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 Cocktaiclass="underline" 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 T-34 tanks.
Mustang: P51 Mustang, US single seat long-range fighter armed with 6 x .50cal machine-guns.
Nagant pistoclass="underline" 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.
Operation Sumerechny: Soviet plan to remove German leadership elements from their prisoners. All officer ranks from captain upwards were to be executed.
Operation Unthinkable: Study ordered by Churchill to examine the feasibility of an Allied assault on Soviet held Northern Germany.
Operation Varsity: The largest single airborne operation of WW2, undertaken in in March 1945, Varsity involved dropping over 16,000 paratroopers to the east of the Rhine.
OSS: US Intelligence agency formed during 2, The Office of Strategic Services was the predecessor of the CIA, and was set up to coordinate espionage activities in occupied areas.
P.O.L.: Petrol, oil and lubricants.
Panther: German medium tank, considered by many to be the finest tank design of WW2. Armed with a high-velocity 75mm, it could stand its ground against anything in the Allied arsenal.
Pantomine: Operation Pantomine was part of the Spectrum original planning but was allocated its own codename when the scope of the operation expanded.
Panzer IV: German tank, which served throughout the war in many guises, mainly with a 75mm gun.
Panzer V: See Panther Tank
Panzer VI: See Tiger Tank
Panzerfaust: German single use anti-tank weapon. Highly effective but short ranged.
Panzerjager: Antitank troop[s] [German]
Panzerkanonier: Tank gunner
Panzertruppen: The German tank crews.
PanzerVIb: See King Tiger Tank
PE-2: The Soviet Petlyakov PE-2 was a twin-engine multi-purpose aircraft considered by the Luftwaffe to be a fine opponent.
PEM scope: Soviet sniper scope for Mosin and SVT rifles.
PIAT: Acronym for Projector, Infantry, Anti-tank, the PIAT used a large spring to hurl its hollow charge shell at an enemy.
Plan Chelyabinsk: Soviet assault plan utilising lend-lease equipment in Western Allies markings.
Plan Diaspora: Soviet overall plan for assaulting in the East and for supporting the new Japanese Allies.
Plan Kathleen: IRA plan for the German invasion of Ireland combined with an Irish uprising. Sometimes referred to as the Artus Plan, Stephen Hayes, the IRA Chief of Staff, arranged for it to be drawn up in 1940. It was military unfeasible.
Plan 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.
Plan Zilant: The Soviet paratrooper operations against the four symposiums, detailed as Zilant-1 through Zilant-4.
PLUTO: Acronym for ‘Pipeline-under-the-ocean’, which was a fuel supply pipe that ran from Britain to France, laid for D-Day operations and still in use at the end of the war.
PPD: Soviet submachine gun capable of phenomenal rate of fire. Mostly equipped with a 72 round drum magazine but 65 rounds were normally fitted to avoid jamming. It was too complicated and was replaced by the PPSH.
PPS: Simple Soviet submachine gun with a 35 round magazine.
PPSh: Soviet submachine gun capable of phenomenal rate of fire. Mostly equipped with a 72 round drum magazine but 65 rounds were normally fitted to avoid jamming.
Pravda: Leading newspaper of the Soviet Union, Pravda is translated as ‘Truth’.
PS84: Passenger Aircraft built at factory 84, the initial designation of the Li-2 transport aircraft.
PT-34: Soviet T-34/76 with mine clearing Mugalev attachment.
PTAB: Each Shturmovik could carry four pods containing 48 bomblets, or up to 280 internally. Each bomblet could penetrate up to 70mm of armour, enough for the main battle tanks at the time.