Impasse

TOE: Table of Organisation and Equipment.

Tokarev: Soviet 7.62mm automatic handgun [also known as TT30] with an 8 round magazine.

Trimbach: Quality Alsatian wine.

Trunnion: Heavy metal mounts either side of a gun barrel.

TU-2, Tupolev: Soviet twin-engine medium bomber. Extremely successful design that performed well in a variety of roles, the TU-2 is considered one of the best combat aircraft of WW2.

Type XXI submarine: The most technologically advanced submarine of the era, produced in small numbers by the Germans and unable to affect the outcome of the war.

Typhoon, Hawker: RAF’s most successful single seater ground attack aircraft of World War Two, which could carry anything from bombs through to rockets.

U-Boat Type XX: 30 such U-Boats were planned, but none produced during WW2. They were intended as pure supply boats, shorter than the Type XB but with a wider beam.

U-Boat Type XXI: Advanced U-Boat design capable of extended underwater cruising at high speed.

UHU: German 251 halftrack mounting an infra-red searchlight, designed for close use with infra-red equipped Panther units.

USAAF: United States Army Air Force.

Ushanka: Fur hat with adjustable sides.

Vampir: German term for the ST44 equipped with an infra-red sight, also used to refer to the operators of such weapons.

Venona Project: Joint US-UK operation to analyse Soviet message traffic

Vichy: Name of the collaborationist government of defeated France.

Vickers Machine-Gun: British designed machine-gun of WW1 vintage. Extremely reliable .303 calibre weapon, standard issue as a heavy machine-gun.

Wacht am Rhein: Literally, ‘Watch on the Rhine’, a codename used to mask the real purpose of the German build-up that became the Ardennes Offensive in December 1944.

Walther P38: German 9mm semi-automatic pistol with an eight round magazine.

Wanderer W23 Cabriolet: German vehicle designed for civilian use, sometimes pressed into military service, particularly as a staff car.

Wehrmacht: The German Army.

Welrod: British silenced pistol that was magazine fed and primed by a bolt action. Used by SOE, OSS and resistance groups throughout Europe. The weapon remains in service to this day.

Winnie: Slang term for a British Churchill Tank.

Yak-6: Twin engine aircraft that could be either a light bomber or light transport.

Yakolev-9: Soviet single-seater fighter aircraft that was highly respected by the Luftwaffe.

Yakolev-9U: Soviet single-engine fighter aircraft, probably the best Soviet high-altitude fighter.

Zakusochny: Russian soft blue cheese.

Zilant: Legendary creature in Russian folklore somewhat like a dragon

Zimmerit: Anti-magnetic paste applied to the side of German vehicles.

ZiS-3: 76.2mm anti-tank gun in Soviet use.

Zrinyi II: Hungarian assault gun equipped with either a 75mm or 105mm gun.

ZSU-37: Soviet light self-propelled anti-aircraft vehicle, mounting a 37mm gun.

The full text of the poem ‘Wait for me’ by Konstantin Simonov

to Valentina Serova

Wait for me and I’ll come back!
Wait with all you’ve got!
Wait, when dreary yellow rains
Tell you that you should not.

Wait when snow is falling fast,
Wait when summer’s hot,
Wait when yesterdays are past,
Others are forgot.

Wait, when from that far-off place,
Letters don’t arrive.
Wait, when those with whom you wait
Doubt if I’m alive.

Wait for me and I’ll come back!
Wait in patience yet
When they tell you off by heart
That you should forget.

Even when my dearest ones
Say that I am lost,
Even when my friends give up,
Sit and count the cost,

Drink a glass of bitter wine
To the fallen friend –
Wait! And do not drink with them!
Wait until the end!

Wait for me and I’ll come back,
Dodging every fate!
“What a bit of luck!” they’ll say,
Those that would not wait.

They will never understand
How amidst the strife,
By your waiting for me, dear,
You had saved my life.

Only you and I will know
How you got me through.
Simply – you knew how to wait –
No one else but you.

[Courtesy of www.simonov.co.uk, with my thanks.]

Bibliography

Rosignoli, Guido

The Allied Forces in Italy 1943-45

ISBN 0-7153-92123

Kleinfeld & Tambs, Gerald R. & Lewis A.

Hitler’s Spanish Legion – The Blue Division in Russia

ISBN 0-9767380-8-2

Delaforce, Patrick

The Black Bull – From Normandy to the Baltic with the 11th Armoured Division

ISBN 0-75370-350-5

Taprell-Dorling, H.

Ribbons and Medals

SBN 0-540-07120-X

Pettibone, Charles D.

The Organisation and Order of Battle of Militaries in World War II

Volume V – Book B, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

ISBN 978-1-4269-0281-9

Pettibone, Charles D.

The Organisation and Order of Battle of Militaries in World War II

Volume V – Book A, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

ISBN 978-1-4269-2551-0

Pettibone, Charles D.

The Organisation and Order of Battle of Militaries in World War II

Volume VI – Italy and France, Including the Neutral Conutries of San Marino, Vatican City [Holy See], Andorra and Monaco

ISBN 978-1-4269-4633-2

Pettibone, Charles D.

The Organisation and Order of Battle of Militaries in World War II

Volume II – The British Commonwealth

ISBN 978-1-4120-8567-5

Chamberlain & Doyle, Peter & Hilary L.

Encyclopedia of German Tanks in World War Two

ISBN 0-85368-202-X

Chamberlain & Ellis, Peter & Chris

British and American Tanks of World War Two

ISBN 0-85368-033-7

Dollinger, Hans

The Decline and fall of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan

ISBN 0-517-013134

Zaloga & Grandsen, Steven J. & James

Soviet Tanks and Combat Vehicles of World War Two

ISBN 0-85368-606-8

Hogg, Ian V.

The Encyclopedia of Infantry Weapons of World War II

ISBN 0-85368-281-X

Hogg, Ian V.

British & American Artillery of World War 2

ISBN 0-85368-242-9

Hogg, Ian V.

German Artillery of World War Two

ISBN 0-88254-311-3

Bellis, Malcolm A.

Divisions of the British Army 1939-45

ISBN 0-9512126-0-5

Bellis, Malcolm A.

Brigades of the British Army 1939-45

ISBN 0-9512126-1-3

Rottman, Gordon L.

FUBAR, Soldier Slang of World War II

ISBN 978-1-84908-137-5

Schneider, Wolfgang

Tigers in Combat 1