American-British-Canadian talks in 1941

Intelligence service for the German Armed Forces - run by Admiral Canaris

Operational code-name for Allied attempt to capture the Dodecanese Islands in the Agean.

Code name for British advance on Tripoli in 1941.

Code name for the day of intense German air attack on Britain (Eagle Day) 15th September 1940.

Allied Expeditionary Force

British intelligence organization responsible for deception and espionage in the Mediterranean and Middle East.

Armja Krajowa ("Home Army") - The Polish Resistance

Extermination of mentally ill and handicapped patients by the Nazi authorities. (Named after Tiergartenstrasse 4, the address of Nazi Central Office in Berlin.)

Standard branch of the SS, as opposed to the military or armed Waffen SS.

Those countries fighting against the Axis powers. i.e. Britain, France, USA, Canada, USSR etc

Term used to describe Germany before the annexation of Austria.

German Army intelligence organization which succeeded the Abwehr

Code name for the Allied re-occupation of Burma in 1944.

German annexation of Austria in March 1938.

Agreement by Germany, Japan and Italy to oppose the Communist International organisation

Code name for the German occupation of Vichy France, November 1942 - later known as Atilla

Operational code name for the Allied invasion of the South of France, August 1944.

Australia and New Zealand Army Corps

Code name for the first Anglo-American conference in Washington, December 1941.

Code name for the Anglo-American-Soviet conference at Yalta, February 1945.

Operational code name for Allied air attacks on German factories in February 1944.

British equipment used for jamming German Knickebein radar

Code name for the German occupation of Vichy France, November 1942

Anglo-American declaration that stated the countries aims for the outcome of the war.

Operational code name for the German build-up of arms prior to the invasion of the Soviet Union

Operational code name for the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, August 1945.

Operational code name for the Allied invasion at Salerno, September 1943

Operational code name for the Allied attacks in Narvik, May 1940.

Alliance between Germany, Italy and Japan. Originally the Rome-Berlin Axis (i.e. a North-South line between the two capitals), later became the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis.

Operational codename for Soviet strategic offensive against the German Army Group Centre, June 1944.

Operational code name for the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. (Barbarossa, or "Red Beard" was the nickname for Emperor Frederick I, who attempted to unify Germanic states in the 12th century.)

Operational code name for the British offensive in North Africa intended to relieve Torbuk, June 1941

Operational code name for the Allied landings in southern Italy, September 1943

Bureau Centrale de Renseignements et d'Action - de Gaulle's secret intelligence service

British Expeditionary Force

Code name for British Jamming equipment to counter German "Y-Beams"

Operational code name for German scheme to counterfeit British bank notes and put them into circulation - began in 1942.

Operational code name for the British deception operations prior to El Alamein offensive, North Africa October 1942

Operational code name for German "punishment" air attacks on Belgrade, April 1941

"Lightning War" - a term used to describe the rapid German invasions using fast, piercing armoured formations

"Base Plate" - Operational code name for the German air offensive against Allied airfields in north-western Europe, January 1945

Operational code name for the deception operations intended to conceal Allied intentions in north-west Europe from 1944

Operational code name for the build up of US forces in Britain prior to the invasion of France

Slang term for the computers used at Bletchley Park, England, to decode German Enigma messages

Operational code name for the British offensive in the Halfaya Pass, May 1941

Operational code name for the proposed Allied invasion of Sardinia, 1944

Code name for British Jamming equipment used to counter German "X-Beams"

Term used to describe the actions following the German offensive through the Ardennes forests in December 1944.

Nickname for the German V-1 flying bomb

Operational code name for the recapture of northern Burma in 1944

Operational code name for the intended German military invasion of Czechoslovakia

Operational code name for counterstrike against France in the event of an attack on Germany from the West

Operational code name for the German invasion of Poland

Operational code name for the German invasion of the Netherlands, Belgium and France

Operational code name for the destruction of the French Fleet by the British in North Africa, July 1940

Operational code name for the US assault on the Marshall Islands, 1944

Combined Chiefs of Staff (Allies)

British air-defence radar

Operational code name for the "Dam Busters" raid by 617 squadron RAF in May 1943, on the Mohne, Eder and Sorpe dams in the Ruhr area of Germany

Long-range penetration troops (British and Gurkha) who worked behind the Japanese lines in Burma.

Chief of the Imperial General Staff (British)

Operational code name for the German attack on the Soviet forces near Kursk, July 1943

Operational code name for the American breakout from Normandy in July 1944

Operational code name for Allied deception operations intended to draw attention away from Normandy prior to D-Day

Communist International organisation created to promote the spread of communism from the Soviet Union - disbanded in 1943.

Italian supreme command

Operational code name for British operations in Egypt against the Italians in December 1940

Chief of Staff, Supreme Allied Commander. HQ of the CCS in London.

Operational code name for Allied attacks on V-1 launch sites

Operational code name for British attempts to relieve Torbruk beginning in November 1942

The first day of the Allied invasion of Normandy - June 6th 1944 - D stands for "Day"

Operational code name for the British evacuation of Greece in April 1941

Operational code name for Allied offensive in Italy towards Rome in 1944

A basic army formation made up of between 12,000 and 18,000 men

British equipment used to counter the German Y-Beam (Y-Gerat) bombing system

Operational code name for the planned Allied assault on Japan in 1945

Operational code name for Allied operations in the South of France formerly known as Anvil

An amphibious truck used by the Allies. D=1942 (design date); U=Utility Vehicle; K=All Wheel Drive; W=2 powered rear axles

Operational code name for the British evacuation of Dunkirk in May/June 1940

Name given to Hitler's mountain-top home at Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps

The Greek Resistance

German death-squads operating in occupied territories and carrying out mass-murders

A German radio-navigational system

German message encryption equipment

Entertainments National Service Association - UK organisation for entertaining troops abroad.

German naval intelligence department

European Theatre of Operations

Code name for the Allied conference in Teheran Nov/Dec 1943

The oath of allegiance to Hitler sworn by the German Army

Case Yellow - Operational code name for the German invasion of the Netherlands, Belgium and France

Case Green - Operational code name for the intended German military invasion of Czechoslovakia

Case Red - Operational code name for counterstrike against France in the event of an attack on Germany from the West

Case White - Operational code name for the German invasion of Poland

French Comittee of National Liberation

"Field Grey" - term used to describe the ordinary German soldier - from the colour of his tunic.

German military police

Operational code name for the German plan to capture Gibraltar in 1941

French Forces of the Interior

Fremde Heere - German intelligence evaluation service

Fremde Heere Ost - German intelligence evaluation service - eastern section

Fremde Heere West - German intelligence evaluation service - western section

Name given to the German policy of genocide of the Jewish population

"Fish Trap" - Operational code name for the German counter attack on the Allied beachead at Anzio in February 1944

Code name for the assassination attempt on Hitler by the Schwarze Kapelle in March 1943 - where a bomb was placed on Hitler's aircraft.

Nickname for aircraft carrier

Operational code name for the US invasion of the Marshall Islands in January 1944

Operational code name for the US invasion of the Mariana Islands in June 1944

The intelligence service of the Luftwaffe

Operational code name for the Allied deception operations prior to the invasion of Normandy

First US Army Group - a fictitious army group under the command of General Patton which appeared to be based in south-east England prior to the Normandy landings and was intended to give the impression that the Allies were due to invade France via the Pas de Calais

Operational code name for the US occupation of the Gilbert Islands - November 1943

Government Code and Cipher School - based at Bletchley Park, England

Geheime Staatspolizei - the German Secret State Police

Soviet State Defence Committee

Code name for one of the landing beaches in Normandy (in the British/Canadian sector) in the area of Arromanches

perational code name for the RAF bombing of Hamburg in July/August 1943

Operational code name for the Allied breakout from Normandy via Caen in July 1944

German defence line in Italy - north of Florence

Operational code name for the US operations in the Central Pacific - March 1944

Operational code name for the dropping of English-speaking German Troops wearing American uniforms behind the Allied lines in the Ardennes, prior to Hitler's last offensive in the west

Operational code name for the US offensive in the Rhineland - February 1945

German defence line in Italy - centred on Monte Cassino

British airborne radar used for identifying and locating ground targets

"Autumn Mist" - Operational code name for the German offensive in the Ardennes, December 1944 - Also known as The Battle of the Bulge

Hilfsfreiwillige - German Army volunteer forces usually made up of Soviet volunteers

The act of genocide carried out by Germany on the Jewish population of Europe

HF/DF - High Frequency / Direction Finding - British radio detection system used to pinpoin the direction of broadcasts from German submarines and ships and thus locate the transmitting craft

Human Intelligence - Intelligence gathered by spies and informers (as opposed to signals intelligence or SIGINT)

Operational code name for the Allied landings in Sicily - July 1943

Indian Army

Operational code name for the Japanese offensive operations in Eastern China - April 1944

Identification Friend or Foe - Radio device fitted to aircraft in order to identify the aircraft as friendly when approaching home radar stations

Indian National Army

Operational code name for the Allied deception operations in Europe - later called Plan Bodyguard

Joint Chiefs of Staff - US high command, representing US Army and Navy

Joint Intelligence Committee - Top intelligence body in both USA and UK

Joint Planning Staff - British military planning organization

Joint Security Control - US organization, subordinate to the JCS responsible for security/codebreaking/deception operations

Operational code name for the British-Canadian raid on Dieppe - August 1942

Operational code name for British plan to invade Norway

Operational code name for one of the D-Day landing areas in Normandy between the Provence River and the town of St. Aubin sur Mer - principally a Canadian landing area

Japanese military police

"Crooked Leg" - German navigational system using radio beams to guide bombers

German espionage operation based in Egypt

Operational code name for the German occupation of the Balkans areas previously occupied by Italian forces - September 1943

The German Navy

Kriminalpolizei - German criminal police department

Operational code name for the Soviet offensive against German forces in the Kursk Salient - July 1943

Landing Craft Assault

London Controlling Section - British organisation responsible for military security, cryptanalysis and deception operations

"Living space" - Term used by the Nazis to refer to their plans for territorial expansion, particularly in the East

US policy of supplying the Allies with equipment and materials in exchange for payment in kind or return of undamaged equipment following the war.

Cargo ships mass produced in the USA from pre-fabricated components

German airborne radar used for nightfighting

Operational code name for the British offensive at El Alamein - October 1942

Agreement signed in 1925 by Britain, Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, Poland and Czechoslovakia, guaranteeing international boundaries and re-affirming the Treaty of Versailles

Long Range Desert Group

Long Range Penetration Group

Landing Ship Dock

Landing Ship Gantry

Landing Ship Infantry

Landing Ship Stern-chute

Landing Ship Tank

The German Air Force

Mediterranean Allied Air Force

Mediterranean Air Command

Code name for US code breaking operations against the Japanese

Series of sophisticated French fortifications positioned along France's eastern borders consisting of steel and concrete anti-tank emplacements and pillboxes

German armed anti-nazi resistance group, named after the MAN engineering works in Bavaria

Cover name (actually 'Manhattan Engineer District') for the development of the atomic bomb in the USA

Name given to groups of the French Resistance (after a type of foliage in Corsica, behind which resistance fighters on the island used to hide)

Operational code name for the German attack on Greece in April 1941

Operational code name for the Allied operation intended to establish a bridgehead across the river Rhine at the town of Arnhem in the Netherlands

Operational code name for Allied operations at Dakar - September 1940

"Mercury" - Operational code name for the German air attacks on Crete - April 1941

System used to communicate with members of the Resistance on the European mainland from Britain by using coded messages broadcast on BBC radio

British security service responsible for national security matters within the United Kingdom

British security service, otherwise known as the Secret Intelligence Service, responsible for collecting foreign intelligence relating to national security

British service responsible for assisting escaped prisoners of war

Paramilitary police force of Vichy France (Milice Francaise)

Operational code name for the RAF bombing of Cologne - May 1942

Operational code name for British deception operation in April 1943 where false operational plans were planted on a corpse and left floating off the coast of Spain - The Germans intercepted and believed the plans, which gave the impression that an Allied invasion of Greece was iminent, whereas the real invasion was planned for Sicily

British device used on aircraft to fool German radar into seeing far more aircraft than actually existed

Motor Transport

Motor Torpedo Boa

Mediterranean Theatre of Operations

Transportable floating harbours constucted from hollow concrete, towed to the D-Day landing sites and used to offload equipment and supplies during the Normandy landings

An abbreviation for 'National Sozialistiche Deutsche Arbeitpartei' the NSDAP, literally translated means National Socialist German Workers Party.

Operational code name for the Allied D-Day Normandy beach landings - the naval assault phase of Operation Overlord

Operational code name for the British re-occupation of the Channel Islands - May 1945

Naval Intelligence Division

Narodni Komissarat Vnutrennykh Del - Soviet People's Comissariat of Internal Affairs - the predecessor to the KGB, the Soviet internal security organisation

Operational code name for Allied air attacks on German V-weapons sites in 1944.

"Northern Lights" - Operational code name for the German attack on Leningrad in 1942

"North Wind" - Operational code name for the German offensive in the Alsace - Winter 1944/45

Code name for British radio-navigational aid used by RAF bombers

Code name for the second Quebec conference between Roosevelt and Churchill - September 1944

Office of Foreign and Economic Co-ordination (USA)

Offizier-Lager - "Officer Camp" German prisoner-of-war camps for Allied officers

Oberkommando der Heeres - High Command of the German Army

Oberkommando der Luftwaffe - High Command of the German Air Force

berkommando der Kriegsmarine - High Command of the German Navy

Oberkommando der Wehrmacht - High Command of the German Armed Forces

Operational code name for the Allied assault on the Gothic Line, Italy - August 1944

Code name for one of the US Normandy beach landing areas used on D-Day, the site was between Coleville and Vierville

Operations Division of the US Department of War

Office of Strategic Services - US military intelligence and special operations agency

Operational code name for Allied operations in Normandy and North West Europe, beginning with Operation Neptune on D-Day, 6th June 1944.

Office of War Information (USA)

Alternative name for the Rome-Berlin Axis

"Armour" - became a general term for German tanks (the correct term for tank being Panzerkampfwagen - PzKpfw) and also used to describe armoured actions

German mechanized infantry

Polish Committee of National Liberation

Operational code name for a relief convoy to Malta - August 1942

Operational code name for British/Canadian offensive across the Rhine on 13th March 1945

Pipe Line Under The Ocean - pipeline laid under the English Channel to supply oil to the Normandy invasion forces in 1944

Operational code name for the Allied bombing offensive against Germany from 194

Operational code name for Allied operations in the Mediterranean theatre of operations in 1943

Code name for the first Quebec conference (Churchill & Roosevelt)- August 1943

Code name for deception operations involving General Patton's fictitious FUSAG

Armed Allied decoy ships used to lure Axis submarines to the surface, where they could be attacked by gunfire

Royal Australian Air Force

Royal Air Force (Britain)

Code name given to US war plans drawn up for various scenarios

Royal Australian Navy

Royal Canadian Air Force

Royal Canadian Navy

Radio Direction Finding

Operational code name for US operations in Hollandia, New Guinea - April 1944

The Soviet armed forces

The German Parliament

Reichsfuehrer SS - "Reich Leader SS" the formal title of Heinrich Himmler

Royal Indian Navy

Operational code name for Soviet offensive against German army at Stalingrad - January 1943

Royal Navy (Britain)

Royal New Zealand Air Force

Royal New Zealand Navy

Reichssicherheitshauptamt - "Reich Security Main Office" - orgainisation created by Himmler to coordinate all German security and police departments including the Gestapo, Kripo and SD.

Operational code name for Soviet counter offensive at the battle of Kursk, following operation Citadel - August 1943

Sturmabteilungen - "Storm Troopers" - Hitler's unofficial army of thugs (aka Brownshirts) - disbanded after the blood purge of 1934

"Black Orchestra" - term used to describe a group of conspirators within the German Army who plotted to overthrow Hitler. The Schwarze Kapelle came close to assassinating Hitler on July 20th 1944.

Sicherheitsdienst - "Security Department" - The Nazi Party security service, intelligence gathering and counter-espionage wings of the RSHA headed by Reinhard Heydrich

South East Asia Command (Allies)

Operational code name for the planned German assault on Great Britain in 1940/41

Supreme Headquartes Allied Expeditionary Force

Operational code name for the Allied landings at Anzio - January 1944

Servizio Informazioni Militari - the Italian military intelligence agency

Operational code name for a planned Allied invasion of France in 1942

Special Operations Executive - British organisation responsible for training and co-ordinating the operations of partisan groups in occupied countries

Schutzstaffeln - "Protection Units" - The principal elite organisation of the Nazi party which consisted of the Allgemeine (General) SS and Waffen (Armed) SS, the latter forming military divisions as part of the Wehrmacht. The SS also included organisations such as the RSHA.

The highest political-military authority of the Soviet Union

Code name for the D-Day landing beaches of Lion-sur-Mer - June 1944

Code name for the Allied conference at Casablanca - January 1943

"Typhoon" - Operational code name for the German push towards Moscow - September 1941

Operational code name for the Japanese naval operations at Okinawa and Iwo Jima beginning April 1945

Code name for the Allied conference in Potsdam - July 1945

Task Force

Operational code name for the Allied bombing of Dresden - February 1945

Operational code name for the US bombing of the Romanian oilfields of Ploesti - August 1943

1. Operational code name for the German advance through the Maginot Line on the French border - June 1940 2. Operational code name for a British convoy to Egypt in May 1941

Operational code name for the Allied landings in North West Africa - November 1942

Operational code name for the Canadian advance towards Falaise, France - August 1944

Code name for the third Allied conference in Washington - May 1943

Formal agreement of alliance between Germany, Italy and Japan - an expansion of the Axis nations - signed 27th September 1940

Unterseeboot - "under sea boat"- Abbreviated name for German submarines

Operational code name for the Japanese push towards India from Burma - March 1944

Code name and security caveat given to decoded messages and intelligence originating from German Enigma encrypted sources

Operational code name for the Soviet counter-offensive at Stalingrad to surround the German 6th Army - November 1942

United States Army Air Force

United States Navy

United States Ship

Code name for D-Day landing area near Les Dunes de Vatreville, Normandy

Unexploded bomb

The first of the operational German weapons of reprisal or "Vergeltungswaffen" - the V-1 was a pilotless flying bomb powered by a pulse-jet engine and carried a 850kg (1875lb) high-explosive warhead, and had a range of up to 200km

Also known as the A4, the successor to the V-1 was a long range rocket powered by liquid oxygen and alcohol, it had a 975kg (2150lb) high-explosive warhead and a range of 320km

Long-range smooth-bore gun designed to fire shells with up to 10kg (22lb) high-explosive warhead and a range of 93km - never very successful as most installations were destroyed by bombing before they could be used

Operational code name for the Schwarze Kapelle plot to overthrow the Hitler regime - July 1944

Operational code name for the Allied crossing of the Rhine using airborne troops - March 1945

Victory in Europe Day - 8th May 1945

French regime set up in collaboration with the Germans following the fall of France in 1940 - headed by Marshal Petain and based in the city of Vichy it governed the southern half of France until its dissolution in 1944

Victory over Japan Day - 15th August 1945

The German Home Guard

Operational code name for the Allied offensive in Tunisia - May 1943

Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (USA)

Women's Auxiliary Air Force (British)

The branch of the SS which formed military fighting divisions

The German armed forces - headed by the OKW

"River Exercise" - Operational code name for the German invasion of Denmark and Norway - April 1940

Also known as Chaff - metallic foil strips dropped from bombers to give the appearance to German radar of mass formations of aircraft

"Winter Storm" - Operational code name for the unsuccessful German attempt to relieve the 6th Army at Stalingrad - December 1942

"Wolf's Lair" - code name for Hitler's headquarters near Rastenburg in East-Prussia

War Plans Department (US)

Women's Royal Naval Service (British)

Women's Voluntary Service (British)

A type of midget submarine

British intelligence organisation used to feed false information to Germany e.g by the use of double-agents

German bomber radio-navigational equipment

British signals staff responsible for the interception of enemy radio and telephone messages

Operational code name for deception operations in the Balkans in 1943

"Citadel" - Operational code name for the German attack on the Soviet forces near Kursk, July 1943

Commercial name for the prussic acid gas used in German extermination camps