From Robert Wilde,
Your Guide to European History.
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Ansaldo SVA-5: Italian designed fighter plane usually used for reconnaissance, introduced in 1918.
Ansteckmagazin: A 25 round (extra large) magazine for the German rifle.
Antennes: The main line in a trench railway.
Antonio: Nickname for Portuguese troops.
ANZAC: Both an official acronym for the 'Australian and New Zealand Army Corps', an army made from the Australian Imperial Force and the New Zealand Expeditionary Force and an informal term for any soldier from said army. The Anzacs fought in Gallipoli, Palestine and the Western Front.
Anzac Cove: The tiny foothold on the Gallipoli Peninsular held by Allied (mainly Australian and New Zealand Anzac) soldiers against Turkish troops from April 25th 1915 to early 1916.
AOC: Army Ordinance Corps.
AOF: Afrique Occidentale Française, French West Africa.
AOK: Armee-Oberkommando, German Army Command.
AP: Aid Post.
APM: Assistant Provost Marshall.
AQ: Adjutant and Quartermaster General.
Ara: A German signals detachment using the Arent listening device.
Archie: Anti-aircraft fire.
ARCS: All Russian Council of Soviets.
Arctic Theatre: The Arctic Seas, White Sea and north coast of Russia upon which a struggle for safe shipping was fought.
Area Shoot: Carpet bombardment.
Arditi: 'The Bold Ones', Italian assault troops.
Arent: Telegraphic listening device used by the German army; name after the designer.
Arko: Artillerie-Kommandeure, German artillery command (first used in 1917).
Armée Navale: The French Navy.
Armistice: An official and arranged halt in hostilities to allow peace negotiations. The Armistice between the Allies and Germany which ended the war was signed on November 11th 1918 and valid for 36 days; it was regularly renewed until peace treaties were signed.
Armlet: Fabric band worn around the arm to designate a position or duty.
Armoured Cruisers: With both side and deck armour and heavy weapons these ships were used as scouts for battleships, but were made obsolete by the creation of Battlecruisers.
Armstrong Hut: Canvas and wood collapsible hut used by the British.
Armstrong Whitworth FK-3: British two-seater bomber introduced in September 1916.
Armstrong Whitworth FK-8: British two-seater reconnaissance/bomber aircraft introduced in late 1916.
ARS: Appareil respiratoire spéciale, French gas mask.
ASC: Army Service Corps.
Asiatic Annie: Slang for the large Turkish guns along the Dardanelles.
Askari: A native African soldier in European service; the term was originally German but used by white colonists of all nations by 1914.
Asquith: Nickname for the infamously unreliable French safety match.
Asto: Abhörstationen, German telegraphic listening stations.
ASW: Anti-submarine warfare.
Attila: German hussar tunic.
Attrition: Destroying your opponent’s resources through constant pressure, (in)famously attempted at Verdun by the German army.
AUAM: American Union Against Militarism.
August Madness: The huge response to a British request for volunteer soldiers by Lord Kitchener in 1914.
Australian Imperial Force: The Australian army.
Austrian Aviatik D-I: Fighter plane used by the Austro-Hungarian empire after late 1917.
Auxiliary Commerce Raiders: Warships of the German navy disguised as unarmed merchant vessels in order to attack shipping. They had success far in excess of their numbers.
AV: Arbeitsverwendungsfähige, German medical designation for those only fit for labour.
AV7 Panzerkampfwagon: The only German produced tank of the First World War; only a few were ever made.
AVC: Army Veterinary Corps.
Aviatik B-Types: Two-seater German biplane used for reconnaissance in the early part of the war.
Aviatik C-Type: Two-seater armed German reconnaissance biplane first used in early 1915.
Avro 504: British two-seater biplane used for reconnaissance and light bombing, introduced before the war.
AWL: Absent without leave.
AWOL: Absent without official leave.
Ayrton Fan: Device for dispersing gas when waved, basically fabric on a staff.