Glossary of Army Terms and Abbreviations

 

AA Anti Aircraft (guns or shells)
AFV Armoured Fighting Vehicle
AMGOT Allied Military Government of Occupied Territory
AP Armour Piercing shell
ARV Armoured Recovery Vehicle
AT Anti Tank gun
AVRE Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers (modified Churchill tank)
AWD Allied War Department
BAOR British Army of the Rhine
Besa 7.92mm machine gun mounted co-axially with main turret gun
Br. Brigade or brigade headquarters
BWEF British Western Expeditionary Force
CB Confined to Barracks
CI Chief Instructor
CMP Corps of Military Police
Cpl Corporal
DM Driver Mechanic
D&M Driving & Maintenance
DO Driver Operator
DP Displaced Person
DR Dispatch Rider
DSO Distinguished Service Order
EME Electrical & Mechanical Engineers
Emb Embarcation
FDS Field (or Forward) Dressing Station
FDS Forward Deliver Squadron (vehicle & crew replacement)
FFI Free From Infection
FFI French Forces of Interior (resistance groups)
FUP Forming Up Point
GM Gunner Mechanic
GO Gunner Operator
HE High Explosive shell
Honey Small light reconnaisance tank
HQ Headquarters
I/C In command (e.g 2i/c)
IO Intelligence Officer
KOYLIS King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry
Laager Tank harbour, all round defensive position
LAD Light Aid Detachment (under REME control)
LCT Landing Craft Tanks
LOB Left Out of Battle (official rest period)
LST Landing Ship Tanks
MC Military Cross
ME Messerschmidt ME109 fighter aircraft
MG Machine Gun
Minnies German Nebelwerfer mortars (“Moaning Minnies”)
Mitchells American B25 twin-engine medium fighter-bomber
Mk IV German medium Panzer tank
MM Military Medal
MO Medical Officer
MT Motor Transport
M & V Meat & Vegetables
Nebelwerfer German mortar – also known as “Moaning Minnies”
O.D. Other Denomination (religious)
Panther German tank with the dreaded 88mm gun
Petard 25lb. AVRE-mounted mortar to penetrate concrete
PIAT Projector Infantry Anti-Tank (spigot bomb launcher)
POW Prisoner Of War
RASC Royal Army Service Corps
R.E. Royal Engineers
REME Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers. Same as EME
RO Reconnaisance Officer
RSM Regimental Sergeant Major
RTG Richard Trevor Greenwood, author of this diary
RTR Royal Tank Regiment
SGT Sergeant
Sherman American tank
SP Self-propelled guns for anti-tank work
Spandau German rapid-fire machine gun
SQMS Squadron Quarter Master Sergeant
SQN Squadron
SSM Squadron Sergeant Major
Stonk Heavy barrage of mortar fire
TDU Tank Delivery Unit
Tiger German tank
TP Tank Park
Tpr Trooper
Typhoon British (Hawker) low level fighter-bomber
W/T Watertight