1.
Military tactics
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Military tactics are the science and art of organizing a military force, and the techniques for combining and using weapons and military units to engage and defeat an enemy in battle. Changes in philosophy and technology have been reflected in changes to military tactics, in contemporary military science, tactics are the lowest of three planning levels, strategic, operational, and tactical. The highest level of planning is strategy, how force is translated into political objectives by bridging the means, the intermediate level, operational, the conversion of strategy into tactics, deals with formations of units. Military tactics answer the questions of how best to deploy and employ forces on a small scale, some practices have not changed since the dawn of warfare, assault, ambushes, skirmishing, turning flanks, reconnaissance, creating and using obstacles and defenses, etc. Using ground to best advantage has not changed much either, heights, rivers, swamps, passes, choke points, and natural cover, can all be used in multiple ways. Before the nineteenth century, many tactics were confined to battlefield concerns. Nowadays, specialized tactics exist for many situations, for example for securing a room in a building, technological changes can render existing tactics obsolete, and sociological changes can shift the goals and methods of warfare, requiring new tactics. Tactics define how soldiers are armed and trained, each – constrained by his weaponry, logistics and social conditioning – would use a battlefield differently, but would usually seek the same outcomes from their use of tactics. The First World War forced great changes in tactics as advances in technology rendered prior tactics useless, list of military tactics Combat arms Johnson, Rob, Michael Whitby, John France. How to win on the battlefield,25 key tactics to outwit, outflank, cS1 maint, Multiple names, authors list Muhm, Gerhard. German Tactics in the Italian Campaign, Gerhard Muhm, La Tattica nella campagna ass d’Italia, in LINEA GOTICA AVAMPOSTO DEI BALCANI, Amedeo Montemaggi - Edizioni Civitas, Roma 1993. Contemporary Marine tactics for war fighting Napoleons tactics and strategy Small Unit Actions during German Campaign in Russia
2.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
3.
French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
4.
Raking fire
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In sailing naval warfare, raking fire is fire directed parallel to the long axis of an enemy ship from ahead or astern. In addition, the ship will have fewer guns able to return fire. The effectiveness of this tactic was demonstrated at the Battle of Trafalgar, admiral Nelsons HMS Victory, leading the weather column of the British fleet, broke the French line just astern of the French flagship Bucentaure, and just ahead of Redoutable. Victory raked the Bucentaures less protected stern killing 197 and wounding a further 85, including the Bucentaures captain, admiral Villeneuve was lucky to survive, and although he was not captured for three hours, the raking put Bucentaure out of the fight. Enfilade and defilade Crossing the T
5.
Naval warfare
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Naval warfare is combat in and on the sea, the ocean, or any other major body of water such as a large lake or wide river. Mankind has fought battles on the sea for more than 3,000 years, even in the interior of large landmasses, transportation before the advent of extensive railroads was largely dependent upon rivers, canals, and other navigable waterways. Prior to 1750, materials largely moved by barge or sea vessels. Thus armies, with their exorbitant needs for food, ammunition, the oceanic influences throughout pre-recorded history, and classical works such as The Odyssey underscore the past influences. The Persian Empire – united and strong – could not prevail against the might of the Athenian fleet combined with that of city states in several attempts to conquer the Greek city states. Phoenicias and Egypts power, Carthages and even Romes largely depended upon control of the seas, so too did the Venetian Republic dominate Italys city states, thwart the Ottoman Empire, and dominate commerce on the Silk Road and the Mediterranean in general for centuries. For three centuries, the Northmen raided and pillaged and went where they willed, far into central Russia and the Ukraine, many sea battles through history also provide a reliable source of shipwrecks for underwater archaeology. A major example is the exploration of the wrecks of various warships in the Pacific Ocean, the first dateable recorded sea battle occurred about 1210 BC, Suppiluliuma II, king of the Hittites, defeated a fleet from Cyprus, and burned their ships at sea. In the Battle of the Delta, the Ancient Egyptians defeated the Sea Peoples in a sea battle circa 1175 BC, no written mention of strategy or tactics seems to have survived. Josephus Flavius reports a battle between Tyre and the king of Assyria who was aided by the other cities in Phoenicia. The battle took place off the shores of Tyre, although the Tyrian fleet was much smaller in size, the Tyrians defeated their enemies. The Greeks of Homer just used their ships as transport for land armies and it seems unlikely that all this was the product of a single mind or even of a generation, most likely the period of evolution and experimentation was simply not recorded by history. After some initial battles while subjugating the Greeks of the Ionian coast, the Persians determined to invade Greece proper. The first Persian campaign, in 492 BC, was aborted because the fleet was lost in a storm, attacks by the Greek armies repulsed these. The third Persian campaign in 480 BC, under Xerxes I of Persia, but the defeat on land at Thermopylae forced a Greek withdrawal, and Athens evacuated its population to nearby Salamis Island. The ensuing Battle of Salamis was one of the engagements of history. Themistocles trapped the Persians in a too narrow for them to bring their greater numbers to bear. Aeschylus wrote a play about the defeat, The Persians, which was performed in a Greek theatre competition a few years after the battle and it is the oldest known surviving play
6.
Strafing
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Strafing is the military practice of attacking ground targets from low-flying aircraft using aircraft-mounted automatic weapons ranging from machine guns to autocannons or rotary cannons. This means that, although ground attack using automatic weapons fire is often accompanied with bombing or rocket fire. The term strafing can cover either fixed guns, or aimable guns, some fixed wing aircraft, like fighter-bombers, are capable of flying either air-combat missions or ground attack missions, while others are dedicated ground-attack types. Less commonly, the term can be used—by extension—to describe high-speed firing runs by any land or naval craft using smaller-caliber weapons, the word is an adaptation of German strafen, to punish, specifically from the humorous adaptation of the World War I German catchphrase Gott strafe England. While the earliest use of aircraft was for observation and directing of artillery. Trenches and supply columns were attacked from the air in the second half of the war. Strafing with machine guns was used when precision was needed, but non-strafing attack methods were preferred for targets, area targets. The German army was the first to introduce a class of aircraft designed for strafing. Planes built specifically for strafing include the German World War I Junkers J. I, the Junkers J. I. had two downward-facing machine guns that were used for strafing. The Luftwaffes best strafing plane was the Junkers Ju-87 Stuka, the Ju-87 G variant had two Rheinmetall-Borsig 37mm Flak 18 guns each mounted under the wing. For the RAF the best ground attack plane was the Hawker Hurricane II and it was armed with four 20 mm wing-mounted cannon. The Hawker Typhoon was used in the stages of the war. It had four 60 lb RP-3 rockets, for the US, the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was one of the key ground attack planes. It was armed with eight.50 calibre machine guns, another aircraft that was important in that role was the North American B-25 Mitchell. It was used for strafing runs in the Pacific War. The Russian Ilyushin IL-2 Sturmovik was one of the key Russian ground attack planes and it had heavy armour around the engine, underside and canopy. It was armed with 20mm to 23mm to 37mm cannons depending on the model, in the Vietnam War, this was found to be a deficiency, and improvised gunships had to be used in strafing missions. The A-10 was built to attack tanks, armored vehicles, the A-10 was designed around the GAU-8 Avenger, a 30 mm rotary cannon that is the airplanes primary armament and the heaviest such automatic cannon mounted on an aircraft
7.
Juno Beach
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Juno or Juno Beach was one of five beaches of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944 during the Second World War. The beach spanned from Courseulles, a village just east of the British beach Gold, to Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, the beach was defended by two battalions of the German 716th Infantry Division, with elements of the 21st Panzer Division held in reserve near Caen. The invasion plan called for two brigades of the 3rd Canadian Division to land on two beach sectors—Mike and Nan—focusing on Courseulles, Bernières and Saint-Aubin and it was hoped that the preliminary naval and air bombardments would soften up the beach defences and destroy coastal strong points. Close support on the beaches was to be provided by amphibious tanks of the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade, the 3rd Canadian Divisions D-Day objectives were to capture Carpiquet Airfield and reach the Caen–Bayeux railway line by nightfall. Several assault companies—notably those of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles and The Queens Own Rifles of Canada—took heavy casualties in the minutes of the first wave. Strength of numbers, as well as coordinated fire support from artillery and armoured squadrons, the reserves of the 7th and 8th brigades began deploying at 08,30, while the 9th Brigade began its deployment at 11,40. The subsequent push inland towards Carpiquet and the Caen–Bayeux railway line achieved mixed results, the sheer numbers of men and vehicles on the beaches created lengthy delays between the landing of the 9th Brigade and the beginning of substantive attacks to the south. The 7th Brigade encountered heavy initial opposition before pushing south and making contact with the British 50th Division at Creully, the 8th Brigade encountered heavy resistance from a battalion of the 716th at Tailleville, while the 9th Brigade deployed towards Carpiquet early in the evening. Resistance in Saint-Aubin prevented the Royal Marines from establishing contact with the British 3rd Division on Sword, in 1942, the Western Allies agreed to open a second front in Western Europe to take pressure off the beleaguered Red Army in the Soviet Union. In August 1942 Anglo-Canadian forces attempted an abortive landing—Operation Jubilee—at the French port of Dieppe, the attack was poorly planned and ended in disaster,4,963 soldiers were killed, wounded or captured. Following the Anglo-American victory against Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in North Africa in May 1943, British, American and Canadian troops invaded Sicily in July 1943, by December the Allies progress had slowed facing tenacious German resistance and the difficult geography of the Italian Peninsula. After gaining valuable experience in amphibious assaults and inland fighting, Allied planners returned to the plans to invade Northern France, under the direction of General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Frederick Morgan, plans for the invasion of France coalesced as Operation Overlord. The attack was scheduled for Monday,5 June 1944. Eight further sectors were added when the invasion was extended to include Utah on the Cotentin Peninsula. Sectors were further subdivided into beaches identified by the colours Green, Red, after delays due to both logistical difficulties and poor weather, the D-Day of Overlord, the largest amphibious operation ever, was postponed 24 hours to 6 June 1944. Eisenhower and Montgomery, commander of 21st Army Group, aimed to capture Caen within the first day, and liberate Paris within 90 days. Operation Neptune, the phase of Overlord, called for a five-division front spread across 50 miles of coastline. Eisenhower and General Bernard Montgomery hoped to have eight infantry divisions, the landing zone was divided into five landing areas, with the Americans attacking Utah and Omaha, and the British attacking Gold and Sword
8.
Seawall
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A seawall is a form of coastal defense constructed where the sea, and associated coastal processes, impact directly upon the landforms of the coast. The purpose of a sea wall is to protect areas of habitation, conservation and leisure activities from the action of tides, waves. As a seawall is a feature it will conflict with the dynamic nature of the coast. The coast is generally a high-energy, dynamic environment with spatial variations over a range of timescales. The coast is exposed to erosion by rivers and winds as well as the sea, because of these persistent natural forces, sea walls need to be maintained to maintain their effectiveness. Sea walls are hard engineering shore-based structures which protect the coast from erosion, but various environmental problems and issues may arise from the construction of a sea wall, including disrupting sediment movement and transport patterns. Combined with a construction cost, this has led to an increasing use of other soft engineering coastal management options such as beach replenishment. Sea walls may be constructed from various materials, most commonly reinforced concrete, boulders, steel, other possible construction materials are, vinyl, wood, aluminium, fibreglass composite, and large biodegrable sandbags made of jute and coir. In the UK, sea wall also refers to a bank used to create a polder. A seawall works by reflecting incident wave energy back into the sea, sea walls have two specific weaknesses. First, wave reflection from the wall may result in scour, second, sea walls may accelerate erosion of adjacent, unprotected coastal areas because they affect the littoral drift process. Different designs of man-made tsunami barriers include building reefs and forests to above-ground, in 2005, India began planting Casuarina and coconut saplings on its coast as a natural barrier against future tsunamis like the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Studies have found that a tsunami wall could reduce tsunami wave heights by up to 83%. The design and type of sea wall that is appropriate depends on aspects specific to the location, a Japanese study of this tsunami in Sri Lanka used satellite imagery modelling to establish the parameters of coastal resistance as a function of different types of trees. Natural barriers, such as reefs and mangrove forests, prevent the spread of tsunamis. A cost benefit approach is a way to determine whether a seawall is appropriate. Besides controlling erosion, consideration must be given to the effects of hardening a shoreline on natural coastal ecosystems, a seawall is a static feature which can conflict with the dynamic nature of the coast and impede the exchange of sediment between land and sea. The table below summarises some positive and negative effects of seawalls which can be used when comparing their effectiveness with other coastal management options, such as beach nourishment
9.
Dieppe Raid
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The raid took place on the northern coast of France on 19 August 1942. The assault began at 5,00 a. m. and it involved 5,000 Canadians,1,000 British troops, and 50 United States Army Rangers. Objectives included seizing and holding a major port for a short period, upon retreat, the Allies also wanted to destroy coastal defences, port structures and all strategic buildings. The raid had the objectives of boosting morale and demonstrating the firm commitment of the United Kingdom to open a western front in Europe. Virtually none of these objectives were met, Allied fire support was grossly inadequate and the raiding force was largely trapped on the beach by obstacles and German fire. Less than 10 hours after the first landings, the last Allied troops had all either killed, evacuated. Instead of a demonstration of resolve, the bloody fiasco showed the world that the Allies could not hope to invade France for a long time, some intelligence successes were achieved, including electronic intelligence. Of the 6,086 men who made it ashore,3,367 were either killed, wounded or captured, the Royal Air Force failed to lure the Luftwaffe into open battle, and lost 106 aircraft, compared to 48 lost by the Luftwaffe. The Royal Navy lost 33 landing craft and one destroyer, the events at Dieppe influenced preparations for the North African and Normandy landings. This was accompanied by development of techniques and equipment for amphibious warfare, in late 1941 a scheme was put forward for the landing of 12 divisions around Le Havre based on a withdrawal of German troops to counter Soviet success in the east. From this came a proposed test of the scheme in the form of Operation Rutter, when these missions involved two or three fighters, they were known as rhubarbs, and rodeos if they involved more than three aircraft. In the second half of 1941, the offensive over France was greatly stepped up, leading to the losses of 411 British or Canadian aircraft in the rhubarb. In response, in the spring of 1942 the Luftwaffe deployed the new Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter to its airfields in France. The Fw 190 fighters were greatly superior to the Supermarine Spitfires and Hawker Hurricanes used by the British and Canadian pilots and it was largely because of pressure from the RAF to fight the greatest air battle over the French coast that Operation Rutter/Jubilee went ahead. Dieppe, a town in the Seine-Inférieure department of France, is built along a long cliff that overlooks the English Channel. The River Scie is on the end of the town. In 1942, the Germans had demolished some seafront buildings to aid in defence and had set up two large artillery batteries at Berneval-le-Grand and Varengeville-sur-Mer. One important consideration for the planners was that Dieppe was within range of the Royal Air Forces fighter aircraft, there was also intense pressure from the Soviet government to open up a second front in Western Europe
10.
MG 34
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The Maschinengewehr 34, or MG34, is a German recoil-operated air-cooled machine gun, first tested in 1929, introduced in 1934, and issued to units in 1936. It accepts the 7. 92×57mm Mauser cartridge, and is considered the worlds first general-purpose machine gun. The versatile MG34 was arguably the most advanced machine gun in the world at the time of its deployment and its combination of exceptional mobility – being light enough to be carried by one man – and high rate of fire was unmatched. It entered service in numbers following Hitlers repudiation of the Versailles Treaty in 1936. Nonetheless, the design proved too complex for production, and was supplemented by the cheaper and simpler MG42. The MG34 was based on a 1930 Rheinmetall design, the MG30, the Swiss and Austrian militaries had both licensed and produced the MG30 from Rheinmetall shortly after patent. The MG30 design was adapted and modified by Heinrich Vollmer of Mauser Industries, Vollmer modified the feed mechanism to accept either drum magazines or belt ammunition. He also increased the rate of fire, the MG 34s double crescent trigger dictated either semiautomatic or fully automatic firing modes. In the field, the weapon could operate in offensive or defensive applications, the offensive model, with a mobile soldier, used a drum magazine that could hold either 50 or 75 rounds of ammunition. In a stationary defensive role, the gun was mounted on a bipod or tripod, belts were carried in boxes of five. Belt lengths could be linked for sustained fire, during sustained fire, barrels would have to be changed at intervals due to the heat generated by the rapid rate of fire. If the barrels were not changed properly, the weapon would misfire, changing barrels was a rapid process for the trained operator and involved disengaging a latch and swinging the receiver to the right for the insertion of a new barrel. Accordingly, stationary defensive positions required more than one operator, the MG34 was the mainstay of German Army support weapons from the time of its first issue in 1935 until 1942, when it was supplanted by the next generation Maschinengewehr 42 or MG42. For its successor, the MG42, the Germans instead used mass production techniques similar to those that created the MP40 submachine gun, however, the Germans nevertheless continued widespread production of MG 34s until the end of the war. The MG34 was used as the primary machine gun during the 1930s. The MG34 was intended to replace the MG13 and other machine guns. It was designed primarily by Heinrich Vollmer from the Mauser Werke, changes to the operating mechanism improved the rate of fire to between 800 and 900 rpm. The new gun was accepted for service almost immediately and was liked by the troops
11.
Normandy landings
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The Normandy landings were the landing operations on Tuesday,6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. The largest seaborne invasion in history, the operation began the liberation of German-occupied northwestern Europe from Nazi control, planning for the operation began in 1943. Adolf Hitler placed German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in command of German forces, the amphibious landings were preceded by extensive aerial and naval bombardment and an airborne assault—the landing of 24,000 American, British, and Canadian airborne troops shortly after midnight. Allied infantry and armoured divisions began landing on the coast of France at 06,30, the target 50-mile stretch of the Normandy coast was divided into five sectors, Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. Strong winds blew the landing craft east of their positions, particularly at Utah. Casualties were heaviest at Omaha, with its high cliffs, at Gold, Juno, and Sword, several fortified towns were cleared in house-to-house fighting, and two major gun emplacements at Gold were disabled, using specialised tanks. The Allies failed to any of their goals on the first day. Carentan, St. Lô, and Bayeux remained in German hands, and Caen, German casualties on D-Day have been estimated at 4,000 to 9,000 men. Allied casualties were at least 10,000, with 4,414 confirmed dead, museums, memorials, and war cemeteries in the area now host many visitors each year. Between 27 May and 4 June 1940, over 338,000 troops of the British Expeditionary Force, after the German Army invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin began pressing his allies for the creation of a second front in western Europe. In late May 1942 the Soviet Union and the United States made a joint announcement that a. full understanding was reached with regard to the urgent tasks of creating a front in Europe in 1942. Instead of a return to France, the Western Allies staged offensives in the Mediterranean Theatre of Operations. By mid-1943 the campaign in North Africa had been won, the Allies then launched the invasion of Sicily in July 1943, and subsequently invaded Italy in September the same year. By then, Soviet forces were on the offensive and had won a victory at the Battle of Stalingrad. The decision to undertake a cross-channel invasion within the year was taken at the Trident Conference in Washington in May 1943. Initial planning was constrained by the number of landing craft, most of which were already committed in the Mediterranean. At the Tehran Conference in November 1943, Roosevelt and Churchill promised Stalin that they would open the second front in May 1944. Four sites were considered for the landings, Brittany, the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy, as Brittany and Cotentin are peninsulas, it would have been possible for the Germans to cut off the Allied advance at a relatively narrow isthmus, so these sites were rejected
12.
Machine gun
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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
13.
Bunker
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A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people or valued materials from falling bombs or other attacks. Bunkers are mostly underground, compared to blockhouses which are mostly above ground and they were used extensively in World War I, World War II, and the Cold War for weapons facilities, command and control centers, and storage facilities. Bunkers can also be used as protection from tornadoes, trench bunkers are small concrete structures, partly dug into the ground. Many artillery installations, especially for coastal artillery, have historically been protected by extensive bunker systems, typical industrial bunkers include mining sites, food storage areas, dumps for materials, data storage, and sometimes living quarters. When a house is purpose-built with a bunker, the location is a reinforced below-ground bathroom with fibre-reinforced plastic shells. Bunkers deflect the blast wave from nearby explosions to prevent ear, nuclear bunkers must also cope with the underpressure that lasts for several seconds after the shock wave passes, and block radiation. A bunkers door must be at least as strong as the walls, in bunkers inhabited for prolonged periods, large amounts of ventilation or air conditioning must be provided. Bunkers can be destroyed with explosives and bunker-busting warheads. The word bunker originates as a Scots word for bench, seat, the word possibly has a Scandinavian origin, Old Swedish bunke means boards used to protect the cargo of a ship. A sense of earthen seat is recorded 1805, with the spelling boncure from whence the use to refer to sand traps in golf, all the early references to its usage in the Oxford English Dictionary are to German fortifications. This type of bunker is a concrete structure, partly dug into the ground. Such bunkers give the defending soldiers better protection than the open trench and they also provide shelter against the weather. The front bunker of a system usually includes machine guns or mortars. The rear bunkers are usually used as posts or Tactical Operations Centers, for storage. Many artillery installations, especially for coastal artillery, have historically been protected by extensive bunker systems, artillery bunkers are some of the largest individual pre-Cold War bunkers. The walls of the Batterie Todt gun installation in northern France were up to 3.5 m thick, typical industrial bunkers include mining sites, food storage areas, dumps for materials, data storage, and sometimes living quarters. They were built mainly by nations like Germany during World War II to protect important industries from aerial bombardment, industrial bunkers are also built for control rooms of dangerous activities, e. g. tests of rocket engines or explosive experiments. They are also built in order to perform experiments in them or to store radioactive or explosive goods
14.
Trench warfare
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The most famous use of trench warfare is the Western Front in World War I. It has become a byword for stalemate, attrition, sieges, Trench warfare occurred when a revolution in firepower was not matched by similar advances in mobility, resulting in a grueling form of warfare in which the defender held the advantage. On the Western Front in 1914–18, both sides constructed elaborate trench and dugout systems opposing each other along a front, protected from assault by barbed wire, mines, the area between opposing trench lines was fully exposed to artillery fire from both sides. Attacks, even if successful, often sustained severe casualties, with the development of armoured warfare, emphasis on trench warfare has declined, but still occurs where battle-lines become static. Field works are as old as armies, Roman legions, when in the presence of an enemy, entrenched camps nightly when on the move. In the early modern era they were used to block possible lines of advance and they played a pivotal role in manoeuvring that took place before the Battle of Blenheim. The lines were captured by the French in 1707 and demolished, the French built the 19-kilometre-long Lines of Weissenburg during the War of the Spanish Succession under the orders of the Duke of Villars in 1706. These were to remain in existence for just over 100 years and were last manned during Napoleons Hundred Days, the French built the Lines of Ne Plus Ultra during the winter of 1710–1711, which have been compared to the trenches of World War I. They ran from Arras to Cambrai and Valenciennes where they linked up with existing defensive lines fronted by the river Sambre and they were breached in the 1711 campaign season by the Duke of Marlborough through a magnificent piece of manoeuvring. During the Peninsular War, the British and Portuguese constructed the Lines of Torres Vedras in 1809 and 1810, nor were fortifications restricted to European powers. British casualty rates of up to 45 percent, such as at the Battle of Ohaeawai in 1845, proved contemporary firepower was insufficient to dislodge defenders from a trench system. Fundamentally, as the range and rate of fire of rifled small arms increased and this was only made more lethal by the introduction of rapid-firing artillery, exemplified by the French 75, and high explosive fragmentation rounds. The increases in firepower had outstripped the ability of infantry to cover the ground between firing lines, and the ability of armour to withstand fire and it would take a revolution in mobility to change that. Trench warfare is associated with the First World War of 1914–18. Both sides concentrated on breaking up attacks and on protecting their own troops by digging deep into the ground. Trench warfare was conducted on other fronts, including Italy. Trench warfare has become a symbol of the futility of war. To the French, the equivalent is the attrition of the Battle of Verdun in which the French Army suffered 380,000 casualties, Trench warfare is associated with mass slaughter in appalling conditions
15.
Column (formation)
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A military column is a formation of soldiers marching together in one or more files in which the file is significantly longer than the width of ranks in the formation. It is also applied by modern armies to vehicles, troops, during the early stages of the French Revolutionary Wars, battalions in French armies often attacked in column formation in an attempt to drive through enemy lines by sheer weight of numbers. Against enemy units already weakened by the fire from skirmishers or artillery, later, during the Napoleonic Wars, French units would approach in column formation and deploy into line when close to the enemy. However, against the British they frequently failed to deploy into line before being engaged, during the Peninsular War, after the Battle of Sabugal, the Duke of Wellington wrote, our loss is much less than one would have supposed possible, scarcely 200 men. Really these attacks against our lines with columns of men are contemptible and these failings were still evident at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, prompting Wellington to comment, They came on in the same old way and we defeated them in the same old way. Each company would form into two ranks of about thirty files and march close to the company in front, if attacked by cavalry, they could easily bunch up, forming a schiltron of bayonets that would be proof against unsupported cavalry. The column formation was used by Chinese infantry during the Korean War. When attacking, the Chinese would form their assault units into deep columns of platoons or squads, the rationale for such a tactic was that repeated assaults conducted by squad- or platoon-sized skirmish parties would eventually penetrate enemy lines through sheer attrition. This utilization of column formation also give birth to the human wave attack. A Reappraisal of Column Versus Line in the Peninsular War Oman and Historiography, The Napoleon Series, a Reappraisal of Column Versus Line in the Napoleonic Wars Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research LX no. Rules and regulations for the exercise and manoeuvres of infantry
16.
Hundred Years' War
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Each side drew many allies into the war. It was one of the most notable conflicts of the Middle Ages, the war marked both the height of chivalry and its subsequent decline, and the development of strong national identities in both countries. After the Norman Conquest, the kings of England were vassals of the kings of France for their possessions in France, the French kings had endeavored, over the centuries, to reduce these possessions, to the effect that only Gascony was left to the English. Through his mother, Isabella of France, Edward III of England was the grandson of Philip IV of France and nephew of Charles IV of France, in 1316, a principle was established denying women succession to the French throne. When Charles IV died in 1328, Isabella, unable to claim the French throne for herself, the French rejected the claim, maintaining that Isabella could not transmit a right that she did not possess. Several overwhelming English victories in the war—especially at Crecy, Poitiers, however, the greater resources of the French monarchy precluded a complete conquest. Historians commonly divide the war into three separated by truces, the Edwardian Era War, the Caroline War, and the Lancastrian War. Later historians adopted the term Hundred Years War as a historiography periodization to encompass all of these events, the war owes its historical significance to multiple factors. By its end, feudal armies had been replaced by professional troops. Although primarily a conflict, the war gave impetus to ideas of French. The wider introduction of weapons and tactics supplanted the feudal armies where heavy cavalry had dominated, the war precipitated the creation of the first standing armies in Western Europe since the time of the Western Roman Empire and thus helping to change their role in warfare. With respect to the belligerents, in France, civil wars, deadly epidemics, famines, English political forces over time came to oppose the costly venture. The dissatisfaction of English nobles, resulting from the loss of their continental landholdings, the root causes of the conflict can be found in the demographic, economic and political crises of 14th century Europe. The outbreak of war was motivated by a rise in tension between the Kings of France and England about Guyenne, Flanders and Scotland. The dynastic question, which due to an interruption of the direct male line of the Capetians, was the official pretext. The question of succession to the French throne was raised after the death of Louis X in 1316. Louis X left only a daughter, and his posthumous son John I lived only a few days, Philip, Count of Poitiers, brother of Louis X, asserted that women were ineligible to succeed to the French throne. Through his political sagacity he won over his adversaries and succeeded to the French throne as Philip V of France, by the same law that he procured, his daughters were denied the succession, which passed to his younger brother, Charles IV, in 1322
17.
Bastion fort
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A star fort, bastion fort or trace italienne, is a fortification in a style that evolved during the age of gunpowder when the cannon came to dominate the battlefield. It was first seen in the century in Italy. The design of the fort is normally a pentagon or hexagon with bastions at the corners of the walls and these outcroppings are present for the purpose of a total, panoramic view of the battlefield. Because of the bastions, archers and cannon operators can hit any target on the battlefield without having to lean over the wall, many bastion forts also feature cavaliers, which are raised secondary structures based entirely inside the primary structure. The predecessors of star fortifications were medieval fortresses, usually placed on high hills, from there, arrows were shot at the enemies, and the higher the fortress was, the further the arrows flew. The enemies hope was to ram the gate or climb over the wall with ladders. For the invading force, these fortifications proved quite difficult to overcome, passive ring-shaped fortifications of the Medieval era proved vulnerable to damage or destruction by cannon fire, when it could be directed from outside against a perpendicular masonry wall. In addition, a force that could get close to the wall was able to conduct undermining operations in relative safety. In contrast, the fortress was a very flat structure composed of many triangular bastions, specifically designed to cover each other. In order to counteract the cannonballs, defensive walls were lower and thicker. The outer side of the ditch was provided with a glacis to deflect cannonballs aimed at the lower part of the main wall. They were built of materials, usually earth and brick. Star fortifications were developed in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries primarily in response to the French invasion of the Italian peninsula. The French army was equipped with new cannon and bombards that were able to destroy traditional fortifications built in the Middle Ages. Star forts were employed by Michelangelo in the earthworks of Florence. The design spread out of Italy in the 1530s and 1540s and it was employed heavily throughout Europe for the following three centuries. Italian engineers were heavily in demand throughout Europe to help build the new fortifications, the late-seventeenth-century architects Menno van Coehoorn and especially Vauban, Louis XIVs military engineer, are considered to have taken the form to its logical extreme. In the 19th century, the development of the explosive shell changed the nature of defensive fortifications, elvas, in Portugal is considered by some to be the best surviving example of the Dutch school of fortifications
18.
Caponier
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A caponier is a type of fortification structure. The word originates from the French word caponnière, originally the term referred to a covered passageway that traversed the ditch between the walls of a fortress and a ravelin outside the wall. This was more simply a passage however as fire from this point could sweep the ditch between the ravelin and the curtain wall and inflict devastating damage on any attempt to storm the wall. Thus the passageway was equipped with ports and cannon ports that fired along the ditch. While fortifications were evolving to the polygonal style, the term was used to describe the blockhouses set in the corners of the ditch that provide the same function in that style of fort. The roof is vulnerable to plunging fire, and is thus usually exceedingly thick and curved to deflect falling shells, or covered with a thick layer of earth. The caponier is usually equipped with a step and rifle ports to allow troops to fire along the ditch. To clear the smoke and fumes from the firing the roof of the caponier is often provided with ventilation ports, the length of the straight sections of the ditch is chosen so that it can be covered by fire from a single caponier. Caponiers are often wedge shaped so that they can fire down both angles of the ditch, an alternative to the caponier is a counterscarp battery, dug into the outer face of the corner of the ditch, giving a similar field of fire. Again reached by a tunnel from within the fort, it not have the vulnerable roof that the caponier has. Both structures may be found in the same fort
19.
Armoured fighting vehicle
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An armoured fighting vehicle is a combat vehicle, protected by strong armour and generally armed with weapons, which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities. AFVs can be wheeled or tracked and it is not uncommon for AFVs to be simply referred to as armour. Armoured fighting vehicles are classified according to their role on the battlefield. This classification is not absolute, at different times different countries will classify the vehicle in different roles. For example, armoured carriers were generally replaced by infantry fighting vehicles in a similar role. Modern armoured fighting vehicles are the realization of an ancient concept, War machines with rudimentary armour have been used in battle for millennia. These designs historically struggled between the paradox of exposed-mobility, effective-firepower and cumbersome-protection, Siege engines, such as battering rams and trebuchets, would often be armoured in order to protect the crews from the defenders. Very large movable siege towers, helepolis were developed by Polyidus of Thessaly, the idea of a vehicle with a tortoise like cover has been known since antiquity. Frequently cited is Leonardo da Vincis 15th century sketch of a mobile, protected gun platform, the machine was to be mounted on four wheels which would be turned by the crew through a system of hand cranks and cage gears. Leonardo quoted I will build armored wagons which will be safe, there will be no obstacle which it cannot overcome. Modern replicas have demonstrated that the crew would have been able to move it over only short distances. The war wagon were medieval weapon-platforms developmed during the Hussite Wars around 1420 by Hussite forces rebelling in Bohemia. These heavy wagon were given protective sides with firing slits and heavy firepower from either a cannon or a force of hand-gunners and crossbowmen, supported by infantry using pikes, heavy arquebuses mounted on wagons were called arquebus à croc. These carried a ball of about 3.5 ounces, the first modern AFVs were armed cars, dating back virtually to the invention of the motor car. The Motor Scout was designed and built by British inventor F. R. Simms in 1898 and it was the first armed petrol engine powered vehicle ever built. The vehicle was a De Dion-Bouton quadricycle with a mounted Maxim machine gun on the front bar, an iron shield offered some protection for the driver from the front, but it lacked all-around protective armour. The armoured car was the first modern fully armoured fighting vehicle, the first of these was the Simms Motor War Car, designed by Simms and built by Vickers, Sons & Maxim in 1899. The vehicle had Vickers armour 6 mm thick and was powered by a four-cylinder 3. 3-litre 16 hp Cannstatt Daimler engine giving it a speed of around 9 miles per hour
20.
Hull-down
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In sailing and warfare, hull-down means that the upper part of a vessel or vehicle is visible, but the main, lower body is not, the term hull-up means that all of the body is visible. The terms originated with sailing and naval warfare in which the curvature of the causes an approaching vessel to be first visible sails-up. Beginning in the 20th century, hull-down has also used in armoured warfare. In modern armoured warfare, hull-down is a position taken up by a fighting vehicle so that its hull is behind a crest or other raised ground. Turret-down is the position in which the crew can observe forward from roof hatches. The belly armour should not be exposed, because it is vulnerable to even modest antitank weapons, with a clear horizon, whether a vessel is hull-down or hull-up gives some idea of its distance from the observer, using the line-of-sight formula. Hull down was used to describe a commercial sailing vessel being under sail. In modern armoured warfare, hull-down is a position taken up by a fighting vehicle such that its hull is behind a crest or other raised ground. This allows it to observe and fire upon the ground ahead, a hull-down AFV is said to be in defilade. Taking advantage of hull-down positions is an element of tactical movement, turret-down is the position in which the vehicles crew can observe forward from roof hatches, but the vehicle is completely hidden. This can also apply to vehicles without turrets, in flat or gently rolling terrain, a hull-down position is difficult to find. The actual protecting rise of ground may be hundreds of metres long, in steep or abrupt terrain cover is plentiful, but it may be difficult to find covered positions from which the vehicles main gun can fire upon terrain ahead. In preparing defensive works, a position can be created or improved by digging shallow tank scrapes. Tank units usually have one or two tanks with dozer blades attached for this purpose, and some models have a built-in blade. Combat engineering vehicles often accompany armoured vehicles as they manoeuvre to dig tank scrapes, crossing a crest or ridge-line is a dangerous manoeuvre for AFVs, as they are particularly exposed to enemy fire while silhouetted against the sky. While cresting a steep slope, the armour on the front bottom of a tanks hull can be exposed to fire. After cresting, the top armour may be exposed while it moves down the forward slope. If an antitank gunner has spotted the AFV, he may train his sights on it and wait for a shot while it moves forward
21.
Turret-down
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In sailing and warfare, hull-down means that the upper part of a vessel or vehicle is visible, but the main, lower body is not, the term hull-up means that all of the body is visible. The terms originated with sailing and naval warfare in which the curvature of the causes an approaching vessel to be first visible sails-up. Beginning in the 20th century, hull-down has also used in armoured warfare. In modern armoured warfare, hull-down is a position taken up by a fighting vehicle so that its hull is behind a crest or other raised ground. Turret-down is the position in which the crew can observe forward from roof hatches. The belly armour should not be exposed, because it is vulnerable to even modest antitank weapons, with a clear horizon, whether a vessel is hull-down or hull-up gives some idea of its distance from the observer, using the line-of-sight formula. Hull down was used to describe a commercial sailing vessel being under sail. In modern armoured warfare, hull-down is a position taken up by a fighting vehicle such that its hull is behind a crest or other raised ground. This allows it to observe and fire upon the ground ahead, a hull-down AFV is said to be in defilade. Taking advantage of hull-down positions is an element of tactical movement, turret-down is the position in which the vehicles crew can observe forward from roof hatches, but the vehicle is completely hidden. This can also apply to vehicles without turrets, in flat or gently rolling terrain, a hull-down position is difficult to find. The actual protecting rise of ground may be hundreds of metres long, in steep or abrupt terrain cover is plentiful, but it may be difficult to find covered positions from which the vehicles main gun can fire upon terrain ahead. In preparing defensive works, a position can be created or improved by digging shallow tank scrapes. Tank units usually have one or two tanks with dozer blades attached for this purpose, and some models have a built-in blade. Combat engineering vehicles often accompany armoured vehicles as they manoeuvre to dig tank scrapes, crossing a crest or ridge-line is a dangerous manoeuvre for AFVs, as they are particularly exposed to enemy fire while silhouetted against the sky. While cresting a steep slope, the armour on the front bottom of a tanks hull can be exposed to fire. After cresting, the top armour may be exposed while it moves down the forward slope. If an antitank gunner has spotted the AFV, he may train his sights on it and wait for a shot while it moves forward
22.
Indirect fire
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Indirect fire is aiming and firing a projectile without relying on a direct line of sight between the gun and its target, as in the case of direct fire. Aiming is performed by calculating azimuth and elevation angles, and may include correcting aim by observing the fall of shot and calculating new angles. There are two dimensions in aiming a weapon, In the horizontal plane, and In the vertical plane, which is governed by the distance to the target and the energy of the propelling charge. The projectile trajectory is affected by conditions, the velocity of the projectile. Direct fire sights may include mechanisms to compensate for some of these, handguns and rifles, machine guns, anti-tank guns, tank main guns, many types of unguided rockets, and guns mounted in aircraft are examples of weapons primarily designed for direct fire. NATO defines indirect fire as Fire delivered at a target which cannot be seen by the aimer, the implication is that azimuth and/or elevation aiming is done using instrumental methods. Hence indirect fire means applying firing data to azimuth and elevation sights, indirect fire can be used when the target is visible from the firing position. However, it is used when the target is at longer range. Longer range uses a higher trajectory, and in maximum range is achieved with an elevation angle of 45 degrees. Indirect fire is most commonly associated with field artillery and it is also used with mortars and naval guns against shore targets, sometimes with machine guns, and has been used with tank and anti-tank guns and by anti-aircraft guns against surface targets. It is reasonable to assume that original purpose of fire was to enable fire from a ‘covered position’, one where gunners can not be seen. The concealment aspect remains important, but from World War I equally important was the capability to concentrate the fire of many batteries at the target or set of targets. The physical laws of ballistics means that guns firing larger and heavier projectile can send them further than smaller-calibre guns firing lighter shells. By the end of the 20th century, the maximum range for the most common guns was about 24 to 30 km. During World War I, covered positions moved further back and indirect fire evolved to allow any point within range to be attacked, firepower mobility, without moving the firers. If the target cannot be seen from the gun position, there has to be a means of identifying targets, the position of some targets may be identified by a headquarters from various sources of information, observers on the ground, in aircraft, or in observation balloons. The development of electrical communication immensely simplified reporting, and enabled many widely dispersed firers to concentrate their fire on one target, until the introduction of smart munitions the trajectory of the projectile could not be altered once fired. For several centuries Coehorn mortars were fired indirectly because their fixed elevation meant range was determined by the amount of propelling powder
23.
Mortar (weapon)
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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
24.
Artillery
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Artillery is a class of large military weapons built to fire munitions far beyond the range and power of infantrys small arms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach fortifications, and led to heavy, as technology improved, lighter, more mobile field artillery developed for battlefield use. This development continues today, modern self-propelled artillery vehicles are highly mobile weapons of great versatility providing the largest share of an armys total firepower, in its earliest sense, the word artillery referred to any group of soldiers primarily armed with some form of manufactured weapon or armour. In common speech, the artillery is often used to refer to individual devices, along with their accessories and fittings. However, there is no generally recognised generic term for a gun, howitzer, mortar, and so forth, the United States uses artillery piece, the projectiles fired are typically either shot or shell. Shell is a widely used term for a projectile, which is a component of munitions. By association, artillery may also refer to the arm of service that customarily operates such engines, in the 20th Century technology based target acquisition devices, such as radar, and systems, such as sound ranging and flash spotting, emerged to acquire targets, primarily for artillery. These are usually operated by one or more of the artillery arms, Artillery originated for use against ground targets—against infantry, cavalry and other artillery. An early specialist development was coastal artillery for use against enemy ships, the early 20th Century saw the development of a new class of artillery for use against aircraft, anti-aircraft guns. Artillery is arguably the most lethal form of land-based armament currently employed, the majority of combat deaths in the Napoleonic Wars, World War I, and World War II were caused by artillery. In 1944, Joseph Stalin said in a speech that artillery was the God of War, although not called as such, machines performing the role recognizable as artillery have been employed in warfare since antiquity. The first references in the historical tradition begin at Syracuse in 399 BC. From the Middle Ages through most of the era, artillery pieces on land were moved by horse-drawn gun carriages. In the contemporary era, the artillery and crew rely on wheeled or tracked vehicles as transportation, Artillery used by naval forces has changed significantly also, with missiles replacing guns in surface warfare. The engineering designs of the means of delivery have likewise changed significantly over time, in some armies, the weapon of artillery is the projectile, not the equipment that fires it. The process of delivering fire onto the target is called gunnery, the actions involved in operating the piece are collectively called serving the gun by the detachment or gun crew, constituting either direct or indirect artillery fire. The term gunner is used in armed forces for the soldiers and sailors with the primary function of using artillery. The gunners and their guns are usually grouped in teams called either crews or detachments, several such crews and teams with other functions are combined into a unit of artillery, usually called a battery, although sometimes called a company
25.
Antitank
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Anti-tank warfare arose as a result of the need to develop technology and tactics to destroy tanks during World War I. Since the first tanks were developed by the Triple Entente in 1916 but not operated in battle until 1917, because tanks represent an enemys land greatest force projection, anti-tank warfare has been incorporated into the doctrine of nearly every combat service since. Most predominant anti-tank weapons at the start of World War II were the gun, anti-tank guns. Through the Cold War, The United States, Soviet Union, while previous technology was developed to protect crews of armored vehicles from projectiles and explosive damage, the possibility of radiation arose. In the NATO countries little if any development took place on defining a doctrine of how to use armed forces without the use of nuclear weapons. The solution they arrived at was maneuver warfare while massively increasing the number of anti-tank weapons and this led to the development of improved guided anti-tank missiles, though similar design work was being performed in Western Europe and the United States. Also being developed were new varieties of artillery munitions in the form of top-attack shells, helicopters could be used as well to rapidly deliver scattered anti-tank mines. Anti-tank warfare evolved as a countermeasure to the threat of the appearance on the battlefields of the Western Front of the First World War. The tank had been developed to negate the German system of trenches, however, there was no means of communication between the tanks crew and the accompanying infantry, or between the tanks participating in combat. Radios were not yet portable or robust enough to be mounted in a tank, attaching a field telephone to the rear would become a practice only during the next war. The early tanks were mechanically rudimentary, the 0. 23-to-0. 47-inch thick armor generally prevented penetration by small arms fire and shell fragments. However, even a near miss from field artillery or an impact from a mortar HE round easily disabled the tank, or destroyed it if the tank was ruptured. This was achieved by mounting a QF6 pounder Hotchkiss light 57 mm naval gun mounted in the hull barbettes, turrets were later introduced on medium and light tanks to react to ambushes during the advance. The tank, when it appeared on the Western Front in September 1916, was a surprise to the German troops. The French Army Staff was highly critical of the British Armys early fielding of the Mark I vehicles in small numbers because the French trials showed the armored vehicles to be highly unreliable. They judged that large numbers had to be employed to sustain an offensive despite losses to mechanical failure or vehicles being foundered in intractable no mans land terrain. These losses, coupled with those from enemy fire, later amounted to as high as 70% of the starters during some operations. Deploying small numbers of tanks would therefore cause the Allies to lose the element of surprise, because the German Army was the only force in need of anti-tank weapons, it was they that had to develop a viable technology to combat the tank
26.
Infantry
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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
27.
Berm
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A berm is a level space, shelf, or raised barrier separating two areas. It can serve as a border barrier, the word berm originates in the Middle Dutch and German berme and came into usage in English via French. In medieval military engineering, a berm was a space between a parapet or defensive wall and an adjacent steep-walled ditch or moat. It was intended to reduce pressure on the walls of the excavated part to prevent its collapse. It also meant that debris dislodged from fortifications would not fall into a ditch or moat, in the trench warfare of World War I, the name was applied to a similar feature at the lip of a trench, which served mainly as an elbow-rest for riflemen. In modern military engineering, berm has come to mean the earthen or sod wall or parapet itself, the term especially refers to a low earthen wall adjacent to a ditch. The digging of the ditch can provide the soil from which the berm is constructed, walls constructed in this manner are an effective obstacle to vehicles, including most armoured fighting vehicles, but are easily crossed by infantry. Because of the ease of construction, such walls can be hundreds or thousands of kilometres long. Berms are also used to control erosion and sedimentation by reducing the rate of surface runoff, the berms either reduce the velocity of the water, or direct water to areas that are not susceptible to erosion, thereby reducing the adverse effects of running water on exposed topsoil. Earth is piled up against exterior walls and packed, sloping away from the house. The roof may or may not be fully covered. Due to the building being above ground, fewer moisture problems are associated with earth berming in comparison to underground/fully recessed construction, berm has been adopted as a wider term usually used to describe a physical, stationary barrier of some kind. For example, in highway construction, a berm is a noise barrier constructed of earth, often landscaped. The shoulder of a road is called a berm and in New Zealand the word describes a publicly owned grassed nature strip sometimes planted with trees alongside urban roads. In Snowboard Cross, a berm is a wall of snow built up in a corner, in Mountain biking, a berm is a banked turn formed by soil, commonly dug from the track, being deposited on the outer rim of the turn. In coastal systems, a berm is a ridge of pebbles or sand found at high tide or storm tide marks on a beach. In snow removal, a berm or windrow refers to the accumulation of snow cast aside by a plow. In open-pit mining, a berm refers to dirt and rock piled alongside a road or along the edge of a dump point
28.
Crossing the T
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The tactic became largely obsolete with the introduction of missiles and aircraft as long-range strikes are less dependent on the direction the ships are facing. When going into battle, ships would assume a battle formation called line astern. This allows each ship to fire over wide arcs without lofting salvos of projectiles over friendly vessels, each ship in the line generally engages its opposite number in the enemy battle line which moves in a parallel course. However, moving ahead of the line on a perpendicular course enables a ship to launch salvos at the same target with both the forward and rear turrets, maximizing the chances for a hit. It also makes ranging errors less critical for the doing the crossing. In military terms, this is known as enfilade fire, the tactic, designed for heavily armed and armoured battleships, was used with varying degrees of success with more lightly armed and armoured cruisers and heavy cruisers. The addition of radar allowed World War II-era ships to fire farther, more accurately, the Russian admiral, other than retreat or surrender, had no other option other than charging Togos battle line or accepting a formal pitched battle. Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky chose the latter, resulting in his defeat in the only decisive fleet action in naval history fought solely by modern battleships. Rozhestvensky was severely wounded during the battle, and was taken prisoner, seven battleships were sunk and one was captured by the Japanese. Battle of Elli – Rear Admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis aboard the Greek cruiser Georgios Averof at a speed of 20 knots crossed the T of the Turkish fleet on December 13,1912, the Averof concentrated her fire against the Ottoman flagship, forcing the Turks to retreat. Goto died of his wounds shortly after the battle, and lost the cruiser Furutaka along with three destroyers. Battle of Surigao Strait – the most recent time a battle line crossed the T, early on October 25,1944, Rear Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf was guarding the entrance to the Leyte Gulf at the northern end of Surigao Strait. He commanded a line of six battleships, flanked by numerous heavy, a smaller Japanese force under Vice Admiral Shoji Nishimura came up the strait, aware of the formidable strength of the American force but nonetheless pressing on. Half of Nishimuras fleet was eliminated by the Americans destroyer torpedoes, Nishimura went down with his ship. Despite this however, Yamashiros guns, along with cruiser Mogami managed to damage an American destroyer. This was the last time the T was crossed in an engagement between battleships, and the last occasion on which battleships fought each other, raking fire Enfilade and defilade Mahan, Alfred Thayer. Reflections, Historic and Other, Suggested By The Battle Of The Japan Sea, by Captain A. T. Mahan, US Navy
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Plunging fire
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Plunging fire is a form of indirect fire, gunfire fired at a trajectory such as to fall on its target from above. It is normal at the high trajectories used to long range. In naval warfare plunging shellfire was often used to penetrate an enemy ships deck armor rather than firing directly at a warships heavily-armored side. Plunging fire in terrestrial warfare allows attacking a target not in line of sight. Artillery weapons such as howitzers and mortars are designed for this purpose, machine guns and belt-fed grenade launchers may also use plunging fire
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International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
