1.
France
–
France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
France
–
One of the
Lascaux paintings: a horse –
Dordogne, approximately 18,000 BC
France
–
Flag
France
–
The
Maison Carrée was a temple of the
Gallo-Roman city of Nemausus (present-day
Nîmes) and is one of the best preserved vestiges of the
Roman Empire.
France
–
With
Clovis ' conversion to Catholicism in 498, the
Frankish monarchy,
elective and
secular until then, became
hereditary and of
divine right.
2.
French Army
–
The French Army, officially the Land Army is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. Along with the French Air Force, the French Navy and the National Gendarmerie, the current Chief of Staff of the French Army is General Jean-Pierre Bosser, a direct subordinate of the Chief of the Defence Staff. All soldiers are considered professionals following the suspension of conscription, voted in parliament in 1997, as of 2014, the French Army employed 111,628 personnel. In addition, the element of the French Army consisted of 15,453 personnel of the Operational Reserve. The Kings of France needed reliable troops during and after the Hundred Years War and these units of troops were raised by issuing ordonnances to govern their length of service, composition and payment. These Compagnies dordonnance formed the core of the Gendarme Cavalry into the sixteenth century, stationed throughout France and summoned into larger armies as needed. There was also made for Francs-archers units of bowmen and foot soldiers raised from the non-noble classes. The bulk of the infantry for warfare was still provided by urban or provincial militias, raised from an area or city to fight locally and named for their recruiting grounds. Gradually these units became more permanent, and in 1480s Swiss instructors were recruited and these men would be paid and contracted and receive training. Henry II further regularised the French army by forming standing Infantry regiments to replace the Militia structure, the first of these the Régiments de Picardie, Piémont, Navarre and Champagne were called the Les Vieux Corps. It was normal policy to disband regiments after a war was over as a cost saving measure with the Vieux Corps and the Kings own Household Troops the Maison du Roi being the only survivors. Regiments could be raised directly by the King and so called after the region in which they were raised, or by the nobility and so called after the noble or his appointed colonel. In 1684 there was a reorganisation of the French infantry and again in 1701 to fit in with Louis XIVs plans. This reshuffle created many of the regiments of the French Army and standardised their equipment. The army of the Sun King tended to wear coats with coloured linings. There were exceptions and the troops, recruited from outside France. In addition to these regiments of the line the Maison du Roi provided several elite units, the Swiss Guards, French Guards, the revolution split the army with the main mass losing most of its officers to aristocratic flight or guillotine and becoming demoralised and ineffective. The French Guard joined the revolt and the Swiss Guards were massacred during the storming of the Tuileries palace, under Napoleon I, the French Army conquered most of Europe during the Napoleonic Wars
French Army
–
The
French Royal Army at the
battle of Denain (1712).
French Army
–
French Army
French Army
–
The
Gardes françaises at the
battle of Fontenoy (1745)
French Army
–
The
French Revolutionary Army at the
battle of Jemappes (1792)
3.
Infantry
–
Infantry is the general branch of an army that engages in military combat on foot. As the troops who engage with the enemy in close-ranged combat, infantry units bear the largest brunt of warfare, Infantry can enter and maneuver in terrain that is inaccessible to military vehicles and employ crew-served infantry weapons that provide greater and more sustained firepower. In English, the 16th-century term Infantry describes soldiers who walk to the battlefield, and there engage, fight, the term arose in Sixteenth-Century Spain, which boasted one of the first professional standing armies seen in Europe since the days of Rome. It was common to appoint royal princes to military commands, and the men under them became known as Infanteria. in the Canadian Army, the role of the infantry is to close with, and destroy the enemy. In the U. S. Army, the closes with the enemy, by means of fire and maneuver, in order to destroy or capture him, or to repel his assault by fire, close combat. In the U. S. Marine Corps, the role of the infantry is to locate, close with, and destroy the enemy fire and maneuver. Beginning with the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century, artillery has become a dominant force on the battlefield. Since World War I, combat aircraft and armoured vehicles have become dominant. In 20th and 21st century warfare, infantry functions most effectively as part of a combined arms team including artillery, armour, Infantry relies on organized formations to be employed in battle. These have evolved over time, but remain a key element to effective infantry development and deployment, until the end of the 19th century, infantry units were for the most part employed in close formations up until contact with the enemy. This allowed commanders to control of the unit, especially while maneuvering. The development of guns and other weapons with increased firepower forced infantry units to disperse in order to make them less vulnerable to such weapons. This decentralization of command was made possible by improved communications equipment, among the various subtypes of infantry is Medium infantry. This refers to infantry which are heavily armed and armored than heavy infantry. In the early period, medium infantry were largely eliminated due to discontinued use of body armour up until the 20th century. In the United States Army, Stryker Infantry is considered Medium Infantry, since they are heavier than light infantry, Infantry doctrine is the concise expression of how infantry forces contribute to campaigns, major operations, battles, and engagements. It is a guide to action, not a set of hard, doctrine provides a very common frame of reference across the military forces, allowing the infantry to function cooperatively in what are now called combined arms operations. Doctrine helps standardise operations, facilitating readiness by establishing common ways of accomplishing infantry tasks, doctrine links theory, history, experimentation, and practice
Infantry
–
Early 20th-century infantry: The
Royal Irish Rifles at the
Battle of the Somme (July–November 1916) during the
First World War (1914–18).
Infantry
–
Janissaries are a very important example in the evolution of the modern infantry.
Infantry
–
20th-century infantry: Australian infantry at Tobruk, Libya, in 1941, during the Second World War (1939–45).
Infantry
–
19th-century infantry: Brigadier General
Winfield Scott leads American line infantry into the
Battle of Chippawa (5 July 1814) in Canada, during the Anglo–American
War of 1812 (1812–15).
4.
Mountain warfare
–
Mountain warfare refers to warfare in the mountains or similarly rough terrain. This type of warfare is also called Alpine warfare, after the Alps mountains, Mountain warfare is one of the most dangerous types of combat as it involves surviving not only combat with the enemy but also the extreme weather and dangerous terrain. Mountain ranges are of importance since they often act as a natural border. Attacking a prepared enemy position in mountain terrain requires a ratio of attacking soldiers to defending soldiers than a war conducted on level ground. Movement, reinforcements, and medical evacuation up and down steep slopes, the term mountain warfare is said to have come about in the Middle Ages after the monarchies of Europe found it difficult to fight the Swiss armies in the Alps. This was because the Swiss were able to fight in smaller units, similar styles of attack and defence were later employed by guerrillas, partisans and irregulars who hid in the mountains after an attack, making it challenging for an army of regulars to fight back. In Bonapartes Italian campaign, and the 1809 rebellion in Tyrol, other example of mountain warfare was the Crossing of the Andes carried out by the Argentinean Army of the Andes commanded by Gen José de San Martín in 1817. One of the division passed 5000 m height, Mountain warfare came to the fore once again, during World War I, when some of the nations involved in the war had mountain divisions that had hitherto not been tested. During the summer of 1918, the Battle of San Matteo took place on the Italian front, in December 1914, another offensive was launched by the Turkish supreme commander Enver Pasha with 95, 000-190,000 troops against the Russians in the Caucasus. Insisting on an attack against Russian positions in the mountains in the heart of winter. Since the partition in 1947, both countries have been locked in skirmishes and wars mainly in this Himalayan region with the highest mountains in the world. The first hostilities between the two nations in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 showed that both were ill-equipped to fight in biting cold, let alone at the highest altitudes in the world. During the Sino-Indian War of 1962, hostilities broke out between the Republic of India and the Peoples Republic of China at some of the highest altitudes over the Himalayan mountains. Later wars between India and Pakistan were mainly fought in the rather than in the mountains, although several major mountain battles took place in all these conflicts. This changed in the Kargil War when Indian forces were faced with the task of flushing out intruders. This proxy warfare became the modern war that was fought exclusively on mountains. South Georgia is an island, and since the war took place during the southern winter. It was unusual, in that it combined aspects of water long range expeditions, Arctic warfare
Mountain warfare
–
Italian Front in 1915-1917: eleven
Battles of the Isonzo and Asiago offensive. In blue, initial Italian conquests.
Mountain warfare
–
Landscape of South Georgia
Mountain warfare
–
Topography
Mountain warfare
–
Australians patrolling isolated communities in the mountains of
Oruzgan Province
5.
Cran-Gevrier
–
Cran-Grevier is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. Cran-Gevrier is in the east of Annecy, part of the town is on a hill. The hamlet of Cran was on the level of the Thiou river, the top of the hill of Gevrier is designated as a natural area. The Fier forms most of the communes north-western border, the city draws its origins from two hamlets, Cran and Gevrier. There are two origins for each one of these names, Cran which means notch (permitted the establishment of a road between Boutae and Aquae, or between two rivers. Gevrier, the oldest hamlet, got its name either from the Grabriaccus villa, or from the word guivre, the Romans were the first to settle on the hill. A Roman villa and a theatre were built there, piossasco, Italy Trenčín, Slovakia Bathgate, Scotland The twinning agreement between Bathgate and Cran-Gevrier was signed in March 2010. Since then, many different projects have started up, including International Camps for young people as well as school-to-school projects. Communes of the Haute-Savoie department INSEE
Cran-Gevrier
–
View of Cran-Gevrier, coming from
Annecy
6.
Sans peur et sans reproche
–
Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard was a French soldier, generally known as the Chevalier de Bayard. Throughout the centuries since his death, he has known as the knight without fear. He himself however, preferred the name given him by his contemporaries for his gaiety and kindness, le bon chevalier, or the good knight. The descendant of a family, the head of which had fallen in battle in nearly every generation for two centuries, Bayard was born at the Château Bayard, Dauphiné in southern France. He served as a page to the young Duke Charles I of Savoy, until March 1490, in 1490 he took service as a man-at-arms in the household of Louis de Luxembourg, the seigneur de Ligny, a favorite of King Charles VIII of France. As a youth, Terrail was distinguished for his looks, charming manner, in 1494, he accompanied King Charles VIII of Frances expedition into Italy to seize the Kingdom of Naples. This campaign is now known as the Italian War of 1494–1498 and he was knighted after the 1495 Battle of Fornovo, in which he captured a standard. Shortly afterwards, entering Milan alone in pursuit of the enemy, he was taken prisoner, in 1502, he was wounded at Canossa. In 1508, Bayard accompanied King Louis XII against rebellious Genoa, the Genoese broke and fled before the furious charge of Bayard and the French gendarmes. Genoa subsequently fell, and Bayard entered the city in triumph behind his king, in June of that year, King Louis played host to the Spanish king, Ferdinand. Weeks of festivities followed, including tourneys, banquets, and balls, Bayard was the champion of the first, and at the last became reacquainted with his former opponent at the Garigliano, Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, El Gran Capitán of Spain. In 1509, the League of Cambrai was formed between France, the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, and the Papacy, in an effort to wrest from Venice its territorial empire in northeastern Italy. For this campaign, the king commissioned Bayard to raise a company of horse, up until that time, French infantry had been a despised rabble. Later that year, Bayard was among the French forces under Jacques de La Palice sent to join their German ally, though the siege ultimately failed, what early success the allies enjoyed was largely due to the combination of cool-headed leadership and dashing bravado of Bayard. In 1510 the Duchy of Ferrara joined the alliance, Bayard was co-commander of the French contingent sent to garrison and aid the city and its Duke, Alphonso dEste. During his eight-month stay, Bayard won the admiration of the duke and his wife, according to his biographer, The Loyal Servant, the chevalier fully returned Lucrezias admiration, considering her a pearl among women. By 1511 the League of Cambrai had collapsed due to Papal fears of the power of France in Italy. To counter this, Pope Julius II declared the formation of the Holy League and this alliance put France at odds with not only the Papacy, but its erstwhile ally, the Holy Roman Empire, as well as Spain and ultimately the Swiss Confederation
Sans peur et sans reproche
–
Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard
Sans peur et sans reproche
–
Chevalier Bayard in a 16th-century French school painting.
Sans peur et sans reproche
–
Bayard at the
Battle of Garigliano (1503), by
Philippoteaux
Sans peur et sans reproche
–
Statue of Pierre Terrail LeVieux, Seigneur de Bayard, in
Sainte-Anne-d'Auray, France. 1893 statue.
7.
First World War
–
World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
First World War
–
Clockwise from the top: The aftermath of shelling during the
Battle of the Somme,
Mark V tanks cross the
Hindenburg Line,
HMS Irresistible sinks after hitting a
mine in the
Dardanelles, a British
Vickers machine gun crew wears
gas masks during the Battle of the Somme,
Albatros D.III fighters of
Jagdstaffel 11
First World War
–
Sarajevo citizens reading a poster with the proclamation of the
Austrian annexation in 1908.
First World War
–
This picture is usually associated with the arrest of
Gavrilo Princip, although some believe it depicts Ferdinand Behr, a bystander.
First World War
–
Serbian Army
Blériot XI "Oluj", 1915.
8.
Battle of the Yser
–
The front line was held by a large Belgian force which halted the German advance in a costly defensive battle. The Allied victory at the Yser stopped the German advance into the last corner of unoccupied Belgium, the German army invaded Belgium on the morning of 4 August. German cavalry appeared at Visé early on 4 August, to find the bridge down and Belgian troops on the west bank, the Germans crossed at a ford and forced the Belgians to retire towards Liège. By evening, it was clear to the Belgian High Command that the Third Division, at an engagement between the First Division and the German IX Corps near Tienen, the Belgians had 1,630 casualties. The Belgian government of Charles de Broqueville left Brussels for Antwerp, the German Siege of Namur ended with a Belgian capitulation on 24 August, as the field army made a sortie from Antwerp towards Brussels. The Germans detached the III Reserve Corps from the 1st Army to mask the city, on 1 October, General Hans Hartwig von Beseler ordered an attack on the Antwerp forts Sint-Katelijne-Waver, Walem and the Bosbeek and Dorpveld redoubts by the 5th Reserve and Marine divisions. A counter-attack failed and the Fourth Division was reduced to 4,800 infantry, proclamations warning the inhabitants that King Albert I and the government would leave Antwerp were put up during the day. Early on 9 October, German troops found some forts of the inner ring empty, Beseler ended the bombardment and summoned the governor, General Victor Deguise. About 30,000 men of the Antwerp garrison surrendered and the city was occupied by German troops, about 33,000 soldiers of the garrison fled north to the Netherlands, where they were interned for the duration. The race ended on the North Sea coast of Belgium, when the last open area from Dixmude to the North Sea was occupied by Belgian troops from Antwerp, British and French forces in Belgium covered the retirement of the Belgians and British from Antwerp. The First, Third and Fourth divisions reached Ostend, the Fifth and Sixth divisions arrived at Torhout and Diksmuide, the Germans 4th Ersatz Division and Landwehr troops at Lokeren and Moerbeke turned east towards Ghent before the withdrawal was discovered. On 11 October, German troops were detected advancing on Ghent, a withdrawal from Ghent from 3, 00–10,00 p. m. began, after which German troops entered the city. Several bridges were demolished during the retirement, although crowds of civilians on the main road, part of northern France and the north Belgium from the Pas-de-Calais to the Scheldt estuary had been known as Flanders since the eleventh century. By 1914, the plain was bounded by canals linking Douai, Béthune, Saint-Omer, to the south-east, canals run between Lens, Lille, Roubaix and Courtrai, the Lys river from Courtrai to Ghent and to the north-west lies the sea. The plain is almost flat, apart from a line of low hills from Cassel, east to Mont des Cats, Mont Noir, Mont Rouge, Scherpenberg, a coastal strip about 10 miles wide, is near sea level and fringed by sand dunes. Inland the ground is mainly meadow, cut by canals, dykes, drainage ditches, the ground surface quickly turns to a consistency of cream cheese and on the coast troop movements were confined to roads, except during frosts. The rest of the Flanders Plain is woods and small fields, divided by hedgerows planted with trees and cultivated from small villages, south of La Bassée Canal around Lens and Béthune was a coal-mining district full of slag heaps, pit-heads and miners houses. Intervening areas are agricultural, with roads on shallow foundations, unpaved mud tracks in France and narrow pavé roads along the frontier
Battle of the Yser
–
Depiction of German soldiers fleeing from Belgian forces at the Battle of the Yser.
Battle of the Yser
–
Belgian soldiers in 1914
Battle of the Yser
–
Fall of Antwerp and the Allied retreat, 1914
Battle of the Yser
–
French fusilier marins at the Yser
9.
Second World War
–
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
Second World War
–
Clockwise from top left: Chinese forces in the
Battle of Wanjialing, Australian
25-pounder guns during the
First Battle of El Alamein, German
Stuka dive bombers on the
Eastern Front in December 1943, a U.S. naval force in the
Lingayen Gulf,
Wilhelm Keitel signing the
German Instrument of Surrender, Soviet troops in the
Battle of Stalingrad
Second World War
–
The
League of Nations assembly, held in
Geneva,
Switzerland, 1930
Second World War
–
Adolf Hitler at a German
National Socialist political rally in
Weimar, October 1930
Second World War
–
Italian soldiers recruited in 1935, on their way to fight the
Second Italo-Abyssinian War
10.
Battles of Narvik
–
Narvik provided an ice-free harbour in the North Atlantic for iron ore transported by the railway from Kiruna in Sweden. Both sides in the war had an interest in securing this iron supply for themselves and denying it to the enemy, prior to the German invasion, British forces had considered Narvik as a possible landing point for an expedition to help Finland in the Winter War. Such an expedition also had the potential of taking control of the Swedish mines, French politicians were also eager to start a second front as far away from France as possible. On 1 March 1940, Adolf Hitler ordered the invasion of Norway and this operation would involve most of the Kriegsmarine. Participating units were divided into five groups, which were to occupy six of the main Norwegian ports, Group I departed Bremerhaven on 6 April. Each of the warships carried around 200 soldiers, the troop-carrying destroyers were escorted most of the way by the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. In the early morning of 9 April, the destroyers of Group I passed the Vestfjorden and arrived at the Ofotfjorden leading to Narvik, in fog, in Ofotfjord, they captured three Norwegian patrol boats. Before capture Kelt managed to send a message to the coastal defence ship HNoMS Norge, the German ships Wolfgang Zenker, Erich Koellner and Hermann Künne landed their soldiers in Herjangsfjord in order to capture a Norwegian regimental supply base at Elvegårdsmoen. Hans Ludemann and Hermann Künne also landed their troops in order to engage the nearby Norwegian forts, Diether von Roeder remained in Ofotfjord in order to ensure German control of the sea. Erich Giese was delayed by engine trouble and did not join the force for some time. The main defence of Narvik were the old coastal defence ships Eidsvold, having been alerted by Kelt, both Norwegian ships prepared for combat, the guns were loaded and life preservers issued to the crew. Around 04,15, the Germans spotted Eidsvold, and Eidsvold immediately signalled the leading German destroyer with an aldis lamp, when the Germans failed to respond to the signal, a warning shot was fired across their bow. The Germans had orders to occupy Norway peacefully if at all possible, a small launch ferried Korvettenkapitän Gerlach over to Eidsvold. Gerlach was taken to the bridge to speak to Captain Odd Isaachsen Willoch, Gerlach tried to convince Willoch that the Germans had arrived as friends, but that the Norwegians had to hand over their warships to the German armed forces. Captain Willoch asked for time to consult his commander, Captain Per Askim and this request was refused by the Germans, but while Willoch had been talking to the German officer the radio officer on board Eidsvold had communicated the events to Askim. Askims response to the German demands and order to Willoch came immediately, Willoch, Willoch responded to Askim, I am attacking. While this was going on, the German destroyer Wilhelm Heidkamp had positioned herself 700 m off the side of Eidsvold. Gerlach tried once again to convince Willoch to surrender, but Willoch refused, as Gerlach left Eidsvold, he fired a red flare, indicating that the Norwegians intended to fight
Battles of Narvik
–
A map of the Narvik area
Battles of Narvik
–
Warspite engaging shore batteries during the Second Battle of Narvik.
Battles of Narvik
–
HMS Eskimo after losing her bow
Battles of Narvik
–
Hermann Künne on fire
11.
Ouvrage Cap Martin
–
Ouvrage Cap Martin is a work of the Maginot Lines Alpine extension, the Alpine Line, also called the Little Maginot Line. The ouvrage, located on ground in Roquebrune, consists of two artillery blocks and one combination block facing Italy. The ouvrage was at the southernmost end of the Alpine Line, the ouvrage and its advance casemate at Pont Saint Louis controlled the coastal roads along the Mediterranean. Three observatories reported to Cap Martin, Block 1, one FM embrasure, two machine gun cloches, one grenade launcher cloche, two 81mm mortars Block 2, one 75mm gun, two twin machine guns and one observation cloche. Block 2 covered the plain of Menton and supported the casemate at Pont Saint Louis, the block was damaged during the German retreat in 1944. Block 3, two 75mm guns,2 81mm mortars,2 machine gun cloches, Block 3 covered the area between Cap Martin and Ouvrage Roquebrunne. The fort is unusual for Alpine Line fortifications in possessing a circulation gallery some distance below the entrance and combat blocks, rising via steps and this feature is more typical of the main Maginot Line in the northeast of France. The gallery was served by a network of railways of 60 cm gauge, in the case of Cap Martin, the wagons were of a unique design. Three observation posts are attached to Cap Martin, including the Observatoire du Cimitière de Roquebrune, Cap Martin was garrisoned by the 96th Brigade Alpin de Forteresse, supported by the 157th Régiment dArtillerie de Position. The garrison comprised 343 men and 11 officers, commanded by Captain Jacques Hugard, Cap Martin fired the first shots of the Italian confrontation on 14 June 1940, eight shots at the Pont-Saint-Louis bridge. The first overt Italian action took place on 20 June, when the Italians of the Cosseria Division attempted an assault on the avant-post at Pont-Saint-Louis. Cap Martin opened fire, supported by Saint-Agnès and Mont Agel, on 21 June 1940 Italian artillery bombarded Cap Martin with 149mm and 210mm shells. The next day saw aerial bombing attacks on Cap Martin, an armored train attempting to enter French territory on the coastal line was fired upon by Mont Agel and damaged. Heavy Italian artillery fire damaged Cap Martins 75mm gun in Block 2, a rumored Italian infantry attack prompted heavy French fire, but failed to materialize. On 24 June two armored trains, one with 120mm guns and another with 152mm guns, fired on Cap Martin in support of Italian troops advancing through Menton. The Italians occupied the surface of the fortification until they were fired upon by other French artillery and were forced to retreat, the Pont-Saint-Louis position forced the Italians to go around through a railroad tunnel, was relieved by French forces in the evening. The armistice of 25 June brought combat to a close, on 15 August 1944 Allied forces landed on the French Riviera in Operation Dragoon. Retreating German troops blew up Cap Martins Block 3 to prevent it from firing on their rear, the end of the war found Cap Martins Blocks 2 and 3 heavily damaged
Ouvrage Cap Martin
–
Top of Cap-Martin with sheep
Ouvrage Cap Martin
–
Pont Saint-Louis casemate
12.
Battle of Alasay
–
Marine Embedded Training Team 6-4 as well as other US units provided air support, both with attack helicopters and A-10 and F-15E strike aircraft. The operation enabled the construction of two bases for the Afghan Army in the Alasay valley, which had been guerrilla control since 2006, the sector of Alasay valley, in Kapisa Province, had been under guerrilla control since 2006. The ISAF decided to control of the sector. Given the proximity of two ISAF bases near the village of Nijrab and in Tagab, the French Groupement tactique interarmes de Kapisa, harboured there, was tasked with the mission. The Mountain Commando Group The 4th Company of the 27 RC received the callsign Vert, it was composed of several section, label Vert 20, Vert 30, the 2nd Company received the callsign of Jonquille. The plan envisioned construction of two outposts for the Afghan Army, around the same time, elements of the Afghan Army, with several armoured vehicles and two battle tanks, approached their destination. They were supported by the 2nd Company of the 27 BCA, at 7,17, elements of the Afghan Army came under fire, Jonquille 40 answered in kind, firing several Milan missiles. Four minutes later, Jonquille 20 found itself under sporadic dragunov fire, Vert 30 was under fire, and called for air support, provided at 8,00 by elements of the US Air Force. Around the same time, three AMX-10 RC moved to the village of Shekut and it arrived 5 minutes later with the GCM and the AMX-10 RC, only to come under fire from two guerrilla units 600 metres away. These positions were pounded by the unit and put out of action, allowing Jonquille 30 to close in. At 8,45, Jonquille 20 moved to support Jonquille 30, at the same time, guerrilla elements stormed the positions of Vert 30 and Vert 20, while US helicopters pounded caves occupied by the guerrilla. At 9,30, Jonquille 30 sustained sniper fire, prompting the deployment of two 20mm-equipped VAB-C20 to complement Jonquille 20 and 30, during the following hours, several sporadic engagements took place around Alasay. The French sustained their first casualty at 12,51, when a Milan operator of Vert 30 came under Dragunov fire and was wounded by shrapnel after the launcher was hit, the soldier was evacuated to Bagram at 14,41. Between 15,00 and 15,30, guerrilla elements attempted to infiltrate between Vert 20 and Vert 30, but were prevented by small arms fire and air support, an apparent calm was then restored, though women were seen evacuating the sector. One of the hit a VAB-C20, killing the driver. Over the following hours, guerrilla elements retreated to the East, the dead and 5 Afghan Army wounded were evacuated at 22,10. From midnight, Vert 20 and 30 left the sector on foot, supported by the GCM, at 6,47, Jonquille 30 destroyed a guerrilla group attempting to storm Alasay. At 7,00, elements of the Afghan Army arrived on BMP vehicles, one hour later, construction of the outposts began
Battle of Alasay
–
French troops and armor in the Alasai Valley, abril 2009.
Battle of Alasay
–
Operation Dinner Out
13.
Rifleman
–
A rifleman is an infantry soldier armed with a long, rifled firearm. Although the rifleman role had its origin with 16th century hand cannoneers and 17th century musketeers, by the mid-19th century, entire regiments of riflemen were formed and became the mainstay of all standard infantry. Rifleman became a term for any common infantryman, units of musketeers were originally developed to support units of pikemen. As firearms became more effective, the composition of these pike-and-musket units changed, the last pike regiments were dissolved by the 1720s, as pikes were superseded by the invention of the bayonet. This converted the musket into a pike for those situations where it still be useful, such as following up volleys with a charge, crowd control. Smooth-bore weapons, such as the musket, had always been recognised as inaccurate, aimed fire, with targets individually chosen and fired upon at the initiative of the individual soldier, was not possible until the development of rifling in the barrel. This imparted spin to the bullet, greatly improving its performance and giving greater range and accuracy. Rifles instead required the ball to be rammed all the way down the barrel and this meant that the soldiers chosen for this role needed to be good shots, resilient, brave, and resourceful. Riflemen were trained to act in isolation and were dispersed in teams of two, defending each other while they re-loaded and they were still vulnerable, especially to cavalry, as they could not present the solid wall of bayonets a larger mass of soldiers could. Regular units of rifles formed in the British Army in 1800 were the 60th Regiment of Foot and these units were often given the name light infantry, emphasising their specialised roles. Starting in the 1840s, with the advent of the Minié ball, and the first military breech-loading rifles and it was mass-produced and accessible to all infantrymen. The term rifleman, once used solely as a mark of distinction and pride, became a description of all infantry. Nevertheless, the term retained a certain élan that is found today. In many armies, rifleman is an equivalent to private. Modern riflemen are armed with assault rifles, hybrids of submachine guns. Riflemen are the modern soldiers from which all other soldierly functions stem. Though by tradition certain infantry units are based on the rifleman, in the context of the modern fire team, rifleman can be used to indicate a basic position such as scout, team leader, or designated marksman. In the same context, the terms Designated Automatic Rifleman and Assistant Automatic Rifleman are used to describe a soldier who carries either a light support weapon or its ammunition, the term Long-Rifleman is often used by police forces, anti-terrorist units, and small-scale, team-based military forces worldwide
Rifleman
–
British Army rifleman of the
Peninsular War
Rifleman
–
A historical reenactment with the British
95th Rifles regiment.
14.
Mountain
–
A mountain is a large landform that stretches above the surrounding land in a limited area, usually in the form of a peak. A mountain is steeper than a hill. Mountains are formed through tectonic forces or volcanism and these forces can locally raise the surface of the earth. Mountains erode slowly through the action of rivers, weather conditions, a few mountains are isolated summits, but most occur in huge mountain ranges. High elevations on mountains produce colder climates than at sea level and these colder climates strongly affect the ecosystems of mountains, different elevations have different plants and animals. Because of the less hospitable terrain and climate, mountains tend to be used less for agriculture and more for resource extraction and recreation, the highest mountain on Earth is Mount Everest in the Himalayas of Asia, whose summit is 8,850 m above mean sea level. The highest known mountain on any planet in the Solar System is Olympus Mons on Mars at 21,171 m, there is no universally accepted definition of a mountain. Elevation, volume, relief, steepness, spacing and continuity have been used as criteria for defining a mountain, whether a landform is called a mountain may depend on local usage. The highest point in San Francisco, California, is called Mount Davidson, notwithstanding its height of 300 m, similarly, Mount Scott outside Lawton, Oklahoma is only 251 m from its base to its highest point. Whittows Dictionary of Physical Geography states Some authorities regard eminences above 600 metres as mountains, in addition, some definitions also include a topographical prominence requirement, typically 100 or 500 feet. For a while, the US defined a mountain as being 1,000 feet or taller, any similar landform lower than this height was considered a hill. However, today, the United States Geological Survey concludes that these terms do not have technical definitions in the US, using these definitions, mountains cover 33% of Eurasia, 19% of South America, 24% of North America, and 14% of Africa. As a whole, 24% of the Earths land mass is mountainous, there are three main types of mountains, volcanic, fold, and block. All three types are formed from plate tectonics, when portions of the Earths crust move, crumple, compressional forces, isostatic uplift and intrusion of igneous matter forces surface rock upward, creating a landform higher than the surrounding features. The height of the feature makes it either a hill or, if higher and steeper, major mountains tend to occur in long linear arcs, indicating tectonic plate boundaries and activity. Volcanoes are formed when a plate is pushed below another plate, at a depth of around 100 km, melting occurs in rock above the slab, and forms magma that reaches the surface. When the magma reaches the surface, it builds a volcanic mountain. Examples of volcanoes include Mount Fuji in Japan and Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, the magma does not have to reach the surface in order to create a mountain, magma that solidifies below ground can still form dome mountains, such as Navajo Mountain in the US
Mountain
–
Mount Everest, the highest peak on Earth
Mountain
–
Chimborazo,
Ecuador. The point on Earth's surface farthest from its center.
Mountain
–
Aiguille du Dru in the
French Alps
Mountain
–
The
Matterhorn,
Swiss Alps
15.
Urban warfare
–
Urban warfare is combat conducted in urban areas such as towns and cities. Urban combat is very different from combat in the open at both the operational and tactical level, complicating factors in urban warfare include the presence of civilians and the complexity of the urban terrain. Fighting in urban areas negates the advantages that one side may have over the other in armour, heavy artillery, some civilians may be difficult to distinguish from combatants such as armed militias and gangs, and particularly individuals who are simply trying to protect their homes from attackers. The United States Armed Forces term for urban warfare is UO, the previously used U. S. military term MOUT, an abbreviation for military operations in urban terrain, has been replaced by UO, although the term MOUT Site is still in use. The British armed forces terms are OBUA, FIBUA, or sometimes FISH, or FISH, israel Defense Forces calls urban warfare לשב, a Hebrew acronym for warfare on urban terrain. LASHAB in the IDF includes large-scale tactics, CQB training for fighting forces, the IDF has a special large and advanced facility for training soldiers and units in urban warfare. Urban military operations in World War II often relied on large quantities of artillery bombardment, in some particularly vicious urban warfare operations such as Stalingrad and Warsaw, all weapons were used irrespective of their consequences. However, when liberating occupied territory some restraint was often applied, Military forces are bound by the laws of war governing military necessity to the amount of force which can be applied when attacking an area where there are known to be civilians. Until the 1970s, this was covered by the 1907 Hague Convention IV – The Laws, sometimes distinction and proportionality, as in the case of the Canadians in Ortona, causes the attacking force to restrain from using all the force they could when attacking a city. In other cases, such as the Battle of Stalingrad and the Battle of Berlin, when Russian forces attacked Grozny in 1999, large amounts of artillery fire were used. Fighting in an environment can offer some advantages to a weaker defending force or to guerrilla fighters through ambush-induced attrition losses. The attacking army must account for three dimensions more often, and consequently expend greater amounts of manpower in order to secure a myriad of structures, and mountains of rubble. Ferroconcrete structures will be ruined by heavy bombardment, but it is difficult to demolish such a building totally when it is well defended. The characteristics of a city include tall buildings, narrow alleys, sewage tunnels. Defenders may have the advantage of detailed knowledge of the area, right down to the layout inside of buildings. The buildings can provide excellent sniping posts while alleys and rubble-filled streets are ideal for planting booby traps, defenders can move from one part of the city to another undetected using underground tunnels and spring ambushes. Meanwhile, the attackers tend to more exposed than the defender as they must use the open streets more often, unfamiliar with the defenders secret. During a house to search the attacker is often also exposed on the streets
Urban warfare
–
JGSDF soldiers from 20th Infantry Regiment practice MOUT tactics in the Ojojibara Maneuver Area of Sendai, Japan during Exercise Forest Light 2004 with
U.S. Marines.
Urban warfare
–
Manila, the capital of the Philippines, devastated during the Battle of Manila in 1945.
Urban warfare
–
Home Army soldiers assault a fortified house in
downtown Warsaw during the
Warsaw Uprising of 1944.
Urban warfare
–
A German soldier during the decisive
Battle of Stalingrad in 1942
16.
Occupation of the Ruhr
–
The Ruhr region had been occupied by Allied troops in the immediate aftermath of the First World War, during the Occupation of the Rhineland. The total sum of reparations demanded from Germany—around 226 billion gold marks —was decided by an Inter-Allied Reparations Commission, in 1921, the amount was reduced to 132 billion. Even with the reduction, the debt was huge, as some of the payments were in industrial raw materials, German factories were unable to function, and the German economy suffered, further damaging the countrys ability to pay. Particularly galling to the French was that the timber quota the Germans defaulted on was based on an assessment of their capacity the Germans made themselves and subsequently lowered. The Allies believed that the government of Chancellor Wilhelm Cuno had defaulted on the timber deliveries deliberately as a way of testing the will of the Allies to enforce the treaty. The entire conflict was exacerbated by a German default on coal deliveries in early January 1923. The French Premier Raymond Poincaré was deeply reluctant to order the Ruhr occupation, frustrated at Germany not paying reparations, Poincaré hoped for joint Anglo-French economic sanctions against Germany in 1922 and opposed military action. However, by December 1922 he was faced with Anglo-American-German opposition and saw coal for French steel production and we are also certain that Germany, as a nation, resigns herself to keep her pledged word only under the impact of necessity. Poincaré decided to occupy the Ruhr on 11 January 1923 to extract the reparations himself, finally, Poincaré argued that once the chains that had bound Germany in Versailles were destroyed, it was inevitable that Germany would plunge the world into another world war. Initiated by French Prime Minister Raymond Poincaré, the took place on 11 January 1923. General Alphonse Caron’s 32nd infantry corps under the supervision of General Jean-Marie Degoutte carried out the operation, some theories state that the French aimed to occupy the centre of German coal, iron, and steel production in the Ruhr area valley simply to get the money. Some others state that France did it to ensure that the reparations were paid in goods, France had the iron ore and Germany had the coal. Each state wanted free access to the resource it was short of, following Frances decision to invade the Ruhr, the Inter-Allied Mission for Control of Factories and Mines was set up as a means of ensuring coal repayments from Germany. The occupation was greeted by a campaign of passive resistance, approximately 130 German civilians were killed by the French occupation army during the events, including during civil disobedience protests, e. g. against dismissal of German officials. Some theories assert that to pay for passive resistance in the Ruhr, others state that the road to hyperinflation was well established before with the reparation payments that started on November 1921, see 1920s German inflation. Despite this, civil unrest grew into riots and coup attempts targeted at the government of the Weimar Republic, the Rhenish Republic was proclaimed at Aachen in October 1923. Under the Dawes Plan, Germany paid only 1 billion marks in 1924, the French, with their own economic problems, eventually accepted the Dawes Plan and withdrew from the occupied areas in July and August 1925. The last French troops evacuated Düsseldorf and Duisburg along with the important harbour in Duisburg-Ruhrort
Occupation of the Ruhr
–
French soldiers in the Ruhr in 1923
Occupation of the Ruhr
–
French
Chasseurs Alpins in
Buer
Occupation of the Ruhr
–
Protests by gymnasts from the Ruhr at the 1923
Munich Gymnastics Festival (The sign on the left reads "The Ruhr remains German"; the sign on the right reads "We never want to be vassals".)
Occupation of the Ruhr
–
Front page of Chicago Daily Tribune, 6 March 1923, announcing French troops killing 5 resisting Germans
17.
Unification of Italy
–
The process began in 1815 with the Congress of Vienna and was completed in 1871 when Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy. The memory of the Risorgimento is central to both Italian politics and Italian historiography, for short period is one of the most contested. Italian nationalism was based among intellectuals and political activists, often operating from exile, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Roman province of Italy remained united under the Ostrogothic Kingdom and later disputed between the Kingdom of the Lombards and the Byzantine Empire. Following conquest by the Frankish Empire, the title of King of Italy merged with the office of Holy Roman Emperor. However, the emperor was a foreigner who had little concern for the governance of Italy as a state, as a result. This situation persisted through the Renaissance but began to deteriorate with the rise of modern nation-states in the modern period. Italy, including the Papal States, then became the site of proxy wars between the powers, notably the Holy Roman Empire, Spain and France. Harbingers of national unity appeared in the treaty of the Italic League, in 1454, leading Renaissance Italian writers Dante Alighieri, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Niccolò Machiavelli and Francesco Guicciardini expressed opposition to foreign domination. Petrarch stated that the ancient valour in Italian hearts is not yet dead in Italia Mia, Niccolò Machiavelli later quoted four verses from Italia Mia in The Prince, which looked forward to a political leader who would unite Italy to free her from the barbarians. I am an Italian, he explained, the French Republic spread republican principles, and the institutions of republican governments promoted citizenship over the rule of the Bourbons and Habsburgs and other dynasties. The reaction against any outside control challenged Napoleons choice of rulers, as Napoleons reign began to fail, the rulers he had installed tried to keep their thrones further feeding nationalistic sentiments. After Napoleon fell, the Congress of Vienna restored the pre-Napoleonic patchwork of independent governments, vincenzo Gioberti, a Piedmontese priest, had suggested a confederation of Italian states under leadership of the Pope in his 1842 book, Of the Moral and Civil Primacy of the Italians. Pope Pius IX at first appeared interested but he turned reactionary, Giuseppe Mazzini and Carlo Cattaneo wanted the unification of Italy under a federal republic. That proved too extreme for most nationalists, the middle position was proposed by Cesare Balbo as a confederation of separate Italian states led by Piedmont. One of the most influential revolutionary groups was the Carbonari, a political discussion group formed in Southern Italy early in the 19th century. After 1815, Freemasonry in Italy was repressed and discredited due to its French connections, a void was left that the Carbonari filled with a movement that closely resembled Freemasonry but with a commitment to Italian nationalism and no association with Napoleon and his government. The response came from middle class professionals and business men and some intellectuals, the Carbonari disowned Napoleon but nevertheless were inspired by the principles of the French Revolution regarding liberty, equality and fraternity. They developed their own rituals, and were strongly anticlerical, the Carbonari movement spread across Italy
Unification of Italy
–
Five Days of Milan, 18–22 March 1848
Unification of Italy
–
Dante Alighieri
Unification of Italy
–
Niccolò Machiavelli
Unification of Italy
–
Guglielmo Pepe
18.
Alpini
–
The Alpini, are an elite mountain warfare military corps of the Italian Army. They are currently organized in two brigades, which are subordinated to the Alpine Troops Headquarters. Established in 1872, the Alpini are the oldest active mountain infantry in the world and their original mission was to protect Italys northern mountain border with France and Austria. In 1888 the Alpini deployed on their first mission abroad, in Africa, during World War II, the Alpini fought alongside the Axis forces, mainly across the Eastern Front and in the Balkans Campaigns. After the end of the Cold War, the Italian Army was reorganised in the 1990s, three out of five Alpini brigades and many support units were disbanded. Currently, the Alpini are deployed in Afghanistan, in 1872, Captain Giuseppe Perrucchetti published a study in the May edition of the Military Review. In the study, he proposed to assign the defence of mountain borders of the recently established Kingdom of Italy to soldiers recruited locally, indeed, thanks to their knowledge of the surroundings and personal attachment to the area, they would be highly capable and better motivated defenders. Perrucchetti drew heavily on the work of Lieutenant General Agostino Ricci, five months after Perrucchettis article, the first 15 Alpini companies were formed by Royal decree no.1056. The units became active on October 15,1872, making the Alpini the oldest active Mountain Infantry in the world, at first the Alpini were organized as a militia, capable of defending Italy’s northern mountainous borders. Austrias surrender in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 resulted in Italy annexing the province of Venetia, prior to gaining the new northern borders, homeland defence was based on the so-called Quadrilatero strategy. That outdated strategy, however, ignored the geopolitics of the new Italian Kingdom and it called for primary defence of the Po Valley region farther to the southwest, but left the Alpine region undefended. Recruiting Italys mountain valleys locals and organising them into a corps was indeed an innovative idea. They possessed superior knowledge of mountain territory and greatest adaptability to Alpine conditions, at the beginning, the mountain regions were divided into seven military districts, each commanded by an Officer and home to at least two Alpini companies, each consisting of 120 personnel. Soldiers were equipped with the Vetterli 1870 rifle, in 1873 nine more companies were added, thus totalling 24. In 1875, the companies doubled in size, having 250 soldiers and 5 officers, on November 1,1882, the Alpini organisation doubled in size to 72 companies and a total of 20 Alpini battalions. The latter plus 8 Alpini mountain artillery batteries were now organized into six numbered Alpini regiments, Special Bn. and Fourth Bn. were issued blue tufts. Soldiers of the Mountain Artillery units were issued a green tuft with a patch in the middle onto which the number of the battery was written in golden numbers. On June 7,1883, the green flames collar patch was introduced, the Cappello Alpino, with its black raven feather, was also introduced at that time
Alpini
–
Alpini of the
7th Alpini Regiment
Alpini
–
A
Cappello Alpino of a Combat Engineer of the Alpini Corps: with
raven feather,
amaranth Nappina, (tuft) and the coat of the
2° Engineer Regiment.
Alpini
–
A pair of Fiamme Verdi collar patches
Alpini
–
Celestino Ellero, World War I. He wears the 1st issue Italian Gas mask container strapped over his right shoulder. ca. 1916.
19.
Beret
–
A beret is a soft, round, flat-crowned hat, usually of woven, hand-knitted wool, crocheted cotton, wool felt, or acrylic fibre. Mass production began in 19th century France and Spain, countries with which it remains associated, Berets are worn as part of the uniform of many military and police units worldwide, as well as by other organisations. Such headgear has been popular among the nobility and artists across Europe throughout modern history, the commercial production of Basque-style berets began in the 17th century in the Oloron-Sainte-Marie area of Southern France. Originally a local craft, beret-making became industrialised in the 19th century, the first factory, Beatex-Laulhere, claims production records dating back to 1810. In Western fashion, men and women have worn the beret since the 1920s as sportswear, military berets were first adopted by the French Chasseurs Alpins in 1889. They were approved for use by King George V in 1924, the black RTR beret was made famous by Field Marshal Montgomery in the Second World War. The beret fits snugly around the head, and can be shaped in a variety of ways – in the Americas it is commonly worn pushed to one side. In Central and South America, local custom usually prescribes the manner of wearing the beret, there is no rule and older gentlemen usually wear it squared on the head. It can be worn by men and women. Military uniform berets feature a headband or sweatband attached to the wool, made either from leather, silk or cotton ribbon, the drawstrings are, according to custom, either tied and cut off or tucked in or else left to dangle. The beret is often adorned with a cap badge, either in cloth or metal, some berets have a piece of buckram or other stiffener in the position where the badge is intended to be worn. Berets are not usually lined, but many are lined with silk or satin. In military berets, the headband is worn on the outside, the traditional beret, usually has the sweatband folded inwardly. In such a case, these berets have only an inch or so of the same woollen material designed to be folded inwardly. Newer beret styles made of Polar fleece are also popular and they are very popular and common in the Basque Country. The colours adopted for folk costumes varied by region and purpose, black and blue are worn more frequently than red and white, the people of Aragon adopted red berets while the black beret became the common headgear of workers in France and Spain. A big commemorative black beret is the trophy in sport or bertso competitions, including Basque rural sports, the Basque portions of the Tour de France. It may bear sewn ornamental references to the achievement or contest, the black beret was once considered the national cap of France in Anglo-Saxon countries and is part of the stereotypical image of the Onion Johnny
Beret
–
A traditional
Basque -style beret (with headband folded in)
Beret
–
Military use of the beret (Commandant Soutiras, Officer of the French
Chasseurs alpins)
Beret
–
King
Ferdinand II of Aragon (1452-1516), wearing a
Renaissance beret
Beret
–
Beret worn pushed back on the head
20.
Mont Blanc massif
–
The Mont Blanc massif is a mountain range in the Alps, located mostly in France and Italy, but also straddling Switzerland at its northeastern end. It contains eleven major independent summits, each over 4,000 metres in height, and is named after Mont Blanc, the mountains of the massif consist mostly of granite and gneiss rocks, and at high altitudes the vegetation is an arctic-alpine flora. The valleys that delimit the massif were used as communication routes by the Romans until they left around the 5th century AD, the region has remained of some military importance through to the mid-20th century. A peasant farming economy operated within these valleys for centuries until the glaciers. Word of these impressive sights began to spread, and Mont Blanc was finally climbed in 1786, the region is now a major tourist destination, drawing in over six million visitors per year. It provides a range of opportunities for outdoor recreation and activities such as sight-seeing, hiking. Around one hundred people a year die across its mountains and, occasionally, bodies have been lost, access into the mountains is facilitated by cable cars, mountain railways and mountain huts which offer overnight refuge to climbers and skiers. The long-distance Tour du Mont Blanc hiking trail circumnavigates the whole massif in an 11-day trek of 170 kilometres, the Mont Blanc Tunnel connects the French town of Chamonix on the northern side with the Italian town of Courmayeur in the south. The high mountains have provided opportunities for scientific research, including neutrino measurements within the Tunnel. The Mont Blanc massif is 46 kilometres long and lies in a southwest to northeasterly direction across the borders of France, Italy, at its widest point the massif is 20 km across. The northern side of the massif lies mostly within France, and is bounded by the valley of the River Arve, containing the towns of Argentière, Chamonix and Les Houches. The southern side of the massif lies mostly within Italy and is bounded by the Val Veny, from Courmayeur these waters flow southwards as the Dora Baltea towards Aosta, eventually joining the Po river. However, the southwestern end of the massif does lie within France and is bounded by the Vallée des Glaciers. The northeastern end of the massif falls within Switzerland, and is bounded by a valley, confusingly also called Val Ferret. Its watercourse, la Dranse de Ferret, flows northwards to join the Rhône at Martigny, the borders of all three countries converge at a tripoint near the summit of Mont Dolent at an altitude of 3,820 metres. From here the border turns southwards over the Dômes de Miage, the Swiss – Italian border runs southwest from Mont Dolent, down to the twin passes of Col Ferret. The massif contains 11 main summits over 4,000 metres in altitude, crowning the massif is Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps and in western Europe. From the summit of Mont Blanc to the River Arve near Chamonix there is a 3,800 metres drop over a distance of just 8 kilometres, because of its great elevation, much of the massif is snow- and ice-covered, and has been deeply dissected by glaciers
Mont Blanc massif
–
Aiguille d'Argentière from Saleina
Mont Blanc massif
–
Settlements
Mont Blanc massif
Mont Blanc massif
21.
Savoie
–
Savoie is a French department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of the French Alps. For history before 1860, details of the annexation, and modern regionalism and it is widely accepted that Savoie takes its name from the Latin Sapaudia or Sabaudia, meaning land covered in fir trees. Savoie was long part of the states of Savoy, though beginning in the 16th century and it was integrated into the Mont-Blanc department from 1792 to 1815. The province was annexed by France in 1860, the former Duchy of Savoy became the two departments of Savoie and Haute-Savoie. Moûtiers, capital of the province of Tarentaise Valley ceased to be the prefecture after a law passed on September 10,1926. Savoie, along with Albertville, hosted the 1992 Winter Olympics, with ski events at Tarentaise and Beaufortain. The other main alpine valley is the Maurienne, connected to the Tarentaise valley by two passes, the col de la Madeleine and the highest pass in Europe, the col de lIseran. The Maurienne valley was through the col du Mont Cenis, the commercial route between France and Italy. It is one of the longest intra-alpine valleys in the Alps, Savoie is part of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes région. It borders the departments of Haute-Savoie, Ain, Isère and Hautes-Alpes in addition to Italy and its two main lakes are Lac du Bourget and Lac dAiguebelette, one of the least polluted in France due to a 1976 law forbidding any use of motorboats on the lake. According to the Chambéry chamber of commerce, close to 50% of the departments wealth comes from tourism, each year, Savoie hosts over 30 million visitor-nights of tourists. Savoie also profits from its resources with particular strengths in ore processing. Savoie had an exceptionally high export/import ratio of 214% in 2005 and its exports rose to €1.768 billion and €825 million in imports. Its leading exports were steel, aluminum, and electric and electronic components, Savoie is famous for its cows, which produce numerous cheeses, some of them are, Beaufort Savoie Gruyère Reblochon Tamié Tome des Bauges Tomme de Savoie Numerous wine grapes are also grown in Savoie. The most famous wines are made of Gamay, Pinot noir, fruit production is the third largest component of agriculture in Savoie. Apples and pears are also produced in the region and are known for their qualities. Residents of Savoie are known as Savoyards, though they can also be called Savoisiens or Savoyens,8,507 The average population density is not a good indicator, the valleys tend to be much more densely populated, whereas the mountains tend to be near-completely uninhabited. The Catholic Church in Savoie is divided into three dioceses, Chambéry, Maurienne, and Tarentaise, together, they form an archdiocese, in which the bishop of Chambéry is the archbishop
Savoie
–
Prefecture building of the Savoie department, in Chambéry
Savoie
–
Logo
Savoie
–
Sign welcoming visitors to the department of Savoie
Savoie
–
Low elevation: The Savoie frontcountry.
22.
Battalion
–
A battalion is a military unit. The use of the term varies by nationality and branch of service. Typically a battalion consists of 300 to 800 soldiers and is divided into a number of companies, a battalion is typically commanded by a lieutenant colonel. In some countries the word battalion is associated with the infantry, the term was first used in Italian as battaglione no later than the 16th century. It derived from the Italian word for battle, battaglia, the first use of battalion in English was in the 1580s, and the first use to mean part of a regiment is from 1708. The battalion must, of course, have a source of re-supply to enable it to sustain operations for more than a few days, the battalion is usually part of a regiment, brigade, or group, depending on the organizational model used by that service. The bulk of a battalions companies are often homogeneous with respect to type, a battalion includes a headquarters company and some sort of combat service support, typically organized within a combat support company. The term battalion is used in the British Army Infantry and some including the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. It was formerly used in the Royal Engineers, and was used in the now defunct Royal Army Ordnance Corps. Other corps usually use the term regiment instead, an infantry battalion is numbered ordinarily within its regiment. It normally has a company, support company, and three rifle companies. Each company is commanded by a major, the officer commanding, the HQ company contains signals, quartermaster, catering, intelligence, administration, pay, training, operations and medical elements. The support company usually contains anti-tank, machine gun, mortar, pioneer, mechanised units usually have an attached light aid detachment of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers to perform field repairs on vehicles and equipment. A British battalion in theatre during World War II had around 845 men in it, and, as of 2012, with successive rounds of cutbacks after the war, many infantry regiments were reduced to a single battalion. A battalion group or battlegroup consists of a battalion or armoured regiment with sub-units detached from other military units acting under the command of the battalion commander. In the Canadian Forces, most battalions are reserve units of between 100–200 soldiers that include an operationally ready, field-deployable component of approximately a half-company apiece, the nine regular force infantry battalions each contain three or four rifle companies and one or two support companies. Canadian battalions are generally commanded by lieutenant-colonels, though smaller reserve battalions may be commanded by majors, with the Dutch artillery units, the equivalent of a battalion is called an afdeling. Combat companies consist of infantry, combat engineers, or tanks, in the latter case, the unit is called an eskadron, which translates roughly to squadron
Battalion
–
Symbol of the Austrian 14th Armoured Battalion in
NATO military graphic symbols
Battalion
–
Standard
NATO code for a friendly infantry battalion.
Battalion
–
Australian 11th (Western Australia) Battalion, 3rd Infantry Brigade, Australian Imperial Force posing on the Great Pyramid of Giza on 10 January 1915
Battalion
–
1980s Soviet motorised rifle battalion (BTR)
23.
Grenoble
–
Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère, the city advertises itself as the Capital of the Alps, due to its size and its proximity to the mountains. Grenobles history goes back more than 2,000 years, to a time when it was a small Gallic village, industrial development increased the prominence of Grenoble, through several periods of economic expansion over the last three centuries. The city has grown to be one of Europes most important research, technology, the population of the city of Grenoble was 160,215 at the 2013 census, while the population of the Grenoble metropolitan area was 664,832. The residents of the city are called Grenoblois, the many communes that make up the metropolitan area include three suburbs with populations exceeding 20,000, Saint-Martin-dHères, Échirolles, and Fontaine. For the ecclesiastical history, see Bishopric of Grenoble, the first references to Grenoble date back to 43 BC. Cularo was at time a little Gallic village founded by the Allobroges tribe near a bridge across the Isère River. Three centuries later and with insecurity rising in the late Roman empire, the Emperor Gratian visited Cularo and, touched by the peoples welcome, made the village a Roman city. In honour of this, Cularo was renamed Gratianopolis in 381, Christianity spread to the region during the 4th century, and the diocese of Grenoble was founded in 377 AD. From that time on, the bishops exercised significant political power over the city, until the French Revolution, they styled themselves the bishops and princes of Grenoble. Arletian rule was interrupted between 942 and 970 due to Arabic rule based in Fraxinet, Grenoble grew significantly in the 11th century when the Counts of Albon chose the city as the capital of their territories. At the time, their possessions were a patchwork of several territories sprawled across the region, the central position of Grenoble allowed the Counts to strengthen their authority. When they later took the title of Dauphins, Grenoble became the capital of the State of Dauphiné, despite their status, the Counts had to share authority over the city with the Bishop of Grenoble. One of the most famous of those was Saint Hugh, under his rule, the citys bridge was rebuilt, and both a regular hospital and a leper one were built. The inhabitants of Grenoble took advantage of the conflicts between the Counts and the bishops and obtained the recognition of a Charter of Customs that guaranteed their rights and that charter was confirmed by Kings Louis XI in 1447 and Francis I in 1541. In 1336 the last Dauphin Humbert II founded a court of justice, the Conseil delphinal and he also established the University of Grenoble in 1339. Aging and heirless, Humbert sold his state to France in 1349, the first one, the future Charles V, spent nine months in Grenoble. The city remained the capital of the Dauphiné, henceforth a province of France, the only Dauphin who really governed his province was Louis XI, whose reign lasted from 1447 to 1456
Grenoble
–
Remnants of the Roman Walls
Grenoble
–
From upper left: Panorama of the city,
Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint-André, jardin de ville, banks of the Isère river
Grenoble
–
François de Bonne, duc de Lesdiguières
Grenoble
–
The
day of the Tiles
24.
Annecy
–
Annecy is the largest city of Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in southeastern France. It lies on the tip of Lake Annecy,35 kilometers south of Geneva. Nicknamed the Pearl of French Alps in Raoul Blanchards monograph describing its location between lake and mountains, the city controls the northern entrance to the lake gorge. Due to the lack of land, its resident population has remained stagnant. However, its area, with 221,000 inhabitants, is on the 5th regional position, just behind the Geneva-Annemasse urban area. Its role increased in 1536, during the Calvinist Reformation of Geneva, st Francis de Sales gave Annecy its role of advanced citadel of the Catholic Counter-Reformation. The annexation of Savoy will link the city to France in 1860, the city experienced an industrial development in the 19th century with silk manufacturing. Some of its legacy remains today within the head offices of NTN-SNR bearings, Salomon, Entremont. The municipal environmental policy managed to keep 40. 3% of green spaces, since 1960 Annecy has been the organiser of the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, hosted at the Bonlieu Cultural Centre. It has also been an educational center since the establishment of the University of Savoy in 1973. The Fier forms part of the northwestern border. The mountains around the town of Annecy are Mont Veyrier, Le Semnoz, La Tournette, nearby Annecy le Vieux was a settlement from the time of the Romans. Annecy was the court of the counts of Geneva or Genevois from the 10th century and it passed to the counts of Savoy in 1401. In 1444, it became the capital of the provinces of Genevois, Faucigny. With the advance of Calvinism, Annecy became a center for the Counter-Reformation, Francis of Sales was born in Sales, France in 1567 and served as bishop of Annecy from 1602 to 1622, his relics are preserved in the cathedral. During the French Revolution, the Savoy region was conquered by France, Annecy became attached to the department of Mont Blanc, whose capital was Chambéry. The Catholic diocese was suppressed in 1801, after the Bourbon Restoration in 1815, Annecy was returned to the King of Sardinia and the Catholic diocese restored in 1822. When Savoy was sold to France in 1860, it became the capital of the new department of Haute-Savoie, Annecy was the site of the second round of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade talks in 1949
Annecy
–
Panoramic sight of Annecy and
Lake Annecy.
Annecy
–
The Hôtel de Ville (
Town Hall)
Annecy
–
Map of Annecy in 1914, French edition
Annecy
–
The Palais de l'Isle and
Thiou river
25.
French Alps
–
The French Alps are the portions of the Alps mountain range that stand within France, located in the Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur regions. While some of the ranges of the French Alps are entirely in France, others, at 4,808 metres, Mont Blanc, on the French-Italian border, is the highest mountain in the Alps, and the highest Western European mountain. Notable towns in the French Alps include Grenoble, Chamonix, Annecy, Chambéry, Évian-les-Bains, the largest connected ski areas are, Les Trois Vallées,338 slopes,600 km of pistes. Portes du Soleil,288 slopes,650 km of slopes not entirely connected, paradiski, Champagny-en-Vanoise,239 slopes,420 km of slopes. Via Lattea,214 slopes,400 km of slopes, Évasion Mont-Blanc,183 slopes,420 km of slopes not entirely connected. Espace Killy,137 slopes,300 km of slopes, grand Massif,134 slopes,265 km of slopes. Les Aravis,133 slopes,220 km of slopes not entirely connected, Les Grandes Rousses,117 slopes,236 km of slopes. Serre Chevalier,111 slopes,250 km of slopes, La Forêt Blanche,104 slopes,180 km of slopes. Les Sybelles,96 slopes,310 km of slopes, valloire and Valmeinier,83 slopes,150 km of slopes. Grand Domaine,82 slopes,150 km of slopes Espace San Bernardo,73 slopes,150 km of slopes, Les Deux Alpes and La Grave,69 slopes,220 km of slopes. The other large ski areas are, Le Val dArly,150 km of slopes, in the winter, these include skiing and snowboarding as well as alternatives such as snowshoeing, sledging. There is a range of activities that happen such as gliding which most happens during the summer months. Summer activities include hiking, mountaineering, biking and rock climbing, roger Frison-Roche, Les montagnes de la terre. Sergio Marazzi, Atlante Orografico delle Alpi, pavone Canavese, Priuli & Verlucca editori. ISBN 978-88-8068-273-8 Sergio Marazzi, La Suddivisione orografica internazionale unificata del Sistema Alpino - article with maps and illustrations, PDF
French Alps
–
Aerial photograph of the Mont Blanc massif, the tallest mountain in the French Alps, seen from the west
French Alps
–
NASA photo of the French Alps (26 Oct 2002).
French Alps
–
Panorama of Chamonix valley
French Alps
–
Mont Blanc (4,810 m)
26.
Cross-country skiing
–
Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is practiced as a sport and recreational activity, however. Variants of cross-country skiing are adapted to a range of terrain which spans unimproved, modern cross-country skiing is similar to the original form of skiing, from which all skiing disciplines evolved, including alpine skiing, ski jumping and Telemark skiing. Skiers propel themselves either by striding forward or side-to-side in a skating motion and it is practised in regions with snow-covered landscapes, including Northern Europe, Canada, Russia and regions in the United States. Competitive cross-country skiing is one of the Nordic skiing sports, Cross-country skiing and rifle marksmanship are the two components of biathlon, ski-orienteering is a form of cross-country skiing, which includes map navigation along snow trails and tracks. The word ski comes from the Old Norse word skíð which means stick of wood, Skiing started as a technique for traveling cross-country over snow on skis, starting almost five millennia ago with beginnings in Scandinavia. It may have practised as early as 600 BCE in Daxinganling. Early historical evidence includes Procopius description of Sami people as skrithiphinoi translated as ski running samis, birkely argues that the Sami people have practiced skiing for more than 6000 years, evidenced by the very old Sami word čuoigat for skiing. Egil Skallagrimssons 950 CE saga describes King Haakon the Goods practice of sending his tax collectors out on skis, the Gulating law stated that No moose shall be disturbed by skiers on private land. Cross-country skiing evolved from a means of transportation to being a world-wide recreational activity and sport. Early skiers used one long pole or spear in addition to the skis, the first depiction of a skier with two ski poles dates to 1741. This combination has a long history among the Sami people, skis up to 280 cm have been produced in Finland, and the longest recorded ski in Norway is 373 cm. Ski warfare, the use of ski-equipped troops in war, is first recorded by the Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus in the 13th century and these troops were reportedly able to cover distances comparable to that of light cavalry. The garrison in Trondheim used skis at least from 1675, skis were used in military exercises in 1747. In 1799 French traveller Jacques de la Tocnaye recorded his visit to Norway in his travel diary, Norwegian immigrant Snowshoe Thompson transported mail by skiing across the Sierra Nevada between California and Nevada from 1856. In 1888 Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen and his team crossed the Greenland icecap on skis, Norwegian workers on the Buenos Aires - Valparaiso railway line introduced skiing in South America around 1890. In 1910 Roald Amundsen used skis on his South Pole Expedition, in 1902 the Norwegian consul in Kobe imported ski equipment and introduced skiing to the Japanese, motivated by the death of Japanese soldiers during a snow storm. An early record of a ski competition occurred in Tromsø,1843
Cross-country skiing
–
Cross-country skiers in western Norway.
Cross-country skiing
–
Depiction of loyal retainers transporting
Prince Haakon IV of Norway to safety on skis during the winter of 1206.
Cross-country skiing
–
German
Reichswehr military patrol on skis training in the
Giant Mountains, 1932.
Cross-country skiing
–
Michal Malák skate-skis at a qualifier for the
Tour de Ski, 2007.
27.
Igloo
–
An igloo, also known as a snow house or snow hut, is a type of shelter built of snow, typically built when the snow can be easily compacted. Although igloos are stereotypically associated with all Inuit, they were associated with people of Canadas Central Arctic. Other Inuit people tended to use snow to insulate their houses, snow is used because the air pockets trapped in it make it an insulator. On the outside, temperatures may be as low as −45 °C, several dialects throughout the Canadian Arctic use iglu for all buildings, including snowhouses, and it is the term used by the Government of Nunavut. An exception to this is the used in the Igloolik region. Iglu is used for buildings, while igluvijaq, is specifically used for a snowhouse. Outside Inuit culture, however, igloo refers exclusively to shelters constructed from blocks of compacted snow, there are three traditional types of igloos, all of different sizes and used for different purposes. The smallest were constructed as shelters, usually only used for one or two nights. These were built and used during hunting trips, often on sea ice. Intermediate-sized igloos were for semi-permanent, family dwelling and this was usually a single room dwelling that housed one or two families. Often there were several of these in an area, which formed an Inuit village. The largest igloos were built in groups of two. One of the buildings was a structure built for special occasions. These might have had up to five rooms and housed up to 20 people, a large igloo might have been constructed from several smaller igloos attached by their tunnels, giving common access to the outside. These were used to hold community feasts and traditional dances, the stresses of snow as it ages and compresses against the igloo will not cause it to buckle because in an inverted paraboloid or catenoid the pressures are exclusively compressive. This design originates from the Central Inuit, in applied mechanics, the equation for this type of structure is written y = a where y is the height to any point in the surface, x is the horizontal distance to the same point, and a is a constant. The maximum compressive stress at the base of the igloo can be obtained by multiplying S, /yd times the unit weight y. Igloos gradually become shorter with time due to the creep of the snow
Igloo
–
Community of igloos (Illustration from
Charles Francis Hall 's Arctic Researches and Life Among the Esquimaux, 1865)
Igloo
–
An Inuk inside of an igloo (upper-right corner of image), circa 1900–1923. Photograph by Canadian Geological Survey.
Igloo
–
Inuit building an igloo
Igloo
–
A nearly complete, medium-sized igloo, with excavation under the door and the exterior unfinished
28.
Bandvagn 206
–
Bandvagn 206 is a tracked articulated, all-terrain carrier developed by Hägglunds for the Swedish Army. It consists of two units, with all four tracks powered and it can carry up to 17 people, and the trailer unit can be adapted for different applications. Development of the Bv 206 all-terrain articulated tracked carrier began in 1974, three batches of trial vehicles were delivered between 1976 and 1978 and the first production examples were delivered to the Swedish Defense Administration in 1980. Like its predecessor, the Volvo Bv 202, the Bv 206 is designed to carry troops and equipment through snow, the low ground pressure enables the Bv 206 to cope with a wide range of difficult conditions. It is also fully amphibious, with a speed in water of up to 4.7 km/h, over 11,000 have been produced and they are used in more than 37 countries worldwide. The total load capacity is 2,250 kg and a trailer of up to 2,500 kg gross weight can also be towed behind the second compartment, the Bv 206 is referred to as a Small Unit Support Vehicle pronounced susvee in United States service. U. S. military variants include the model, a tactical operations center variant, an ambulance variant. Additional users include the American and Australian Antarctic research organizations and British, Icelandic and Canadian search and they are also used for search and rescue services in the Austrian alpine region. As well, the Bv 206 was used in combat by the Canadian Forces during Operation Anaconda, the Singapore Armed Forces also uses the Bv 206 and recently transferred several of them to the Singapore Civil Defense Force to be used as a firefighting platform. The Bv206A is a version, which is capable of carrying stretchers in the rear compartment. The BV206F is a fire appliance variant, the RaBv 2061 is a Swedish Army communications/command version, fitted with radio equipment and workplaces for staff members. The PvBv 2062 is a Swedish Army anti-tank vehicle, an open top version of the Bv 206 armed with a 90 mm Pvpj 1110 recoilless anti-tank gun. The PvBv 2063 is another Swedish Army anti-tank vehicle, similar to PvBv 2062, the Bv206S is an armoured personnel carrier variant of the Bv 206, which provides protection from small arms fire for the occupants. It is in service with the forces of France, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, Greece and Singapore. Using a Steyr M1-Monoblock engine, the vehicle can carry the driver and 12 combat equipped troops — four in the front compartment and eight in the rear. The Bv 206S can be underslung and air lifted by Boeing CH-47 Chinook and Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters or carried in the C130 Hercules airplane, the UK is looking to replace its Bv206Ds by 2020. It was originally designed for the British Royal Marines Commandos and named All Terrain Vehicle - ATV VIKING and it is in service with the Royal Marines Armoured Support Group and the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps while the French Army have recently ordered 130 Bvs10s. Numerous other variants exist including mortar launcher, cargo carrier, fuel carrier, radar, command post, the units can easily be customized to meet the specific needs of a customer
Bandvagn 206
–
US Marines in a Norwegian Bv 206 traveling through snow
Bandvagn 206
–
This tracked vehicle, a Swedish Hägglunds Bv206, achieves low
ground pressure through full-length, wide rubber tracks and a lightweight body. The two sections of the vehicle are articulated, allowing it to keep contact with the ground over broken terrain. The ground pressure is low enough that the vehicle can traverse loose snow without sinking. The vehicle is
amphibious, and propelled in water by its tracks.
Bandvagn 206
–
An armored Bv206S ambulance of the
German Army
Bandvagn 206
–
A Bv206D being transported by a German Army
CH-53
29.
FAMAS
–
The FAMAS is a bullpup-styled assault rifle designed and manufactured in France by MAS located in Saint-Étienne, which is now a member of the French government-owned Nexter group. It is the rifle of the French military. The first French bullpup rifles were developed between 1946 and 1950 at the AME and MAS, testing such as.30 US Carbine,7. 92×33mm Kurz,7. 65×38mm. Nevertheless, approximately forty different 7. 62×51mm NATO caliber prototype rifles were developed between 1952 and 1962, most notably the FA-MAS Type 62. However, the United States adoption of the M16 rifle and 5. 56×45mm cartridge caused the French to rethink their approach, and consequently the Type 62 was not adopted. In the 1960s, MAS began to manufacture under license the Heckler & Koch G3 battle rifle, at the same time, the French embraced the idea of developing a new 5.56 mm automatic rifle. However, simply adopting the German-designed HK33 rifle was considered unsatisfactory for many members of the French high command. The FAMAS project began in 1967 under the direction of General Paul Tellié, in late 1978, the French military accepted the FAMAS as their standard-issue rifle. After adoption, the FAMAS F1 replaced both the aging MAS 49/56 rifle and MAT-49 submachine gun, approximately 400,000 FAMAS F1 assault rifles were produced by MAS. While a capable rifle, the F1 had numerous problems to overcome, for instance, many plastic pieces on the rifle easily broke, including critical parts like the cheek riser on the buttstock. The FAMAS was also susceptible to malfunction on occasion because of poorly-built magazines, MAS would eventually manufacture more durable magazines for the FAMAS that reduced malfunctions. The F1 was followed by the G1 version that included minor improvements, such as redesigned grips. However, the G1 remained conceptual and was never actually produced, the G2 also included several other upgrades taken from the G1 model, such as an enlarged trigger guard and improved hand guards made from reinforced fiberglass instead of plastic. The French Navy purchased the FAMAS G2 in 1995 and issued it to their Fusiliers Marins, however, the French army refused to purchase the G2, preferring to rely on the FAMAS F1 as their primary rifle. The FAMAS Infanterie is an improvement of the FAMAS F1, obtained by retrofiting an accessory rail onto the top of the handguard and this allows mounting combat optics, most notably reflex sights or the 4× magnification SCROME J4 scope. During the late 1980s, Century Arms imported a small number of semi-automatic FAMAS rifles into the United States. However, due to sales, production and importation ceased. The FAMAS assault rifle is a configuration, with the ammunition feed behind the trigger
FAMAS
–
The FAMAS F1 with a bayonet attached
FAMAS
FAMAS
–
FAMAS rifle, upgraded with an
Aimpoint red dot sight, equipped with the blank-firing muzzle attachment and laser training hardware.
FAMAS
–
Soldier of the
2e REI with a FAMAS during the Gulf War
30.
Assault rifle
–
An assault rifle is a selective-fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge and a detachable magazine. Assault rifles were first used during World War II, examples include the StG44, AK-47 and the M16 rifle. However, other sources dispute that Hitler had much to do with coining the new name besides signing the production order, the StG44 is generally considered the first selective fire military rifle to popularize the assault rifle concept. Today, the assault rifle is used to define firearms sharing the same basic characteristics as the StG44. The U. S. Army defines assault rifles as short, compact, in a strict definition, a firearm must have at least the following characteristics to be considered an assault rifle, It must be capable of selective fire. It must have a cartridge, more power than a pistol. Its ammunition must be supplied from a box magazine. It must have a range of at least 300 metres. Rifles that meet most of these criteria, but not all, are not assault rifles. For example, Select-fire M2 Carbines are not assault rifles, their range is only 200 yards. Select-fire rifles such as the FN FAL battle rifle are not assault rifles, semi-automatic-only rifles like variants of the Colt AR-15 are not assault rifles, they do not have select-fire capabilities. Semi-auto rifles with fixed magazines like the SKS are not assault rifles, selective fire rifles like the Fedorov Avtomat which in hindsight could be classified as prototypical assault rifles. However,6. 5x50mm Arisaka is still very much a full-powered rifle cartridge and they would soon develop a select-fire intermediate powered rifle combining the firepower of a submachine gun with the range and accuracy of a rifle. The result was the Sturmgewehr 44, which the Germans produced in large numbers and it fired a new and revolutionary intermediate powered cartridge, the 7. 92×33mm Kurz. This new cartridge was developed by shortening the standard 7. 92×57mm Mauser round and giving it a lighter 125-grain bullet, a smaller lighter cartridge also allowed soldiers to carry more ammunition to support the higher consumption rate of automatic fire. The Sturmgewehr 44 features an inexpensive, easy-to-make, stamped steel design and this weapon was the prototype of all successful automatic rifles. The barrel and overall length were shorter than a traditional rifle, on July 15,1943, a Sturmgewehr was demonstrated before the Peoples Commissariat of Arms of the USSR. The Soviets soon developed the 7. 62×39mm M43 cartridge, the semi-automatic SKS carbine, shortly after World War II, the Soviets developed the AK-47 assault rifle, which would quickly replace the SKS in Soviet service
Assault rifle
–
The
StG 44, an early German assault rifle, was adopted by the
Wehrmacht in 1944. It fires the
7.92×33mm Kurz round.
Assault rifle
–
Currently the most used assault rifle in the world, the
AK-47 was first adopted in 1949 by the
Soviet Army. It fires the
7.62×39mm M43 round.
Assault rifle
–
The
M16 was first introduced into service in 1964 with the United States Armed Forces. It fires the
5.56×45mm NATO cartridge and is the second most used assault rifle in the world after the AK-47. [
citation needed]
Assault rifle
–
The German
StG 44, the first assault rifle manufactured in significant numbers
31.
FN Minimi
–
The FN Minimi is a Belgian 5. 56mm light machine gun developed by Fabrique Nationale in Herstal by Ernest Vervier. First introduced in the late 1970s, it is now in service in more than 75 countries, the weapon is currently manufactured at the FN facility in Herstal and their US subsidiary FN Manufacturing LLC. The Minimi is a gun firing from an open bolt. It is a weapon, capable of fully automatic fire only. It can be fed or fired from a magazine. The Minimi uses a gas-actuated long-stroke piston system, the barrel is locked with a rotary bolt, equipped with two massive locking lugs, forced into battery by a helical camming guide in the bolt carrier. Upon firing, the piston is forced to the rear by expanding propellant gases bled through a port in the barrel near the muzzle end. The piston rod acts against the carrier, which begins its rearward motion guided on two rails welded to the receiver walls, while the bolt itself remains locked. Gas escaping the gas cylinder is directed upward, avoiding kicking up dust, the Minimi has a manually adjustable gas valve with two positions, normal and adverse. The spring extractor is located inside the bolt, while the lever ejector is contained inside the receiver housing. Spent casings are removed through a port located at the bottom of the side of the receiver. The Minimi is striker-fired and the bolt carrier functions as the striker mechanism, the Minimi has a push-button type manual safety installed in the trigger housing, above the pistol grip. In the weapon safe position, it disables the sear mechanism, pushing the button to the right side exposes a red-colored rim on the side of the firearm. The Minimi features a welded receiver made from stamped steel, both the standard and Para variants are equipped with a fixed, folding bipod mounted to the gas tube and stowed under the handguard. The bipod can be adjusted in height and each leg has three height settings, the bipod also offers a 15° range of rotation to either side. With the bipod fully extended, the axis is elevated to a height of 465 mm. The Minimi can also be fired from the Belgian FN360° tripod or the American M122 mount using an M60 pintle, the vehicle-mounted Minimi is fitted with an electrically powered trigger that enables it to be fired remotely from within an armored fighting vehicle. The standard light gun version has a 465 mm barrel
FN Minimi
–
An early M249 version of the Minimi.
FN Minimi
–
The Minimi Para with a
telescopic sight, spare barrel and ammunition pouches.
FN Minimi
–
Lifting the feed tray cover reveals the rotary bolt locking mechanism.
FN Minimi
–
A
U.S. Marine fires the PIP-upgraded M249 SAW.
32.
Machine gun
–
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm designed to fire bullets in quick succession from an ammunition belt or magazine, typically at a rate of 300 to 1800 rounds per minute. Note that not all fully automatic firearms are machine guns, submachine guns, rifles, assault rifles, shotguns, pistols or cannons may be capable of fully automatic fire, but are not designed for sustained fire. Many machine guns also use belt feeding and open bolt operation, unlike semi-automatic firearms, which require one trigger pull per round fired, a machine gun is designed to fire for as long as the trigger is held down. Nowadays the term is restricted to heavy weapons, able to provide continuous or frequent bursts of automatic fire for as long as ammunition lasts. Machine guns are used against personnel, aircraft and light vehicles, or to provide suppressive fire. Some machine guns have in practice sustained fire almost continuously for hours, because they become very hot, practically all machine guns fire from an open bolt, to permit air cooling from the breech between bursts. They also usually have either a barrel cooling system, slow-heating heavyweight barrel, although subdivided into light, medium, heavy or general-purpose, even the lightest machine guns tend to be substantially larger and heavier than standard infantry arms. Medium and heavy guns are either mounted on a tripod or on a vehicle, when carried on foot. Medium machine guns use full-sized rifle rounds and are designed to be used from fixed positions mounted on a tripod. 50in, the M249 automatic rifle is operated by an automatic rifleman, but its ammunition may be carried by other Soldiers within the squad or unit. The M249 machine gun is a crew-served weapon, Machine guns usually have simple iron sights, though the use of optics is becoming more common. Many heavy machine guns, such as the Browning M2.50 caliber machine gun, are enough to engage targets at great distances. During the Vietnam War, Carlos Hathcock set the record for a shot at 7382 ft with a.50 caliber heavy machine gun he had equipped with a telescopic sight. This led to the introduction of.50 caliber anti-materiel sniper rifles, selective fire rifles firing a full-power rifle cartridge from a closed bolt are called automatic rifles or battle rifles, while rifles that fire an intermediate cartridge are called assault rifles. Unlocking and removing the spent case from the chamber and ejecting it out of the weapon as bolt is moving rearward Loading the next round into the firing chamber. Usually the recoil spring tension pushes bolt back into battery and a cam strips the new round from a feeding device, cycle is repeated as long as the trigger is activated by operator. Releasing the trigger resets the trigger mechanism by engaging a sear so the weapon stops firing with bolt carrier fully at the rear, the operation is basically the same for all autoloading firearms, regardless of the means of activating these mechanisms. Most modern machine guns use gas-operated reloading, a recoil actuated machine gun uses the recoil to first unlock and then operate the action. Machine guns such as the M2 Browning and MG42, are of this type, a cam, lever or actuator demultiplicates the energy of the recoil to operate the bolt
Machine gun
–
A
.50 caliber M2 machine gun:
John Browning 's design has been one of the longest serving and most successful machine gun designs
Machine gun
–
Top:
IMI Negev (light machine gun). Bottom:
FN MAG (general purpose machine gun).
Machine gun
–
Czechoslovak 7.62 mm
Universal Machine gun Model 1959.
Machine gun
–
A
Mitsubishi Type 73 Light Truck Shīn with a
Sumitomo M2 heavy machine gun mounted at the rear with foliage used to camouflage the vehicle from sight. This was on public display at Camp Narashino.
33.
FR F2 sniper rifle
–
The FR F2 is the standard sniper rifle of the French military since 1986. It is designed for shooting at point targets at distances up to 800 meters, the FR-F2 is an upgrade from the earlier FR F1 sniper rifle. MAS now belongs to GIAT Industries, now NEXTER, the rifle barrel is thermally shielded along a considerable part of the barrel by a polymer shroud. It uses a different bipod-stock configuration from its predecessor, which is built just ahead of the receiver. It uses 7. 62×51mm NATO ammunition, and is equipped with a scope, the rifle is also issued as part of the FÉLIN infantry combat system outfitted with a Sagem Sword Sniper 3-in-1 optic, which serves as a telescopic sight, thermal weapon sight, and laser rangefinder. The FR F2 utilizes the same design as the older. Dragunov sniper rifle, the Russian equivalent PGM Hecate II, the heavy, Sniper rifle FRF2 picture gallery SCROME telescopic sights Modern Firearms
FR F2 sniper rifle
–
GIAT FR F2
FR F2 sniper rifle
–
French soldier of the Rapid Reaction Corps standing guard with a FR F2.
FR F2 sniper rifle
–
French legionnaire using an FR F2 in
Afghanistan.
34.
Sniper rifle
–
A sniper rifle is a man-portable, high precision, shoulder-fired rifle, for military or law enforcement use, designed to ensure more accurate shooting at longer ranges than other small arms. A typical sniper rifle is built for high levels of accuracy, fitted with a telescopic sight, the military role of a sniper dates back to the turn of the 18th century, but the true sniper rifle is a much more recent development. Some sniper rifles are based on the designs of standard rifles, the Whitworth rifle was arguably the first long-range sniper rifle in the world. His rifle was far more accurate than the Pattern 1853 Enfield, at trials in 1857, which tested the accuracy and range of both weapons, Whitworths design outperformed the Enfield at a rate of about three to one. Also, the Whitworth rifle was able to hit the target at a range of 2,000 yards, during the Crimean War, the first optical sights were designed for fitting onto the rifles. Much of this work was the brainchild of Colonel D. Davidson. This allowed a marksman to more accurately observe and target objects at a distance than ever before. The telescopic sight, or scope, was fixed and could not be adjusted. By the 1870s, the perfection of breech loading magazine rifles led to sniper rifles having effective ranges of up to a mile away from its target. During the Boer War, the latest breech-loading rifled guns with magazine, the British were equipped with the Lee–Metford rifle, while the Boers had received the latest Mauser rifles from Germany. In the open terrain of South Africa, the marksman was a component in battle. The Lovat Scouts was a British Army unit formed in 1899 that was renowned for the expert marksmanship, the men wore ghillie suits for camouflage and were expertly skilled in observation. Hesketh Hesketh-Prichard said of them that men never lived. After the Boer War, the Scouts became the first official unit in the British Army. It was not until World War I that sniper rifles began to be used regularly in battle. In Germany, these trained snipers were given rifles with telescopic sights, german gunsmiths fitted the scope above the barrel for optimal accuracy. During the War, the accuracy of the rifle was greatly improved. By the end of World War II snipers were reported to provide reasonable accuracy over 600 m with anything over this range being unpredictable
Sniper rifle
–
The 7.62×51mm
M40,
United States Marine Corps standard-issue sniper rifle.
Sniper rifle
–
The
Accuracy International Arctic Warfare series of sniper rifles is standard issue in the armies of many countries, including those of Britain and Germany (picture shows a rifle of the
German Army).
Sniper rifle
–
The British
Whitworth rifle, used greatly during the
American Civil War. Some of these rifles were fitted with a
scope on top of the barrel, thus creating the first actual sniper rifle.
Sniper rifle
–
During
World War II, the (7.62×54mmR)
Mosin–Nagant rifle mounted with a telescopic sight was commonly used as a sniper rifle by
Russian snipers.
35.
Mortar (weapon)
–
A mortar is a device that fires projectiles at low velocities and short ranges. The mortar has traditionally used as a weapon to propel explosive mortar bombs in high-arcing ballistic trajectories. The weapon is typically muzzle-loading with a short, often smooth-bore barrel, Modern mortars are light and easily portable. They can be used for fire support with a variety of ammunition. Mortars have been used for hundreds of years, originally in siege warfare, many historians consider the first mortars to have been used at the 1453 siege of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror. A European account of the 1456 siege of Belgrade by Giovanni da Tagliacozzo said that the Ottoman Turks used seven mortars that fired stone shots one Italian mile high. The time of flight of these was long enough that casualties could be avoided by posting observers to give warning of their trajectories. However, earlier mortars were used in Korea in a 1413 naval battle when Korean gunsmiths developed the Wangu, the earliest version of the Wangu dates back to 1407. Choe Hae-san, the son of Choe Mu-seon, is credited with inventing the first Wangu. Early mortars, such as the Pumhart von Steyr, were large and heavy. Simply made, these weapons were no more than iron bowls reminiscent of the kitchen, an early transportable mortar was invented by Baron Menno van Coehoorn. This mortar fired a shell, which had a fuse lit by the hot gases when fired. This innovation was taken up, necessitating a new form of naval ship. Mortars played a significant role in the Venetian conquest of Morea, an early use of these more mobile mortars as field weapons was by British forces in the suppression of the 1719 Jacobite rising at the Battle of Glen Shiel. High angle trajectory mortars held an advantage over standard field guns in the rough terrain of the West Highlands of Scotland. Coehorn-type mortars of approximately 180 pounds weight were used by both sides during the American Civil War and these answered as coehorns, and shells were successfully thrown from them into the trenches of the enemy. The mortar had fallen out of use by the Napoleonic era. The German Army studied the Siege of Port Arthur, where heavy artillery had been unable to destroy defensive structures like barbed wire, the solution they developed was a short-barrelled rifled muzzle-loading mortar called the Minenwerfer, and was built in three sizes
Mortar (weapon)
Mortar (weapon)
–
French mortar diagram from the 18th century.
Mortar (weapon)
–
Engraving depicting the Venetian siege of the
Acropolis of Athens, September 1687. The trajectory of the shell that hit the Parthenon, causing its explosion, is marked.
Mortar (weapon)
–
US Army 13-inch mortar "Dictator" was a rail-mounted gun of the
American Civil War.
36.
M2 Browning
–
The M2 Machine Gun or Browning.50 Caliber Machine Gun is a heavy machine gun designed toward the end of World War I by John Browning. Its design is similar to Brownings earlier M1919 Browning machine gun, the M2 uses the much larger and much more powerful.50 BMG cartridge, which was developed alongside and takes its name from the gun itself. It has been referred to as Ma Deuce, in reference to its M2 nomenclature, the design has had many specific designations, the official designation for the current infantry type is Browning Machine Gun, Cal.50, M2, HB, Flexible. It is effective against infantry, unarmored or lightly armored vehicles and boats, light fortifications, the M2 has been produced longer than any other machine gun. The Browning.50 caliber machine gun has been used extensively as a vehicle weapon and it was heavily used during World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Falklands War, the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan in the 2000s and 2010s. It is the heavy machine gun of NATO countries, and has been used by many other countries as well. The M2 has been in use longer than any firearm in U. S. inventory except the.45 ACP M1911 pistol. The current M2HB is manufactured in the U. S. by General Dynamics, Ordnance for use by the U. S. government, and for allies via Foreign Military Sales, as well as foreign manufacturers such as FN Herstal. Machine guns were used in World War I, and weapons of larger than rifle caliber were appearing. Both the British and French had large caliber machine guns, the larger rounds were needed to defeat the armor that was being introduced to the battlefield. Armor was also appearing in the skies, during World War I, the Germans introduced a heavily armored airplane, the Junkers J. I. The armor made aircraft machine guns using conventional rifle ammunition ineffective, consequently, the American Expeditionary Forces commander General John J. Pershing asked for a larger caliber machine gun. Pershing asked the Army Ordnance Department to develop a gun with a caliber of at least 0.50 inches. U. S. Col. John Henry Parker, commanding a machine gun school in France, the Army Ordnance Department ordered eight experimental Colt machine guns rechambered for the French 11 mm cartridge. The French had developed a machine gun for an even larger caliber. The French 11 mm round was found to be unsuitable because its velocity was too low, Pershing wanted a bullet of at least 670 gr and a muzzle velocity of 2,700 ft/s. Development with the French round was dropped, around July 1917, John M. Browning started redesigning his.30 caliber machine gun for a larger caliber. Winchester worked on the cartridge, which was a version of the. 30-06
M2 Browning
–
M2HB heavy machine gun
M2 Browning
–
A U.S. Marine mans a.50 caliber machine gun as part of a security force during a training exercise with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit in November 2002.
M2 Browning
–
Twin M2HB.50 caliber machine gun during a Pre-aimed Calibration Fire (PACFIRE) exercise in May 2005
M2 Browning
–
An M2 fired from a
rigid-hulled inflatable boat.
37.
LLR 81mm
–
The Mortier de 81mm léger long renforcé is a mortar used by the French Army. Introduced in 1997, it is the latest iteration of the TDA81 mm light mortar family, the original TDA81 mm was designed in 1961. Since then, three variants have been fielded, the 81mm LC, with a 1. 15-metre barrel, the 81mm LL, with a 1. 55-metre barrel, the LLR 81mm is composed of a base plate, a barrel comprising the breech, and a bipod. It can use the same pointing optics as the MO-120-RT-61, the LLR 81mm is a paratrooper weapon, which can be parachuted either piece by piece, in a kit comprising a dismantled weapon and ammunition, or in larger crates comprising several weapons. The barrel was reinforced so as to allow firing of all existing 81 mm mortar ammunition, 81mm LLR mortar on TDA Armementss official webpage TDA81 mm light mortars, MORTARS LLR 81mm
LLR 81mm
–
LLR 81mm mortar of the
2e REI
38.
Autocannon
–
An autocannon or automatic cannon is a large, fully automatic, rapid-fire projectile weapon that fires armour-piercing or explosive shells, as opposed to the bullet fired by a machine gun. Autocannons often have a larger calibre than a gun, but are usually smaller than a field gun or other artillery. When used on its own, the word autocannon indicates a single-barrel weapon, when multiple rotating barrels are involved, the word rotary is added, and such a weapon is referred to as a rotary autocannon. As such, ammunition is fed from a belt to reduce reloading or for a faster rate of fire. They can use a variety of ammunition, common shells include high-explosive dual-purpose types, any variety of armour-piercing types, both the US25 mm Bushmaster and the British 30 mm Rarden have relatively slow rates of fire so as not to use ammunition too quickly. The rate of fire of a modern autocannon ranges from 90 rounds per minute, systems with multiple barrels can have rates of fire of over 10,000 rounds per minute. The first modern autocannon was the British QF1 pounder, also known as the pom-pom, during the First World War, autocannons were mostly used in the trenches as an anti-aircraft gun. Attempts to use them in aircraft failed as the severely limited both speed and altitude, thus making successful interception impossible. The more effective QF2 pounder naval gun would be developed during the war to serve as an anti-aircraft, autocannons would serve in a much greater capacity during the Second World War. During the inter-war years, aircraft underwent an evolution and the monoplane, pioneered as far back as the end of 1915, almost replaced wood. The subsequent increase in speed and durability greatly reduced the window of opportunity for defence and this was only reversed with the introduction of computer-controlled systems. The German Panzer II light tank, which was one of the most numerous in German service during the invasion of Poland and the campaign in France, used a 20 mm autocannon as its main armament. Although ineffective against tank armour even during the years of the war. Larger examples, such as the 40 mm Vickers S, were mounted in ground attack aircraft to serve as an anti-tank weapon, Polish 20 mm 38 Fk auto cannon was expensive to produce, but an exception. Unlike the Oerlikon, it was effective against all the tanks fielded in 1939, largely because it was built as an upgrade to the Oerlikon, Hispano—Suiza and it, with great difficulty, proved capable of knocking out even early Panzer IIIs and IVs. Only 55 were produced by the time of the Polish Defensive War, in aircraft, several factors brought about the replacement of rifle-calibre machine guns by autocannons. Early autocannons were heavy and had a rate of fire. Along with the speed, the size of aircraft grew substantially, particularly in the 1930s, so that the weight was less of an issue while the rate of fire, and reliability were greatly improved
Autocannon
Autocannon
–
QF 1 pounder Mk II "pom-pom" of 1903
Autocannon
–
Not called an autocannon at the time, but an autocannon all the same:
Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft gun in US service,
Algeria, 1943
Autocannon
–
The
RCWS-30 automatic cannon turret on a Czech
Pandur II CZ, 2011
39.
AT4
–
The AT4 is an 84-mm unguided, portable, single-shot recoilless smoothbore weapon built in Sweden by Saab Bofors Dynamics. Saab has had considerable success with the AT4, making it one of the most common light anti-tank weapons in the world. The AT4 is intended to give units a means to destroy or disable armoured vehicles and fortifications. The launcher and projectile are manufactured prepacked and issued as a unit of ammunition. The AT4 is a development of the 74-mm Pansarskott m/68, adopted by the Swedish Army in the late 1960s, like the m/68, the AT4 was designed by Försvarets Fabriksverk and manufactured at their facility at Zakrisdal, Karlstad, Sweden. The AT4 was designed as a weapon to engage medium to light armoured vehicles from any direction, MBTs from the sides or rear, and as an assault weapon against buildings and fortifications. FFV also had the goal of a weapon that was simple to use, rugged. Another key requirement was that the AT4 not only be able to penetrate armour, FFV and the Swedish Army began the first evaluation firings of the prototype AT4s in the spring of 1981 with 100 tested by early 1982. Six weapons were tested in 1983 by the US Army, the British LAW80, the German Armbrust, the French APILAS, the Norwegian M72E4, the US Viper and the Swedish AT4. The US Army reported to Congress in November 1983 that the FFV AT4 came the closest to meeting all the requirements established to replace the M72 LAW. After these changes, the AT4 was adopted by the US Army as the Lightweight Multipurpose Weapon M136, the forward folding grip is the only difference between the AT4 adopted by Sweden and the US Army version. The AT4 may be considered a disposable, low-cost alternative to a Carl Gustav recoilless rifle, in a recoilless weapon, the barrel does not need to contend with the extreme pressures found in traditional guns and can thus be made very lightweight. This fact, combined with the almost complete lack of recoil, means that relatively large projectiles can be utilised, which would otherwise be impossible in a man-portable weapon. The AT4 uses a method developed earlier by FFV and adopted for the AT4. When released, the pin strikes a primer located in the side of the casings rim. The back blast may also reveal the position to the enemy. The problem of back blast was solved with the AT4-CS version, to fire, the gunner first removes the safety pin located at the rear of the tube, which unblocks the firing rod. He then takes a firing position ensuring that no one is present in the back blast area, if firing from the prone position, he must also place his legs well to the side to avoid burning himself
AT4
–
US AT-4
AT4
–
Seconds after firing an AT4 in combat in Iraq
AT4
–
US Army soldiers fire the M136 AT4 in April 2007.
AT4
–
The AT4 is man-portable
40.
MILAN
–
Milan is a city in Italy, capital of the Lombardy region, and the most populous metropolitan area and the second most populous comune in Italy. The population of the city proper is 1,351,000, Milan has a population of about 8,500,000 people. It is the industrial and financial centre of Italy and one of global significance. In terms of GDP, it has the largest economy among European non-capital cities, Milan is considered part of the Blue Banana and lies at the heart of one of the Four Motors for Europe. Milan is an Alpha leading global city, with strengths in the arts, commerce, design, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, services, research, and tourism. Its business district hosts Italys Stock Exchange and the headquarters of the largest national and international banks, the city is a major world fashion and design capital, well known for several international events and fairs, including Milan Fashion Week and the Milan Furniture Fair. The city hosts numerous cultural institutions, academies and universities, with 11% of the national total enrolled students, Milans museums, theatres and landmarks attract over 9 million visitors annually. Milan – after Naples – is the second Italian city with the highest number of accredited stars from the Michelin Guide, the city hosted the Universal Exposition in 1906 and 2015. Milan is home to two of Europes major football teams, A. C. Milan and F. C. Internazionale, the etymology of Milan is uncertain. One theory holds that the Latin name Mediolanum comes from the Latin words medio, however, some scholars believe lanum comes from the Celtic root lan, meaning an enclosure or demarcated territory in which Celtic communities used to build shrines. Hence, Mediolanum could signify the central town or sanctuary of a Celtic tribe, indeed, the name Mediolanum is borne by about sixty Gallo-Roman sites in France, e. g. Saintes and Évreux. Alciato credits Ambrose for his account, around 400 BC, the Celtic Insubres settled Milan and the surrounding region. In 222 BC, the Romans conquered the settlement, renaming it Mediolanum, Milan was eventually declared the capital of the Western Roman Empire by Emperor Diocletian in 286 AD. Diocletian chose to stay in the Eastern Roman Empire and his colleague Maximianus ruled the Western one, immediately Maximian built several monuments, such as a large circus 470 m ×85 m, the Thermae Herculeae, a large complex of imperial palaces and several other buildings. With the Edict of Milan of 313, Emperor Constantine I guaranteed freedom of religion for Christians, after the city was besieged by the Visigoths in 402, the imperial residence was moved to Ravenna. In 452, the Huns overran the city, in 539, the Ostrogoths conquered and destroyed Milan during the Gothic War against Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. In the summer of 569, a Teutonic tribe, the Lombards, conquered Milan, some Roman structures remained in use in Milan under Lombard rule. Milan surrendered to the Franks in 774 when Charlemagne took the title of King of the Lombards, the Iron Crown of Lombardy dates from this period
MILAN
–
Milan Cathedral,
La Scala opera house and
Porta Nuova business district
MILAN
MILAN
MILAN
41.
Legion of Honour
–
The Legion of Honour, full name National Order of the Legion of Honour, is the highest French order of merit for military and civil merits, established 1802 by Napoléon Bonaparte. The order is divided into five degrees of increasing distinction, Chevalier, Officier, Commandeur, Grand Officier and Grand-Croix. The orders motto is Honneur et Patrie and its seat is the Palais de la Légion dHonneur next to the Musée dOrsay, in the French Revolution, all French orders of chivalry were abolished, and replaced with Weapons of Honour. The Légion however did use the organization of old French orders of chivalry, the badges of the legion also bear a resemblance to the Ordre de Saint-Louis, which also used a red ribbon. Napoleon originally created this to ensure political loyalty, the organization would be used as a facade to give political favours, gifts, and concessions. The Légion was loosely patterned after a Roman legion, with legionaries, officers, commanders, regional cohorts, the highest rank was not a grand cross but a Grand Aigle, a rank that wore all the insignia common to grand crosses. The members were paid, the highest of them extremely generously,5,000 francs to an officier,2,000 francs to a commandeur,1,000 francs to an officier,250 francs to a légionnaire. Napoleon famously declared, You call these baubles, well, it is with baubles that men are led, do you think that you would be able to make men fight by reasoning. That is good only for the scholar in his study, the soldier needs glory, distinctions, rewards. This has been quoted as It is with such baubles that men are led. The order was the first modern order of merit, under the monarchy, such orders were often limited to Roman Catholics, and all knights had to be noblemen. The military decorations were the perks of the officers, the Légion, however, was open to men of all ranks and professions—only merit or bravery counted. The new legionnaire had to be sworn in the Légion and it is noteworthy that all previous orders were crosses or shared a clear Christian background, whereas the Légion is a secular institution. The jewel of the Légion has five arms, in a decree issued on the 10 Pluviôse XIII, a grand decoration was instituted. This decoration, a cross on a sash and a silver star with an eagle, symbol of the Napoleonic Empire, became known as the Grand Aigle. After Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of the French in 1804 and established the Napoleonic nobility in 1808, the title was made hereditary after three generations of grantees. Napoleon had dispensed 15 golden collars of the legion among his family and this collar was abolished in 1815. The Légion dhonneur was prominent and visible in the French Empire, the Emperor always wore it and the fashion of the time allowed for decorations to be worn most of the time
Legion of Honour
–
Order's
streamer
Legion of Honour
Legion of Honour
–
A depiction of Napoleon making some of the first awards of the Légion d'honneur, at a camp near
Boulogne on 16 August 1804
Legion of Honour
–
First Légion d'Honneur investiture, 15 July 1804, at
Saint-Louis des Invalides by
Jean-Baptiste Debret (1812)
42.
Napoleon III
–
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was the only President of the French Second Republic and, as Napoleon III, the Emperor of the Second French Empire. He was the nephew and heir of Napoleon I and he was the first President of France to be elected by a direct popular vote. He remains the longest-serving French head of state since the French Revolution, during the first years of the Empire, Napoleons government imposed censorship and harsh repressive measures against his opponents. Some six thousand were imprisoned or sent to penal colonies until 1859, thousands more went into voluntary exile abroad, including Victor Hugo. From 1862 onwards, he relaxed government censorship, and his came to be known as the Liberal Empire. Many of his opponents returned to France and became members of the National Assembly, Napoleon III is best known today for his grand reconstruction of Paris, carried out by his prefect of the Seine, Baron Haussmann. He launched similar public works projects in Marseille, Lyon, Napoleon III modernized the French banking system, greatly expanded and consolidated the French railway system, and made the French merchant marine the second largest in the world. He promoted the building of the Suez Canal and established modern agriculture, Napoleon III negotiated the 1860 Cobden–Chevalier free trade agreement with Britain and similar agreements with Frances other European trading partners. Social reforms included giving French workers the right to strike and the right to organize, womens education greatly expanded, as did the list of required subjects in public schools. In foreign policy, Napoleon III aimed to reassert French influence in Europe and he was a supporter of popular sovereignty and of nationalism. In Europe, he allied with Britain and defeated Russia in the Crimean War and his regime assisted Italian unification and, in doing so, annexed Savoy and the County of Nice to France, at the same time, his forces defended the Papal States against annexation by Italy. Napoleon doubled the area of the French overseas empire in Asia, the Pacific, on the other hand, his armys intervention in Mexico which aimed to create a Second Mexican Empire under French protection ended in failure. Beginning in 1866, Napoleon had to face the power of Prussia. In July 1870, Napoleon entered the Franco-Prussian War without allies, the French army was rapidly defeated and Napoleon III was captured at the Battle of Sedan. The French Third Republic was proclaimed in Paris, and Napoleon went into exile in England, charles-Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, later known as Louis Napoleon and then Napoleon III, was born in Paris on the night of 20–21 April 1808. His presumed father was Louis Bonaparte, the brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. His mother was Hortense de Beauharnais, the daughter by the first marriage of Napoleons wife Joséphine de Beauharnais, as empress, Joséphine proposed the marriage as a way to produce an heir for the Emperor, who agreed, as Joséphine was by then infertile. Louis married Hortense when he was twenty-four and she was nineteen and they had a difficult relationship, and only lived together for brief periods
Napoleon III
–
Napoleon III
Napoleon III
–
Louis Bonaparte (1778–1846), the younger brother of
Napoleon Bonaparte, the King of Holland, and father of Napoleon III.
Napoleon III
–
Hortense de Beauharnais (1783–1837), the mother of Napoleon III, in 1808, the year Napoleon III was born.
Napoleon III
–
The lakeside house at Arenenberg, Switzerland, where Napoleon III spent much of his youth and exile.
43.
Rose madder
–
Rose madder is the commercial name sometimes used to designate a paint made from the pigment madder lake, a traditional lake pigment extracted from the common madder plant Rubia tinctorum. Madder lake contains two red dyes, alizarin and purpurin. Madder has been cultivated as a dyestuff since antiquity in Central Asia, South Asia, and Egypt, where it was grown as early as 1500 BC. Cloth dyed with madder root dye was found in the tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun and on an Egyptian tomb painting from the Graeco-Roman period and it was also found in ancient Greece, and in Italy in the Baths of Titus and the ruins of Pompeii. In Spain, madder was introduced and then cultivated by the Moors, the production of a lake pigment from madder seems to have been first invented by the ancient Egyptians. Ideal color was said to come from plants 18 to 28 months old that had grown in calcareous soil. The resulting madder lake had a less fugitive color and could be used more efficaciously, for example by blending it into a paint. Over the following years, other salts, including those containing chromium, iron. In 1827, the French chemists Pierre-Jean Robiquet and Colin began producing garancine and they then found that madder lake contained two colorants, the red alizarin and the more rapidly fading purpurin. Purpurin is only present in the form of madder and gives a distinctive orange/red generally warmer tone that pure synthetic alizarin does not. Purpurin fluoresces yellow to red under ultraviolet light, while synthetic alizarin slightly shows violet, alizarin was discovered before purpurin, by heating the ground madder with acid and potash. A yellow vapor crystallized into bright red needles, alizarin and this alizarin concentrate comprises only 1% of the madder root. Natural rose madder supplied half the world with red, until 1868, however, their recipe was not feasible for large-scale production, it required expensive and volatile substances, specifically bromine. William Perkin, the inventor of mauve, filed a patent in June 1869 for a new way to produce alizarin without bromine. Gräbe, Liebermann, and Heinrich Caro filed a patent for a similar process just one day before Perkin did - yet both patents were granted, as Perkins had been sealed first. They divided the market in half, Perkin sold to the English market, because this synthetic alizarin dye could be produced for a fraction of the cost of the natural madder dye, it quickly replaced all madder-based colorants then in use. In turn, alizarin itself has now largely replaced by the more light-resistant quinacridone pigments originally developed at DuPont in 1958. It is still manufactured in traditional ways to meet the demands of the art market
Rose madder
–
Rubia tinctorum
44.
French Navy
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The French Navy, informally La Royale, is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces. As of June 2014, the French Navy employed a total of 36,776 personnel, the reserve element of the French Navy consisted of 4,827 personnel of the Operational Reserve. The French naval fleet includes more than a hundred vessels and nuclear type submarines, the history of the French Navy dates back to the History of the French Navy of Antiquity to the Renaissance, part of the History of the French Navy. The French Royal Navy was quasi inexistent prior 1624, the Ordre de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem, which was both a religious and military order, had its own respective international war fleet which assured the policing of the seas in the Mediterranean. The members which had satisfied obligations for periods in service at sea fulfilling their service, were granted the rank of Knights Hospitaller, however, many considered the naval service formation to integrate later, while being well formed, their respective navy. The Ordre de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem was one of the ancestors of the French naval schools and in principal, the Order accordingly formed most of the ships Captains, Officers of the French Royal Navy and Admirals of the Marine française de guerre de la Méditerranée. During the Revolution, the French Navy succeeded to the French Royal Navy, under the First French Empire and the Second French Empire, the navy was designated as the Imperial French Navy. The French Navy is still designated today familiarly as La Royale and this expression was used by commercial sailors due to their military service at the corps of the navy by the institution of maritime inscription. The implementation then of the Ministère de la Marine later the de la Marine de guerre française at rue Royale. The symbol of the French Navy, which was since origin a golden anchor » and this symbol featured on all naval vessels, the arms, uniforms, the couriers, equipment, and general arms of the navy. This symbol was replaced in 1990 by a logo featuring a bow section of a warship with two ascending red and blue spray foams, and the inscription Marine nationale. The Chief of Staff of the French Navy was Admiral Bernard Louzeau, the navy became a consistent instrument of national power around the seventeenth century with Richelieus efforts under Louis XIII, and Colberts under Louis XIV. Under the tutelage of the Sun King, the French Navy was well-financed and -equipped, managing to score several victories in the Nine Years War against the Royal Navy. Financial troubles, however, forced the navy back to port and allowed the English, before the Nine Years War, in the Franco-Dutch War, it managed to score a decisive victory over a combined Spanish-Dutch fleet at the Battle of Palermo. The French Navy scored various successes, as in the campaigns led in the Atlantic by Picquet de la Motte, in 1766, Bougainville led the first French circumnavigation. During the American Revolutionary War the French Navy played a role in supporting the Americans. French warships participated in the battle by bombarding British ground forces, in India, Suffren waged campaigns against the British, successfully contending for supremacy against Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Hughes. In the Mediterranean, the French Navy waged a campaign during a 1798 French invasion of Egypt
French Navy
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French Navy ships of the line in the
Battle of the Chesapeake.
French Navy
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French Navy
French Navy
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Abel Aubert Dupetit Thouars taking over
Tahiti on 9 September 1842. July Monarchy.
French Navy
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Le Napoléon (1850), the first steam
battleship in history.
45.
Colours, standards and guidons
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The Roman Empire also made battle standards a part of their vast armies. It was formalized in the armies of Europe in the High Middle Ages, as armies became trained and adopted set formations, each regiments ability to keep its formation was potentially critical to its, and therefore its armys, success. In the chaos of battle, not least due to the amount of dust and smoke on a battlefield, Regimental flags are generally awarded to a regiment by a head-of-State during a ceremony. They were therefore treated with reverence as they represented the honour, Colours may be inscribed with the names of battles or other symbols representing former achievements. Regiments tended to adopt colour guards, composed of experienced or élite soldiers, as a result, the capture of an enemys standard was considered as a great feat of arms. They are never capriciously destroyed – when too old to use they are replaced and then laid-up in museums, religious buildings and other places of significance to their regiment. However, in most modern armies, standing orders now call for the Colours to be destroyed if they are ever in jeopardy of being captured by the enemy. Due to the advent of modern weapons, and subsequent changes in tactics, Colours are no longer carried into battle, but continue to be used at events of formal character. The Armed Forces of the Argentine Republics military Colours of the Argentine Army, Argentine Navy and Argentine Air Force are the Flag of Argentina as the National War Colour and the Unit Colour. The National War Colour is a variation of the Argentine national flag made for use, while the Unit Colour differs per service arm. Only the Regiment of Patricians uses company colors, cadet squadron colours are used by the Argentine Air Force Academy. Units of the Brazilian Armed Forces carry a stand of two Colours, differing per service, the standard of the Army measures 80 ×120 cm, white with the Army coat of arms in the centre, trimmed with gold fringe. The name of the service is inscribed in letters on a green scroll beneath the shield. Above the shield is a helmet with red and sky blue mantling. The staff is topped by a nickel-plated lance-head finial,32 cm high, ten red streamers with campaign honours inscribed in sky blue letters are also attached below the lance-head. The staff is 212 cm long, not including the lance-head and it is covered in sky blue velvet with a red spiral strip. The colour belt is 10 cm in width, covered with sky blue velvet with red velvet stripes, the Navys flag uses dark blue colours, the Air Force flag ultramarine blue. Brazilian military units also carry the flag as a National Colour
Colours, standards and guidons
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Napoleon I awarding the
Legion d'Honneur to a
dragoon for the capture of an
Imperial regimental flag.
Colours, standards and guidons
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In the age of line
tactics, the unit colour was an important rallying point for infantry soldiers.
Colours, standards and guidons
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Joint colour guard showing the organizational colours of each branch: L-R:
National,
Army,
Marine Corps,
Navy,
Air Force, &
Coast Guard.
Colours, standards and guidons
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The
130th Engineer Brigade, its subordinate units and their colours.
46.
Fort Neuf de Vincennes
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The Fort Neuf de Vincennes is a fortification built on the grounds of the Château de Vincennes, on the east side of Paris. While the old chateau had been a significant fortification in its time, by 1840 there was a need for a fort at that location. A new bastioned fort was built to the east of the historic chateau, the fort remains the property of the Ministry of Defense, supporting a variety of Army activities. The fort houses the archives of the Army, Navy. The nearby chateau is a museum, built between 1841 and 1844, the Fort Neuf is one of seventeen forts built as part of the Thiers Wall fortifications for the defense of the capital. During the Siege of Paris the fort was the headquarters for General Ribourt, german spy Mata-Hari was executed at the fort on 15 October 1917. Fortifications of Paris in the 19th and 20th centuries This article incorporates text translated from the corresponding French Wikipedia article as of October 19,2010, le château de Vincennes aux XIXe-XXe siècles, Jean Chapelot Fort Neuf de Vincennes
Fort Neuf de Vincennes
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Entrance gate
France
