Appendix G: Table of Equivalent Ranks
| U.S. Army | German Army and Air Force | German Waffen-SS |
| None | Reichsmarschall | None |
| General of the Army | Generalfeldmarschall | Reichsführer-SS |
| General | Generaloberst | Oberstgruppenführer |
| Lieutenant General | General der Infanterie, Artillerie, Gebirgstruppen, Kavallerie, Nachrichtentruppen, Panzertruppen, Pioniere, Luftwaffe, Flieger, Fallschirmtruppen, Flakartillerie, Luftnachrichtentruppen | Obergruppenführer |
| Major General | Generalleutnant | Gruppenführer |
| Brigadier General | Generalmajor | Brigadeführer |
| None | None | Oberführer |
| Colonel | Oberst | Standartenführer |
| Lieutenant Colonel | Oberstleutnant | Obersturmbannführer |
| Major | Major | Sturmbannführer |
| Captain | Hauptmann | Hauptsturmführer |
| Captain (Cavalry) | Rittmeister | |
| First Lieutenant | Oberleutnant | Obersturmführer |
| Second Lieutenant | Leutnant | Untersturmführer |
Glossary
| AAR | After action report |
| Abn | Airborne |
| AEAF | Allied Expeditionary Air Force |
| AEF | Allied Expeditionary Force |
| AFHQ | Allied Force Headquarters |
| A Gp | Army group |
| AIS | Allied Information Service |
| ANCXF | Allied Naval Commander, Expeditionary Force |
|
Anlage |
Appendix or annex |
| ASW | Assistant Secretary of War |
| ATS | (Women’s) Auxiliary Territorial Service |
| Br | British |
| Br | COS British Chiefs of Staff Committee |
| CAD | Civil Affairs Division |
| CCAC | Combined Civil Affairs Committee |
| CinC | Commander in Chief |
| CNO | Chief of Naval Operations |
| Comdr | Commander |
| COMZ | Communications Zone |
| Conf | Conference |
| COSSAC | Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander (Designate) |
| Dir | Directive, director |
| EACS | European Allied Contact Section |
| ETOUSA | European Theater of Operations, U.S. Army |
| Exec | Executive |
| FAAA | First Allied Airborne Army |
| FFI |
Forces Françaises de l’Intérieur (French Forces of the Interior) |
| FO | Field order |
|
Führungsgruppe |
Operations group |
|
Führungsstab |
Operations staff |
| FUSA | First U.S. Army |
| FUSAG | First U.S. Army Group |
| G–1 | Personnel section of divisional or higher staff |
| G–2 | Intelligence section |
| G–3 | Operations section |
| G–4 | Supply section |
| G–5 | Civil Affairs Division of SHAEF |
| G–6 | Short-lived division of SHAEF which dealt with public relations and psychological warfare |
|
Gen. St. d. H. |
Generalstab des Heeres (General Staff of the Army) |
| Gp | Group |
| GO | General order |
|
Heeresgruppe |
Army group |
| Hq | Headquarters |
| Intel | Intelligence |
| JCS | Joint Chiefs of Staff |
| JIC | Joint Intelligence Committee |
| JPS | Joint Staff Planners |
| JSM | Joint Staff Mission (British mission to Washington) |
|
Kampfgruppe |
German combat group of variable size |
|
Kanalküste |
Portion of the French coast generally coinciding with the Fifteenth Army sector. It included the Pas-de-Calais area and the Somme–Seine coast. |
| KTB |
Kriegstagebuch (war diary) |
| LCT | Landing craft, tank |
| LST | Landing ship, tank |
| Ltr of Instr | Letter of instructions |
| Luftwaffe | German Air Force |
| Mil Mission | Moscow U.S. Military Mission to Moscow |
| MOI | Ministry of Information (British) |
| NATOUSA | North African Theater of Operations |
| NUSA | Ninth U.S. Army |
|
Ob. d. H. |
Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres (Commander in Chief of the Army) |
|
OB NORD WEST |
Oberbefehlshaber Nordwest (Headquarters, Commander in in Chief Northwest [northwest Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands]) |
|
OB SUED |
Oberbefehlshaber Süd (Headquarters, Commander in Chief South [southern Germany and several army groups on the Eastern front]) |
|
OB SÜDOST |
Oberbefehlshaber Südost (Headquarters, Commander in Chief Southeast [the Balkans]) |
|
OB SÜD WEST |
Oberbefehlshaber Südwest (Headquarters, Commander in Chief Southwest [Italy]) |
|
OB WEST |
Oberbefehlshaber West (Headquarters, Commander in Chief West [France, Belgium, and the Netherlands]), highest German ground headquarters of the Western Front until May 1945 |
|
Oberkommando |
Headquarters of an army or higher military organization |
| OCMH | Office, Chief of Military History |
| OKH | Oberkommando des Heeres (Army High Command) |
| OKL | Oberkommando der Luftwaffe (Luftwaffe High Command) |
| OKM | Oberkommando der Kriegsmarine (Navy High Command) |
|
Op. (H) |
Operations Abteilung (H) (Operations Branch [Army]) |
|
Org. Abt. |
Organisations Abteilung (staff section in charge of organization) |
| Organization Todt | Paramilitary construction organization of the Nazi party, auxiliary to the Wehrmacht. Named after its founder, Dr. Todt. |
| OSS | Office of Strategic Services |
|
Ost battalions |
Non-German volunteer troops from east-European countries |
| OWI | Office of War Information |
| POL | Petrol (gasoline), oil, and lubricants |
| PRD | Public Relations Division, SHAEF |
| PWE | Political Warfare Executive |
| RAF | Royal Air Force |
| Rec | Records |
|
Reichskanzlei |
Reich Chancellory |
| SAC | Supreme Allied Commander |
| SACMED | Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean Theater |
| SCAEF | Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force |
| SFHQ | Special Force Headquarters |
| SGS | Secretary, General Staff |
| SHAEF | Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force |
| Sitrep | Situation report |
| SO | Special Operations |
| SOE | Special Operations Executive |
| SOP | Standing operating procedure |
| SS | Schutzstaffel (Elite Guard) |
| Tel | Telegram, teletype |
| TIS | Theater Intelligence Section |
| UNRRA | United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration |
| USAFBI | U.S. Army Forces in the British Isles |
| USFET | U.S. Forces in the European Theater |
| USSBS | U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey |
| USSTAF | U.S. Strategic Air Forces |
|
Volkssturm |
A people’s militia, partially organized in one of the last steps of German mobilization for total war |
| WD | War Department |
| Wehrmacht | German Armed Forces |
|
Wehrmachtbefehlshaber |
Armed Forces Commander |
| WFSt | Wehrmachtfuehrungsstab (Armed Forces Operations Staff) |
| WO | War Office |
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Code Names
| ANVIL | The planned 1944 Allied invasion of southern France in the Toulon–Marseille area |
| ARCADIA | U.S.-British staff conference at Washington, December 1941 -January 1942 |
| BIGOT | Special security procedure for OVERLORD |
| ARGONAUT | Yalta Conference, February 1945 |
| BENEFICIARY | Plan for breaking out of the Normandy lodgment by means of a combined airborne-amphibious attack on St. Malo |
| BOLERO | Build-up of troops and supplies in the United Kingdom in preparation for a cross-Channel attack |
| BRADDOCK II | Dropping of small fuze incendiaries to European workers for use in sabotage operations |
| COBRA | Operation launched by First U.S. Army on 25 July 1944, designed to break out of the Normandy lodgment |
| COCKADE | Diversionary operations in 1943 to pin down German forces in the west |
| COMET | British plan, not carried out, for an air drop on 7 September 1944 in the Arnhem–Nijmegen area |
| CROSSBOW | A general term used by the Allies to refer to the German long-range weapons program and to Allied countermeasures against it |
| ECLIPSE | Name given in November 1944 to posthostilities plans for Germany |
| EUREKA | Tehran Conference, November–December 1943 |
| GARDEN | See MARKET-GARDEN |
| GOODWOOD | British attack to break out of the Normandy lodgment, late July 1944, coinciding with U.S. Operation COBRA |
| GREIF | German deception operation in support of the Ardennes counteroffensive |
| GRENADE | Ninth Army supporting attack for Operation VERITABLE |
| GYMNAST | 1941 plan for invasion of North Africa |
| HANDS UP | Plan for breaking out of the Normandy lodgment by means of a combined airborne-amphibious attack on Quiberon Bay |
| HUSKY | Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943 |
| INDEPENDENCE | Plan for First French Army attack against German garrisons on French coasts, December 1944 |
| LINNET I | Planned airborne drop at Tournai, Belgium, September 1944 |
| LINNET II | Planned airborne drop at Aachen–Maastricht Gap, September 1944 |
| LUCKY STRIKE | 21 Army Group plan calling for an eastward drive and the capture of the Seine ports as an alternative to plans for the earlier capture of Brittany, considered in May and June 1944 |
| MARKET-GARDEN | Airborne operation intended to establish a bridgehead across the Rhine in the Netherlands, September 1944. Operation MARKET involved seizure of bridges in the Nijmegen–Arnhem area, and Operation GARDEN was to open a corridor from Eindhoven northward toward Germany. |
| NEST | EGG Plan for occupation of Channel Islands in case of German collapse or surrender |
| NOBALL | Term used by the air forces in referring to target sites in their attacks on long-range weapons |
| NORDWIND | German counterattack in Alsace, January 1945 |
| OCTAGON | Second Quebec Conference, September 1944 |
| OVERLORD | Plan for the invasion of northwest Europe, spring 1944 |
| PLUNDER | Montgomery’s northern crossing of the Rhine, March 1945 |
| POINTBLANK | The Combined Bomber Offensive from the United Kingdom against Germany |
| QUADRANT | First Quebec Conference, August 1943 |
| RANKIN I, II, III | Plans for return to the Continent in the event of deterioration of the German position |
| REDLINE | Radio circuits set up in September 1944 for messages to and from the Supreme Commander |
| ROUNDUP | Various 1941–43 plans for a cross-Channel attack in the final phases of the war |
| SEXTANT | Cairo Conference, 22–26 November 1943 |
| SHARPENER | Supreme Commander’s advance command post at Portsmouth, May 1944 |
| SHELLBURST | SHAEF advance headquarters at Tournières, France, near Bayeux, established August 1944 |
| SHIPMATE | Enlarged SHAEF forward headquarters near Portsmouth, replacing SHARPENER |
| SLEDGEHAMMER | Plan for a limited-objective attack across the Channel in 1942 designed either to take advantage of a crack in German morale or as a “sacrifice” operation to aid the Russians |
| SPRING | Canadian attack, July 1944, coinciding with Operation COBRA |
| STARKEY | Threat directed in 1943 against the Pas-de-Calais |
| SWORDHILT | Plan for a combined airborne-amphibious operation to seize the area east of Brest, August 1944 |
| SYMBOL | Casablanca Conference, January 1943 |
| TALISMAN | Early name for posthostilities plans for Germany |
| TERMINAL | Potsdam Conference, July 1945 |
| TINDALL | Threat directed against Norway in 1943 |
| TOPFLIGHT | Signal for release of press information on D-Day assault |
| TORCH | Allied invasion of North and Northwest Africa, 1942 |
| TOTALIZE | Post-COBRA attack in France |
| TRACTABLE | Post-COBRA attack in France |
| TRANSFIGURE | Plan for airborne operation to capture and control important road nets in Paris–Orléans area, 16–17 August 1944 |
| TRIDENT | Washington Conference, May 1943 |
| UNDERTONE | Seventh Army operation to breach West Wall and establish bridgehead over Rhine in Worms area, March–April 1945 |
| VARSITY | FAAA operation in support of Operation PLUNDER |
| VERITABLE | 21 Army Group plan for a Canadian attack between the Maas and the Rhine, January–February 1945 |
| WADHAM | Threat directed against the Cotentin in 1943 |
| WIDEWING | SHAEF headquarters at Bushy Park, near London |
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