1.
Howitzer
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In the taxonomies of artillery pieces used by European armies in the 17th to 20th centuries, the howitzer stood between the gun and the mortar. Howitzers, like other artillery equipment, are organized in groups called batteries. The English word howitzer comes from the Czech word houfnice, from houf, crowd, haufen, sometimes in the compound Gewalthaufen, also designated a pike square formation in German. This is particularly true in the forces of the United States. Because of this practice, the howitzer is used in some armies as a generic term for any kind of artillery piece that is designed to attack targets using indirect fire. Thus, artillery pieces that bear resemblance to howitzers of earlier eras are now described as howitzers. Most other armies in the reserve the word howitzer for guns with barrel lengths 15 to 25 times their caliber. The British had a method of nomenclature. In the 18th century, they adopted projectile weight for guns replacing the old naming system of culverin, saker, mortars had been categorized by calibre in inches in the 17th century and this was inherited by howitzers. The modern howitzers were invented in Sweden towards the end of the 17th century, originally intended for use in siege warfare, they were particularly useful for delivering cast-iron shells filled with gunpowder or incendiary materials into the interior of fortifications. In the middle of the 18th century, a number of European armies began to introduce howitzers that were enough to accompany armies in the field. Though usually fired at the high angles of fire used by contemporary siege howitzers. Rather, as the guns of the day were usually restricted to inert projectiles. Many, for the sake of simplicity and rapidity of fire, the Abus gun was an early form of howitzer in the Ottoman Empire. In 1758 the Russian Empire introduced a type of howitzer, with a conical chamber, called a licorne. The most famous of these gun-howitzers was the Napoleon 12-pounder, a weapon of French design that saw service in the American Civil War. The longest-serving artillery piece of the 19th century was the mountain howitzer, in 1859, the armies of Europe began to rearm field batteries with rifled field guns. These new field pieces used cylindrical projectiles that, while smaller in caliber than the spherical shells of smoothbore field howitzers, moreover, their greater range let them create many of the same effects that previously required the sharply curved trajectories of smoothbore field howitzers
2.
World War II
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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
3.
Korean War
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The Korean War began when North Korea invaded South Korea. The United Nations, with the United States as the principal force, China came to the aid of North Korea, and the Soviet Union gave some assistance. Korea was ruled by Japan from 1910 until the days of World War II. In August 1945, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, as a result of an agreement with the United States, U. S. forces subsequently moved into the south. By 1948, as a product of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, Korea was split into two regions, with separate governments, both governments claimed to be the legitimate government of all of Korea, and neither side accepted the border as permanent. The conflict escalated into open warfare when North Korean forces—supported by the Soviet Union, on that day, the United Nations Security Council recognized this North Korean act as invasion and called for an immediate ceasefire. On 27 June, the Security Council adopted S/RES/83, Complaint of aggression upon the Republic of Korea and decided the formation, twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force, with the United States providing 88% of the UNs military personnel. After the first two months of war, South Korean forces were on the point of defeat, forced back to the Pusan Perimeter, in September 1950, an amphibious UN counter-offensive was launched at Inchon, and cut off many North Korean troops. Those who escaped envelopment and capture were rapidly forced back north all the way to the border with China at the Yalu River, at this point, in October 1950, Chinese forces crossed the Yalu and entered the war. Chinese intervention triggered a retreat of UN forces which continued until mid-1951, after these reversals of fortune, which saw Seoul change hands four times, the last two years of fighting became a war of attrition, with the front line close to the 38th parallel. The war in the air, however, was never a stalemate, North Korea was subject to a massive bombing campaign. Jet fighters confronted each other in combat for the first time in history. The fighting ended on 27 July 1953, when an armistice was signed, the agreement created the Korean Demilitarized Zone to separate North and South Korea, and allowed the return of prisoners. However, no treaty has been signed, and the two Koreas are technically still at war. Periodic clashes, many of which are deadly, continue to the present, in the U. S. the war was initially described by President Harry S. Truman as a police action as it was an undeclared military action, conducted under the auspices of the United Nations. In South Korea, the war is referred to as 625 or the 6–2–5 Upheaval. In North Korea, the war is referred to as the Fatherland Liberation War or alternatively the Chosǒn War. In China, the war is called the War to Resist U. S
4.
First Indochina War
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The First Indochina War began in French Indochina on 19 December 1946 and lasted until 1 August 1954. Fighting between French forces and their Viet Minh opponents in the South dated from September 1945, Japanese forces located south of that line surrendered to him and those to the north surrendered to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. In September 1945, Chinese forces entered Tonkin and a small British task force landed at Saigon, the Chinese accepted the Vietnamese government under Ho Chi Minh, then in power in Hanoi. The British refused to do likewise in Saigon, and deferred to the French there from the outset, on V-J Day, September 2, Ho Chi Minh had proclaimed in Hanoi the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. On 23 September 1945, with the knowledge of the British Commander in Saigon, French forces overthrew the local DRV government, guerrilla warfare began around Saigon immediately. The first few years of the war involved a low-level rural insurgency against the French, French Union forces included colonial troops from the whole former empire, French professional troops and units of the French Foreign Legion. The use of metropolitan recruits was forbidden by the government to prevent the war from becoming more unpopular at home. It was called the dirty war by leftists in France, the strategy of pushing the Viet Minh into attacking well-defended bases in remote parts of the country at the end of their logistical trails was validated at the Battle of Nà Sản. However, this base was relatively weak because of a lack of concrete and this combination proved fatal for this base defenses, culminating in a decisive French defeat at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. The south continued under Emperor Bảo Đại, a year later, Bảo Đại would be deposed by his prime minister, Ngô Đình Diệm, creating the Republic of Vietnam. Soon an insurgency, backed by the North, developed against Diệms government, the conflict gradually escalated into the Vietnam War. Vietnam was absorbed into French Indochina in stages between 1858 and 1887, nationalism grew until World War II provided a break in French control. Early Vietnamese resistance centered on the intellectual Phan Bội Châu, Châu looked to Japan, which had modernized and was one of the few Asian nations to successfully resist European colonization. With Prince Cường Để, Châu started two organizations in Japan, the Duy Tân hội and Vietnam Cong Hien Hoi, due to French pressure, Japan deported Phan Bội Châu to China. Witnessing Sun Yat-sens 1911 nationalist revolution, Châu was inspired to commence the Viet Nam Quang Phục Hội movement in Guangzhou, from 1914 to 1917, he was imprisoned by Yuan Shikais counterrevolutionary government. In 1925, he was captured by French agents in Shanghai, due to his popularity, Châu was spared from execution and placed under house arrest until his death in 1940. In September 1940, shortly after Phan Bội Châus death, Japan launched its invasion of French Indochina, keeping the French colonial administration, the Japanese ruled from behind the scenes in a parallel of Vichy France. As far as Vietnamese nationalists were concerned, this was a double-puppet government, Emperor Bảo Đại collaborated with the Japanese, just as he had with the French, ensuring his lifestyle could continue
5.
Vietnam War
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It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam and the government of South Vietnam. The war is considered a Cold War-era proxy war. As the war continued, the actions of the Viet Cong decreased as the role. U. S. and South Vietnamese forces relied on air superiority and overwhelming firepower to conduct search and destroy operations, involving ground forces, artillery, in the course of the war, the U. S. conducted a large-scale strategic bombing campaign against North Vietnam. The North Vietnamese government and the Viet Cong were fighting to reunify Vietnam and they viewed the conflict as a colonial war and a continuation of the First Indochina War against forces from France and later on the United States. The U. S. government viewed its involvement in the war as a way to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam and this was part the domino theory of a wider containment policy, with the stated aim of stopping the spread of communism. Beginning in 1950, American military advisors arrived in what was then French Indochina, U. S. involvement escalated in the early 1960s, with troop levels tripling in 1961 and again in 1962. Regular U. S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965, despite the Paris Peace Accord, which was signed by all parties in January 1973, the fighting continued. In the U. S. and the Western world, a large anti-Vietnam War movement developed as part of a larger counterculture, the war changed the dynamics between the Eastern and Western Blocs, and altered North–South relations. Direct U. S. military involvement ended on 15 August 1973, the capture of Saigon by the North Vietnamese Army in April 1975 marked the end of the war, and North and South Vietnam were reunified the following year. The war exacted a huge human cost in terms of fatalities, estimates of the number of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians killed vary from 966,000 to 3.8 million. Some 240, 000–300,000 Cambodians,20, 000–62,000 Laotians, and 58,220 U. S. service members died in the conflict. Various names have applied to the conflict. Vietnam War is the most commonly used name in English and it has also been called the Second Indochina War and the Vietnam Conflict. As there have been several conflicts in Indochina, this conflict is known by the names of its primary protagonists to distinguish it from others. In Vietnamese, the war is known as Kháng chiến chống Mỹ. It is also called Chiến tranh Việt Nam, France began its conquest of Indochina in the late 1850s, and completed pacification by 1893. The 1884 Treaty of Huế formed the basis for French colonial rule in Vietnam for the seven decades
6.
Rock Island Arsenal
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The Rock Island Arsenal comprises 946 acres, located on Arsenal Island, originally known as Rock Island, on the Mississippi River between the cities of Davenport, Iowa, and Rock Island, Illinois. It lies within the state of Illinois and it is home of First Army headquarters. The island was established as a government site in 1816. It is now the largest government-owned weapons manufacturing arsenal in the United States and it has manufactured military equipment and ordnance since the 1880s. In 1919–1920 one hundred of the Anglo-American or Liberty Mark VIII tanks were manufactured and it is designated as a National Historic Landmark. Established as both an arsenal and a center for the manufacture of leather accoutrements and field gear, today it provides manufacturing, logistics, the Arsenal is the only active U. S. Some of the Arsenals most successful products include the M198 and M119 towed howitzers, about 250 military personnel and 6,000 civilians work there. The 2000 census population was 145, from the autobiography of Black Hawk, When we arrived we found that the troops had come to build a fort on Rock Island. It was our garden, like the people have near their big villages. The island facilities were converted and built in 1863, they were not yet completed in December of that year, the first prisoners were 468 Confederates captured in battles at Chattanooga, Tennessee. That month more than 5,000 Confederates would swell the population of Rock Island military prison and they were kept in 84 barracks, each holding around 100 prisoners. A total of 41 Confederate prisoners successfully escaped during the prison’s operation, most died from disease, since sanitation was primitive as in all army encampments, and exposure to heat and humidity during the summers and freezing temperatures during winters. In 1864, deadly smallpox epidemics raged through the prison, the prison camp operated from December 1863 until July 1865, when the last prisoners were freed. After the war, the facility was completely destroyed. During its two years in operation, the camp housed a total of more than 12,400 Confederates. Following the war, the government retained ownership of Arsenal Island and developed it for use as an arsenal and ordnance manufacturing center. The Rock Island Arsenal Museum was established on July 4,1905 and it is the second-oldest US Army Museum in the US after the West Point Museum. The museum has been closed twice, during World War I and World War II, exhibits interpret the history of Rock Island Arsenal and the Union prison camp during the American Civil War, and the sites role as a military industrial facility
7.
Gun barrel
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A gun barrel is a part of firearms and artillery pieces. The hollow interior of the barrel is called the bore, a gun barrel must be able to hold in the expanding gas produced by the propellants to ensure that optimum muzzle velocity is attained by the projectile as it is being pushed out by the expanding gas. Modern small arms barrels are made of known and tested to withstand the pressures involved. Artillery pieces are made by various techniques providing reliably sufficient strength, early firearms were muzzle-loading, with powder, and then shot loaded from the muzzle, capable of only a low rate of fire. During the 19th century effective mechanical locks were invented that sealed a breech-loading weapon against the escape of propellant gases, the early Chinese, the inventors of gunpowder, used bamboo, a naturally tubular stalk, as the first barrels in gunpowder projectile weapons. Early European guns were made of iron, usually with several strengthening bands of the metal wrapped around circular wrought iron rings. The Chinese were the first to master cast-iron cannon barrels, early cannon barrels were very thick for their caliber. Bore evacuator Bore snake Cannon Muzzle Polygonal rifling Rifling Slug barrel Smoothbore
8.
Shell (projectile)
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A shell is a payload-carrying projectile that, as opposed to shot, contains an explosive or other filling, though modern usage sometimes includes large solid projectiles properly termed shot. Solid shot may contain a pyrotechnic compound if a tracer or spotting charge is used, originally, it was called a bombshell, but shell has come to be unambiguous in a military context. Words cognate with grenade are still used for an artillery or mortar projectile in some European languages, shells are usually large-calibre projectiles fired by artillery, combat vehicles, and warships. Shells usually have the shape of a cylinder topped by a nose for good aerodynamic performance, possibly with a tapering base. Solid cannonballs did not need a fuse, but hollow munitions filled with something such as gunpowder to fragment the ball, needed a fuse, percussion fuses with a spherical projectile presented a challenge because there was no way of ensuring that the impact mechanism hit the target. Therefore, shells needed a fuse that was ignited before or during firing. The earliest record of shells being used in combat was by the Republic of Venice at Jadra in 1376, shells with fuses were used at the 1421 siege of St Boniface in Corsica. These were two hollowed hemispheres of stone or bronze held together by an iron hoop, as described in their book, these hollow, gunpowder-packed shells were made of cast iron. At least since the 16th Century grenades made of ceramics or glass were in use in Central Europe, a hoard of several hundred ceramic greandes were discovered during building works in front of a bastion of the Bavarian City of Ingolstadt, Germany dated to the 17th Century. Lots of the grenades obtained their orignal blackpowder loads and igniters, most probably the grenades were intentionally dumped the moat of the bastion before the year 1723. Early powder burning fuses had to be loaded fuse down to be ignited by firing or a portfire put down the barrel to light the fuse, other shells were wrapped in bitumen cloth, which would ignite during the firing and in turn ignite a powder fuse. Nevertheless, shells came into use in the 16th Century. By the 18th Century, it was known that the fuse towards the muzzle could be lit by the flash through the windage between the shell and the barrel, the use of exploding shells from field artillery became relatively commonplace from early in the 19th century. Until the mid 19th century, shells remained as simple exploding spheres that used gunpowder and they were usually made of cast iron, but bronze, lead, brass and even glass shell casings were experimented with. The word bomb encompassed them at the time, as heard in the lyrics of The Star-Spangled Banner, typically, the thickness of the metal body was about a sixth of their diameter and they were about two thirds the weight of solid shot of the same calibre. To ensure that shells were loaded with their fuses towards the muzzle, in 1819, a committee of British artillery officers recognised that they were essential stores and in 1830 Britain standardised sabot thickness as a half inch. The sabot was also intended to reduce jamming during loading, despite the use of exploding shell, the use of smoothbore cannons, firing spherical projectiles of shot, remained the dominant artillery method until the 1850s. By the late 18th century, artillery could use canister shot to defend itself from infantry or cavalry attack and this involved loading a tin or canvas container filled with small iron or lead balls instead of the usual cannonball
9.
Caliber
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In guns, particularly firearms, caliber or calibre is the approximate internal diameter of the barrel, or the diameter of the projectile it fires, in hundredths or sometimes thousandths of an inch. For example, a 45 caliber firearm has a diameter of.45 of an inch. Barrel diameters can also be expressed using metric dimensions, as in 9mm pistol, when the barrel diameter is given in inches, the abbreviation cal can be used. Good performance requires a bullet to closely match the diameter of a barrel to ensure a good seal. While modern cartridges and cartridge firearms are referred to by the cartridge name. Firearm calibers outside the range of 17 to 50 exist, but are rarely encountered. Larger calibers, such as.577.585.600.700, the.950 JDJ is the only known cartridge beyond 79 caliber used in a rifle. Referring to artillery, caliber is used to describe the length as multiples of the bore diameter. A 5-inch 50 calibre gun has a diameter of 5 in. The main guns of the USS Missouri are 1650 caliber, makers of early cartridge arms had to invent methods of naming the cartridges, since no established convention existed then. One of the early established cartridge arms was the Spencer repeating rifle, later various derivatives were created using the same basic cartridge, but with smaller-diameter bullets, these were named by the cartridge diameter at the base and mouth. The original No.56 became the. 56-56, and the smaller versions. 56-52. 56-50, the. 56-52, the most common of the new calibers, used a 50-cal bullet. Optionally, the weight in grains was designated, e. g. 45-70-405. Variations on these methods persist today, with new cartridges such as the.204 Ruger, metric diameters for small arms refer to cartridge dimensions and are expressed with an × between the bore diameter and the length of the cartridge case, for example,7. 62×51 NATO. This indicates that the diameter is 7. 62mm, loaded in a case 51mm long. Similarly, the 6. 5×55 Swedish cartridge has a diameter of 6.5 mm. An exception to rule is the proprietary cartridge used by U. S. maker Lazzeroni. The following table lists commonly used calibers where both metric and imperial are used as equivalents
10.
Breech-loading weapon
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A breech-loading gun is a firearm in which the cartridge or shell is inserted or loaded into a chamber integral to the rear portion of a barrel. Modern mass production firearms are breech-loading, early firearms, on the other hand, were almost entirely muzzle-loading. In field artillery, breech loading allows the crew to reload the gun without exposing themselves to fire or repositioning the piece. The main challenge for developers of breech-loading firearms was sealing the breech and this was eventually solved for smaller firearms by the development of the self-contained metallic cartridge. For firearms too large to use cartridges, the problem was solved by the development of the interrupted screw, breech-loading swivel guns were invented in the 14th century. The breech-loading swivel gun had a rate of fire, and was especially effective in anti-personnel roles. Breech-loading firearms are known from the 16th century, Henry VIII possessed one, which he apparently used as a hunting gun to shoot birds. More breech-loading firearms were made in the early 18th century, one such gun known to have belonged to Philip V of Spain, and was manufactured circa 1715, probably in Madrid. It came with a ready-to load reusable cartridge, patrick Ferguson, a British Army officer, developed in 1772 the Ferguson rifle, a breech-loading flintlock firearm. Later on into the century there were attempts in Europe at an effective breech-loader. There were concentrated attempts at improved cartridges and methods of ignition, the cartridge was loaded through the breech and fired with a needle. The needle-activated central-fire breech-loading gun would become a feature of firearms thereafter. The corresponding firearm was also developed by Pauly, Pauly made an improved version, which was protected by a patent on 29 September 1812. In 1846 another Paris Frenchman, Benjamin Houllier, patented the first fully metallic cartridge containing powder in a metallic shell, Houllier commercialised his weapons in association with the gunsmiths Blanchard or Charles Robert. In English-speaking countries the Flobert cartridge corresponds to the.22 BB, the first centrefire cartridge was introduced in 1855 by Pottet, with both Berdan and Boxer priming. The Dreyse Zündnadelgewehr or Dreyse needle gun, was a single-shot breech-loading rifle using a rotating bolt to seal the breech and it was so called because of its. 5-inch needle-like firing pin, which passed through a paper cartridge case to impact a percussion cap at the bullet base. It began development in the 1830s under von Dreyse and eventually a version of it was adopted by Prussia in the late 1840s. The paper cartridge and the gun had numerous deficiencies, specifically, however, the rifle was used to great success in the Prussian army in the Austro-Prussian war of 1866
11.
Recoil
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Recoil is the backward movement of a gun when it is discharged. To apply this counter-recoiling force, modern mounted guns may employ recoil buffering comprising springs and hydraulic recoil mechanisms, early cannons used systems of ropes along with rolling or sliding friction to provide forces to slow the recoiling cannon to a stop. Recoil buffering allows the maximum counter-recoil force to be lowered so that strength limitations of the gun mount are not exceeded, however, the same pressures acting on the base of the projectile are acting on the rear face of the gun chamber, accelerating the gun rearward during firing. This results in the required counter-recoiling force being proportionally lower, modern cannons also employ muzzle brakes very effectively to redirect some of the propellant gasses rearward after projectile exit. This provides a force to the barrel, allowing the buffering system. The same physics affecting recoil in mounted guns and cannons applies to hand-held guns, hands, arms and shoulders have considerable strength and elasticity for this purpose, up to certain practical limits. For this reason, establishing recoil safety standards for small arms remains challenging, a change in momentum of a mass requires a force, according to Newtons first law, known as the law of inertia, inertia simply being another term for mass. That force, applied to a mass, creates an acceleration, according to Newtons second law, the law of momentum -- changing the velocity of the mass changes its momentum. It is important to understand at this point that velocity is not simply speed, velocity is the speed of a mass in a particular direction. In a very technical sense, speed is a scalar, a magnitude, in summation, the total momentum of the system equals zero, surprisingly just as it did before the trigger was pulled. There are two conservation laws at work when a gun is fired, conservation of momentum and conservation of energy, recoil is explained by the law of conservation of momentum, and so it is easier to discuss it separately from energy. The nature of the process is determined by the force of the expanding gases in the barrel upon the gun. It is also determined by the force applied to the gun. The recoil force only acts during the time that the ejecta are still in the barrel of the gun, except for the case of zero-recoil, the counter-recoil force is smaller than the recoil force but lasts for a longer time. Since the recoil force and the force are not matched. In the zero-recoil case, the two forces are matched and the gun will not move when fired. In most cases, a gun is very close to a free-recoil condition, an example of near zero-recoil would be a gun securely clamped to a massive or well-anchored table, or supported from behind by a massive wall. For example, placing the butt of a large caliber gun directly against a wall, the recoil of a firearm, whether large or small, is a result of the law of conservation of momentum
12.
Gun carriage
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A gun carriage is a frame and mount that supports the gun barrel of an artillery piece, allowing it to be manoeuvred and fired. The earliest guns were laid directly onto the ground, with earth being piled up under the end of the barrel to increase the elevation. As the size of guns increased, they began to be attached to wooden frames or beds that were held down by stakes. These began to be replaced by wheeled carriages in the early 16th century, from the 16th to the mid-19th century, the main form of artillery remained the smoothbore cannon. By this time, the trunnion had been developed, with the result that the barrel could be held in two recesses in the carriage and secured with an iron band. This simplified elevation, which was achieved by raising or lowering the breech of the gun by means of a wedge called a quoin or later by a steel screw. During this time, the design of gun carriages evolved only slowly, the trunnions of the gun barrel sat on the top of the cheeks, the rearward part of each cheek was stepped so that the breech could be lifted by iron levers called handspikes. Traversing the gun was achieved by levering the rear of the carriage sideways with handspikes and these were designed to allow guns to be deployed on the battlefield and were provided with a pair of large wheels similar to those used on carts or wagons. The cheeks of field carriages were much narrower than those on the naval carriage, when the gun needed to be moved any distance, the trail could be lifted onto a second separate axle called a limber, which could then be towed by a team of horses or oxen. Limbers had been invented in France in about 1550, in recent times, most heavy guns in military service, that were not themselves mounted into a vehicles, have been mounted either with a field carriage or a split trail carriage. The field carriage is simpler - having two legs extend backwards, joining at a tail, being a hardpoint to hook on to a prime mover or set of horses, the split trail carriage, however, is more complicated, but offers distinct advantages. It consists of two legs, able to be spread independently to the sides, or brought together to allow towing or movement, in both cases, the tail of the carriage often serves to balance the gun, and protect it from rolling to any large extent. The split trail, however, allows the gun not only to be fired near the horizontal, as the field carriage does and this is less important for heavier artillery, as the guns already involve a long time to prepare a firing position. While this still limits the ability to track, it allows the guns to fire in any direction with minimal preparation. Furthermore, it part of each of the benefits of the field carriage, being weight, space. The practice has its origins in war and appears in the century in the Queens regulations of the British Army. In the United Kingdom, the visual distinction usually referred to is that in a state funeral and this distinguishing feature is not invariable, however, as shown by the use of naval ratings rather than horses at the ceremonial funeral for Lord Mountbatten in 1979
13.
Gun laying
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Gun laying is the process of aiming an artillery piece, such as a gun, howitzer or mortar on land, or at sea, against surface or air targets. It may be laying for direct fire, where the gun is aimed similarly to a rifle, or indirect fire, the term includes automated aiming using, for example, radar-derived target data and computer-controlled guns. Gun laying means moving the axis of the bore of the barrel in two planes, horizontal and vertical. A gun is traversed – rotated in a horizontal plane – to align it with the target, Gun laying is a set of actions to align the axis of a gun barrel so that it points in the required direction. This alignment is in the horizontal and vertical planes, Gun laying may be for direct fire, where the layer sees the target, or indirect fire, where the target may not be visible from the gun. Gun laying has sometimes called training the gun. Laying in the vertical plane uses data derived from trials or empirical experience, for any given gun and projectile types, it reflects the distance to the target and the size of the propellant charge. It also incorporates any differences in height between gun and target, with indirect fire, it may allow for other variables as well. With indirect fire the horizontal angle is relative to something, typically the guns aiming point, depending on the gun mount, there is usually a choice of two trajectories. The dividing angle between the trajectories is about 45 degrees, it varies due to gun dependent factors. Below 45 degrees the trajectory is called low angle, above is high angle, the differences are that low angle fire has a shorter time of flight, a lower vertex and flatter angle of descent. All guns have carriages or mountings that support the barrel assembly, early guns could only be traversed by moving their entire carriage or mounting, and this lasted with heavy artillery into World War II. Mountings could be fitted into traversing turrets on ships, coast defences or tanks, from circa 1900 field artillery carriages provided traverse without moving the wheels and trail. The carriage, or mounting, also enabled the barrel to be set at the elevation angle. With some gun mounts it is possible to depress the gun, some guns require a near-horizontal elevation for loading. An essential capability for any elevation mechanism is to prevent the weight of the barrel forcing its heavier end downward and this is greatly helped by having trunnions at the centre of gravity, although a counterbalance mechanism can be used. It also means the elevation gear has to be enough to resist considerable downward pressure. However, mortars, where the forces were transferred directly into the ground
14.
European theatre of World War II
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The Allied forces fought the Axis powers on two major fronts as well as in the adjoining Mediterranean and Middle East Theatre. Germany was humiliated in front of the world and had to pay very large war reparations, many Germans blamed their countrys post-war economic collapse and hyperinflation on the treatys conditions. After Hitler took Germany out of the League of Nations, Mussolini of Fascist Italy and Hitler formed the Rome-Berlin axis, later, Empire of Japan, under the government of Hideki Tojo, would also join as an Axis power. Japan and Germany had already signed the Anti-Comintern Pact in 1939, other smaller powers also later joined the Axis throughout the war. On September 17, the Soviet forces joined the invasion of Poland, the Polish government evacuated the country for Romania. Poland fell within five weeks, with its last large operational units surrendering on October 5 after the Battle of Kock, as the Polish September Campaign ended, Hitler offered to Britain and France peace on the basis of recognition of German European continental dominance. On October 12, the United Kingdom formally refused, despite the quick campaign in the east, along the Franco-German frontier the war settled into a quiet period. This relatively non-confrontational and mostly non-fighting period between the major powers lasted until May 10,1940, and was known as the Phoney War, several other countries, however, were drawn into the conflict at this time. By September 28,1939, the three Baltic Republics felt they had no choice but to permit Soviet bases and troops on their territory, the Baltic Republics were occupied by the Soviet army in June 1940, and finally annexed to the Soviet Union in August 1940. The Soviet Union wanted to annex Finland and offered an agreement, but Finland rejected it. In the Moscow Peace Treaty of March 12,1940, Finland ceded 10% of her territory, the Finns were embittered over having lost more land in the peace than on the battlefields, and over the perceived lack of world sympathy. Meanwhile, in western Scandinavia, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway in April 1940, sweden was able to remain neutral. Most Allied forces were in Flanders, anticipating a re-run of the World War I Schlieffen Plan, as a result of this, and also the superior German communications and tactics, the Battle of France was shorter than virtually all pre-war Allied thought could have conceived. It lasted six weeks, including the Luftwaffe bombing of Paris June 3, on June 10 Italy declared war on both France and the United Kingdom, but did not gain any significant success in this campaign. French government fled Paris, and soon, France surrendered on June 22, many French soldiers, as well as those of other occupied countries, escaped to Britain. The General de Gaulle proclaimed himself the leader of Free France. Following the unexpected victory, Hitler promoted 12 generals to the rank of field marshal during the 1940 Field Marshal Ceremony. Later, on April 24,1941, the USSR gave full recognition to the Vichy government situated in the non-occupied zone in France
15.
Pacific Ocean theater of World War II
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The Pacific Ocean theater, during World War II, was a major theater of the war between the Allies and Japan. It officially came into existence on March 30,1942, when US Admiral Chester Nimitz was appointed Supreme Allied Commander Pacific Ocean Areas. In the other theatre in the Pacific region, known as the South West Pacific theatre. Both Nimitz and MacArthur were overseen by the US Joint Chiefs, most Japanese forces in the theater were part of the Combined Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy, which was responsible for all Japanese warships, naval aircraft, and marine infantry units. The Rengō Kantai was led by Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, until he was killed in an attack by U. S. fighter planes in April 1943, Yamamoto was succeeded by Admiral Mineichi Koga and Admiral Soemu Toyoda. The General Staff of the Imperial Japanese Army was responsible for Imperial Japanese Army ground and air units in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific. The IJN and IJA did not formally use joint/combined staff at the level, and their command structures/geographical areas of operations overlapped each other. In the Pacific Ocean theater, Japanese forces fought primarily against the United States Navy, US Marine Corps, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and other Allied nations also contributed forces. Pacific Crucible, War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941–1942, the Official Chronology of the U. S. Navy in World War II. In the Service of the Emperor, Essays on the Imperial Japanese Army, a History of Us, War, Peace and all that Jazz. Kafka, Roger, Pepperburg, Roy L. Warships of the World, the Campaigns of the Pacific War
16.
Explosive material
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An explosive charge is a measured quantity of explosive material, which may be composed of a single ingredient or a combination of two or more. Materials that detonate are said to be high explosives and materials that deflagrate are said to be low explosives, Explosives may also be categorized by their sensitivity. Sensitive materials that can be initiated by a small amount of heat or pressure are primary explosives. A wide variety of chemicals can explode, a number are manufactured specifically for the purpose of being used as explosives. The remainder are too dangerous, sensitive, toxic, expensive, unstable, in contrast, some materials are merely combustible or flammable if they burn without exploding. The distinction, however, is not razor-sharp, though early thermal weapons, such as Greek fire, have existed since ancient times, the first widely used explosive in warfare and mining was black powder, invented in 9th century China. This material was sensitive to water, and it produced copious amounts of dark smoke, the first useful explosive stronger than black powder was nitroglycerin, developed in 1847. Since nitroglycerin is a liquid and highly unstable, it was replaced by nitrocellulose, TNT in 1863, smokeless powder, dynamite in 1867, World War I saw the adoption of TNT trinitrotoluene in artillery shells. World War II saw a use of new explosives. In turn, these have largely replaced by more powerful explosives such as C-4. However, C-4 and PETN react with metal and catch fire easily, yet unlike TNT, C-4 and PETN are waterproof, the largest commercial application of explosives is mining. In Materials Science and Engineering, explosives are used in cladding, a thin plate of some material is placed atop a thick layer of a different material, both layers typically of metal. Atop the thin layer is placed an explosive, at one end of the layer of explosive, the explosion is initiated. The two metallic layers are forced together at high speed and with great force, the explosion spreads from the initiation site throughout the explosive. Ideally, this produces a metallurgical bond between the two layers and it is possible that some fraction of the surface material from either layer eventually gets ejected when the end of material is reached. Hence, the mass of the now welded bilayer, may be less than the sum of the masses of the two initial layers, there are applications where a shock wave, and electrostatics, can result in high velocity projectiles. Thus, explosives are substances that contain an amount of energy stored in chemical bonds. Consequently, most commercial explosives are compounds containing -NO2, -ONO2 and -NHNO2 groups that
17.
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
18.
M102 howitzer
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The M102 was a light-towed 105 mm howitzer used by the United States Army in the Vietnam War, the First Gulf War, and the Iraq War. The M102 105 mm howitzer is used in air mobile, attack plane, the weapon carriage is lightweight welded aluminum, mounted on a variable recoil mechanism. When emplaced, the high volume of fire compensates in large measure for the lower explosive weight of the projectile compared to the Armys 155 mm. Since 1964, the Army acquired 1,150 M102 towed howitzers, the weapon is being replaced by the M119-series 105 mm howitzer. Units were initially equipped with the M101A1 howitzer, virtually the same 105 mm howitzer that had used to support U. S. forces since World War II. In 1966 a new 105 mm towed howitzer, the M102, was received in Vietnam, the first M102s were issued to the 1st Battalion, 21st Field Artillery, in March 1966. Replacement of the old howitzers continued steadily over the four years. Many of the more seasoned artillerymen did not want the old cannon replaced, over the years they had become familiar with its every detail and were confident that it would not disappoint them in the clutch. The M102 fires the same semi-fixed ammunition as the M101, but its longer barrel allows a higher muzzle velocity. A low silhouette made the new weapon a more target for the enemy. The 105 mm howitzer M102 is a towed weapon, which has a very low silhouette when in the firing position. The M102 howitzer fires a 33 lb projectile of semifixed ammunition and it has a muzzle velocity of 494 metres per second. The maximum rate of fire is 10 rounds per minute for the first 3 minutes, a roller tire attached to the trail assembly of the M102 permits the weapon to be rotated 6,400 mils around a firing platform, which provides the pivot for the weapon. It can be elevated from −89 mils to a maximum of 1,333 mils, the panoramic telescope has a four power, fixed focus optical system, with 178 mils field of view. It contains dry nitrogen gas to retard fogging and condensation, the parallax shield used during boresighting protects the lens. The trails are made of aluminum alloy and they are a single box trail in wishbone shape, and serve three purposes, mobility, stability, and stowage of section equipment. The lunette is the towing pintle that allows the weapon to be connected to the vehicle, when towing, vehicle has a fixed or seized tow pintle, remove the lock plate located under the lunette. The drawbar has two positions, lowered for travel and raised for firing, there are two lifting brackets to connect slings to when the howitzer is being lifted by helicopter
19.
Canadian Armed Forces
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This unified institution consists of sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Force. Under the National Defence Act, the Canadian Armed Forces are an entity separate and distinct from the Department of National Defence, the Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian Armed Forces is the reigning Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who is represented by the Governor General of Canada. The Canadian Armed Forces is led by the Chief of the Defence Staff, during the Cold War, a principal focus of Canadian defence policy was contributing to the security of Europe in the face of the Soviet military threat. Toward that end, Canadian ground and air forces were based in Europe from the early 1950s until the early 1990s, Canadian defence policy today is based on the Canada First Defence Strategy, introduced in 2008. Based on that strategy, the Canadian military is oriented and being equipped to carry out six core missions within Canada, in North America and globally. Prior to Confederation in 1867, residents of the colonies in what is now Canada served as members of French and British forces. Thereafter, the Royal Canadian Navy was formed, and, with the advent of military aviation and these forces were organised under the Department of Militia and Defence, and split into the Permanent and Non-Permanent Active Militias—frequently shortened to simply The Militia. By 1923, the department was merged into the Department of National Defence, the first overseas deployment of Canadian military forces occurred during the Second Boer War, when several units were raised to serve under British command. Similarly, when the United Kingdom entered into conflict with Germany in the First World War, the Canadian Crown-in-Council then decided to send its forces into the Second World War, as well as the Korean War. Since 1947, Canadian military units have participated in more than 200 operations worldwide, Canada maintained an aircraft carrier from 1957 to 1970 during the Cold War, which never saw combat but participated in patrols during the Cuban Missile Crisis. At the end of the Second World War, Canada possessed the fourth-largest air force and fifth-largest naval surface fleet in the world, conscription for overseas service was introduced only near the end of the war, and only 2,400 conscripts actually made it into battle. Originally, Canada was thought to have had the third-largest navy in the world and its roots, however, lie in colonial militia groups that served alongside garrisons of the French and British armies and navies, a structure that remained in place until the early 20th century. After the 1980s, the use of the Canadian Armed Forces name gave way to Canadian Forces, land Forces during this period also deployed in support of peacekeeping operations within United Nations sanctioned conflicts. The nature of the Canadian Forces has continued to evolve and they have been deployed in Afghanistan until 2011, under the NATO-led United Nations International Security Assistance Force, at the request of the Government of Afghanistan. The Armed Forces are today funded by approximately $20, the number of primary reserve personnel is expected to go up to 30,000 by 2020, and the number of active to at least 70,000. In addition,5000 rangers and 19,000 supplementary personnel will be serving, if this happens the total strength would be around 124,000. These individuals serve on numerous CF bases located in all regions of the country, and are governed by the Queens Regulations and Orders, the 2006 renewal and re-equipment effort has resulted in the acquisition of specific equipment to support the mission in Afghanistan. It has also encompassed initiatives to renew certain so-called core capabilities, in addition, new systems have also been acquired for the Armed Forces
20.
Muzzle brake
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A muzzle brake or recoil compensator is a device connected to the muzzle of a firearm or cannon that redirects propellant gases to counter recoil and unwanted rising of the barrel during rapid fire. They have been used in forms for rifles and pistols to help control recoil. They are used on pistols for practical pistol competitions, and are usually called compensators in this context, the interchangeable terms muzzle rise, muzzle flip, or muzzle climb refer to the tendency of a handheld firearms front end to rise after firing. Firearms with less height from the line to the barrel centerline tend to experience less muzzle rise. The muzzle rises primarily because, for most firearms, the centerline of the barrel is above the center of contact between the shooter and the grip and stock. The reactive forces from the bullet and propellant gases exiting the muzzle act directly down the centerline of the barrel. If that line of force is above the center of the points, this creates a moment or torque rotational force that makes the firearm rotate. The M1946 Sieg automatic rifle had a muzzle brake that made the rifle climb downward. Muzzle brakes are simple in concept, such as the one employed on the 90 mm M3 gun used on the M47 Patton tank and this consists of a small length of tubing mounted at right angles to the end of the barrel. Brakes most often utilize slots, vents, holes, baffles, the strategy of a muzzle brake is to redirect and control the burst of combustion gases that follows the departure of a projectile. All muzzle brake designs share a basic principle, they partially divert combustion gases at a sideways angle. The momentum of the diverted gases thus does not add to the recoil, the angle toward which the gases are directed will fundamentally affect how the brake behaves. If gases are directed upward, they exert a downward force. Construction of a brake or compensator can be as simple as a diagonal cut at the muzzle end of the barrel to direct some of the escaping gas upward. On the AKM assault rifle, the brake also angles slightly to the right to counteract the movement of the rifle under recoil. Another simple method is porting, where holes or slots are machined into the barrel near the muzzle to allow the gas to escape, more advanced designs use baffles and expansion chambers to slow escaping gases. This is the principle behind a linear compensator. Ports are often added to the chambers, producing the long
21.
Primary Reserve
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The reserve force is represented, though not commanded, at the national level by the Chief of Reserves and Cadets. This is usually a general or Rear Admiral. The Naval Reserve is the formation of the Royal Canadian Navy. It is organized into 24 Naval Reserve Divisions, shore-based training facilities located in communities across the country, each NRD has a small cadre of full-time reservists and regular force members to coordinate training and administration, but is for the most part directed by the divisions part-time leadership. Training is conducted year round with regular force counterparts at the three Canadian Forces Fleet Schools and reservists frequently deploy on regular force ships to augment ships companies. The Naval Reserve supplies all personnel for the 12 Kingston-class Maritime Coastal Defence Vessels, the Naval Reserve has a funded manning level of 4,000. The Army Reserve of the Canadian Army is the largest part of the Primary Reserve and it is sometimes referred to by its original and historic name, the Militia. During operations the Army Reserve is tasked to provide trained and equipped troops to augment the regular army. It forms the framework needed to raise an army during wartime. This fighting mission has not changed much since the Second World War and this perpetuates the regimental system in the reserve army so that it is available as such for the timely absorption of recruits in case of war or in aid of the civil power. Such as when the need may one day arise, to call out more than 26,000 supplementary reservists and cadet instructors, to reinforce the order of battle, however, in practice the regimental system exists as an important military institution for Canada. In addition to the tactical contribution provided for today’s Total Force they also provide a deep-rooted community tie, the true strength of the Army Reserve is the strong connection that the extended regimental family fosters with the community. Many of these activities are overseen by the honorary colonel. Although the vast Canadian geography and demographic factors impact unit composition they mostly functions in much the same way, during peacetime the Regimental establishment will only be the equivalent of a much reduced battalion of a couple hundred troops and less in some cases. The regiment’s subordinate units consist of one training company that may include a platoon devoted to inducting recruits, the Training Company provides candidates for basic courses run at the brigades Battle School and combat arms training conducted at the Divisional Training Centre. Once the soldiers are trade-qualified, they return to their units to serve in the company that is ready. Each unit will usually deploy a reduced company of two platoons, one of these consisting of younger soldiers who have just passed through qualification training. The battle group is commanded by a lieutenant-colonel selected on a rotational basis from one of the brigade units
22.
Glacier National Park (Canada)
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Glacier National Park is one of seven national parks in British Columbia, and is part of a system of 43 parks and park reserves across Canada. Established in 1886, the park encompasses 1,349 km2 and it also contains the Rogers Pass National Historic Site. The parks history is tied to two primary Canadian transportation routes, the Canadian Pacific Railway, completed in 1885, and the Trans-Canada Highway. The pass in the centre of the park eluded explorers until 1881, the railway brought with it tourism, the establishment of Glacier National Park and the construction of a popular alpine hotel. The heavy winter snows and steep, avalanche-prone valleys of the park have been a obstacle to transportation, necessitating much railway engineering. The park contains high peaks, large, active glaciers, and its dense forests support populations of large mammals, birds, and alpine species. The region is noted for its heavy snowfall, the park has an extensive network of trails, three campgrounds, and four backcountry huts and cabins. Due to the transportation routes that bisect it, Glacier National Park sees large numbers of visitors. The Selkirk Mountains were first noted by Europeans when explorer David Thompson of the North West Company skirted around them on the Columbia River in 1811. He named them Nelsons Mountains, after Lord Horatio Nelson, but they were renamed after an executive for the rival Hudsons Bay Company. Finding a pass through the Selkirks became a priority after construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway began, completion of the railway was a condition of the Colony of British Columbia upon entering Canadian Confederation in 1867. In 1865, CPR surveyor Walter Moberly led an expedition up the Illecillewaet River, despite recently discovering Eagle Pass through the nearby Monashees, Moberly failed to find a pass through the Selkirks after getting sidetracked in the Tangier Creek drainage. His party refused to explore due to the lateness of the season. An expedition led by Major Albert Bowman Rogers up the Illecillewaet discovered a pass in 1881. Rogers was awarded a five thousand dollar prize for locating a route through the mountains, by 1885, the CPR had constructed a line through Rogers Pass and trains were traveling west to the Pacific for the first time in Canada. The federal government and the CPR quickly realized the potential of the mountainous. Following a trip by Prime Minister John A and they were the second and third national parks in the country, after Banff, a year earlier. The grade of the railway approaching Rogers Pass was too steep to allow for dining cars on the trains and this added to a collection of CPR-owned hotels across Canada, including Mount Stephen House in Yoho National Park, built in the same year and with the same floor plan
23.
British Columbia
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British Columbia is the westernmost province of Canada, with a population of more than four million people located between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. British Columbia is also a component of the Pacific Northwest and the Cascadia bioregion, along with the U. S. states of Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Alaska. The first British settlement in the area was Fort Victoria, established in 1843, subsequently, on the mainland, the Colony of British Columbia was founded by Richard Clement Moody and the Royal Engineers, Columbia Detachment, in response to the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush. Port Moody is named after him, in 1866, Vancouver Island became part of the colony of British Columbia, and Victoria became the united colonys capital. In 1871, British Columbia became the province of Canada. Its Latin motto is Splendor sine occasu, the capital of British Columbia remains Victoria, the fifteenth-largest metropolitan region in Canada, named for the Queen who created the original European colonies. The largest city is Vancouver, the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada, the largest in Western Canada, in October 2013, British Columbia had an estimated population of 4,606,371. British Columbia evolved from British possessions that were established in what is now British Columbia by 1871, First Nations, the original inhabitants of the land, have a history of at least 10,000 years in the area. Today there are few treaties and the question of Aboriginal Title, notably, the Tsilhqotin Nation has established Aboriginal title to a portion of their territory, as a result of the recent Supreme Court of Canada decision. BCs economy is diverse, with service producing industries accounting for the largest portion of the provinces GDP and it is the endpoint of transcontinental railways, and the site of major Pacific ports that enable international trade. Though less than 5% of its vast 944,735 km2 land is arable and its climate encourages outdoor recreation and tourism, though its economic mainstay has long been resource extraction, principally logging, farming, and mining. Vancouver, the provinces largest city and metropolitan area, also serves as the headquarters of many western-based natural resource companies and it also benefits from a strong housing market and a per capita income well above the national average. The Northern Interior region has a climate with very cold winters. The climate of Vancouver is by far the mildest winter climate of the major Canadian cities, the provinces name was chosen by Queen Victoria, when the Colony of British Columbia, i. e. the Mainland, became a British colony in 1858. The current southern border of British Columbia was established by the 1846 Oregon Treaty, British Columbias land area is 944,735 square kilometres. British Columbias rugged coastline stretches for more than 27,000 kilometres and it is the only province in Canada that borders the Pacific Ocean. British Columbias capital is Victoria, located at the tip of Vancouver Island. Only a narrow strip of the Island, from Campbell River to Victoria, is significantly populated, much of the western part of Vancouver Island and the rest of the coast is covered by thick, tall and sometimes impenetrable temperate rainforest
24.
Avalanche
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An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a sloping surface. Avalanches are typically triggered in a zone from a mechanical failure in the snowpack when the forces on the snow exceed its strength. After initiation, avalanches usually accelerate rapidly and grow in mass, if the avalanche moves fast enough some of the snow may mix with the air forming a powder snow avalanche, which is a type of gravity current. Slides of rocks or debris, behaving in a way to snow, are also referred to as avalanches. The remainder of this article refers to snow avalanches, the load on the snowpack may be only due to gravity, in which case failure may result either from weakening in the snowpack or increased load due to precipitation. Avalanches that occur in this way are known as spontaneous avalanches, Avalanches can also be triggered by other loads such as skiers, snowmobilers, animals or explosives. Seismic activity may trigger the failure in the snowpack and avalanches. A popular myth is that avalanches can be triggered by loud noise or shouting, Avalanches are not rare or random events and are endemic to any mountain range that accumulates a standing snowpack. Avalanches are most common during winter or spring but glacier movements may cause ice, there is no universally accepted classification of avalanches—different classifications are useful for different purposes. Avalanches can be described by their size, their potential, their initiation mechanism, their composition. Most avalanches occur spontaneously during storms under increased load due to snowfall, the second largest cause of natural avalanches is metamorphic changes in the snowpack such as melting due to solar radiation. Other natural causes include rain, earthquakes, rockfall and icefall, artificial triggers of avalanches include skiers, snowmobiles, and controlled explosive work. Avalanche initiation can start at a point with only an amount of snow moving initially. A snowpack will fail when the load exceeds the strength, the load is straightforward, it is the weight of the snow. However, the strength of the snowpack is much more difficult to determine and is extremely heterogenous and it varies in detail with properties of the snow grains, size, density, morphology, temperature, water content, and the properties of the bonds between the grains. These properties may all metamorphose in time according to the humidity, water vapour flux, temperature. The top of the snowpack is also influenced by incoming radiation. One of the aims of research is to develop and validate computer models that can describe the evolution of the seasonal snowpack over time
25.
Avalanche control
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Avalanche control or avalanche defense activities reduce the hazard avalanches pose to human life, activity, and property. From the identified risks, the hazard is assessed by identifying threatened human geographic features such as roads, ski hills. Avalanche control programs address the avalanche hazard by formulating prevention and mitigation plans, Avalanche control techniques either directly intervene in the evolution of the snow pack, or lessen the effect of an avalanche once it has occurred. For the event of human involvement, avalanche control organizations develop and train exhaustive response, risk assessment for geographical surveys for potential avalanche terrain by studying topography, vegetation, and seasonal snow distribution. Prevention and mitigation begins with observing the snow pack to forecast the risk of avalanche occurrence, the forecast risk then determines the necessary interventions to reduce the hazard posed by an avalanche. Snow pack observation studies the layering and distribution of the snow to estimate the instabilities of the snow pack, in areas of heavy human use the snow pack is monitored throughout the winter season to assess its evolution under the prevailing meteorological conditions. Active avalanche control can be classified into either mechanical or explosive methods. For larger features this method can be extended by mechanized redistribution of snow using large tracked vehicles called snow groomers and these two mechanical interventions can only be safely done as the snow is deposited and before it develops any instabilities. In terrain that can only be accessed, or in a highly developed snow pack that is too deep for boot packing. The first technique of ski stabilizing is a method of entering a slope called ski cutting, a snow pack can then be further settled out, or stabilized, by further down slope ski traffic through it. Finally knotted cord can be used to saw through the roots of cornices and this has the combined effect of reducing the objective hazard posed by the cornice, and providing a large impact force on the snow pack. Explosive techniques involve the artificial triggering of smaller less destructive avalanches, the explosives may be deployed by manually hand tossing and lowering, by bombing from a helicopter, or by shelling with a small howitzer, recoilless rifle, or air gun. In balancing the hazard to personnel with the effectiveness of the deployment method at accessing and triggering avalanche terrain, each method has its drawbacks and advantages. For example, the Avalanche Towers installed in Switzerland, Austria, the magazines can be transported, loaded, and removed from the towers by helicopter, without the need for a flight assistant, or on site personnel. Explosive control has proved to be effective in areas with access to avalanche starting areas. It is mostly unacceptable, however, in areas with human residence, permanent techniques slow, stop, divert, or prevent snow from moving, either completely or to enough of an extent that the destructive forces are significantly lessened. The supporting effect created by the surface prevents possible creeping within the snow cover. Breaking-away of avalanches is thus prevented at the zone, while occurring snow movements are restricted to the extent that they remain harmless
26.
United States Forest Service
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The United States Forest Service is an agency of the U. S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nations 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass 193 million acres. Major divisions of the include the National Forest System, State and Private Forestry, Business Operations. Managing approximately 25% of federal lands, it is the major national land agency that is outside the U. S. Department of the Interior. The concept of the National Forests was born from Theodore Roosevelt’s conservation group, Boone and Crockett Club, in 1876, Congress created the office of Special Agent in the Department of Agriculture to assess the quality and conditions of forests in the United States. Hough was appointed the head of the office, in 1881, the office was expanded into the newly formed Division of Forestry. The Forest Reserve Act of 1891 authorized withdrawing land from the domain as forest reserves. In 1901, the Division of Forestry was renamed the Bureau of Forestry, gifford Pinchot was the first United States Chief Forester in the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. As of 2009, the Forest Service has a budget authority of $5.5 billion. The Forest Service employs 34,250 employees in 750 locations, including 10,050 firefighters,737 law enforcement personnel, and 500 scientists. The mission of the Forest Service is To sustain the health, diversity and its motto is Caring for the land and serving people. As the lead agency in natural resource conservation, the US Forest Service provides leadership in the protection, management, and use of the nations forest, rangeland. The agencys ecosystem approach to management integrates ecological, economic, and social factors to maintain and enhance the quality of the environment to meet current, the everyday work of the Forest Service balances resource extraction, resource protection, and providing recreation.5 billion trees per year. Further, the Forest Service fought fires on 2,996,000 acres of land in 2007, the Forest Service organization includes ranger districts, national forests, regions, research stations and research work units and the Northeastern Area Office for State and Private Forestry. Each level has responsibility for a variety of functions, the Chief of the Forest Service is a career federal employee who oversees the entire agency. The Chief reports to the Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment in the U. S. Department of Agriculture, there are five deputy chiefs for the following areas, National Forest System, State and Private Forestry, Research and Development, Business Operations, and Finance. The Forest Service Research and Development deputy area includes five stations, the Forest Products Laboratory. Station directors, like regional foresters, report to the Chief, Research stations include Northern, Pacific Northwest, Pacific Southwest, Rocky Mountain, and Southern. There are 92 research work units located at 67 sites throughout the United States, there are 80 Experimental Forests and Ranges that have been established progressively since 1908, many sites are more than 50 years old
27.
State of Vietnam
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The State of Vietnam was a state that claimed authority over all of Vietnam during the First Indochina War although part of its territory was actually controlled by the communist Viet Minh. The state was created in 1949 and was recognized in 1950. Former emperor Bảo Đại was chief of state, after the 1954 Geneva Agreements, the State of Vietnam had to abandon the Northern part of the country to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Ngô Đình Diệm was appointed prime minister that same year, and after ousting Bảo Đại in 1955, since the August Revolution, Viet Minh had seized all of the territories of Vietnam. The Democratic Republic of Vietnam was established by Viet Minh on September 2,1945, by February 1947, following the pacification of Tonkin, the Tonkinese capital, Hanoi, and the main traffic axis returned under French control. The Việt Minh partisans were forced to retreat into the jungle, bao Dai had voluntarily abdicated on August 25,1945, after the fall of the short-lived Empire of Vietnam, a puppet state of the Empire of Japan. However, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam had declared the independence of Vietnam and had control almost Vietnams territory since September 2,1945, besides that, the DRV had also hosted the 1946 Vietnamese National Assembly election with the participation of 89% voter in Vietnam. The Democratic Republic of Vietnam, had become the constitutional representatives of Vietnam in 1946. On May 20,1949, the French National Assembly approved the reunification of Cochinchina with the rest of Vietnam, on decision took effect on June 14 and the State of Vietnam was officially proclaimed on July 2. From 1949 to 1954, reunification with Cochinchina, the State of Vietnam had partial autonomy from France as a state within the French Union. The State of Vietnam found support in the French Fourth Republic and the United States while Hồ Chí Minh was backed by the Peoples Republic of China, despite French support, roughly 60% of Vietnamese territory was under Việt Minh control in 1952. The massive voluntary migration of anti-Communist north Vietnamese, essentially Roman Catholic people, on June 14,1949, Bảo Đại was appointed Chief of State of the State of Vietnam, he was concurrently Prime Minister for a short while. On October 26,1955, the Republic of Vietnam was established, the State of Vietnam referendum of 1955 determined the future regime of the country. Following the signing of the 1949 Élysée Accords in Paris, Bảo Đại was able to create a National Army for defense purposes and it fought under the State of Vietnams banner and leadership and was commanded by General Nguyễn Văn Hinh. The currency used within the French Union was the French Indochinese piastre, notes were issued and managed by the Issue Institute of the States of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. First Indochina War French Indochinese piastre Vietnamese National Army French Indochina History of Vietnam
28.
China
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China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing
29.
Kuomintang
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The Kuomintang of China is a major political party in the Republic of China. It is currently the second-largest in the country, the predecessor of the KMT, the Revolutionary Alliance, was one of the major advocates of the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty and the establishment of a republic. The KMT was founded by Song Jiaoren and Sun Yat-sen shortly after the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, Sun was the provisional president but he did not have military power and ceded the first presidency to the military leader Yuan Shikai. After Yuans death, China was divided by warlords, while the KMT was able to only part of the south. Later led by Chiang Kai-shek, the KMT formed the National Revolutionary Army and it was the ruling party in mainland China from 1928 until its retreat to Taiwan in 1949 after being defeated by the Communist Party of China during the Chinese Civil War. In Taiwan, the KMT continued as the ruling party until the reforms in the late 1970s through the 1990s loosened its grip on power. Since 1987, the Republic of China is no longer a single-party state, however, the KMT is currently the main opposition party in the Legislative Yuan. The guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, advocated by Sun Yat-sen and its party headquarters are located in Taipei. The KMT is a member of the International Democrat Union, the previous president, Ma Ying-jeou, elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2012, was the seventh KMT member to hold the office of the presidency. Together with the People First Party and New Party, the KMT forms what is known as the Taiwanese Pan-Blue Coalition, however, the KMT has been forced to moderate its stance by advocating the political and legal status quo of modern Taiwan. However, since 2008, in order to ease tensions with the PRC, the group planned and supported the Xinhai Revolution of 1911 and the founding of the Republic of China on 1 January 1912. However, Sun did not have power and ceded the provisional presidency of the republic to Yuan Shikai. On 25 August 1912, the Nationalist Party was established at the Huguang Guild Hall in Peking, Sun, the then-President of the ROC, was chosen as the party chairman with Huang Xing as his deputy. The party opposed constitutional monarchists and sought to check the power of Yuan, the Nationalists won an overwhelming majority of the first National Assembly election in December 1912. But Yuan soon began to ignore the parliament in making presidential decisions, Song Jiaoren was assassinated in Shanghai in 1913. Yuan, claiming subversiveness and betrayal, expelled adherents of the KMT from the parliament, Yuan dissolved the Nationalists in November and dismissed the parliament early in 1914. Yuan Shikai proclaimed himself emperor in December 1915, in order tonary Party, members must take an oath of personal loyalty to Sun, which many old revolutionaries regarded as undemocratic and contrary to the spirit of the revolution. Thus, many old revolutionaries did not join Suns new organisation, Sun returned to China in 1917 to establish a military junta at Canton, in order to against the Beiyang government, but was soon forced out of office and exiled to Shanghai
30.
People's Army of Vietnam
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The Peoples Army of Vietnam, also known as the Vietnamese Peoples Army, is the military force of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The PAVN is a part of Vietnam Peoples Armed Forces and includes, Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, Border Defence Force, however, Vietnam does not have a specific separate Ground Force or Army branch. The military flag of the PAVN is the flag of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, during the French Indochina War, the PAVN was often referred to as the Việt Minh. In the context of the Vietnam War, the army was referred to as the North Vietnamese Army and this allowed writers, the US military, and the general public, to distinguish northern communists from the southern communists, or Viet Cong. However, both groups ultimately worked under the command structure. According to Hanois official history, the Viet Cong was a branch of the VPA, in 2010 the PAVN undertook the role of leading the 1, 000th Anniversary Parade in Hanoi by performing their biggest parade in history. Under the guidelines of Hồ Chí Minh, Võ Nguyên Giáp was given the task of establishing the brigades, the first formation was made up of thirty one men and three women, armed with two revolvers, seventeen rifles, one light machine gun, and fourteen breech-loading flintlocks. The group was renamed the Vietnam Liberation Army in May 1945, in September, the army was again renamed the Vietnam National Defence Army. At this point, it had about 1,000 soldiers, in 1950, it officially became the Peoples Army of Vietnam. On 7 January 1947, its first regiment, the 102nd Capital Regiment, was created for operations around Hanoi. Over the next two years, the first division, the 308th Division, later known as the Pioneer Division formed by the 88th Tu Vu Regiment. By late 1950 the 308th Division had a full three infantry regiments, when it was supplemented by the 36th Regiment, at that time, the 308th Division was also backed by the 11th Battalion that later became the main force of the 312th Division. The first six divisions became known as the original PAVN Steel, in 1954 four of these divisions defeated the French Union forces at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, ending 83 years of French rule in Indochina. At about the time, Group 579 was created as its maritime counterpart to transport supplies into the South by sea. Most of the infiltrators were members of the 338th Division. Those PAVN formations were seen as extremely brave forces by the US forces and we had to change our plan and make it different from when we fought the Saigon regime, because we now had to fight two adversaries — the United States and South Vietnam. We understood that the U. S. Army was superior to our own logistically, in weapons, so strategically we did not hope to defeat the U. S. Army completely. Our intentions were to fight a time and cause heavy casualties to the United States, so the United States would see that the war was unwinnable
31.
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
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Covering an area of 255,804 km², the SFRY was bordered with Italy to the west, Hungary to the north, Bulgaria and Romania to the east and Albania and Greece to the south. In addition, it included two autonomous provinces within Serbia, Kosovo and Vojvodina, the SFRY traces back to 29 June 1943 when the Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia was formed during World War II. On 29 November 1945, the Federal Peoples Republic of Yugoslavia was proclaimed after the deposal of King Peter II thus ending the monarchy. Following the death of Tito on 4 May 1980, rising ethnic nationalism in the late 1980s led to dissidence among the multiple ethnicities within the constituent republics. This led to the federation collapsing along the borders, followed by the final downfall and breakup of the federation on 27 April 1992. The term former Yugoslavia is now commonly used retrospectively, the name Yugoslavia, an Anglicised transcription of Jugoslavija, is a composite word made-up of jug and slavija. The Serbo-Croatian, Slovene and Macedonian word jug means south, while slavija denotes a land of the Slavs, thus, a translation of Jugoslavija would be South-Slavia or Land of the South Slavs. The term is intended to denote the lands occupied by the six South Slavic nations, Serbs, Croats, Bosniaks, Montenegrins, Slovenes, the full official name of the federation varied significantly between 1945 and 1992. Yugoslavia was formed in 1918 under the name Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, the name deliberately left the republic-or-kingdom question open. In 1963, amid pervasive liberal constitutional reforms, the name Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was introduced, the state is most commonly referred to by the latter name, which it held for the longest period of all. The most common abbreviation is SFRY, though SFR Yugoslavia was also used in an official capacity, particularly by the media. On 6 April 1941, Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis powers led by Nazi Germany, by 17 April 1941, Yugoslav resistance was soon established in two forms, the Royal Yugoslav Army and the Yugoslav Partisans. The Partisan supreme commander was Josip Broz Tito, and under his command the movement soon began establishing liberated territories which attracted the attentions of the occupying forces. The coalition of parties, factions, and prominent individuals behind the movement was the Peoples Liberation Front. The Front formed a political body, the Anti-Fascist Council for the Peoples Liberation of Yugoslavia. The AVNOJ, which met for the first time in Partisan-liberated Bihać on 26 November 1942, during 1943, the Yugoslav Partisans began attracting serious attention from the Germans. In two major operations of Fall Weiss and Fall Schwartz, the Axis attempted to stamp-out the Yugoslav resistance once, on both occasions, despite heavy casualties, the Group succeeded in evading the trap and retreating to safety. The Partisans emerged stronger than before and now occupied a significant portion of Yugoslavia
32.
Croatia
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Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a sovereign state between Central Europe, Southeast Europe, and the Mediterranean. Its capital city is Zagreb, which one of the countrys primary subdivisions. Croatia covers 56,594 square kilometres and has diverse, mostly continental, Croatias Adriatic Sea coast contains more than a thousand islands. The countrys population is 4.28 million, most of whom are Croats, the Croats arrived in the area of present-day Croatia during the early part of the 7th century AD. They organised the state into two duchies by the 9th century, tomislav became the first king by 925, elevating Croatia to the status of a kingdom. The Kingdom of Croatia retained its sovereignty for nearly two centuries, reaching its peak during the rule of Kings Petar Krešimir IV and Dmitar Zvonimir, Croatia entered a personal union with Hungary in 1102. In 1527, faced with Ottoman conquest, the Croatian Parliament elected Ferdinand I of the House of Habsburg to the Croatian throne. In 1918, after World War I, Croatia was included in the unrecognized State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs which seceded from Austria-Hungary, a fascist Croatian puppet state backed by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany existed during World War II. After the war, Croatia became a member and a federal constituent of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. On 25 June 1991 Croatia declared independence, which came wholly into effect on 8 October of the same year, the Croatian War of Independence was fought successfully during the four years following the declaration. A unitary state, Croatia is a republic governed under a parliamentary system, the International Monetary Fund classified Croatia as an emerging and developing economy, and the World Bank identified it as a high-income economy. Croatia is a member of the European Union, United Nations, the Council of Europe, NATO, the World Trade Organization, the service sector dominates Croatias economy, followed by the industrial sector and agriculture. Tourism is a significant source of revenue during the summer, with Croatia ranked the 18th most popular tourist destination in the world, the state controls a part of the economy, with substantial government expenditure. The European Union is Croatias most important trading partner, since 2000, the Croatian government constantly invests in infrastructure, especially transport routes and facilities along the Pan-European corridors. Internal sources produce a significant portion of energy in Croatia, the rest is imported, the origin of the name is uncertain, but is thought to be a Gothic or Indo-Aryan term assigned to a Slavic tribe. The oldest preserved record of the Croatian ethnonym *xъrvatъ is of variable stem, the first attestation of the Latin term is attributed to a charter of Duke Trpimir from the year 852. The original is lost, and just a 1568 copy is preserved—leading to doubts over the authenticity of the claim, the oldest preserved stone inscription is the 9th-century Branimir Inscription, where Duke Branimir is styled as Dux Cruatorvm. The inscription is not believed to be dated accurately, but is likely to be from during the period of 879–892, the area known as Croatia today was inhabited throughout the prehistoric period
33.
Croatian Army
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The Croatian Army is a branch of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia. The fundamental role and purpose of the Croatian Army is to protect national interests of the Republic of Croatia and defend the sovereignty. The Croatian Army was formed in the Croatian War of Independence, when, on November 3,1991 and they were created on 24 December 1991, during the war, and ceased to exist in a 2003 reorganization. The Croatian Army is a force numbering 7,514 active duty personnel and 193 civil servants. The Army can also call on 6,000 reserve personnel who serve up to 30 days every year, the Croatian Army is being reorganized to fit in the NATO doctrine of a small, highly capable force with an emphasis on mobility and versatility. Major combatant commands of the Croatian Army are one mechanized and one motorized brigade, each brigade having a specific role, in 2012, one motorized infantry company is to be detached and put under the command of the EU Battle Group led by Germany. Croatia continues to deploy 350 personnel in support of NATO International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, Croatia achieved NATO membership in April 2009. The defence reforms that Croatia initiated in 2000 have a goal of replacing and modernizing the armed forces to meet the challenges of NATO membership. The plan calls for the modernization of the Army and the introduction of training, replacing ex-Yugoslav/Soviet hardware is also one of the main priorities. Procurement of new, NATO-compatible equipment takes a significant part of the defense budget, until recently, Croatia operated just under 280 main battle tanks, but this number decreased significantly due to the withdrawal of roughly 200 obsolete T-55 tanks in 2006. Most of these units have been scrapped, but a number have been stored as operational reserve in case of need. The mainstay now is the M-84A4 Sniper main battle tank, however, modernization of the tank fleet to the M-84D standard is one of the priorities set in the new defense budget. In July 2007 Patria AMV won the contract to supply the next generation of APCs to the Croatian Army, only 84 vehicles were ordered at first, but an additional 42 were purchased in an extended contract signed in December 2008. Croatia thus has 126 units on order with the first six vehicles manufactured in Finland delivered by late 2008, all remaining vehicles will be locally produced. According to some reports, at least 50-60 additional APCs are needed, in 2010, an order was placed for an undisclosed number of Protector remote controlled weapons stations. In early 2007, Croatia bought 10 Iveco LMV light armoured vehicles at a cost of 330,000 Euros per unit, according to official documents,94 of these vehicles were needed by 2017. However, Croatia will rely on US-donated HMMWV and MRAP type vehicles, steps have been made to standardize the difficult-to-maintain vehicle inventory of the Croatian military, which is full of various models of different origin, type and age. In 2005, the Army bought 152 light trucks and vehicles,156 in 2006 with an additional 170 obtained by the end of 2007, all vehicles are from prominent European or Japanese manufacturers including Mercedes-Benz, Land Rover, Iveco, MAN, Toyota and Nissan
34.
Australian Army Reserve
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The Australian Army Reserve is a collective name given to the reserve units of the Australian Army. For the first half of the 20th century, due to a widespread distrust of permanent military forces in Australia, the reserve military forces were the primary focus of Australian military planning. Since then, Australian defence policy has focused more upon the Regular Army. Nevertheless, the transfer of forces from the states to the Commonwealth occurred on 1 March 1901. At the outset, the bulk of the Commonwealth military force was to be made up of part-time volunteers and this was arguably due to two factors. After the initial transfer of forces in March 1901, further progress was slow as administrative and legislative instruments took time to develop. Indeed, it was not until 1 March 1904 that the Defence Act 1903 was proclaimed, amidst a background of political manoeuvring and personal agendas, the military forces were eventually reorganised into a more or less unified command structure. The result of this review was the realisation of the need to build a defence force that could not only defend the nation. However, it was the main factor contributing to the decision to recruit the AIF on the basis of voluntary enlistment, regardless, it has been estimated that up to 50,000 militiamen subsequently enlisted in the First AIF during the war. During the precautionary stage on 2 August 1914, Citizens Forces units were called up to guard essential points and man coastal forts, the first Australian shots of both World War I and World War II were fired by the garrison at Fort Nepean. By June 1918,9,215 home service troops were on duty in Australia. From 1915, only skeleton garrisons were maintained at coastal forts, just before the end of World War I, Australias home forces were reorganised to perpetuate the numerical identities of the AIF units. This was done renumbering the infantry regiments that had formed in 1912. It was also decided that the Citizens Force would be re-organised along the lines of the AIF, adopting the divisional structure of the AIF units and maintaining their battle honours. Although the compulsory training scheme was retained, it was decided that it would only be focused on the populated areas. The result of this was that the course of only a year the strength of the Citizens Forces fell from 127,000 to only 37,000 in 1922. Throughout the 1920s, numbers decreased even further and although the structure was maintained. At this time it was decided to change the name of the force
35.
L118 light gun
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The L118 light gun is a 105 mm towed howitzer. It was originally produced for the British Army in the 1970s and has been exported since, including to the United States. The proper name for it is gun, 105mm, field, L118 and it fires the US M1 type ammunition. This widely used howitzer was designed in Italy for the Alpini. However, it lacked range, was not notably robust, had poor sights and was not entirely popular, in 1965, a general staff requirement was approved for a new 105 mm weapon system because the pack howitzer lacked range and lethality. The ammunition to be used was the 105 mm Fd Mk 2 ammunition used in the L13 ordnance of the gun equipment 105 mm L109. This ammunition uses electrical instead of percussion primers and is a different design from the US M1 type ammunition as used in the L5 pack howitzer. The two types are not interchangeable, an early requirement was for the new weapon to use 105mm Fd Mk 1 ammunition, which uses the M1 shell, in training. However, in 1968, this was changed to allow a different version of the weapon, the new gun, soon designated light gun, was designed by the government Royal Armament Research and Development Establishment, Fort Halstead, Kent. However, it emerged that some increase in weight was needed for a gun with the requisite robustness. Original production, which was authorised in late 1975, was by Royal Ordnance Factory, ROF Nottingham, the light gun entered service with the British Army in 1976. The new weapon was heavier than its predecessor, but new, more capable helicopters such as the Puma and Westland Sea King, a new vehicle, the Land Rover 101 Forward Control are also equipped with the light gun. Those University Officer Training Corps with gun troops train with the L118, on 30 November 2001, an L118 light gun replaced a 25-pounder as the One OClock Gun in Edinburgh Castle. By tradition, this fires every day at one oclock, except on Sundays, Good Friday, the light gun is also fired by 14 Regiment Royal Artillery on Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day each year. The L118 uses the L19 ordnance on the L17 carriage, the L19 ordnance is slightly shorter than the L13 used by the Abbot and hence has a slightly shorter maximum range. Also, unlike the Abbot, the barrel is autofrettaged and hence lighter, the light gun appears to owe a number of its features to the QF25 pounder, unsurprisingly since RARDE was the successor to the design department, Woolwich Arsenal. Among these features are its vertically sliding breech, and a box trail instead of a split trail. Its comparatively light weight is attributed to the nature of the steel used in the carriage and ordnance
36.
M198 howitzer
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The M198 howitzer is a medium-sized, towed 155mm artillery piece, developed for service with the United States Army and Marine Corps. It was commissioned to be a replacement for the WWII-era M114155 mm howitzer and it was designed and prototyped at the Rock Island Arsenal in 1969 with firing tests beginning in 1970 and went into full production there in 1978. It entered service in 1979 and since then 1,600 units have been produced, the M198 is being replaced in US and Australian service by the M777 howitzer. The M198155 mm howitzer weighs less than 16,000 pounds, the M198 is a towed howitzer that is transported tail first. The gun tube can be rotated over the trail legs to reduce its length, though this requires removal of the muzzle brake. When firing, the weapon is lowered onto its baseplate rather than being anchored to the ground, the breech is operated manually via a screw type mechanism that rests low in an ergonomic position. The M198 fires non-fixed ammunition and can be loaded with a variety of propellants, the effective range is 18,100 meters when firing standard projectiles, which increases to 30,000 meters when firing rocket-assisted projectiles and guided ammunition. With the 52-caliber modification the range can surpass 40,000 meters, the weapon system requires a crew of 9 and is capable of firing at a maximum rate of four rounds per minute, two sustained. The M198 is deployed in separate corps- and army-level field artillery units, as well as in artillery battalions of light and it also provides field artillery fire support for all Marine Air-Ground Task Force organizations. High Explosive, Explosive Composition B material packed into a thick, internally scored shell which causes a large blast, the kill zone is approximately a radius of 50 meters and casualty radius is 100 meters. The Marine Corps and US Army also uses the M795 High Explosive round, rocket Assisted Projectile A rocket-assisted HE M549 round that adds to the maximum range of the normal HE. For the 155 mm RAP round, max range is 30.1 kilometres, white Phosphorus A base-ejecting projectile which can come in two versions, felt-wedge and standard. White phosphorus smoke is used to fires, burn a target. Illumination Illumination projectiles are base-ejecting rounds which deploy a parachute flare ideally 600 meters above the ground. Illumination rounds are used in conjunction with HE rounds, to illuminate the target area so that HE rounds can be fired more effectively. Illumination rounds can also be used during the daytime to mark targets for aircraft, the M485 Illumination round burns for 120 seconds. Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munition A base-ejecting projectile that drops 88 bomblets above a target, each bomblet has a shaped-charge munition capable of penetrating two inches of solid steel as well as a fragmentation casing which is effective against infantry in the open. The DPICM round is effective against armored vehicles, even tanks, area Denial Artillery Munition System An artillery round that releases anti-personnel mines
37.
Kristiansten Fortress
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Kristiansten Fortress is located on a hill east of the city of Trondheim in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. It was built after the city fire of Trondheim in 1681 to protect the city against attack from the east and it fulfilled its purpose in 1718 when Swedish forces laid siege against Trondheim. The fortress was decommissioned in 1816 by king Charles XIV John, Trondheim was traditionally protected with fortifications by the river Nidelven and Skansen, but the city was vulnerable to attack from the east. The Fortress was therefore put on a hill to protect the city centre, General Johan Caspar von Cicignon, who was chief inspector of kuks fortifications, was responsible for the new town plan of Trondheim after the great fire of 18 April 1681. He also made the plans for the construction of Kristiansten Fortress and these fortifications were encircled by a continuous palisade and thereby connected to the fortified city. In 1750 the fortress was modernized with new bastions and casemates to protect against mortar artillery, two new isolated defensive works were also built to the east - Grüners and Frølichs redoubts - but they are hardly visible today. The main building featured in the picture is the defensive tower - Donjonen - with artillery, quartering, after decommissioning in 1816 it was location of the fire watch, and since 1997 as a museum. In the final days of the Great Northern War, Karl XII of Sweden initiated an invasion of Norway in the fall of 1718. While Karl XII led his army in an attack from the south at Fredrikshald. Armfeldt advanced against Trondheim, which was defended by an army of 6,900 men under Vincens Budde, the Swedish forces were resisted both by Norwegian forces and by the people of the countryside, who bitterly recalled the previous Swedish occupation of Trøndelag. Provisions were not available, and the Norwegian winter set in, although he reached the city and laid siege, the strength of Kristiansten Fortress and other fortifications was such that he chose to retreat toward Verdal. Karl XII issued a rebuke and ordered Armfeldt to take Trondheim. Although Armfeldts forces surrounded Trondheim, Buddes forces were able to him at bay. Camping in the open and poorly fed, many of Armfeldts troops fell ill, when Karl XII was killed in December by a bullet at Fredriksten Fortress, Armfeldts forces retreated to Sweden. The flag of union with Sweden was hauled down and the Flag of Norway hoisted, during German occupation of Norway in World War II the Nazis executed a number of Norwegian patriots at Kristiansten. The fortress was the place of execution of convicted and condemned traitors. The notorious Henry Rinnan was executed here on 1 February 1947, from this fortress you can see strandlinja, a topographical line along the hills of the Bymarka which was formerly beaches and sea cliffs. The line can be seen stretching out in the hills around Trondheim, but is best seen from the fortress, towards Byåsen
38.
M3 howitzer
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The 105 mm Howitzer M3 was a U. S. light howitzer designed for use by airborne troops. The gun utilized the barrel of the 105 mm Howitzer M2, the howitzer was used by the U. S. Army during World War II. It was issued to units and the cannon companies of infantry regiments. The process of building airborne forces in 1941 led to a requirement for an air portable 105 mm howitzer. The weapon, initially designated T7, featured a barrel from the 105mm Howitzer M2, shortened by 27 inches and combined with a recoil system, a prototype reached trials at Aberdeen Proving Ground in March 1942. The howitzer was designed to fire the ammunition as the longer M2. However, it turned out that shorter barrel resulted in burning of the propelling charge. The problem could be solved by use of burning powder. Otherwise the design was considered acceptable and was standardized as 105 mm Howitzer M3 on Carriage M3, the carriage was soon succeeded by the M3A1, which had trails made from thicker plate. Even stronger tubular trails were designed, but never reached production, the production started in February 1943 and continued until May 1944, an additional bunch was produced in April–June 1945. 1/4 ton jeeps were used as prime movers, later increased to four battalions, one, between 1943 and 1945, was converted to 105mm M3. The weapon was finally authorized as an option by the December 1944 TO&E and, by 1945, the M3 was also issued to the cannon companies of infantry regiments. Often the cannon companies were integrated into the division artillery, the infantry used 1½ ton cargo trucks as the prime mover. A small number of M3s were supplied via lend lease channels to France, United Kingdom and they were used early in the Korean War as ROK divisional artillery. Argentina Brazil Dominican Republic France Mexico United Kingdom United States Philippines Gun variants, T7, t10 - variant with elevation increased to 65 degrees. Carriage variants, M3 - based on M3A1 carriage for the 75 mm field howitzer, M3A1 - had stronger trails, made from 1/8 inch plate instead of 3/32 inch. M3A2 - was fitted with shield, there were two proposals for a self-propelled artillery piece armed with the M3. 105 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage T38 - based on the M3 halftrack,105 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage T82 - based on the Light Tank M5A1 chassis
39.
Yugoimport SDPR
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Yugoimport–SDPR is a Serbian state-owned intermediary company for the import and export of defense-related equipment, with the headquarters in Belgrade, Serbia. The company was founded in 1949 in what was then Yugoslavia, today the company represents the Government and military industrial complex of Serbia in the sphere of importation and exportation cooperation of defense equipment and related services. Company works together with the Serbian Army, Military Technical Institute Belgrade and many companies in Serbia and around the world in developing new weapons. The company also provides design, consulting, construction and engineering services. SDPR opened new Complex Battle System factory in Velika Plana, Serbia for producing combat vehicles, Yugoimport built many military and civilian objects in several countries around the world including airports, hospitals, command posts etc. In 1990s and before that Yugoimport made many civilian and military facilities for the Iraq
40.
M114 155 mm howitzer
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The M114155 mm howitzer was a towed howitzer developed and used by the United States Army. It was first produced in 1942 as an artillery piece under the designation of 155 mm Howitzer M1. It saw service with the US Army during World War II, the Korean War, in some countries, the M114 still remains in service. So development began anew with a designed to be used for either the 155 mm howitzer or the 4. 7-inch gun. This was completed by 15 May 1941 when the Howitzer M1 on the Carriage M1 was standardized, the howitzer itself differed from the older model by a lengthened barrel of 20 calibers and a new breech mechanism. Uniquely it was the sole slow-cone interrupted screw mechanism to enter service after 1920 and this meant that two separate movements were necessary to open the breech, versus the single movement of the steep cone mechanism that simultaneously rotated and withdrew the breech. The M1A1 was redesignated as the M114A1 in 1962, the carriage was also used by the 4.5 inch Gun M-1. It went through a number of changes over time. The original Warner electric brakes were replaced by Westinghouse air brakes on the M1A1, both the M1 and M1A1 carriages used a mid-axle firing pedestal that was extended by a ratchet mechanism. The M1A2 replaced the ratchet with a system and also modified the traveling lock. The T-9 and T-10 carriages were projects using low-grade steel alloys that were canceled when no longer needed. The T-16 was a carriage using high-grade steel that was estimated to save some 1,200 lb, work began in July 1945 and continued after the war. A mid-1960s variant was the 155mm XM123 & M123A1 auxiliary-propelled howitzers, the extra weight on the left trail displaced the howitzer after each round was fired requiring it to be realigned and the project was abandoned. The concept was copied from the Soviet 85mm SD-44 auxiliary-propelled antitank gun developed in 1954, the non howitzer was experimentally mounted on a lengthened chassis of the M5 light tank. The resulting vehicle received the designation 155 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage T64, a single prototype was built before the T64 project was abandoned in favor of T64E1, based on the M24 Chaffee light tank chassis. This was eventually adopted as the M41 Howitzer Motor Carriage and saw action in the Korean War, towards the end of the Korean War the US Army replaced the M41 self-propelled howitzer with the M44 self-propelled howitzer. The gun fired separate loading, bagged charge ammunition, with up to seven different propelling charges, muzzle velocity, range and penetration in the tables below are for maximum charge in form of complete M4A1 propelling charge. Afghanistan Argentina Tunisia Bosnia and Herzegovina Brazil Cameroon Chile Ecuador Iran South Korea Lebanon Morocco Pakistan,144 in service with the Pakistan Army. S
41.
M4 Sherman
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The M4 Sherman, officially Medium Tank, M4, was the most numerous battle tank used by the United States and some of the other Western Allies in World War II. The M4 Sherman proved to be reliable, relatively cheap to produce, thousands were distributed through the Lend-Lease program to the British Commonwealth and Soviet Union. The tank was named by the British for the American Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman, the M4 Sherman evolved from the interim M3 Medium Tank, which had its main armament in a side sponson mount. The M4 retained much of the mechanical design, but put the main 75 mm gun in a fully traversing turret. The designers stressed mechanical reliability, ease of production and maintenance, durability, standardization of parts and ammunition in a number of variants. These factors, combined with the Shermans then-superior armor and armament, outclassed German light, the M4 went on to be produced in large numbers. It spearheaded many offensives by the Western Allies after 1942, for this reason, the US Army believed that the M4 would be adequate to win the war, and no pressure was exerted for further tank development. Logistical and transport restrictions, such as limitations imposed by roads, ports, Tank destroyer battalions using vehicles built on the M4 hull and chassis, but with open-topped turrets and more potent high-velocity guns, also entered widespread use in the Allied armies. Even by 1944, most M4 Shermans kept their dual purpose 75 mm gun, some Shermans were produced with a more capable gun, the 76 mm gun M1, or refitted with a 17-pounder by the British. These factors combined to give the Allies numerical superiority in most battles, the U. S. Army Ordnance Department designed the M4 medium tank as a replacement for the M3 medium tank. The M3 was a development of the M2 Medium Tank of 1939. The M3 was developed as a stopgap measure until a new turret mounting a 75 mm gun could be devised, though reluctant to adopt the British army weapons in their entirety the American designers were prepared to accept proved British ideas. British ideas, as embodied with in a designed by the Canadian General Staff. Before long American Services and designers had accumulated sufficient experience to forge ahead on several points, in the field of tank armament the American 75mm and 76mm dual-purpose tank guns won the acknowledgement of British tank experts. On 18 April 1941, the U. S, Armored Force Board chose the simplest of five designs. Known as the T6, the design was a modified M3 hull and chassis and this would later became the Sherman. The goals were to produce a fast, dependable medium tank able to support infantry, provide breakthrough striking capacity, the T6 prototype was completed on 2 September 1941. The T6 upper hull was a large casting
42.
M26 Pershing
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The Pershing was a heavy tank of the United States Army. The tank is named after General of the Armies John J. Pershing and it was briefly used in the final months of World War II and extensively during the Korean War. Based on the criteria of firepower, mobility, and protection, R. P. Hunnicutt ranked the Pershing second, behind the German Panther medium tank, but ahead of the Tiger I heavy tank. The lineage of the M26 continued with the M47 Patton, and was reflected in the new designs of the later M48 Patton and M60 Patton. The M26 was the culmination of a series of tank prototypes that began with the T20 in 1942. The prototype series began as a medium tank upgrade of the M4 Sherman, in addition, the large diameter of the radial engines in the M4 line of tanks added further to the hull height. These mechanical features accounted for the silhouette and large side sponsons that were characteristic of the M4 lineage. In the spring of 1942, as the M4 Sherman was entering production, the T20 tank reached a mock-up stage in May 1942, and was intended as an improved medium tank to follow the M4. An earlier heavy tank, the M6, had been standardized in February 1942, the U. S. Army had no doctrinal use for a heavy tank at the time. The T20 was designed to have a more compact hull than the M4, the Ford GAN V-8, a lower silhouette version of the GAA engine used in later variants of the M4, had become available. The T20 was fitted with the new 76 mm M1A1 gun, the 3 inch front hull armor was.5 in thicker than the 63 mm front armor of the M4. The glacis plate slope was similar at 46°, the T20s overall weight was approximately the same as the M4. The T20 used a version of the horizontal volute spring suspension. Later prototypes of the M26 tested a torsion bar suspension, which would become the standard for future U. S. tank suspension systems, the T22 series reverted to the M4 transmission because of problems with the early Torqmatic transmission used in the T20. The T22E1 tested an autoloader for the gun, and eliminated the loaders position with a small two-man turret. Through much of 1943, there was little perceived need within the U. S, the electrical transmission was built by General Electric, and had the engine driving a generator that powered two traction motors. The concept was similar to the system of the German Porsche Tiger. It had performance advantages in rough or hilly terrain, where the system could handle the rapid changes in torque requirements
43.
J. Walter Christie
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John Walter Christie was an American engineer and inventor. Christie was born in the Campbell-Christie House in New Milford, New Jersey on May 6,1865 and he started working at the age of sixteen at the Delamater Iron Works while taking classes at the Cooper Union in New York City. He eventually became an engineer for a number of steamship lines. Following the Spanish–American War he developed and patented an improved turret track for naval artillery and his car was knocked out of the race by a collision with Vincenzo Lancia who was at the time leading the race in a Fiat. Lancia was enraged, but presumably noticed the Christie cars vertical-pillar coil-based independent front suspension, on September 9 of that same year, Christie was seriously injured in a crash when his car struck loose debris during a lap at Brunots Island Race Track in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After ten more laps, the race was stopped so that the men could receive medical treatment. Next up was Christie, driving the car he had used at the Grand Prix only a few months before and he was attempting to break the tracks lap record of 58 seconds, and due to receive a $500 prize if he was successful. Christie was thrown from the car, traveling twenty feet in the air and fifty feet across the ground, Christie had been knocked unconscious by the impact. He also sustained a left wrist, a cut on his right eye from the broken glass of his goggles. Christie remained in the St. Johns Hospital until September 19, on May 28,1916, speed,102.623 MPH, time,1.27.70. Christie now switched his energies away from racing to developing his fwd New York taxicab design. The tractors allowed the departments to keep their steam-powered pumps while ending the use of horses to them to the scene of the fire. In 1916, with the First World War raging in Europe, but the Ordnance board had set out strict guidelines for weapons, and Christie refused to revise his designs to suit their requirements. Christies own personal stubbornness and his habit of offending those in the US Army, Christie had built an amphibious light tank a decade before Donald Roeblings Alligator, and this was to be displayed during the Winter Maneuvers of 1924 at Culebra, Puerto Rico. In overall command of the exercise was Admiral Robert E. Coontz, the tank was transported to the exercise area aboard the USS Wyoming, and designated as the Marine Corps Tank. It was then hoisted on board a waiting submarine prior to its launch toward the shore, then As the mother ship submerged, unable to maneuver through the heavy surf, the vehicle returned to the Wyoming without landing. The next day, when the surf had subsided, the Christie amphibian once again left its mooring aboard the submarine, Christie continued to submit designs to the Ordnance board, but none was deemed acceptable. A major reason was the poor performance, due to limited suspension capabilities
44.
M3 Half-track
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The M3 Half-track, known officially as the Carrier, Personnel Half-track M3, was an American armored personnel carrier half-track widely used by the Allies during World War II and in the Cold War. Derived from the M2 Half Track Car, the slightly longer M3 was extensively produced, with about 15,000 units, the design was based on the Citroen-Kégresse half-track. The developers attempted to use as many parts as possible. There were also several variants for different purposes. The M3 and its variants were supplied to the U. S. Army and Marines, as well as British Commonwealth and Soviet Red Army forces, although at first unpopular, it was used by most of the Allies at some point in the war. Racks under the seats were used for ammunition and rations, additional racks behind the seat backs held the squads rifles, a small rack for mines was added on the outside of the hull just above the tracks. In combat, most units found it necessary to stow additional food, rucksacks, luggage racks were often added in the field, and very late vehicles had rear-mounted racks for this crew stowage. Early vehicles had a mount, just behind the front seats. The later M3A1 adopted a raised, armored pulpit mount for the. 50-caliber, many M3s were later modified to the M3A1 standard. The body was armored all around, with an armored shutter for the engines radiator. Between the world wars, the U. S. Army sought to improve the mobility of its forces. With the goal of finding a high-mobility infantry vehicle, the Ordnance Department had evaluated the design by testing French Citroën-Kégresse vehicles. The White Motor Company produced a prototype using their own chassis. The front suspension was leaf spring, tracks by vertical volute spring, braking was vacuum-assisted hydraulic, steering manual, without power assist. The M3 was the larger and longer counterpart to the M2 Half Track Car, the M2 was originally intended to function as an artillery tractor. The M3 had an access door in the rear and seating for a 12-man rifle squad. Five seats were arranged on each side in the rear of the vehicle, although originally intended for armored infantry regiments, it was quickly put into action with the Provisional Tank Group when the Japanese Army began their invasion of the Philippines. Initially, there were multiple complaints due to mechanical difficulties
45.
M7 Priest
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The 105 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M7 was an American self-propelled artillery vehicle produced during World War II. Witnessing the events of the war, U. S. Army observers realized that they would need a self-propelled artillery vehicle with sufficient firepower to support armored operations, lessons learned with half-tracks also showed that this vehicle would have to be armored and fully tracked. It was decided to use the M3 Lee chassis as the basis for new vehicle design. Before production had begun, the British Tank Mission had requested 2,500 to be delivered by the end of 1942 and a further 3,000 by the end of 1943, an order which was never fully completed. As the M4 Sherman tank replaced the M3, it was decided to continue using the M4 chassis. The M7 was subsequently supplanted by the M37 HMC, while the first M7s were produced for the U. S. Army, some were diverted to support the British in North Africa.6 mm calibre Ordnance QF 25-pounder gun-howitzer. The British had logistical problems with the M7, as it used U. S. ammunition that was not compatible with other British guns and had to be supplied to units. The logistical problem was only resolved in 1943 on arrival of the Sexton, developed by the Canadians on a M3 chassis. Until that time, the British continued to use the M7 throughout the North African and Italian campaigns, the M7 was also used in Burma, and played a significant part in the Battle of Meiktila and the advance on Rangoon in 1945. After the Sexton appeared, most British M7s were converted into Kangaroo armored personnel carriers, during the Battle of the Bulge, each U. S. armored division had three battalions of M7s, giving them unparalleled mobile artillery support. A total of 3,490 M7s—4,267 if including the M7B2—were built and they proved to be weapons, continuing to see service in the U. S. M7 Priests remained in use during the Korean War, and their flexibility compared to towed artillery units led the U. S. Army on the path to converting fully to self-propelled howitzers. After the Korean war, many of these were exported to NATO countries, notably Italy, israel acquired a number of M7 Priests during the 1960s and employed them in the Six Day War, the War of Attrition and the Yom Kippur War. In the latter conflict, three M7 units, the 822nd, 827th and 829th Battalions in the IDF Northern Command, M7 The first M7s produced were modified M3 Lee medium tanks. To maintain a low silhouette, the elevation had to be restricted to 35°. In May 1942, after only a month of production, the vehicle was altered to increase its storage from 24 to 69 rounds. This was achieved by placing seven rounds on the wall, five on the right. The M7 also went through a rapid shift from being based on the M3
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Belgium
Benin
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Brazil
Burkina Faso
Cameroon
Canada Designated C3 - Canadian C1 (M2A1) with lengthened, 33-caliber barrel
Chile
Dominican Republic
Republic of China
Colombia
Croatia
Ecuador
El Salvador
France
Germany
Greece
Guatemala
Honduras
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Japan
South Korea
Khmer Republic
Lebanon
Liberia[18]
Lithuania
Macedonia
Malaysia
Mexico
Morocco
Myanmar
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Norway
Pakistan
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Portugal
Rhodesia[19]
Senegal
South Africa[20]
Thailand
Togo
Turkey
United States
Uruguay
Venezuela
Vietnam[2][3]
