Page 8 remarks that it was an icy autumn this year and the winter would be a hard one. If it's autumn now, this suggests it is now after September 23, when the autumnal equinox occurred. And the text is correct, the winter of 1940-41 is considered one of the coldest of the 20th Century in parts of Europe.

Also on page 8, Hansen muses on the interests of the madmen in Berlin. Berlin is the capital of Germany.

On page 8, Kapitänleutnant is the German term for "Lieutenant Commander". On page 9, Kaleu is a German abbreviation of Kapitänleutnant.

On page 9, a Tommy is a slang term for a British soldier. It is derived from the generic name "Tommy Atkins" used as a placeholder for a private soldier in British Army booklets, originating in the 18th-19th century.

On page 9, the Spitfire was a British fighter aircraft.

Page 10 states it had been just two days since the first bomb had fallen on the Kingdom of England. This doesn't seem right if it is near the end of September as suggested earlier. Depending on how one views the "bombing of the Kingdom of England", the first bombs struck in July or August.

The U-87 is to pick up the double agent known as Polecat from the English coast and transport him to Calais. Calais is a French port city at the closest point to England across the English Channel.

Chapter 2

This chapter opens at Barnett College, the fictitious New York institution Indy is teaching at at this point in his life.

On page 19, Indy very briefly muses on obtaining his bullwhip, having to do with a travelling circus, a bad-tempered lion, and the Cross of Coronado. The full story was seen in "The Cross of Coronado".

Professor Higgins is from Caernarvon College in Wales. This appears to be a fictitious college, though Caernarvon is an actual small town in Wales.

This novel is the first mention of Dr. Grisswold, dean of Barnett College. He goes on to be mentioned or seen in a number of the Hohlbein novels. Grisswold keeps a framed photo of Indy in his office so that he "never completely forgot the face of the most absent professor."

Professor Higgins is said to be a professor of medieval studies and number one in the world in Old English. Old English is the earliest historical form of the English language.

Page 21 mentions an incident when Indy used his famous classroom death glare, with which he had once sent a Bengal tiger running (but that was another story that will be told in due time).

On page 22, Indy tells his students he wants to see the sites of Charta in chronological order from chapters three through seven in their textbooks. Charta is a municipality in Columbia.

Higgins receives a telegram about a strange man speaking an obscure dialect found near Liverpool.

Page 24 reveals that Brody's office at Barnett is on the ground floor of the building that also houses Indy's classroom.

On page 25, Indy hits a man attempting to kidnap Higgins on the chin with his fist and it's a KO. "KO" stands for "knock out".

On page 25, Indy bumps into a man carrying a thirty-eight caliber Smith & Wesson.

Chapter 3

This chapter opens along a stretch of coastline of occupied Belgium, four miles west of Ghent municipality.

On page 34, the ruthless dictator Linda thinks of as sending troops into a war they wanted no part of is German chancellor Adolf Hitler.

On page 38, the Wehrmacht is the name for the unified German armed forces from 1935-1945 during the Nazi reign.

Chapter 4

This chapter opens with Joshua Brushguy in St. Mary’s Hospital, Liverpool. This appears to be a fictitious hospital for Liverpool, though there is a St. Mary’s Hospital in Manchester (about 30 miles away), but it provides services for women and children.

On page 48, Indy remarks to Professor Higgins, who is reluctant to tell the secret of psychiatric patient Brushguy, "You know, I’ve experienced a lot that others wouldn’t believe if someone made a movie about it."

Higgins says that Brushguy told him he was originally from a village called Monmarth at the southern edge of Wales, which he left as a child. Since Brushguy is speaking in early Welsh, "Monmarth" may refer to the modern day city of Monmouth in southeast Wales.

Higgins comes to believe that Brushguy was the squire to the knight Sir Lancelot du Lac due to the man's knowledge of the ancient past and old Welsh language. Lancelot was one of the Knights of the Round Table in Arthurian legend, and often considered the most heroic and handsome.

On page 50, the Isle of Avalon is where the sword Excalibur, of the King Arthur legend, is often said to have been forged, though the island is fictitious or its location lost. Excalibur, or the Sword of Kings, is brought up on page 106. King Arthur, of course, is the legendary (possibly mythological) British leader of the late fifth and early sixth centuries. His knights were the Knights of the Round Table.

On page 50 Mr. Arnold gives Higgins a gaze of the type which a person would observe a child who claimed to have seen Santa Claus on the roof. Santa Claus, of course, is the folkloric figure who brings gifts to children around the world on Christmas Eve.

On page 51, Merlin is the infamous wizard of Arthurian legend. Indy seemingly met Merlin in 1925 in Dance of the Giants.

Indy remarks to Higgins on page 51 about Mr. Arnold's skepticism about the Arthurian legend, "Even if you showed him the Holy Grail now, it wouldn’t change anything. Believe me; I know his type only too well." Of course, Indy once had the Holy Grail, the cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper, and is a prime interest of Henry Sr.'s, in his hands, as seen in The Last Crusade.

On page 53, Higgins comments, "They say that a witch can take control of someone if they know their true name. For that reason, many people had two names. One that everyone knew and was used officially, and another, secret one that they only told to their closest, most trusted friends, sometimes not even that," and Indy reflects that the custom was still in practice even today among some people. Historically, this has been seen in a number of cultures, such as Ancient Egypt, Jewish mystical tradition, Australian aborigines, and some African and Native American cultures.

Chapter 5

This chapter opens in Aberdeen, Scotland with a performance of Shakespeare's play Hamlet. Hamlet is a 1601 tragedy play by William Shakespeare set in Denmark and is about a Danish royal family.

On page 58, Woodside Airport appears to be a fictitious airfield of the Woodside area of Aberdeen.

Also on page 58, the term "Krauts" used by Perkins refers to "Germans".

On page 59, Adolf Hitler is referred to as "the mad Austrian with the Charlie Chaplin moustache." Hitler was, indeed, Austrian. His mustache, called a "brush" or "toothbrush" style, is similar to that worn by Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977), a world-renown British comedic actor and filmmaker. Chaplin actually did wear the mustache style in flims as his Little Tramp character prior to Hitler adopting it in the early 1920s.

Chapter 6

This chapter introduces Oberst Kielmann. Oberst is German for "Colonel".

On page 66, "Jawohl, mein Führer! Zu Befehl, mein Führer! Heil Hitler!" is German for "Yes, my Führer! At your command, my Führer! Heil Hitler!" The title Führer is German for "Leader".

Page 68 describes that unit leader Melbrink has traded in his BMW for a donkey in order to blend in with the Middle Ages scenery of the German castle set piece. BMW is a German motor company known for its luxury and performance automobiles, but at this time was also known for producing vehicles for the German military.

Chapter 7

On page 72, Indy asks Arnold if the Germans have marched into London. London is the capital and largest city of the UK.

After being injured jumping from a taxiing airplane, Indy wakes up in hospital, asking, "Where am I? This isn’t the Palace Hotel." There were three Palace Hotels in London at this time.

Chapter 8

The quotes Perkins makes on pages 97-98 are from Hamlet.

Chapter 9

Page 100 mentions Mordred and Gawain. Mordred is often depicted as an enemy of King Arthur in the legends, though some accounts suggest he was an ally and possibly the king's son or nephew. Gawain is a nephew of King Arthur in the mythology and was involved, along with his fellow Knights of the Round Table, in the search for the Grail.

On page 101, Higgins tells Indy, "You should know that there are more things in heaven and earth…" and Indy interrupts him to say, "Don’t call me Horatio." This refers to a quote from Hamlet that Higgins was in the process of repeating, "There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." Horatio is a friend of Prince Hamlet's in the play.

On page 104, Camelot was the name of King Arthur's castle and the name is often extended to describe his entire kingdom (Britain).

On page 105, Higgins translates Brushguy's narrative of the arrival and capture of himself and Lancelot in the current time in a small boat, with a "Leviathan clad in gray steel, whose dart-shaped head appeared out of the fog." What he's actually describing is a German U-boat, but "Leviathan" refers to the name of a sea serpent in Jewish mythology, including the Hebrew Bible.

As Indy explains on page 106 that Hitler would send out his search dogs to make sure Excalibur falls into his hands, he also remarks, "I know this game. This has been happening for a few years." Of course, he is referring to his numerous run-ins with Nazi agents attempting to retrieve sacred and mystical historical objects since about 1930 ("The Viking Scroll").

Indy is tempted by the search for Excalibur on page 107: "The thought of finding such a treasure quickened his heart rate. Despite all of the setbacks in the past years, he hadn’t given up the search." I'm not positive what is meant by "all of the setbacks in the past years", but I suppose it means that, despite his general success as an archeologist, the most famous historical objects he's had in sight have slipped away from him in one way or another, such as the Philosopher’s Stone (The Philosopher’s Stone and The Cursed Grimoire), the Ark of the Covenant (Raiders of the Lost Ark), the Holy Grail (The Last Crusade), Noah's Ark (The Great Circle), the Staff of Moses (The Staff of Kings), and the ruins of Atlantis (The Fate of Atlantis). In addition, The White Witch states that Indy had previously searched for Excalibur for years through Glastonbury and Avalon, ancient battlefields, abbeys and cathedrals, the sacred assemblages at Stonehenge, and other sacred sites.

When Indy, Higgins, and Brushguy find themselves abandoned on the airplane in midflight over England, Indy takes over the cockpit controls, with Higgins asking distrustfully, "Can you even fly?", to which Indy responds, "Fly yes. Land no." He gave this same response to his father when they escaped from the German zeppelin in a plane in The Last Crusade.

Piloting the plane, Indy sees below them London, and the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral and the reflection of light on the Thames. The Thames is the longest river in England, running through London.

    Witnessing the German aerial bombing of London on page 115, Indy thinks back to WWI, to his time in the trenches of France and the senseless massacre of soldiers in the blood mills of Verdun. Indy was a member of the Belgian Army in that war, as seen in a number of episodes of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. Indy was at the Battle of Verdun in the episode "Demons of Deception".

    The German bombing of London depicted here would be the beginning of what became known as the Blitz, a bombing campaign against the UK by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy from September 7, 1940 to May 16, 1941.

Chapter 10

On page 119, D’accord is French for "all right".

On page 120, Belloq mentions the Lady of the Lake having her blessed hand over Lancelot. The Lady of the Lake is a mystical, often fairy-like woman in the Arthurian legend. Some versions of the legend say she was the guardian of Lancelot and of Excalibur. Later in this novel she is identified as Morgana Le Fay (Arthur's evil sister in most versions of the legend, but here is depicted as aiding the cause of the Round Table). "Le Fay" is Middle French for "the fairy" (sometimes translated as "the sorceress").

Also on page 120, et bien is French for "good".

On page 121, Kielmann thinks of bad jokes that some Germans made that could be deadly if heard by the wrong ears, such as the Gestapo watching for anyone who dared to insult the hollow earth theory and that the high command often decided troop movements with the help of a Ouija board. The Gestapo was the Nazi secret police. The hollow Earth theory is a pseudoscience concept that the planet has a large interior void. Some fanciful speculations even proposed that the void(s) were capable of supporting life and hosted another civilization from that of the surface. Though he was made to forget at the end, Indy seemingly visited portions of the hollow Earth in The Interior World and The Hollow Earth. A Ouija board is a board printed with the letters of the alphabet and numbers for the purpose of communicating with the spirit world via a planchette which would spell out the words the spirits wish to speak.

On page 122, "Vichy" refers to the collaborative role of the nominal government of Vichy, France with the German occupiers in WWII. The name of the city came to be a term used to identify anyone who played a role in the collaboration.

Chapter 11

The code name for the Nazi operation in Ghent is "Mother Goose" and the airplane bringing Indy, Higgins, and Brushguy is "Albatross". Mother Goose is the imaginary author of a wide range children's fairy tales nursery rhymes whose true authors are largely lost to the mists of time. The name was first used in the 17th Century. The "Albatross" code name may have been assigned by the German commander for the idiom "an albatross around your neck," meaning an inescapable, burdensome weight, originating from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s 1798 poem, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner". In the poem, a sailor shoots a friendly albatross, a seabird seen as a good omen, and is forced to wear the dead bird around his neck as punishment by his crewmates. When Higgins sees the name as a good omen himself due to the bird's reputation for graceful flight, Indy remarks, "Then I’m sure that you’ve never seen how an albatross lands." While graceful and long-distance fliers, the Albatross tends to make clumsy landings due to their long, narrow wings and high approach speed. Their landings can involve skidding on their bellies, stumbling forward, face-planting into the turf, and occasionally crashing into other birds on the ground.

Chapter 12

On page 131, the Waffen-SS is the combat branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary Schutzstaffel (SS) organization.

Chapter 13

On page 141, Indy mentions Albert Speer the architect. Speer (1905-1981) was a German architect and Minister of Armaments and War Production in Nazi Germany in WWII. He was known as a close friend of Hitler and later at the Nuremberg trials was sentenced to serving 20 years in prison.

Chapter 14

Page 151 mentions that Indy has heard of chi and spiritual energy. "Chi" is a Chinese term that stands for a being's life essence. In East Asian culture and religion, chi is believed to be a vital force of life that exists in all living things.

Chapter 15

On page 159, Indy reflects that every year a couple of farmers or drivers died in Verdun or on the old Western Front when a plow or a wagon hit a mine or grenade from WWI, which rose to the surface every winter. In fact, this is still true today.

Chapter 16

On page 171, Indy seems to admit that his signing up for the war (WWI) as a young man was a terrible mistake.

Seeing the German set piece inside the ersatz castle, Indy comments that it looks like a Hollywood production of Hamlet. Hollywood is a neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA, famed for its production of film and television. Indy spent his 1920 summer break from university working at a pair of Hollywood film productions in "Hollywood Follies".

Inside the Nazis' fake castle where Lancelot is being held, when Indy says, "As soon as Lancelot shows up, we take the first chance we get and get out of here," Higgins remarks, "An excellent plan. Worthy of the tactical genius of a Napoleon." And when the others look at Higgins as if he has lost his mind, he clarifies, "I mean the later Bonaparte, around the time of Waterloo." Napoleon Bonaparte was the high general, First Consul, and Emperor of France from 1799-1814 and known as a keen (if not exactly genius) military strategist, who conquered much of Europe. He met his leadership demise during the 1815 Battle of Waterloo, a catastrophic reversal. Variations of the phrase "met your Waterloo" have been used in popular culture ever since to suggest an individual's final ignominious defeat.

On page 179, Indy tells Linda the German soldiers are coming to the play and "I must be idle." This is a line from Hamlet, spoken by the character, meaning that he must avoid suspicion while waiting for the play-within-a-play to "catch the conscience of the King".

On page 181, Indy describes what he "saw" of Rene Belloq's death during the opening of the Ark of the Covenant. This, of course, occurred in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

On page 183, Indy reflects that Rene Belloq had always had a love for Baroque performances. Baroque is a highly expressive and dramatic style in art, architecture, music, and poetry that flourished in Europe roughly from the late 1500s to the early 1700s. It is all about emotion, movement, and grandeur, trying to impress the experiencer, even overwhelm them a bit, to pull one into the experience.

Page 184 states that Indy had once knocked out two of Rene Belloq's teeth.

Chapter 17

The German's castle has been built atop some old mining tunnels that Linda had played in as a child. She tells Indy that some of the tunnels have tracks in them leading out to the cliffs and Indy groans, "Not this again." He is referring to the mining tracks and carts he and his cohorts of the time used to stage a harrowing escape from the slave mines under Pankot Palace in The Temple of Doom.

Chapter 18

On page 217, Gefreiter is German for "Private" (as in the military rank).

On page 219, druids were high-ranking priests among the ancient Celts.

On page 220, et voilá is French for "And there you have it." On page 221, voilá by itself means simply "there".