World War II Glossary

World War II Glossary (terms related to World War II):

Appeasement - British and French political strategy of ceding territory to Hitler in return for his promise that he will not ask for any more.
Allies - Great Britain, France, the United States, the Soviet Union, China, et al.
Amphibious - Going from the sea to land
Anschluss - 1938 invasion and annexation of Austria by Germany
Armor - Tank units
Aryan - Nazi racial ideal of a tall, blue-eyed, blond-haired German
Axis - Germany, Italy, Japan, et al.
B-17 Flying Fortress - Allied bomber used in Europe. Features multiple defensive machine guns.
B-29 Superfortress - Allied bomber used in the Pacific. Dropped the atomic bombs.
Bazooka - shoulder-fired anti-tank rocket launcher carried by Allied soldiers
Battle of the Bulge - German winter offensive against Allies in Belgium and Luxembourg. Last major German offensive of the war.
German battleship Bismarck - Large battleship that sank the HMS Hood and broke out into the Atlantic Ocean while being pursued by the British
Bocage - Hedgerow terrain in Normandy. Favors defense. Slowed Allied attack.
Blitzkrieg - "Lightning war". German tactics including rapid penetration with tanks, dive-bomber attacks, and disruption of Allied rear areas
Neville Chamberlain - British Prime Minister before the war and during the beginning. Appeased Hitler.
Winston Churchill - British Prime Minister during war
Communism - Violent, totalitarian form of socialism that seeks world revolution. The Soviet Union was communist.
D-Day - First day of Allied invasion of Normandy, featuring paratroop drops and amphibious beach assaults
Charles de Gaulle - Leader of the Free French forces who later became Prime Minister of France
Dictatorship - Form of government where one leader has absolute power
Il Duce - Italian for "the leader". Title for Benito Mussolini.
Enigma - German electromechanical equipment used for encrypting radio messages
Fascism - violent far-right ideology which says that the nation is more important than the individual. Seeks to establish dictatorships.
Final Solution - German euphemism for genocide of the Jews
Fuhrer - Adolf Hitler's title as leader of Germany
Gestapo - Nazi secret police, known for torturing their victims
Gustav Line - German line of fortifications in central Italy, south of Rome, anchored by Monte Cassino
Hedgerow - Tall line of shrubberies common on farms in Normandy. Good terrain for defense. Slowed Allied attack.
Adolf Hitler - Nazi dictator of Germany. Killed himself at the end of the war.
Holocaust - Organized murder of six million Jews by Germany
Lend-Lease - Program where the United States supplied the Allies with equipment and supplies
Kursk - largest tank battle in history. Summer 1943, Soviet Union.
Lebensraum - breathing space, rationale for German land conquests in the east.
Liberty ships - Mass-produced cargo ships made in the United States
Locarno Conference - 1925 agreement renouncing war, guaranteeing Franco-German border, and German-Polish border to be arbitrated
Luftwaffe - German air force
Maginot Line - Impregnable line of fortifications built by France to prevent a German invasion
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact - German and Soviet non-aggression pact agreeing to divide Poland between them
Mulberries - towable floating harbors that were brought along on D-Day and used for offloading supplies
Munich Agreement - Treaty where Great Britain and France gave up part of Czechoslovakia in an act of appeasement.
Nazi - German nationalist movement led by Adolf Hitler that sought to establish ethnic Germans as masters of the world
Nazi Stormtrooper (aka Brown Shirts or SA) - Nazi paramilitary group, led by Ernst Roehm, that helped to bring Hitler to power through violence and intimidation.
Normandy - Peninsula in northwestern France, site of the Allied amphibious invasion
Nuremberg Trials - Post-war trials where leading Nazis were convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death or imprisonment
Operation Market Garden - Allied attempt to invade Holland, capture intact bridge across the Rhine, and end the war by Christmas 1944
Operation Overlord - Allied invasion of Normandy, starting with D-Day.
Operation Torch - Allied invasion of North Africa (landings in Morocco and Algeria)
Panzers - German tanks
Philippe Petain - French war hero from World War I who collaborated with the Germans to set up Vichy France
Rhineland - Industrialized region in western Germany. Remilitarized by Hitler in 1936 in violation of Treaty of Versailles.
Franklin Roosevelt - American President through most of the war. Died just before the end.
Royal Air Force (RAF) - British air force
Royal Navy - British navy
Siege of Leningrad - Large Soviet city surrounded by Germans for years while citizens starve
Slav - Ethnic group including Russians, Ukrainians, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Serbs, et al.
SS or Schutzstaffel - elite German army units personally loyal to Hitler. Ideologically motivated, and involved with many war crimes
Joseph Stalin - Communist dictator, leader of the Soviet Union
Sherman tank - Tank used primarily by the Americans and British, it was mass-produced and reliable, but weaker than the heaviest German tanks
Stalingrad - Germans surrounded and forced to surrender in winter battle in Russia. Turning point of war on the Eastern Front.
Spitfire - British fighter plane that helped win the Battle of Britain
Stavka - High command of the armed forces of the Soviet Union.
Stukas - German dive bombers fitted with sirens to sound scary as they make their attacks
Sudetenland - Mountainous region in northern Czechoslovakia with a local German majority
Totalitarianism - Form of government where the state regulates every aspect of life
Treaty of Versailles - Treaty signed in 1919 that formally ended World War I. Germany to disarm, pay reparations, and lose some territory
Harry Truman - American president for last months of war. Decided to drop the atomic bombs on Japan.
U-boat - German submarine
V-1 rocket - "Buzz bombs", cruise missiles developed by Germany to strike England. Have stubby wings and fly level. Can be knocked down.
V-2 rocket - Ballistic missiles developed by Germany to strike England. Have very high arc-like trajectory. Cannot be intercepted.
Valkyrie - Code name for German resistance plot to kill Hitler in 1944
V-E Day - May 8, 1945. Germany surrendered. Victory in Europe.
Vichy France - Puppet state set up in southern France after the Fall of France
V-J Day - August 15, 1945. Japan surrendered. Victory over Japan.
Volkssturm - German militia
Wernher von Braun - Nazi rocket scientist, recruited by the United States after the war to develop nuclear missiles and the space program
Wannsee Conference - January 1942, Nazis decide to exterminate the Jews.
Wehrmacht - the German army (not including the SS)
Zyklon-B - poisonous compound used in the gas chambers at the death camps