| AOK: | Armee Oberkommando, army headquarters |
| Bauform: | construction plan |
| EB: | Eisenbahnbatterie: railroad battery |
| Festung: | fortress |
| GR: | grenadier regiment |
| HKAA: | Heeres-Küsten-Artillerie-Abteilung, army coastal artillery regiment |
| IR: | infantry regiment |
| MAA: | Marine-Artillerie-Abteilung: navy artillery regiment |
| MKB: | Marine Küsten Batterie: navy coastal battery |
| OB: | Offene Bettung; open platform |
| Regelbau: | construction standard, sometimes abbreviated as R when used with a particular plan, for example R621. |
| SK: | Sonderkonstruktion: special design, not Regelbau |
| StP: | Stützpunkt, strongpoint (company-sized) |
| Tobruk: | A class of small bunkers with circular openings for a crew-served weapon |
| Tonne: | Metric ton (1,000kg; 2.204lb) |
| Vf: | Verstarkfeldmässig; reinforced field position such as a tobruk |
| Westwall: | German fortifications created in the late 1930s on the French–German border, also known as Siegfried line |
| WN: | Wiederstandnest, strongpoint (platoon-sized); sometimes abbreviated as “W” in the 709th Infantry Division sector |