Impasse (The Red Gambit Series)
Page 60
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.
Dva
In Russian, the number two.
Easy Eight
An M4A3E8 Sherman tank, derived from the E8 designation.
EBW
Explosive bridge-wire detonators.
Elektroboote
A Type XXI U-Boat
Falke
Infra-red sighting system, installed on some German vehicles, especially useful for night fighting.
Fallschirmjager
German Paratroops. 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.
Fanculo
Italian expletive meaning ‘Go forth and multiply’
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.
Flak
Flieger Abwehr Kanone, anti-aircraft guns.
FUBAR
Fucked up beyond all recognition.
FUSAG
Acronym for the First US Army Group, a phantom formation set up to mislead the Germans for the Invasion of France.
G2
Military Intelligence branch of the Irish Army.
Garda
The Garda Síochána, the Irish police force.
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.
Gewehr 43
Sometimes known as the Kar43 or G43, it was the German Army’s automatic rifle. Some were modified to accept ST44/MP43 magazines.
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 it’s 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
Hauptmann
Equivalent of captain in the German army.
HEAT
An anti-tank shell, High-Explosive Anti-Tank.
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.
Hetzer
Jagdpanzer 38t was a light tank destroyer with a 75mm gun on a fixed mount. Highly successful vehicle on the proven Czech 38t chassis.
Hispano
Swiss in origin, the full name is Hispano-Suiza 404 autocannon. It fired a 20mm shell, increasing aircraft firepower over the normal machine-guns.
Hitler Youth [Hitler Jugend]
Young males organisation of the Nazi Party.
HNoMS
His Norwegian Majesty’s Ship.
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.
IR
Infra-red, a technology that the Germans pursued late in the war.
IRA
Irish Republican Army
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
ISU152
Using the chassis of the IS-II, the ISU152 could serve as either mobile artillery or a heavy tank-destroyer. The shell had the capability of removing the turret from any vehicle in the German inventory just by its kinetic value alone.
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.
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.”
Kai
Sometimes known as Kye, the drink has many different recipes. Generally speaking, it had a base in bars of chocolate to which boiling water was added. Certainly, many recipes add condensed milk, sugar when it was available and Pusser’s, a very alcoholic Naval rum.
Kandra
Knife, sometimes double-edged, originating in Siberia. They had various forms but many resembled the Kurki of the Nepalese hill men.
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.
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.
Kerch
Soviet peninsular that juts out into the Black Sea, known in English as the Cr
imea.
Kilmainham
Prison located in Dublin, Eire.
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.
Kuso
Shit [Japanese]
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.
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.
Lockheed Hudson
US built aircraft, originally designed as a light bomber. It found usefulness as a Coastal Command patrol and anti-submarine aircraft, a transport, a trainer and even for clandestine missions into Occupied Europe.
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.
M18 Hellcat
US tank destroyer armed with a 76mm gun. Capable of high speed.
M1Carbine
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.
M20 Utility Car
turretless conversion of the M8 Greyhound, with a .50cal in a ring mount and with the hull .30cal removed. Used mainly in Td battalions as a command vehicle or cargo carrier.
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
M36 Jackson
US tank destroyer armed with a lethal 90mm gun.
M37 HMC
Expected to be a replacement for the M7, the M37 was a 105mm Howitzer mounted on a converted M24 Chafee chassis.
M3A1 submachine gun
Often known as the Grease Gun, issued in .45 or the rarer 9mm calibres with a 30 round magazine.
M4A3E2 Jumbo
Additional armour version of the M4A3, occasionally upgunned to the M1 76mm but mainly equipped with the standard M3 75mm. Vehicle was slower because of the extra weight.
M4A3E8
M4 Sherman armed with the 76mm HV gun.
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.
Mamont
Russian word for Mammoth.
Manhattan Project
Research and development project aimed at producing the first atomic bomb.
Marmon-Herrington
Built in South Africa, this vehicle went through a series of upgrades, from Mk I to Mk IV and carried a range of weapons up to and including a 2pdr main gun.
Maskirovka
Soviets have a fondness for deception and misdirection and Maskirovka is an essential of any undertaking.
Matrose
German naval term for a common sailor.
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.
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.
Midori Takushi
Green taxi [Japanese]
Mikoyan-9
The first turbojet fighter developed by the USSR. [It’s first flight was in 1946 but I have brought that forward in the belief that the war would have spurred the Soviets on.]
Mills Bomb
British fragmentation hand grenade.
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 submachine gun, often known as the Bergmann.
MP40
German submachine gun.
MP-40
German standard issue submachine gun.
MTB
Motor Torpedo Boat, armed with 2 or 4 torpedoes, plus machine-guns and Oerlikons.
Mugalev
Soviet heavy mine roller gear, normally attached to T34 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.
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.
Oerlikon
A 20mm cannon, originally German in design and still in use today. Used by all participants, the Oerlikon could be found in aircraft and ships from both sides.
OFLAG XVIIa
Offizierslager or OfLag No 17A, prisoner of war camp run by the Germans for officer detainees.
Opel Blitz
German medium transport lorry.
Operation Kurgan
Soviet joint-operation to employ paratroopers, Naval Marines, NKVD agents and collaborators to attack and neutralise airfields, radar, communications and logistic bases throughout Europe. Subsequently enlarged to include assassinations of Allied senior officers.