These abbreviations are found in the text of the website.
Where the abbreviations relate to a specific unit, item, or person, the definition includes a link to that page.
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A
- AA – Anti-Aircraft.
- AFRA – All Fronts Reenactment Association.
- AFV – Armoured Fighting Vehicle.
- ANZAC – Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.
- APTC – Army Physical Training Corps.
- Armd. – Armoured.
- ASA – Ammunition, Small Arms.
- A.S.C. – Army Service Corps.
- ASM – Artificer Sergeant Major.
- attd. – Attached.
- Aust. – Australia[n].
- AWM – Australian War Memorial.
B
- Battn. – Battalion.
- Bde. – Brigade.
- Bedf. – Bedfordshire Regiment.
- BEF – British Expeditionary Force.
- b.h.p – Brake Horse Power.
- BL – Breech Loading.
- BLC – Breech Loading Converted.
- Bn. – Battalion.
- BSF – British Standard Fine.
- BSW – British Standard Whitworth.
- Bty. – Battery.
C
- Capt. – Captain.
- Cat. No. – Catalogue Number.
- CD – Compact Disc.
- Cdr. – Commander.
- C.F. – Chaplain to the Forces.
- C.G. – Centre of Gravity.
- Ches. – Cheshire Regiment.
- C.I.S.A. – Chief Inspector, Small Arms.
- CMGC – Canadian Machine Gun Corps.
- Commdt. – Commandant.
- Coy. – Company.
- Cpl. – Corporal.
- CQMS – Company Quarter-master Sergeant.
- C.S.O.F. – Chief Superintendant, Ordnance Factories.
- cwt. – Hundred-weight (imperial unit of weight).
- cyl. – Cylinder.
D
- D.D.G.M.D.(S.) – Deputy Director General Munitions Department (Small Arms)
- D.D.O.S. – Deputy Director of Ordnance Stores.
- deg. – Degrees.
- detnt. – Detachment.
- Div. – Division.
- Divnl. – Divisional.
- DLI – Durham Light Infantry.
- DP – Drill Purpose or Drill Pattern.
- DPB – Drill Purposes Blank.
- Duke’s – Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding) Regiment.
- DVD – Digital Video Disc.
- Dvr. – Driver.
- Dvr. Mech. – Driver Mechanic.
- Dvr. Op. – Driver Operator.
- DWM – Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken.
E
- E. Lanc. Bde. – East Lancashire Brigade.
- E. Lanc. R. – East Lancashire Regiment.
- Ed. – Editor.
- EEF – Egyptian Expeditionary Force.
- EY – Emergency Use.
F
- Fd. Ambces. – Field Ambulances.
- Fig – Figure.
- F.S. – Field Service.
- ft. – Feet or foot.
G
- galls. – Gallons.
- GHQ – General Headquarters.
- Glouc. – Gloucestershire Regiment.
- GP – General Purpose.
- GPMG – General Purpose Machine Gun.
- gr. – Grain.
- GRO – General Routine Order.
- Grp. – Group.
- GS – General Service.
H
- HM – His (or Her) Majesty.
- HMSO – His (or Her) Majesty’s Stationery Office.
- How. – Howitzer.
- HQ – Headquarters.
I
- IA – Immediate Action.
- IC – In Command.
- in. – Inch(es) (unit of measurement).
- Ind. – Independent.
- Inf. – Infantry.
- IWM – Imperial War Museum.
J
- JCH – Joint, Crosshead.
- JEC – Joint, Elevating, Crosshead.
K
- KOSB – King’s Own Scottish Borderers.
- KSLI – King’s Shropshire Light Infantry.
L
- LAA – Light Anti-Aircraft.
- LAD – Light Aid Detachment.
- lbs. – Pounds (unit of weight).
- L. of C. – Lists of Changes.
- Lieut. – Lieutenant.
- LH – Left Hand.
- LMG – Light Machine Gun.
- LRDG – Long Range Desert Group.
M
- m. – Metre.
- M – Model.
- Mag. – Magnetic.
- Mag. – Magazine.
- Maj. – Major.
- MC – Military Cross.
- MC – Motorcycle.
- MEF – Mediterranean Expeditionary Force.
- MG – Machine Gun.
- MGC – Machine Gun Corps.
- MGers – Machine Gunners.
- MGS – Machine Gun School.
- MGTC – Machine Gun Training Centre.
- Mk. – Mark.
- mins – Minutes.
- mm. – Millimetre.
- MMG – Medium Machine Gun.
- MMG – Motor Machine Guns.
- MPI – Mean Point of Impact.
- MQA – Minimum Quadrant Angle.
- MT – Motor Transport.
- Mtd. – Mounted.
N
- NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
- NC – Nitro-cellulose.
- NCO – Non-Commissioned Officer.
- NIV – Not in Vocabulary.
- No. – Number.
- Norf. – Norfolk Regiment.
O
- O Group – Orders Group.
- OC – Officer Commanding.
- OP – Observation Post.
- oz. – Ounze.
P
- para. – Paragraph.
- pdr. – Pounder.
- Pl. – Platoon.
- PPCLI – Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry.
- PTC – Primary Training Corps.
- Pte. – Private.
Q
- QE – Quadrant Elevation.
- QF – Quick-firing.
- QMSI – Quartermaster Sergeant Instructor.
- Qty. – Quantity.
R
- R – Rimmed.
- R Group – Reconnaissance Group.
- R War R – Royal Warwickshire Regiment.
- RAC – Royal Armoured Corps.
- RAF – Royal Air Force.
- RAMC – Royal Army Medical Corps.
- RAP – Regimental Aid Post.
- RAOC – Royal Army Ordnance Corps.
- RASC – Royal Army Service Corps.
- RDF – Royal Dublin Fusiliers.
- RE – Royal Engineers.
- Ref. – Reference
- REME – Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.
- Res. – Reserve.
- RFA – Royal Field Artillery.
- RH – Right Hand.
- RHA – Royal Horse Artillery.
- RL – Rocket Launcher.
- RN – Royal Navy.
- rnd. – Rounds.
- RQMS – Regimental Quarter-master Sergeant.
- RSM – Regimental Sergeant Major.
- RT – Range-taker.
- RV – Rendezvous.
- RWF – Royal Welch Fusiliers.
S
- SA – Small Arms.
- SAA – Small Arms Ammunition
- SAS – Small Arms School.
- SAS – Special Air Service.
- SASC – Small Arms School Corps.
- S.E.Mtd.Bde. – South Eastern Mounted Brigade.
- Sec’ds – Seconds (unit of time).
- Sec – Section.
- Sec Comd – Section Commander.
- Sect. – Section.
- Sept. – September.
- Sgt. – Sergeant.
- Sjt. – Serjeant.
- Skn. – Skeleton[ised].
- SMG – Sub Machine Gun.
- SOS – Save Our Souls.
- Spt. – Support.
- Sq. in. – Square inch.
- Sqdn. – Squadron.
- SR – Semi-Rimmed.
- SR – Special Reserve.
- SWB – South Wales Borderers.
- SWG – Standard Wire Gauge.
T
- TF – Territorial Force.
- Tgt. – Target.
U
- UK – United Kingdom.
- USA – United States of America.
V
- VAC – Vickers-Armstrongs, Crayford.
- VAOS – Vocabulary of Army Ordnance Stores.
- VB – Vickers-Berthier.
- Veh mech – Vehicle Mechanic.
- VGO – Vickers Gas Operated.
- VI – Vertical Interval.
- VMGCRA – Vickers Machine Gun Collection and Research Association.
- Vol. – Volume.
- VSM – Vickers, Sons and Maxim.
W
- WO – Warrant Officer.
- WOIII – Warrant Officer, Class 3.
- WW1 – World War One – The Great War 1914-1918.
- WW2 – World War Two – The Second World War 1939-1945.
Y
- Yd(s). – Yard(s) (imperial unit of measurement).