Historical Documents - Office of the Historian

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

Foreign Relations of the United States, Conference at Quebec, 1944

List of Abbreviations, Symbols, and Code Names