle, supplied in large numbers to the Western Allies and the Soviet Union.

Job tvoyu mat: With apologies, this is translated in a number of ways, and can mean anything of the same ilk from ‘Gosh’ through to ‘Fuck your mother.’

Kalibr: Codename of David Greengrass, US Army Sergeant who was a Soviet Spy.

Kangaroo: Allied infantry carrier, either converted from a tank, mainly M4 Shermans and M7 Priest SP’s, or purpose built from the Canadian RAM tank.

Kar98K: German standard issue bolt action rifle.

Katana: The main sword of a samurai or Japanese officer.

Katorga: Soviet penal system, also accepted as a noun for a place of hard servitude.

Katyn: 1940 Massacre of roughly 22,000 Polish Army officers, Police officers and intelligentsia perpetrated by the NKVD, Site was discovered by the German Army and much propaganda value was made, although in reality there was no sanction against the USSR for this coldblooded murder.

Katyusha: Soviet rocket artillery weapon capable of bringing down area fire with either 16, 32 or 64 rockets of different types.

Kavellerie: German translation of Cavalry.

K-Class Blimp: US Airship [dirigible] used in reconnaissance and anti-submarine roles.

Kerch: Soviet peninsular that juts out into the Black Sea, known in English as the Crimea.

Ki-84: Japanese single-engine fighter aircraft, considered the finest fighter in the Japanese inventory.

King Tiger tank: German heavy tank carrying a high-velocity 88m gun and 2-3 machine guns.

Kingdom 39: The Fairytale Kingdom in Russian Folklore.

Kradschutzen: Motorcycle infantry, term also applied to reconnaissance troops.

Kreigie: US slang for a German prisoner of war.

Kreigsmarine: German Navy.

Kriegsspiels: Wargames.

Kukri: The curved battle knife of the Gurkha soldier.

LA-7: Single-engine Lavochkin fighter aircraft, highly thought of despite poor maintenance history.

Lavochkin-5: Soviet single-engine fighter aircraft.

Leutnant: German Army rank equivalent to 2nd Lieutenant.

Liebfraumilch [Liebfrauenmilch]: German semi-sweet white wine.

Lightning, Lockheed, P38: US twin-engine fighter, most successfully used in the Pacific Theatre.

Lisunov Li-2: Soviet licenced copy of the DC-3 twin-engine transport aircraft,

Little Boy: Uranium based fission bomb.

Luftwaffe: German Air Force

Lysander, Westland: British single engine monoplane designed for Liaison activities, but best known for its use in ferrying agents into Occupied Europe.

M-10: Known as the Wolverine, this US tank destroyer carried a 3" gun with modest performance. It was subsequently upgunned in British service, and the more potent 17-pdr equipped vehicles became known as Achilles.

M13/40: Italian light tank with a 47mm gun and 3-4 machine-guns.

M-16 half-track: US half-track mounting 4 x .50cal machine-guns in a Maxon mount. For defence against aircraft at low level it was particularly effective against infantry.

M1 Carbine: Semi-automatic carbine that fired a .30 cal round, notorious as being underpowered.

M20: US 6x6 Armoured utility car, which was basically an M8 without the turret.

M21: M3 halftrack with an 81mm mortar mount, providing mobile fire support.

M24 Chafee: US light tank fitted with a 75mm gun and 2-3 machine-guns.

M26 Pershing: US Heavy tank with a 90mm gun and 2-3 machine-guns. Underpowered initially, it had little chance to prove itself against the German arsenal.

M3 Halftrack: US standard half-track normally armed with 1 x .50cal machine-gun and capable of carrying up to 13 troops

M3A1 sub-machine gun: Often known as the Grease Gun, issued in .45 or the rarer 9mm calibres with a 30 round magazine.

M4A4: US medium tank, last of a number of developments, Armament ranged from 75mm through 76mm to 105mm Howitzer.

M5 HST: US fully tracked high-speed artillery prime mover.

M5 Stuart: US light tank equipped with a 37mm gun, and capable of high speed.

M8 Greyhound: 6x6 Armoured car with 37mm main gun and 1-2 machine-guns.

Maior: German Army rank equivalent to Major.

Manhattan Project: Research and development project aimed at producing the first atomic bomb.

Market-Garden: Montgomery’s failed plan to drop paratroopers and secure river crossings into Northern Germany, thus ending the war by Christmas.

Maskirova: Soviets have a fondness for deception and misdirection and Maskirova is an essential of any undertaking.

Matrose: German naval term for a common sailor.

Mauthausen: More properly known as Mauthausen-Gusen Concentration Camp, the camp grew to oversee a complex of Labour camps throughout the area. The high estimate of persons dying within the Mauthausen camp system is 320,000.

Maxon mount: A single machine gun mounting which could be installed on a half-track [such as the deadly M16 halftrack], or a trailer, by which means 4 x .50cal were aimed and fired by one man.

Maybach: German vehicle and parts manufacturer who produced the huge Maybach engines inserted in the Tiger I tank.

Merville Battery: German gun battery assaulted by the British 9th Para Battalion on D-Day.

Meteor F3, Gloster: British twin-engine jet fighter, which first flew in 1943.

Metgethen: Scene of a successful German counter-attack in 1945, where evidence of Soviet atrocities against the civilian population was uncovered.

MG.08: German WW1 machine gun. Many survivors were employed during WW2.

MG34: German standard MG often referred to as a Spandau.

MG42: Superb German machine gun, capable of 1200rpm, designed to defeat the Soviet human wave attacks. Still in use to this day.

Mills Bomb: British fragmentation hand grenade.

Minox: Gained notoriety as the first ‘miniature’ spy camera.

Mitsubishi Ki-46: Japanese twin-engine reconnaissance aircraft.

Mlad: Codename of Theodore Hall, Nuclear Physicist, and Soviet Agent.

Molotov Cocktail: Simple anti-tank/vehicle weapon, consisting of a bottle, a filling of petrol, and a flaming rag. Thrown at its target the bottle shattered on impact and the rag did the rest.

Moscow Crystal Vodka: Highest quality triple distilled vodka.

Moselle: Mainly white wine originating from areas around the River of the same name.

Mosin-Nagant: Russian infantry rifle.

Mosquito: DH98 De Havilland Mosquito was a multi-purpose wooden aircraft, much envied by the Luftwaffe.

Mosquito Mk NF30, De Havilland: British twin-engine night fighter.

Mosquito Mk VI, De Havilland: British twin-engine fighter-bomber.

Mosquito Mk XXV, De Havilland: British twin-engine light bomber.

MP18: A WW1 design sub-machine gun, often known as the Bergmann.

MP-40: German standard issue submachine-gun.

Mugalev: Soviet heavy mine roller gear, normally attached to T-34 tanks.

Mustang: P51 Mustang, US single seat long-range fighter armed with 6 x .50cal machine-guns.

Nagant pistol: Standard Soviet revolver, very rugged and powerful using long case 7.62mm ammunition.

Natzwiller-Struhof: Concentration camp in Alsace.

Nebelwerfer: German six-barrelled mortar weapon, literally translated as ‘Smoke Thrower’ and known to the Allies as the Moaning Minnie, ranging up to 32cms in diameter.

NKGB: Narodny Komissariat Gosudarstvennoi Bezopasnosti, the Soviet Secret Police, separated from the NKVD in 1942 and absorbed once more in 1946.

NKVD: Narodny Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del, the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs.

Normandie Squadron [Normandie-Niemen Regiment]: French Air force group that grew to three squadrons and served on the Russian Front throughout WW2.

OFLAG XVIIa: Offizierslager or OfLag No 17A, prisoner of war camp run by the Germans for officer detainees.