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World War IIThe interactive parts of this resource no longer work, but it has been archived so you can continue using the rest of it.
| Air Raid Precautions | Measures taken against air attack on British cities. Also the name of the government department in charge of air defence |
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| Allies | Term generally used to describe the USA, British Empire and their allies in WW2 |
| Artillery | Heavy guns |
| Atomic Bomb | Powerful bomb that could destroy cities and used by the USA against Japan in 1945 |
| Auschwitz | Death camp where many thousands of Jews, gypsies and other groups were murdered by the Nazis from 1942-45 |
| Axis | Alliance of Germany, Italy and Japan in WW2 |
| Barbarossa | Codename for the German invasion of the USSR (Russia) in 1941 |
| Battle of Britain | Campaign in 1940 to prevent German invasion of Britain that involved the RAF, Royal Navy and Army |
| Belsen | Concentration camp in Germany that was liberated by the British in 1945 |
| Blitz | Heavy and frequent bombing raids carried out over British cities, ports and industrial areas from 1940-1941 |
| Blitzkrieg | The German for "lighting war". A swift, sudden military attack using bomber aircraft to support fast moving tanks and motor vehicles |
| Boycott | Avoid, reject, blacklist |
| British Expeditionary Force (BEF) | British forces which fought against the Germans in France in 1940 |
| Camouflage | Covering up weapons, buildings, troops or equipment so that they are difficult to see |
| Casualties | People killed and/or wounded in war |
| Caucasus | Region in southern USSR rich in oil |
| Censorship | Banning or deleting any information of value to the enemy |
| Churchill, Winston | British Prime Minister in WW2 from 1940-1945 |
| Civilian | Person not belonging to the armed forces |
| Cold War | A state of political tension and military rivalry between nations that stops short of full-scale war, especially that which existed between the United States and Soviet Union following WW2 |
| Collaborate | To work with, or co-operate with, usually referring to people who co-operated with forces who had taken over their countries |
| Colossus | British machine designed to break secret German codes |
| Commonwealth | Countries that were formerly part of the British Empire (e.g. Canada, New Zealand) |
| Communism | Political system that believes in the importance of the working classes and regards individual freedom as less important than the good of society as a whole |
| Concentration Camp | Camps in Germany used by the Nazis to hold and torture their opponents, not the same as death camps. However, many died in such camps |
| Convoy | A ship, fleet, or group of vehicles accompanied by a protecting escort |
| D-Day | Allied invasion of German held France in June 1944 |
| De Gaulle, Charles | Leader of the Free French forces that were based in Britain after the fall of France in 1940 |
| Death Camp | Camps for killing racial groups, especially Jews, which the Nazis considered to be inferior |
| Democracy | System of government based on people voting for their leaders with a strong emphasis on the freedom of the individual |
| Dowding, Sir Hugh | Head of the Royal Air Force |
| Dunkirk | Seaport in Northern France and site of the evacuation of British forces from May 29-June 4, 1940 |
| Dysentery | Serious illness usually caused by poor food or infected water supplies |
| Enigma | Machine used by German forces to turn their messages into code. It was supposed to be unbreakable but was cracked by British intelligence |
| Evacuation | The withdrawal or removal of troops or civilians |
| Extermination Camp | See Death Camp |
| Fascism | Originally, the term "fascism" (fascismo) was used by the political movement that ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. A system of government that opposes individual freedom and democracy, is anti-communist and favours extreme nationalism |
| Fifth Column | People willing to cooperate with the enemy against their own country |
| Final Solution | Nazi plan to kill the entire Jewish population in Europe dating from spring 1942, although hundreds of thousands of Jews already had been killed by death squads and in mass pogroms (see below) before this time |
| Focke-Wulf | A type of German aircraft |
| Free French | French forces who did not surrender to Germans in 1940 and escaped to Britain |
| George Cross | Medal for individual acts of outstanding bravery carried out by civilians. The award was created by King George VI in 1940 |
| Gestapo | German Secret Police |
| Ghetto | A poor section of a city that is inhabited by people mainly of the same race, religion, or social background, often because of discrimination |
| Goering, Hermann | Head of the German Air Force and high-ranking Nazi leader |
| Himmler, Heinrich | Head of the SS and high-ranking Nazi leader |
| Hitler, Adolf | Leader of Germany in WW2 and head of the Nazi party |
| Holocaust | The mass murder of around 6 million Jews and other racial groups by the Nazis in WW2 |
| Hurricane | British fighter plane |
| Infiltrate | To move into an organization, country or territory, secretly |
| Internment | The practice of detaining persons considered dangerous during a war. For example, Americans of Japanese descent were held in internment camps in the USA |
| Iron Curtain | Phrase used by Winston Churchill to describe the division of Europe after WW2 into Communist East and non Communist West |
| Juno | Codename for one of the beaches in the D-Day landings of 1944, also known as Canadian beach as Canadian forces used it |
| Lebensraum | This was the name given to Hitler's policy to provide extra "living space" for the German population by conquest of the lands of Eastern Europe and the USSR |
| Lend Lease | Scheme introduced by US President Roosevelt in 1941 to give Britain military equipment in WW2 on very easy terms |
| Logbook | A book in which details of a trip made by a ship or aircraft are recorded |
| Luftwaffe | German Air Force |
| Maquis | The French underground movement, or Resistance that fought the Germans while they controlled France 1940-44 |
| Memorandum | An official note or statement |
| Messerschmitt | Type of German aircraft |
| MI5 | Military Intelligence Department 5. This is the Security Service for the UK. The Service has played a secret role over the past century in countering the activities of terrorists and spies |
| MI6 | Military Intelligence Department 6. This is the Secret Intelligence Service, and undertakes spy missions overseas |
| Midway | Decisive naval battle in 1942 in which the US destroyed several Japanese aircraft carriers |
| Ministry of Information | British government department that controlled information and propaganda |
| Montgomery, Bernard | Leading British general in WW2 |
| Morale | Spirits, mood, or confidence of a person or group |
| Mulberry harbour | An artificial floating harbour built to supply the D-Day landing forces in 1944 |
| Mussolini, Benito | Leader of Italy in WW2 and head of Italian Fascist party |
| National Government | British government made up of politicians from Conservative, Labour and Liberal parties |
| Nazi party | Ruling political party in Germany 1933-45, headed by Adolf Hitler. (The National Socialist German Worker's Party) |
| Nuremberg | German city famous for Nazi rallies and chosen as site for trials of Nazi war criminals after WW2 |
| Omaha | Codename for one of the beaches in the D-Day landings of 1944 |
| Operation Dynamo | Codename for the evacuation of British and French forces from Dunkirk in 1940 |
| Operation PLUTO | (Pipe-lines under the Ocean) was the plan to build undersea oil pipelines between Britain and France to keep Allied forces supplied with fuel after the D-Day landings in 1944 |
| Operation Sealion | Codename for the planned invasion of Britain by German forces in 1940-41 |
| Operation Torch | Codename for the British and US advance to drive German and Italian forces out of North Africa |
| Panzer | German tank |
| Paratroopers | Specially trained soldiers who could be dropped by parachute into enemy territory |
| Pearl Harbor | Main US naval base, attacked by Japanese forces in December 1941 |
| Potsdam | Suburb of Berlin and location for the conference between Britain, USA and USSR towards the end of WW2 |
| Pogrom | Riot directed against a particular group, ethnic, religious or other, usually involving the destruction of their homes, businesses or religious centres |
| Propaganda | Spreading a particular message in order to influence public opinion |
| Radar | Electronic system for detecting aircraft, ships, motor vehicles or weather formations |
| RDF | Radio Directional Finder. This is a device for finding the direction to a radio source. In Britian, this term is called Radar after 1941 and stands for "Radio Detection and Ranging" |
| Red Army | Army of the Soviet Union or USSR. In 1946, the Red Army was officially renamed the Soviet Army |
| Refugee | A person who seeks shelter especially in another country, from war, disaster, or persecution |
| Resistance | Term used to describe underground forces who fought against German occupation of their countries in WW2 |
| Rommel, Erwin | Leading German commander |
| Roosevelt, Franklin Delano | American President for almost all of WW2 who died in April 1945 |
| Royal Air Force (RAF) | British air force |
| Royal Navy (RN) | British navy |
| Russia | The largest republic in the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics (USSR or Soviet Union). The terms 'Russia' or 'Russians' were often used when strictly the term 'USSR' or 'Soviets' should have been used |
| Sabotage | A deliberate action to weaken the enemy by destroying equipment in secret raids rather than open attacks |
| Singapore | Large British naval base in Malaya |
| Soviet | Workers councils which gave their name to the USSR |
| Special Operations Executive (SOE) | Special unit formed by the British to carry out attacks on German occupied Europe in WW2 |
| Spitfire | British fighter plane |
| SS | Huge organisation within Nazi Germany which controlled many areas such as security, persecution of Jews and had its own armed forces, the Waffen-SS |
| Staff Officer | Officer responsible for planning and organising campaigns |
| Stalin, Joseph | Leader of the Soviet Union (USSR) in WW2 |
| Stalingrad | Large industrial city in southern USSR and a key battleground with Germany in 1942-43 |
| Sword | Codename for one of the beaches in the D-Day landings of 1944 |
| Torpedo | Missile fired by submarines and ships designed to sink other surface vessels or submarines |
| Treblinka | Nazi death camp in Poland |
| Tribunal | Type of court in which a group of people are appointed to give judgement on official decisions |
| Truman, Harry | American Vice President for most of WW2 who took over as President after Roosevelt's death in April 1945 |
| U-Boat | English word used for a German submarine or 'U-Boot' |
| United Nations | Organisation formed in 1945 to replace the League of Nations |
| United States Army Air Force (USAAF) | American Air Force. Its main role was to bomb German and Japanese cities in WW2 |
| Utah | Codename for one of the beaches in the D-Day landings of 1944 |
| VE-Day | Day marking Victory in Europe and the surrender of Germany on May 8th 1945 |
| Vichy France | Vichy France, or the Vichy regime, was the government of France from July 1940 to August 1944 led by Marshal P�tain after the fall of France in WW2 |
| VJ-Day | Victory in Japan day which marked the surrender of Japan in August 15th 1945 following the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by atomic bombs |
| V-weapons (V1 and V2) | German rocket propelled weapons which were launched against Allied targets in 1944 and 1945 |
| Warsaw | Capital of Poland |
| Yalta | City in the USSR where Britain, the USA and USSR held a conference in February 1945 |
| Zhukov Georgy | Outstanding general who led the Red Army on the Eastern Front |
| Zyklon B | Cyanide-based gas used in the death camps |