The concise encyclopedia of world war II 2 volumes (greenwood encyclopedias of modern world wars) ( PDFDrive ) 1360

ZEPPELIN Western Allied deception operation in 1944 that aimed to hold Wehrmacht divisions in the Balkans by persuading Adolf Hitler and the OKW that an Anglo-American invasion of the

Zhitomir-Berdichev Operation (1943–1944)

ZEKE

See Zero fi ghter

ZEPPELIN Western Allied deception operation in 1944 that aimed to hold

Wehrmacht divisions in the Balkans by persuading Adolf Hitler and the OKW

that an Anglo-American invasion of the region was imminent It was part of the

BODYGUARD deception plan It comprised a false Anglo-American assault on

the Balkans from North Africa It was carried out by displays of large numbers

of fake landing craft and using fi ve double agents to persuade Hitler and the

OKW that there were 39 enemy divisions in the Mediterranean when there were

only 18 in fact A ghost “British 12th Army” was slated by ZEPPELIN to attack

Greece, while the real U.S 7th Army was said by agents to be preparing to assault

Yugoslavia Soviet intelligence cooperated by feinting amphibious assaults into

Rumania and Bulgaria The deception was a huge success: the Germans kept 22

divisions waiting in the Balkans all through OVERLORD

ZERO FIGHTER The Mitsubishi A6M “Reisen” Japanese fi ghter It came in

both Army and Navy versions In 1941 it was superior to anything the Western

Al-lies had in the Pacifi c or Southeast Asia It was incrementally improved during the

war However, it was surpassed in quality and quantity by new enemy fi ghters that

appeared in the skies of the Pacifi c from 1943 and later over Japan The “Zero” was

also called a “Zeke” by the Western Allies

See also fi ghters; intelligence

ZERO-HOUR British term for what U.S forces called H-Hour

ZERSTÖRER A Luftwaffe twin-engined night-fi ghter

See Kammhuber Line; Wilde Sau; Zahme Sau; Zerstörergruppen

ZERSTÖRERGRUPPEN (ZG) “destroyer fi ghter groups.” Luftwaffe

night-fi ghter groups comprised exclusively of twin-engine night-fi ghters or Zerstörer The main

night-fi ghter was the Bf110, later supplemented by the Me410

ZHANG XUELIANG (1901–2001) “Young Marshal.”

See Manchuria; Xi’an Incident

ZHANG ZUOLIN (1873?–1928) “Old Marshal.”

See Manchuria

ZHITOMIR-BERDICHEV OPERATION (1943–1944) General Nikolai

Vatu-tin followed his early success in the Second Battle of Ukraine in November 1943 with

this operation intended to expand his bridgehead over the winter of 1943–1944