Opening Moves

Firefly: 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.

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 Expediationary 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.

Großdeutschland: Literally, ‘Greater Germany’, the elite Grossdeutschland Division was not an SS formation although it wore a cuff title on its right arm.

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

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

Hauptmann: Equivalent of captain in the German army.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

Kingdom39: 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.

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

Leutnant: German Army rank equivalent to 2nd Lieutenant.

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

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

Little Boy: Uranium based fission bomb.

Luftwaffe: German Air Force

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 many 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.

M5 HST: Based on the M5 Stuart chassis, this was a high speed tractor, used as ammunition portee, crew transport and prime mover for US artillery units.

M5 Stuart: Light US tank armed with 37mm gun, mainly used for recon work.

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.