Office of the Historian

List of Abbreviations and Symbols

Editor’s Note.—This list does not include standard abbreviations in common usage; unusual abbreviations of rare occurrence which are clarified at appropriate points; and those abbreviations and contractions which, although uncommon, are understandable from the context.

  • A– (plus number), airgram
  • A–1, –2, –3, –4, sections of an air staff
  • A–A, Assistant Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Mr. Armour
  • AAF, Army Air Forces (U.S.)
  • AC, Allied Commission
  • AC of S, Assistant Chief of Staff
  • AF, Division of African Affairs, Department of State
  • ACA, Allied Control Authority
  • AFA, Allied Financial Agency
  • Afem (Mefa), indicators for messages relating to the Foreign Aid Act of 1947 (Public Law 389)
  • AFHQ, Allied Force Headquarters (Mediterranean Theater)
  • AFL, American Federation of Labor
  • AFRA, Allied Forces Record Administration
  • AGWar, Adjutant General, War Department
  • AICC, All-India Congress Committee
  • AMG, Allied Military Government
  • AMGVG, Allied Military Government, Venezia Giulia
  • Am Vat, American mission at Vatican City
  • ANFD, Alianza National de Fuerzas Democraticas (Spanish political group)
  • AOA, American Overseas Airlines
  • APC, Allocation Policy Committee of the European Coal Organization
  • ARAR, Azienda Rilievo Alienazione Residuati, the Agency of the Italian Government to receive surplus materiel, and to dispose of it on a commercial basis
  • ASAA, Allied Supply Accounting Agency
  • ASC, Advisory Steering Committee on European Recovery Program
  • ASGI, Army Survey Group, Italy
  • AT, Assistant Secretary of State for Economic Affairs
  • ATC, Air Transport Command
  • AUS, Army of the United States
  • AUSA, Assistenza degli Stati Uniti d’America, Assistance of the United States of America, the Italian designation of the U.S. Foreign Aid Program
  • BC, Division of British Commonwealth Affairs, Department of State
  • Benelux, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg
  • BETFor, British Element, Trieste Forces
  • BMA, British Military Administration
  • BOAC, British Overseas Airways Corporation
  • BOT, Board of Trade (United Kingdom)
  • BTA, British Troops, Austria
  • CA, Constituent Assembly, India
  • CAA, Civil Aeronautics Administration
  • CBI, China-Burma-India
  • CCC, Commodity Credit Corporation
  • CCF, Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (Canada)
  • CCS, Combined Chiefs of Staff
  • CEEC, Committee (or Conference) of European Economic Cooperation
  • CFM, Council of Foreign Ministers
  • CGIL, Confederazione Generate Italiana del Lavoro (General Confederation of Labor in Italy)
  • CGMTO, Commanding General, Mediterranean Theater of Operations
  • CGT, Confédération Générale du Travail (French labor group)
  • c.i.f., cost, insurance, freight
  • CIG, Central Intelligence Group
  • C–in–C, Commander-in-Chief
  • CIO, Congress of Industrial Organizations
  • cirtel, circular telegram
  • CLNAI, Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale dell’ Alta Italia, Committee of National Liberation of Upper Italy
  • CMF, Central Mediterranean Force (British)
  • CNT, Confederatión National del Trabajo (Spanish labor group)
  • Colit (Itcol), indicators for messages from (to) London dealing with the question of convening the Deputies (of the CFM) for the Former Italian Colonies
  • ComGenMed, Commanding General, Mediterranean
  • CP, Division of Commercial Policy, Department of State
  • CPF, Communist Party of France (PCF)
  • CRO, Commonwealth Relations Office (United Kingdom)
  • CSGID, Ground Intelligence Division, War Department General Staff, Office of the Chief of Staff, U.S. Army
  • Delsec (Secdel), indicators for messages to (from) the Secretary of State while heading a U.S. delegation away from Washington
  • DepItCol, Deputies (of the CFM) for the Italian Colonies
  • Deptel, telegram from Department of State
  • DPs, displaced persons
  • DRE, Division of Research for Europe, Department of State
  • EAD, External Affairs Department
  • ECE, Economic Commission for Europe
  • ECO, European Coal Organization
  • ECOSOC, Economic and Social Council, United Nations
  • ED, Division of Investment and Economic Development, Department of State
  • EM, enlisted man, enlisted men
  • Embdes, Embtel, despatch, telegram from an American Embassy
  • ETA, ETD, estimated time of arrival, departure
  • ETO, European Theater of Operations
  • EUCOM, European Command
  • EUR, Office of European Affairs, Department of State
  • EXIM, Export-Import Bank of Washington
  • F, code letter used in 1946 and 1947 by the War Department to indicate a message from Caserta to a single addressee
  • FAA, Foreign aid and assistance
  • Fan (Naf), indicators for messages from (to) Combined Chiefs of Staff to (from) Supreme Allied Commander Mediterranean, AFHQ
  • FLC, Foreign Liquidation Commission
  • FN, Division of Financial Affairs, Department of State
  • FNA, French North Africa
  • FonMin, FonOff, foreign minister, ministry, office
  • FX, code letters used in 1946 and 1947 by the War Department to indicate a message from Caserta directed to several addressees
  • G–1, –2, –3, –4, –5, sections of a military staff, in a division or larger unit
  • GA, General Assembly
  • GATT, General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
  • GHQ, General Headquarters
  • GOC, General Officer Commanding
  • GOI, Government of India
  • GOP, Government of Pakistan
  • GPU, Soviet secret police
  • GSC, General Staff Corps
  • GREEN, Greenland
  • HMG, His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom
  • IAC, Iceland Airport Corporation
  • IARA, Inter-Allied Repatriations Agency
  • IBRD, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
  • ICAO, International Civil Aviation Organization
  • ICS, Indian Civil Service
  • IEFC, International Emergency Food Council
  • IMF, International Monetary Fund
  • IMI, Istituto Mobiliare Italiano (Italiian financial institution)
  • INA, Indian National Army
  • INS, International News Service
  • InterCross, International Red Cross
  • IR, International Resources Division, Department of State
  • IRI, Institute for Industrial Reconstruction (in Italy)
  • Itcol, see Colit
  • ITO, International Trade Organization
  • ITP, Office of International Trade Policy, Department of State
  • JCS, Joint Chiefs of Staff
  • Kosmos (Moskco), indicators for messages from (to) the United States delegation at the Fourth Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers at Moscow on subjects other than C.F.M. business
  • Lasco (Salco), indicators for messages from (to) Department of State to (from) U.S. representative to the European Coal Organization
  • LE, Office of the Legal Adviser, Department of State
  • LP, Division of Lend-Lease and Surplus War Property Affairs Department of State
  • MA, military attaché
  • MAR, military attaché report
  • Martel (Telmar), indicators for telegrams from (to) the Secretary of State at the Fifth Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers at London, November–December 1947
  • MEA, Mission for Economic Affairs, U.S. Embassy, London
  • Mefa, see Afem
  • MILA, Military Liquidating Agency
  • MOFP, Ministry of Fuel and Power (United Kingdom)
  • Moskco, Kosmos
  • MRP, Mouvement Républicain Populaire (French political party)
  • MTO, Mediterranean Theater of Operations
  • MTOUSA, Mediterranean Theater of Operations, United States Army
  • mydes, mytel, my despatch, telegram
  • NAC, National Advisory Council on International Monetary and Financial Problems
  • Naf, see Fan
  • Niact, night action (urgent message)
  • NKVD, Soviet secret police
  • NWFP, North West Frontier Province (India)
  • ODT, Office of Defense Transportation
  • OFD, Office of Financial and Development Policy, Department of State
  • OFLC, Office of Foreign Liquidation Commissioner
  • OIE, Office of Information and Educational Exchange, Department of State
  • OIR, Office of Intelligence Research, Department of State
  • OMGUS, Office of Military Government (for U.S. Zone of Germany)
  • Par (Rap), indicators for messages relating to the U.S. Foreign Relief Program
  • PCF, Parti Communiste Français, the French Communist Party
  • PL, Public Law
  • PM, Prime Minister
  • PCI, Partito Comunista Italiano, the Italian Communist Party
  • POL, petroleum, oil, lubricants
  • PolAd, Political Adviser
  • POW’s, PW, prisoners of war
  • PriMin, Prime Minister
  • PRL, Parti Républicain de la Liberté (French political party)
  • PSLI, Partito Socialist a dei Lavoratori Italiani, Socialist Party of Italian Workers, or Saragat Socialists
  • PTT, posts, telephone, telegraph
  • R–Day, Ratification Day (as applied to the Treaty of Peace with Italy)
  • RAF, Royal Air Force (British)
  • Rap, see Par
  • reemb, with reference to embassy’s (message)
  • refdes, reftel, despatch, telegram under reference
  • remy, with reference to my (message)
  • reourad, reurade, with reference to our, your, radiogram
  • reourtel, reurtel, with reference to our, your telegram
  • RFC, Reconstruction Finance Corporation
  • RGR, Rassemblement des Gauches Républicaines (French political party)
  • RJ, Ratification by Yugoslavia of the Treaty of Peace with Italy
  • RPF, Rassemblement du Peuple Français (French political party)
  • S-Day, Signature Day (as applied to the Treaty of Peace with Italy)
  • SAC, Supreme Allied Commander
  • SACMED, Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean
  • Safehaven , a program directed against efforts by the Axis governments to secrete funds or other assets in neutral countries
  • Salco, see Lasco
  • SAS, Scandinavian Airlines System
  • SC, Security Council
  • SCAP, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (in Japan)
  • SD, social democrats
  • SE, Division of Southern European Affairs, Department of State
  • Secdel, see Delsec
  • SecState, Secretary of State
  • SHAEF, Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force
  • SOA, Division of South Asian Affairs, Department of State
  • SPITS, Spitsbergen, Svalbard
  • SWN, designation for a series of papers presented to the State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee
  • SWNCC, State, War, Navy Coordinating Committee, and also a designation of a series of papers presented to that Committee
  • SYG, Secretary General
  • TA, Trade Agreement
  • TAC, Interdepartmental Committee on Trade Agreements
  • Telmar, see Martel
  • TIAS, Treaties and Other International Acts Series, official publication by the Department of State superseding the Treaty Series and the Executive Agreement Series
  • TRUST, Trieste United States Troops
  • UDSR, Union Démocratique et Sosialiste de la Resistance (French political party)
  • UE, Office of the Under Secretary of State for Economic affairs
  • UGT, Unión General del Trabajadores (Spanish labor group)
  • UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
  • UNGA, United Nations General Assembly
  • UQ, Uomo Qualunque (Mr. Everyman), a movement, and then a political party, founded in Italy in 1946 by Guglielmo Giannini, a movement of protest against the anti-Fascists
  • urdes, urtel, your despatch, telegram
  • USAFE, United States Air Forces in Europe
  • USAF, United States Air Force
  • USFET, United States Forces, European Theater
  • USDel, U.S. Delegation
  • USFA, United States Forces in Austria
  • USFAP, United States Foreign Aid Program
  • USFRP, United States Foreign Relief Program
  • USG, United States Government
  • USIS, United States Information Service
  • USPolAd, United States Political Adviser
  • VG, Venezia Giulia
  • WAA, War Assets Administration
  • WARX, War Department call sign, for messages emanating from the War Department or from Army Head quarters, Washington
  • WD, War Department
  • WDSCA, War Department Special Staff, Civil Affairs Division
  • WE, Division of Western European Affairs, Department of State
  • WFTU, World Federation of Trade Unions
  • WPA, Works Progress Administration
  • YMS, Auxiliary Motor Mine Sweeper (Navy symbol)
  • yrdes, yrtel, your despatch, telegram
  • Z.I., Zone of the Interior