| "88"
| German 88-mm. high-velocity dual-purpose antiaircraft and antitank piece |
| Ersatzheer
| German Replacement Army |
| ETO
| European Theater of Operations |
| ExecO
| Executive officer |
| FA
| Field artillery |
| Feldheer
| German Field Army |
| Flak
| Antiaircraft |
| FM
| Frequency modulation |
| FO
| Field order |
| Fuesilier battalion
| Separate infantry battalion performing both reconnaissance and support in German division |
| FUSA
| First United States Army |
| FWD
| Forward headquarters |
| G-1
| Personnel officer or section of divisional or higher staff |
| G-2
| Intelligence officer or section |
| G-3
| Operations officer or section |
| G-4
| Supply officer or section |
| Grazing fire
| Fire which is approximately parallel to the ground and does not rise above the height of a man, standing |
| Half-track
| Combination wheeled and tracked armored personnel carrier |
| H-hour
| Exact time on D-day at which a specific operation commences |
| Hilfswillige
| Volunteer auxiliaries (non-German) |
| Hist
| History |
| Hp
| Horsepower |
| Hq
| Headquarters |
| Incl
| Inclosure |
| Inf
| Infantry |
| Info
| Information |
| Intell
| Intelligence |
| JCS
| Joint Chiefs of Staff |
| JIC
| Joint Intelligence Committee |
| Jnl
| Journal |
| Jump-off
| Start of a planned ground attack |
| Kampfgruppe
| German task force |
| Kampfkommandant
| German combat commander |
| Kampfstaerke
| Combat effective strength |
| Landesschuetzen
| Home Guard battalion sometimes employed outside Germany |
| LCM
| Landing craft, medium |
| LCVP
| Landing craft, vehicle and personnel |
| Ltr
| Letter |
| Luftwaffe
| German Air Force |
| LVT
| Landing vehicle, tracked |
| M1 (Garand)
| American semiautomatic rifle |
| M4 (Sherman)
| American medium tank |
| M10
| American tank destroyer with 3-inch gun |
| M26 (Pershing)
| American medium tank mounting a 90-mm. gun |
| M36
| American tank destroyer mounting a high-velocity 110-mm. piece |
| Marching fire
| Firing by troops while erect and advancing |
| Mark IV
| German medium tank |
| Mark V (Panther)
| German medium tank with heavy armor and high-velocity gun |
| Mark VI (Tiger)
| German heavy tank |
| Min
| Minutes |
| Mm
| Millimeter |
| MS(S)
| Manuscript(s) |
| Msg
| Message |
| NAF
| Symbol for messages from the Combined Chiefs of Staff to the Commander in Chief, Allied Expeditionary Force |
| Nebelwerfer
| Multiple-barrel 150-mm. mortar or rocket launcher mounted on wheels and fired electrically |
| NUSA
| Ninth United States Army |
| OB NEDERLANDER
| Oberbefehlshaber Nederlander (Headquarters, Commander in Chief Netherlands) |
| OB NORDWEST
| Oberbefehlshaber Nordwest (Headquarters, Commander in Chief Northwest [northwest Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands]) |
| OB NW
| See OB NORDWEST |
| OB SUED
| Oberbefehlshaber Sued (Headquarters, Commander in Chief South [southern Germany and several army groups on the Eastern Front]) |
| OB WEST
| Oberbefehlshaber West (Headquarters, Commander in Chief West [France, Belgium, and the Netherlands]) |
| OCMH
| Office, Chief of Military History |
| OKH
| Oberkommando des Heeres (Army High Command) |
| OKW
| Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (High Command of the Armed Forces) |
| OPD
| Operations Division |
| Opn(s)
| Operation(s) |
| Opnl
| Operational |
| Panzerfaust
| One-shot, shaped-charge antitank weapon |
| Plunging fire
| Gunfire that strikes the earth's surface at a high angle |
| POZIT
| Proximity fuze |
| PX
| Post Exchange |
| RAMPS
| Recovered Allied Military Personnel |
| Ranger
| Soldier specially trained to make surprise attacks on enemy territory |
| Ret
| Retired |
| Rpt
| Report |
| S-2
| Intelligence officer or section of regimental or lower staff |
| S-3
| Operations officer or section |
| SACMED
| Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean Theater |
| SCAF
| Designates cables from Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, to the Combined Chiefs of Staff |
| SCR
| Set complete radio |
| Seamule
| 38-foot tug powered by two 143-hp. engines |
| Sec
| Section |
| SGS
| Secretary, General Staff |
| SHAEF
| Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force |
| Sitrep
| Situation report |
| S-mine
| German antipersonnel mine |
| SS
| Schutzstaffel (Elite Guard) |
| Storm boat
| Metal ponton propelled by 50-hp. outboard motor |
| Sub
| Subject |
| Sum
| Summary |
| SUSA
| Seventh United States Army |
| T26
| See M26 |
| TAC
| Tactical Air Command |
| Tagesstaerke
| Present for duty strength |
| TD
| Tank destroyer |
| Telecon
| Telephone conversation |
| T-forces
| Special forces designated to search for items of scientific value |
| TM
| Technical manual |
| TOT
| Time on target, a method of timing artillery fire from various points to fall on a given target simultaneously |
| Tree burst
| Explosion of shells against trees, designed to destroy troops underneath |
| TUSA
| Third United States Army |
| TWX
| Teletypewriter exchange |
| USA
| United States Army |
| USAF
| United States Air Force |
| USAREUR
| United States Army, Europe |
| USNR
| United States Naval Reserve |
| V-2
| German supersonic rocket |
| Volksdeutsche
| "Racial Germans" from border areas of adjacent countries |
| Volks Grenadier
| Honorific accorded by Hitler to certain infantry divisions |
| Volkssturm
| A people's militia, partially organized in one of the last steps of German mobilization for total war |
| VT
| Variable time (fuze) |
| Waffen-SS
| Military arm of the Nazi party |
