Read Opening Moves (The Red Gambit Series) Online
Authors: Colin Gee
| Kalibr | Codename of David Greengrass, US Army Sergeant who was a Soviet Spy. |
| Katyn | 1940 Massacre of roughly 22,000 Polish Army officers, Police officers and intelligentsia perpetrated by the NKVD, Site was discovered by the German Army and much propaganda value was made, although in reality there was no sanction against the USSR for this coldblooded murder. |
| Katyusha | Soviet rocket artillery weapon capable of bringing down area fire with either 16, 32 or 64 rockets of different types. |
| Kavellerie | German translation of Cavalry. |
| King Tiger tank | German heavy tank carrying a high-velocity 88m gun and 2-3 machine guns. |
| Kingdom 39 | The Fairytale Kingdom in Russian Folklore. |
| Kradschutzen | Motorcycle infantry, term also applied to reconnaissance troops. |
| Kreigie | US slang for a German prisoner of war. |
| Kreigsmarine | German Navy |
| Kriegsspiels | Wargames |
| LA-7 | Single-engine Lavochkin fighter aircraft, highly thought of despite poor maintenance history. |
| Leutnant | German Army rank equivalent to 2nd Lieutenant. |
| Liebfraumilch [Liebfrauenmilch] | German semi-sweet white wine. |
| Lisunov Li-2 | Soviet licenced copy of the DC-3 twin-engine transport aircraft, |
| Little Boy | Uranium based fission bomb. |
| Luftwaffe | German Air Force |
| M-10 | Known as the Wolverine, this US tank destroyer carried a 3" gun with modest performance. It was subsequently upgunned in British service, and the many potent 17-pdr equipped vehicles became known as Achilles. |
| M13/40 | Italian light tank with a 47mm gun and 3-4 machine-guns. |
| M-16 half-track | US half-track mounting 4 x .50cal machine-guns in a Maxon mount. For defence against aircraft at low level it was particularly effective against infantry. |
| M1Carbine | Semi-automatic carbine that fired a .30 cal round, notorious as being underpowered. |
| M20 M21 | US 6x6 Armoured utility car, which was basically an M8 without the turret. M3 halftrack with an 81mm mortar mount, providing mobile fire support. |
| M24 Chafee | US light tank fitted with a 75mm gun and 2-3 machine-guns. |
| M26 Pershing | US Heavy tank with a 90mm gun and 2-3 machine-guns. Underpowered initially, it had little chance to prove itself against the German arsenal. |
| M3 Halftrack | US standard half-track normally armed with 1 x .50cal machine-gun and capable of carrying up to 13 troops |
| M3A1 sub-machine gun M5 HST M5 Stuart | Often known as the Grease Gun, issued in .45 or the rarer 9mm calibres with a 30 round magazine. Based on the M5 Stuart chassis, this was a high speed tractor, used as ammunition portee, crew transport and prime mover for US artillery units. Light US tank armed with 37mm gun, mainly used for recon work. |
| M8 greyhound | 6x6 Armoured car with 37mm main gun and 1-2 machine-guns. |
| Maior | German Army rank equivalent to Major. |
| Manhattan Project | Research and development project aimed at producing the first atomic bomb. |
| Market-Garden | Montgomery's failed plan to drop paratroopers and secure river crossings into Northern Germany, thus ending the war by Christmas. |
| Maskirova | Soviets have a fondness for deception and misdirection and Maskirova is an essential of any undertaking. |
| Mauthausen | More properly known as Mauthausen-Gusen Concentration Camp, the camp grew to oversee a complex of Labour camps throughout the area. The high estimate of persons dying within the Mauthausen camp system is 320,000. |
| Maxon mount | A single machine gun mounting which could be installed on a half-track of a trailer, by which means 4 x .50cal were aimed and fired by one man. |
| Metgethen | Scene of a successful German counter-attack in 1945, where evidence of Soviet atrocities against the civilian population was uncovered. |
| MG34 | German standard MG often referred to as a Spandau. |
| MG42 | Superb German machine gun, capable of 1200rpm, designed to defeat the Soviet human wave attacks. Still in use to this day. |
| Mills Bomb | British fragmentation hand grenade. |
| Minox | Gained notoriety as the first 'miniature' spy camera. |
| Mlad | Codename of Theodore Hall, Nuclear Physicist, and Soviet Agent. |
| Moscow Crystal Vodka | Highest quality triple distilled vodka. |
| Moselle | Mainly white wine originating from areas around the River of the same name. |
| Mosin-Nagant | Russian infantry rifle. |
| Mosquito | DH98 De Havilland Mosquito was a multi-purpose wooden aircraft, much envied by the Luftwaffe. |
| Mustang | P51 Mustang, US single seat long-range fighter armed with 6 x .50cal machine-guns. |
| Nagant pistol | Standard Soviet revolver, very rugged and powerful using long case 7.62mm ammunition. |
| Natzwiller-Struhof | Concentration camp in Alsace. |
| NKGB | Narodny Komissariat Gosudarstvennoi Bezopasnosti, the Soviet Secret Police, separated from the NKVD in 1942 and absorbed once more in 1946. |
| NKVD | Narodny Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del, the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs. |
| OFLAG XVIIa | Offizierslager or OfLag No 17A, prisoner of war camp run by the Germans for officer detainees. |
| Operation Anvil | August 1944 landing in Southern France. |
| Operation Apple Pie | US project to capture German officers with specific knowledge about the Soviet Union’s industry and economy. |
| Operation Kurgan | Soviet joint-operation to employ paratroopers, Naval Marines, NKVD agents and collaborators to attack and neutralise airfields, radar, communications and logistic bases throughout Europe. Subsequently enlarged to include assassinations of Allied senior officers. |