The Lone Wolf by Michel Poulin - HTML preview

{1} Smutje : ‘Coal’ in German.  Familiar nickname given to the cook aboard German submarines in WW2.

{2} ULTRA : Codename for Top Secret British decoding operation used to decypher the German high level messages sent via ENIGMA encryption machines.

{3} Heer : German Army

{4} Abwehr : German Army Intelligence service during World War 2.

{5} Unteroffizier : German Army rank equivalent to sergeant.

{6} Pusher : Nickname given to the radio operator aboard German submarines of WW2.

{7} Gefreiter : German Army rank equivalent to corporal.

{8} Obergefreiter : German Army rank equivalent to master corporal.

{9} Gasthaus : German countryside restaurant.

{10} CNO : Chief of Naval Operations.  Title of the Commander-in-Chief of the United States Navy.

{11} Die Ferkelchen : ‘The Little Piglet’ in German.

{12} Captain Ahab: Ficticious main character of the novel ‘Moby Dick’.

{13} Disappearing carriages: Artillery gun mounts designed to lower behind a protective parapet after firing.

{14} PPI : Plan Position Indicator, or PPI, is the type of electronic display used in modern radar systems, with a round display showing both azimuth and distance of targets, contrary to older oscilloscope displays, which used two separate linear displays.  PPI displays were first used by the Germans in WW2. 

{15} Enigma : Name of the cryptographic machine used by German forces in WW2 to encode high level radio messages.  Deemed by the Germans as impossible to decypher, Enigma traffic was actually decoded by the Allies as early as 1940.  That decoding operation was codenamed ‘ULTRA’ and was the Allies’ best kept secret of the war.

{16} Gefreiter : Rank equivalent to ‘corporal’.  Obergefreiter is the equivalent of ‘master corporal’.

{17} Abwehr : German military intelligence service during World War 2.

{18} Hauptman : German Army rank equivalent to that of a captain.

{19} MKb 42 (H) : Maschinenkarabiner 42 (Haenel).  The first name given to what would become the first modern assault rifle in history, the StG 44.

{20} Kamis : Name given by the Japanese to their various gods.

{21} Drake Passage : The body of open ocean situated between the southern tip of South America (Cape Horn) and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica.  The Drake Passage connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean.

{22} Abwehr : German military intelligence service in World War Two.

{23} Blackbeard: Nickname given to a famous pirate that roamed the Caribbean Basin in the 18th Century.

{24} SS-Standartenführer : SS rank equivalent to colonel.

{25} Kamis : Name for Japanese gods.

{26} TBS : Transmissions Between Ships.  Naval tactical radio system using the VHF band and used by the U.S. Navy during WW2.

{27} Die Alter : The Old Man, in German.  Common nickname given to the captain of a ship.

{28} BdU : Befehlshaber der U-Boote, or Submarine Command in German.

{29} Bootsmannsmaat : Kriegsmarine NCO rank equivalent to that of Petty Officer Second Class.

{30}Tirez les premiers, Messieurs les Français: French for ‘Shoot first, gentlemen Frenchmen’.’’  Referred to the 1759 Battle of the Plains of Abraham, outside the city of Quebec, when the French commander, Sieur de Montcalm, invited the British to fire first, which they did.

{31} Admiral Sir Dudley Pound: First Sea Lord of the Royal Navy between June 1939 and September 1943.

{32} Stabsbootsmann : Kriegsmarine senior NCO rank equivalent to that of a British or American Chief Petty Officer First Class.

{33} Enigma : Name of the encryption machine used by the Germans during WW2 to encode high level radio traffic.

{34} Ultra : Name of top secret British program dedicated to decyphering the German Enigma traffic.

{35} Captain Bligh : Famous figure of the novel and movie ‘The Bounty’, in which he was portrayed as a sadistic, tyrannical and uncaring captain.