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.
Merville Battery: German gun battery assaulted by the British 9th Para Battalion on D-Day.
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.
Mills Bomb: British fragmentation hand grenade.
Minox: Gained notoriety as the first ‘miniature’ spy camera.
Mitsubishi Ki-46: Japanese twin-engine reconnaissance aircraft.
Mlad: Codename of Theodore Hall, Nuclear Physicist, and Soviet Agent.
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 sub-machine gun, often known as the Bergmann.
MP-40: German standard issue submachine-gun.
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.
NKGB: Narodny Komissariat Gosudarstvennoi Bezopasnosti, the Soviet Secret Police, separated from the NKVD in 1942 and absorbed once more in 1946.
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.
OFLAG XVIIa: Offizierslager or OfLag No 17A, prisoner of war camp run by the Germans for officer detainees.
Operation Anviclass="underline" August 1944 landing in Southern France.
Operation Apple Pie: US project to capture German officers with specific knowledge about the Soviet Union’s industry and economy.
Operation Berkut: Soviet land operation designed to push through the Alsatian plain and break into France via Colmar.
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 Paperclip: OSS project to recruit German Scientist to the Allied cause post May 1945.
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 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 heavy-medium tank, considered by many, to be the finest tank design of WW2. Armed with a high-velocity 75mm and 2-3 machine-guns, it could stand its ground against anything in the Allied arsenal and considered by many to be the finest all-round tank of World War 2.
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.
Panzer VIb: 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 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.
Pointe-du-Hoc: Cliff face and bunker position near Omaha beach, Normandy, assaulted by US 2nd Ranger Battalion on D-Day.
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.
PU scope: Soviet sniper scope for Mosin and SVT rifles.
Puma: German eight-wheel armoured car with a 50mm and enclosed turret.
Pyat: In Russian, the number five.
Ranger, USS: US Aircraft carrier [CV-4], Survived WW2 and was scrapped in 1947.
RCT: Regimental Combat Team. US formation that normally consisted of elements drawn from all combatant units within the parent division, making it a smaller but reasonably self-sufficient unit. RCT’s tended to be numbered according the Infantry regiment that supplied its fighting core. [See CC for US Armored force equivalent.]