Introduction
This list deals primarily with Anglo-American military terms during the war years,
1939-1945. Foreign words that were well-known or adopted by the English-speaking
military may also be included, especially certain German words. It's not an
academic work by any means. No sources or references are listed. I mean this
material to be useful for gamers and writers who'd like to spice up their work
with some of the language of the time and that's all.
Right now the list is heavily American. If anyone knows any appropriate British, Australian, etc. slang of the period, I'd be happy to add them. The same goes for any other American terms.
Send information and questions to faskew at yahoo dot com.
NOTE: I've written the address this way to thwart the evil spam bots that harvest addresses from Web sites. Redo the address to the typical name@ etc. before using.
Civilian Slang
Soldier Slang
Acronyms
US WW2 Phonetic Alphabet
WW2 Main Page
| Abwehr | German - Military Intelligence |
| air liaison | British - An officer who called in air strike in support of ground efforts |
| Axis | Allied - Germany, Italy, and Japan. There were other nations that fought against the Allies (Finland, Rumania, etc.), but Axis usually referred to the big three. |
| batman | British - An officer's servant or orderly |
| beachhead | Allied - a captured section of an enemy beach where troops and supplies can be disembarked |
| Blitzkrieg | German - Lightning war, a motorized version of the Great War's successful infiltration tactics. |
| C rations | US - Military combat ration, introduced in 1938. Soldiers hated the taste and each day's worth of the canned meals added about 6 pounds weight to already overburdened foot-sloggers. A lighter version was introduced in 1944. |
| compo rations | British - A composition pack, one day's rations meant for 14 men |
| D Bars | US - Enriched chocolate candy bars |
| deuce and a half | US - a 2 1/5 ton truck |
| Fallschirmjäger | German - paratroops |
| FlaK | German - Fliegerabwehrkanone, anti-aircraft |
| Gestapo | German - Geheime Staatspolizei, Secret State Police |
| hull down | Allied - For ships, when a craft is so far away that only the top part shows over the curvature of the earth. For tanks, when the tank is sitting on the reverse slope of a hill such that only the turret is visible. |
| Jabo | German - Allied fighter-bomber aircraft |
| Jagdpanzer | German - Hunting tank, an armored vehicle designed specifically to destroy tanks. |
| Jeep | US - The famous 1/4 ton, 4-wheel drive vehicle used by the Allies all over the world. Probably from GP, for General Purpose. |
| jerrican or jerry can | British - Container for gasoline or water holding 5 gallons. Named for German (Jerry) originators. The early British copies tended to leak badly and legend has it that more fuel was lost to leaking jerricans in North Africa that was used by vehicles. |
| K rations | US - Lightweight combat ration introduced in 1942. Universally hated by soldiers. Supposedly German POW's thought they were being tortured if offered K rations and refused to believe that US troops were expected to eat them too. |
| Kampfwagen | German - Battle wagon |
| Kesselschlacht | German - Kettle Battle, encirclement of the enemy, put them in the pot |
| Kwk | German - abbreviation for Kampfwagenkanone, tank gun |
| Luftwaffe | German - The German air force |
| lorry | British - truck |
| Maginot Line | French - Defensive fortifications running from Switzerland to the Belgian border. |
| Nazi | German - Abbreviation for Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, National Socialist German Worker's Party. A member of or supporter of that party. |
| Nissen hut | British - a prefabricated building with a concrete floor and a curved roof made of corrugated iron sheeting [1932]. |
| non-commissioned officer | Allied - Sergeants and corporals. Officers were commissioned by Congress (US) or by the King (British). |
| PaK | German - abbreviation for Panzerabwehrkanone, anti-tank gun |
| petrol | British - gasoline |
| Pz | German - abbreviation for Panzer, armor, tanks |
| PzKfw | German - abbreviation for Panzerkampfwagen, armored fighting vehicle or tank |
| R and R | US - rest and rehabilitation - leave - usually far in the rear |
| rear echelon | US - Anywhere to the rear, but mostly far enough back to be clean, fed, and out of danger. The US military required about 10 support troops to put 1 rifleman into combat, so rear echelon personnel always outnumbered the fighters by about 10 to 1. |
| Red Ball Express | US - Truck convoy system that carried supplies from Normandy to the front. "Red Ball" was a railroad term used for express shipping. Most of the drivers were Negroes. Technically, the true Red Ball Express lasted only three months (Jun 44- Aug 44), but the term was commonly used by troops for all supply convoys. Such truck conveys were a primary target for German aircraft. |
| Schu mine | German - Shoe mine - A mine about the size of a box of kitchen matches set off when the victim stepped on a nail that was forced into the mine's detonator. In some ways, more like a homemade bobby trap than a true mine. |
| SdKfz | German - Sonderkraftfahrzeug -special purpose vehicle number, as in SdKfz 121 |
| Siegfried Line | German - The West Wall, a series of concrete forts and anti-tank barriers guarding Germany's western border. |
| strafe | German - punish. To machine gun ground troops from an airplane. (From the propaganda slogan "Gott strafe England", God punish England [1915]. |
| StuK | German - Sturmkanone, assault cannon |
| Stuka | German - Sturzkampfflugzeug, dive bomber, JU-87 |
| StuG | German - Sturmgeschütz, assault gun |
| Time on target | US - Coordinating the fire from several artillery batteries so that shells from all of them hit the target at exactly the same time, without warning. The effects of TOT could be devastating. |
| Tommy | British - Army soldier. (From Tommy Atkins, the universal British soldier.) |
| walkie-talkie | US - small portable radio with limited range |
| Wehrmacht | German - The German army |
| West Wall | German - The Siegfired Line, a series of concrete forts and anti-tank barriers guarding Germany's western border. |