Glossary
ADGB Air Defence of Great Britain
ANVIL Codename for the Allied invasion of southern France, later designated DRAGOON
AOC Air Officer Commanding
AVRE Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers – Churchill tank mounted with Petard short-range heavy mortar, and various devices for bridging and ditching
BAR Browning Automatic Rifle – American squad light machine-gun
Battalion Basic infantry unit of 600–1,000 men in all armies in Normandy, sub-divided into four rifle companies and a support company of 100-plus men each, with organic anti-tank guns, heavy machine-guns and mortars. Companies were divided into platoons of three or four rifle squads, each commanded by a corporal – or an NCO in the German army.
Bazooka American infantry anti-tank rocket-projector
BEF British Expeditionary Force
BGS Brigadier General Staff
Bren .303 British squad light machine-gun
Brigade British nomenclature for a formation normally composed of three infantry or tank battalions – roughly equivalent in strength to a German or American regiment
CC Combat Command
CIGS Chief of the Imperial General Staff
COBRA American breakout operation, 25–29 July
Corps A group of divisions assembled under the command of a lieutenant-general, their number and identity varying constantly according to the task for which the corps is being employed.
COSSAC Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander
CP Command post
CSM Company Sergeant-Major
DCLI Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry
DD Duplex-Drive amphibious Sherman tank
DF Defensive fire
Division The basic formation through which all armies are controlled, commanded by a major-general and comprising 12–18,000 men. A British armoured division in Normandy normally comprised two tank brigades, one infantry. The Americans preferred to divide the armoured division into two ‘Combat Commands’ (CC), A and B, each in the hands of a brigadier-general.
DUKW Duplex-Drive amphibious truck
EPSOM 2nd Army’s attacks to the Orne and beyond, 26 June to 1 July
Flail Tank mounted with chains on a revolving drum for minesweeping
FORTITUDE Allied deception plan for OVERLORD
FUSAG First US Army Group – the fictitious army commanded by Patton, whose supposed threat to the Pas de Calais was central to FORTITUDE
GOODWOOD British attack on the Bourge´bus ridge, 18–21 July
GSO General Staff Officer (grades I, II or III)
HE High Explosive
Kangaroo Canadian infantry armoured personnel carrier improvised from self-propelled gun mountings
KOSB King’s Own Scottish Borderers
KRRC King’s Royal Rifle Corps
KSLI King’s Own Shropshire Light Infantry
LCA Landing Craft Assault
LCI Landing Craft Infantry
LCT Landing Craft Tank
LCVP Landing Craft Vehicle and Personnel
LST Landing Ship Tank
ML Motor launch
NCO Non-commissioned officer
NEPTUNE Naval assault phase of OVERLORD
ODs American army combat clothing
OKW Oberkommando der Wehrmacht – high command of the German armed forces
OP Observation post
OSS Office of Strategic Services, the American wartime foreign intelligence service
Panzerfaust German hand-held infantry anti-tank weapon
Petard Short-range tank-mounted heavy mortar
PIAT Projector Infantry Anti-Tank – British hand-held platoon anti-tank weapon
POINTBLANK Pre-OVERLORD strategic bombing of Germany
Priest British self-propelled mounting for 25-pounder
PT Patrol Torpedo boat
RAC Royal Armoured Corps
RAOC Royal Army Ordnance Corps
Regiment American or German equivalent of a British brigade, normally composed of three battalions, commanded by an American brigadier-general or German colonel
REME Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
ROUNDUP Plan for an Allied invasion of Europe in 1943, superseded by OVERLORD
RTR Royal Tank Regiment
SAS Special Air Service
SHAEF Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force
SOE Special Operations Executive
Spandau Allied shorthand for German MG 34 or MG 42 machine-guns
TOT Time On Target concentrated artillery, a speciality of American gunners, although practised by all armies
TOTALIZE Canadian army attack towards Falaise, 8–11 August
TRACTABLE Canadian attack towards Falaise, 14–16 August
Vickers British .303 water-cooled heavy machine-gun – the infantry battalion support weapon