- H2S
- Groundscanning radar on board of a bomber.
- Hakenkreuz
- Cross with hooks (Swastika). Symbol of national socialism introduced by Hitler. Originally an ancient symbol for fire or the Sun.
- Halftrack
- Military vehicle with wheels in front and tracked at the back.
- Hammerblock device
- Minesweeping device against acoustic mines. A pneumatic hammer is towed in a floating cone-shaped container on a long cable. The sound of the hammer causes the mine to explode.
- HEAT
- High-explosive anti-tank warhead. Shaped charge projectile to punch through armour. Used in e.g. bazooka or in the Panzerfaust.
- Heer
- German army or land forces. Part of Wehrmacht together with “Kriegsmarine” and “Luftwaffe”.
- Heeresgruppe
- The largest German ground formation and was directly subordinate to the OKH. Mainly consisting of a number of “Armeen” with few directly subordinate other units. A Heeresgruppe operated in a large area and could number several 100,000 men.
- Heim ins Reich
- “ Back home in the empire”. See Greater Germany.
- Herrenvolk
- “People of Lords”. Master race. Term from Nazi racial doctrine. Supposedly superior people innately in terms of intelligence, morals etc.
- High Explosive (HE)
- General description for explosive shells with shell fragmentation as opposed to AP, armour piercing.
- Hiroshima
- City in Japan where the first operational atomic bomb was used on 6 August 1945.
- Hitler putsch
- An attempted coup d’état by the NSDAP mainly carried out by the SA in Munich on 8 and 9 November 1923 . It failed and Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison.
- Hitlerjugend (HJ)
- Hitler Youth. National socialist German youth organisation where boys from the age of 14 to 18 were taught military discipline and obedience and where physical strength was developed. The HJ (Ha-Yod) was established in 1926 and from 1936 onwards was the sole legal youth organisation in the Third Reich. It was also the name of the 12th SS Panzerdivision/Armoured division.
- Holocaust
- Term for the destruction of European Jewry by the Nazis. Holokauston is the Greek term for a completely burnt sacrifice.
- Horsa glider
- British glider used by the Allies for air landing operations to transport troops and vehicles. It was towed close to its target and released, after which the glider pilot would try to land as near to the target as possible. After a rough landing the troops and vehicles could disembark. It could carry up to 20-25 troops or 3,241 kg of payload.
- Houwitzer
- Also known as Haubitze (in German) or Howitser (in English). A Houwitzer is a high-trajectory fire. It fires with a high trajectory and therefore has a shorter range. The range for a 155mm Houwitzer can still be about 18 km.
- Hunger winter
- Term for the winter of 1944-1945 in occupied Holland. The heavily populated west of the Netherlands had not yet been liberated. Due to stagnation of coal transports, food shortages and a very cold winter many people were hungry and died.
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