Office of the Historian

List of Abbreviations, Symbols, and Code Names

Editor’s Note.—This list does not include standard abbreviations in common usage or unusual abbreviations of rare occurrence which are clarified in footnotes to the text.

  • AAF, Army Air Forces
  • AEF, Allied Expeditionary Force
  • AFHQ, Allied Force Headquarters, Caserta
  • AGWar, Adjutant General, War Department
  • Alusna, Office of the Naval Attaché
  • Amco, the President’s telephone ex-change at the Citadel, Quebec
  • Anvil, early plan for the invasion of southern France (final code name for which was Dragoon)
  • APA, transport, attack
  • Avenger, naval torpedo bomber air craft (United States)
  • B–17, four-engine heavy bomber air craft (Flying Fortress) (United States)
  • B–24, four-engine heavy bomber air craft (Liberator) (United States)
  • B–29, four-engine very heavy bomber aircraft (Superfortress) (United States)
  • Barracuda, naval torpedo bomber aircraft (British)
  • Black, communications indicator used on messages sent to the White House Map Room by President Roosevelt and his party when the President was away from Washington
  • Blue, communications indicator used on messages sent to the White House Map Room by President Roosevelt when the latter was away from Washington
  • BMA, British Military Authority
  • Boniface, applied to certain information sent by Churchill to Roosevelt (British)
  • C–54, four-engine transport aircraft (Skymaster) (United States)
  • CAC, document symbol used by the Country Area Committees, Department of State
  • Cal, communications indicator
  • Capital, attack across the Chindwin River to Mandalay
  • Capital I, first phase of Capital
  • Capital II, second phase of Capital
  • CCC, Civilian Conservation Corps
  • CCS, Combined Chiefs of Staff (United States-British); document symbol used by the Combined Chiefs of Staff
  • Cfb, military communications indicator
  • Champion, late 1943 plan for general offensive in Burma
  • CIC, Combined Intelligence Committee (United States-British)
  • COSSAC, Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander (Designate)
  • Cosmed, communications indicator used on messages from the Combined Chiefs of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean Theater
  • Crossbow, the German pilotless air-craft offensive against England
  • CVE, aircraft carrier, escort
  • D + 14, etc., fourteen, etc., days after D Day
  • D Day, the date of a planned military operation, used with special reference to the launching of Operation Overlord
  • Dracula, plan for an attack on Rangoon
  • Dragoon, the invasion of southern France
  • EAC, European Advisory Commission
  • ECEFP, document symbol used by the Executive Committee on Economic Foreign Policy
  • Escom, Eastern Command (United States Army Air Forces in the Soviet Union)
  • ETO, European Theater of Operations
  • ETOUSA, European Theater of Operations, United States Army
  • EUR, Office of European Affairs, Department of State
  • Eureka II, the forthcoming Roosevelt–Churchill conference
  • EW, European War
  • EWT, Eastern War Time
  • Facs, communications indicator used on messages from the Combined Chiefs of Staff to the Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force
  • Fan, communications indicator used on messages from the Combined Chiefs of Staff to Allied Force Headquarters at Caserta
  • FCNL, French Committee of National Liberation
  • FE, Office of Far Eastern Affairs, Department of State
  • FEA, Foreign Economic Administration
  • fhcos, reference symbol used by the Chief of Staff, Allied Force Head quarters
  • FIC, French Indochina
  • Former Naval Person, Prime Minister Churchill
  • Frantic, shuttle bombing by United States Army Air Forces of Axis-controlled Europe from bases in the United Kingdom, Italy, and the Soviet Union
  • FW, file with
  • Fwd, forward
  • FX, military communications indicator
  • GAF, German Air Force
  • Gestapo, Secret State Police (German)
  • Gunfire, communications indicator used on telegrams to the British Government in London from the British Delegation to the Second Quebec Conference
  • Halifax, four-engine heavy bomber aircraft (British)
  • Highball, carriers employing Mosquito aircraft (British)
  • HMCS, His Majesty’s Canadian Ship
  • ILO, International Labor Organization
  • Ind, Indian
  • JCS, Joint Chiefs of Staff (United States); document symbol used by the Joint Chiefs of Staff
  • Lac, communications indicator
  • Lancaster, four-engine heavy bomber aircraft (British)
  • LSI, landing ship, infantry
  • LST, landing ship, tank
  • Medcos, communications indicator used on messages from the Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean Theater, to the Combined Chiefs of Staff
  • Mil, military communications indicator (British)
  • Mosquito, two-engine light bomber aircraft (British)
  • MR-in, communications indicator used on messages received by the White House Map Room
  • MR-out, communications indicator used on messages sent by the White House Map Room
  • MS, Milestone
  • Mulberry, artificial harbor
  • MX, military communications indicator
  • Naf, communications indicator used on messages from Allied Force Head quarters at Caserta to the Combined Chiefs of Staff
  • NEA, Office of Near Eastern and African Affairs, Department of State
  • NEI, Netherlands East Indies
  • Neter, communications indicator used on messages relating to the Nether lands sent to the Department of State by the Embassy to the Governments in exile established at London
  • Niact, night action (communications indicator requiring immediate attention on receipt)
  • Octagon, the forthcoming Roosevelt–Churchill conference; the Second Quebec Conference, September 11–16, 1944; Quebec; short form for Octagon-out
  • Octagon-in, communications indicator used on messages received by the United States military communications center at the Second Quebec Conference
  • Octagon–out, communications indicator used on messages sent by the United States military communications center at the Second Quebec Conference
  • OSS, Office of Strategic Services
  • Overlord, the cross-channel invasion of northwestern Europe, June 1944
  • OZ, military communications indicator (British)
  • P–40, single-engine fighter aircraft (Warhawk) (United States)
  • Phase II, the period between the defeat of Germany and the surrender of Japan
  • Plough Force, project for training United States and Canadian volunteers for snow operations in northern Norway
  • PM, Prime Minister
  • Pointblank, the combined bomber offensive against Germany from the United Kingdom
  • Poles, communications indicator used on messages relating to Poland sent to the Department of State by the Embassy to the Governments in exile established at London
  • PR, photo reconnaissance
  • Prime, Prime Minister Churchill
  • Prof, Lord Cherwell
  • PW, Pacific War
  • PWA, Public Works Administration
  • PWC, document symbol used by the Committee on Post-War Programs, Department of State
  • Quadrant, the First Quebec Conference, August 11–24, 1943; Quebec
  • RAAF, Royal Australian Air Force
  • RAF, Royal Air Force (British)
  • Rankin, plans for an Allied return to the Continent in the event of a deterioration of the German position
  • Rankin B, plan for Allied action in the event of an organized German withdrawal from Norway
  • Rankin C, plan for Allied action in the event of German unconditional surrender and the cessation of organized German resistance in northwestern Europe
  • Ratweek, operations of the Balkan Air Force, coordinated with those of Marshal Tito, against German communications in the Balkans
  • RCNVR, Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve
  • Red, communications indicator used on messages sent by the White House Map Room to President Roosevelt when the latter was away from Washington
  • Remac, communications indicator (British)
  • RNVR, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (British)
  • S, Office of the Secretary of State
  • SA, National Socialist Storm Troops (German)
  • SAC, Supreme Allied Commander
  • SACMed, Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean Theater
  • SACSEA, Supreme Allied Commander, Southeast Asia
  • SCAEF, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force
  • Scaf, communications indicator used on messages from the Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force, to the Combined Chiefs of Staff
  • SEAC, Southeast Asia Command
  • Sextant, the Cairo Conferences, November 22–26 and December 2–7, 1943
  • SHAEF, Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force
  • SOE, Special Operations Executive (British)
  • SS, National Socialist Elite Guard (German); Special Service (Commando) (British)
  • Stage II, period from the defeat of Germany to the surrender of Japan
  • Stat, United States Statutes at Large
  • TA, see Tube Alloys
  • Talisman, post-hostilities plans for Germany
  • TOO, time of origin
  • TopSec, top secret
  • Tube Alloys, atomic energy research and development
  • U–boat, submarine
  • UJ, Uncle Joe, i.e., Stalin
  • UK, United Kingdom
  • Uncle Joe, Stalin
  • UNRRA, United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
  • USSTAF, United States Strategic Air Force
  • Vanguard, plan for capture of Rangoon
  • Victor, United States Army telephone exchange at the Château Frontenac, Quebec
  • VLR, very long range
  • W, military communications indicator
  • WA, West African
  • Waffen SS, combat units of the National Socialist Elite Guard (German)
  • Warx, military communications indicator
  • WH, communications indicator used on White House messages
  • White, communications indicator used on messages sent by the White House Map Room to President Roosevelt and his party when the President was away from Washington
  • WM, document symbol used by the War Cabinet (British)
  • WP, document symbol used by the War Cabinet (British)
  • WPA, Works Progress Administration
  • WS, document symbol used by the interdepartmental Working Security Committee
  • WX, military communications indicator
  • X craft, midget submarines (British)
  • Y Force, American-sponsored Chinese division in Yunnan