1.
Concertina wire
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Concertina wire or Dannert Wire is a type of barbed wire or razor wire that is formed in large coils which can be expanded like a concertina. In conjunction with plain barbed wire and steel pickets, it is used to form military wire obstacles, during World War I soldiers manufactured concertina wire themselves, using ordinary barbed wire. In World War I, barbed wire obstacles were made by stretching lengths of barbed wire between stakes of wood or iron, at its simplest, such a barrier would resemble a fence as might be used for agricultural purposes. The double apron fence comprised a line of pickets with wires running diagonally down to points on the either side of the fence. Horizontal wires were attached to these diagonals, more elaborate and formidable obstructions could be formed with multiple lines of stakes connected with wire running from side-to-side, back-to-front, and diagonally in every possible direction. Effective as these obstacles were, their construction took considerable time, learning this lesson, World War I soldiers would deploy barbed wire in so-called concertinas that were relatively loose. Barbed wire concertinas could be pre-prepared in the trenches and then deployed in no-mans-land relatively quickly under cover of darkness, Concertina wire packs flat for ease of transport and can then be deployed as an obstacle much more quickly than ordinary barbed wire. A platoon of soldiers can deploy a single concertina fence at a rate of about a kilometer per hour, such an obstacle is not very effective by itself, and concertinas are normally built up into more elaborate patterns as time permits. Today, concertina wire is made and is available in forms that can be deployed very rapidly from the back of a vehicle or trailer. Oil-tempered barbed wire was developed during World War I, it was harder to cut than ordinary barbed wire. During the 1930s, German Horst Dannert developed concertinas of this high-grade steel wire, the result was entirely self-supporting, it did not require any vertical posts. Dannert wire was imported into Britain from Germany before World War II, during the invasion crisis of 1940–1941, the demand for Dannert wire was so great that some was produced with low manganese steel wire which was easier to cut. This material was known as Yellow Dannert after the yellow paint on the concertina handles. To compensate for the effectiveness of Yellow Dannert, an extra supply of pickets were issued in lieu of screw pickets. A barrier known as a triple concertina wire fence consists of two parallel concertinas joined by twists of wire and topped by a third concertina similarly attached, the result was an extremely effective barrier with many of the desirable properties of a random entanglement. A triple concertina fence could be deployed very quickly, it is possible for a party of five men to deploy 50 yards of triple concertina fence in just 15 minutes, optionally, triple concertina fence could be strengthened with uprights, but this increases the construction time significantly. Concertina wire is sometimes mistakenly called constantine wire, Constantine probably came from a corruption/misunderstanding of Concertina and led to confusion with the Roman Emperor Constantine. This in turn has led to people trying to differentiate between concertina wire and constantine wire by assigning the term constantine wire to what is commonly known as razor wire
2.
Military science
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Military science is the study of military processes, institutions, and behavior, along with the study of warfare, and the theory and application of organized coercive force. It is mainly focused on theory, method, and practice of producing military capability in a consistent with national defense policy. Military scientists include theorists, researchers, experimental scientists, applied scientists, designers, engineers, test technicians, Military personnel obtain weapons, equipment and training to achieve specific strategic goals. Military science is used to establish enemy capability as part of technical intelligence. In military education, military science is often the name of the department in the institution that administers officer candidate education. In part this was due to the mystique that accompanied education in a World where as late as the 1880s 75% of the European population was illiterate. He suggested that this was primarily so because as Clausewitz suggested, unlike in any science or art. Few were bloodier than the fields of the Western Front between 1914 and 1918, fascinatingly the man who probably understood Clausewitz better than most, Marshal Foch would initially participate in events that nearly destroyed the French Army. It is not however true to say that military theorists and commanders were suffering from some collective case of stupidity, quite the opposite is true. Because only the offensive could bring victory, lack of it, Foch thought that In strategy as well as in tactics one attacks. In many ways military science was born as a result of the experiences of the Great War, Military implements had changed armies beyond recognition with cavalry to virtually disappear in the next 20 years. Tactics changed too, with infantry for the first time segregated from the horse-mounted troops, perception of military discipline too had changed. Currently military science still means many things to different organisations, in the United Kingdom and much of the European Union the approach is to relate it closely to the civilian application and understanding. In Europe, for example Belgiums Royal Military Academy, military remains a academic discipline. The United States Department of Defense defines military science in terms of systems and operational requirements. Develops optimal methods for the administration and organization of military units, in addition, this area studies other associated aspects as mobilization/demobilization, and military government for areas recently conquered from enemy control. Force structuring is the method by which personnel and the weapons and equipment they use are organized and trained for military operations, force structuring applies to all Armed Services, but not to their supporting organisations such as those used for defence science research activities. Force structuring also provides information on the mission and capabilities of units, as well as the units current status in terms of posture
3.
Fortification
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Fortifications are military constructions or buildings designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and also used to solidify rule in a region during peace time. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs, the term is derived from the Latin fortis and facere. From very early history to modern times, walls have been a necessity for cities to survive in a changing world of invasion. Some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were the first small cities to be fortified, in ancient Greece, large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece, such as the ancient site of Mycenae. A Greek Phrourion was a collection of buildings used as a military garrison. These construction mainly served the purpose of a tower, to guard certain roads, passes. Though smaller than a fortress, they acted as a border guard rather than a real strongpoint to watch. The art of setting out a camp or constructing a fortification traditionally has been called castramentation since the time of the Roman legions. Fortification is usually divided into two branches, permanent fortification and field fortification, there is also an intermediate branch known as semi-permanent fortification. Castles are fortifications which are regarded as being distinct from the fort or fortress in that they are a residence of a monarch or noble. Roman forts and hill forts were the antecedents of castles in Europe. The Early Middle Ages saw the creation of towns built around castles. Medieval-style fortifications were made obsolete by the arrival of cannons in the 14th century. Fortifications in the age of black powder evolved into much lower structures with greater use of ditches and earth ramparts that would absorb, Walls exposed to direct cannon fire were very vulnerable, so were sunk into ditches fronted by earth slopes. The arrival of explosive shells in the 19th century led to yet another stage in the evolution of fortification, steel-and-concrete fortifications were common during the 19th and early 20th centuries. However the advances in warfare since World War I have made large-scale fortifications obsolete in most situations. Demilitarized zones along borders are arguably another type of fortification, although a passive kind, many military installations are known as forts, although they are not always fortified. Larger forts may be called fortresses, smaller ones were known as fortalices
4.
Barbed wire
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It is used to construct inexpensive fences and is used atop walls surrounding secured property. It is also a feature of the fortifications in trench warfare. A person or animal trying to pass through or over barbed wire will suffer discomfort, Barbed wire fencing requires only fence posts, wire, and fixing devices such as staples. It is simple to construct and quick to erect, even by an unskilled person, the first patent in the United States for barbed wire was issued in 1867 to Lucien B. Smith of Kent, Ohio, who is regarded as the inventor. Joseph F. Glidden of DeKalb, Illinois, received a patent for the invention in 1874 after he made his own modifications to previous versions. Barbed wire was the first wire technology capable of restraining cattle, Wire fences were cheaper and easier to erect than their alternatives. When wire fences became widely available in the United States in the late 19th century and they made intensive animal husbandry practical on a much larger scale. Englishman Richard Newton brought barbed wire to the Argentine pampas in 1845, fencing consisting of flat and thin wire was first proposed in France, by Leonce Eugene Grassin-Baledans in 1860. His design consisted of bristling points, creating a fence that was painful to cross, in April 1865 Louis François Janin proposed a double wire with diamond-shaped metal barbs, he was granted a patent. Michael Kelly from New York had a idea, and proposed that the fencing should be used specifically for deterring animals. More patents followed, and in 1867 alone there were six patents issued for barbed wire, only two of them addressed livestock deterrence, one of which was from American Lucien B. Smith of Ohio. Before 1870, westward movement in the USA was largely across the plains with little or no settlement occurring, after the American Civil War the plains were extensively settled, consolidating Americas dominance over them. Ranchers moved out on the plains, and needed to fence their land in against encroaching farmers, the railroads throughout the growing West needed to keep livestock off their tracks, and farmers needed to keep stray cattle from trampling their crops. A cost-effective alternative was needed to make cattle operations profitable, the Big Four in barbed wire were Joseph Glidden, Jacob Haish, Charles Francis Washburn, and Isaac L. Ellwood. Glidden, a farmer in 1873 and the first of the Big Four, is credited for designing a successful sturdy barbed wire product. Gliddens idea came from a display at a fair in DeKalb, Illinois in 1873, Rose had patented The Wooden Strip with Metallic Points in May 1873. This was simply a wooden block with wire protrusions designed to keep cows from breaching the fence and that day, Glidden was accompanied by two other men, Isaac L. Ellwood, a hardware dealer and Jacob Haish, a lumber merchant. Like Glidden, they wanted to create a more durable wire fence with fixed barbs
5.
Barbed tape
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Barbed tape or razor wire is a mesh of metal strips with sharp edges whose purpose is to prevent passage by humans. The term razor wire, through usage, has generally been used to describe barbed tape products. While razor wire is much sharper than the barbed wire, it is named after its appearance. However, the points are sharp and made to rip and grab onto clothing. The multiple blades of a wire fence are designed to inflict serious cuts on anyone attempting to climb through. Razor wire usually contains a core of hardened steel strip that is often under tension, so if cut, more recently barbed tape has been used in more commercial and residential security applications. Residential usage of barbed tape has been criticized by some as the appearance of the barbs is thought to detract from the appearance of a neighborhood. Due to its dangerous nature, razor wire/barbed tape and similar fencing/barrier materials is prohibited in some locales, norway prohibits any barbed wire except in combination with other fencing, in order to protect domesticated animals from exposure. Some local jurisdictions further regulate or prohibit barbed wire altogether, razor-wire has a central strand of high tensile strength wire, and a steel tape punched into a shape with barbs. The steel tape is then cold-crimped tightly to the wire everywhere except for the barbs, Barbed tape is very similar, but has no central reinforcement wire. The process of combining the two is called roll forming, like barbed wire, barbed tape is available as either straight wire or spiral concertina wire. Unlike barbed wire, which usually is only as plain steel or galvanized, barbed tape is also manufactured in stainless steel. Typically the core wire is galvanized and the tape is stainless, Barbed tape is also characterized by the shape of the barbs. There does not seem to be much available research to indicate whether longer barbs are more effective in resisting penetration. Barbed wire became common in the American West in the 1870s, Barbed tape was first manufactured by Germany during World War I, as an expedient measure during a shortage of wire. Since it was punched out of a rolled ribbon of steel tape. From the early 1970s, unreinforced barbed tape was used in perimeter barriers of US prisons. In the early 1980s, several manufacturers began offering barbed tape with an embedded reinforcing wire, early brand names of reinforced barbed tape included Man Barrier and Razor Ribbon
6.
Fence
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A fence is a structure that encloses an area, typically outdoors, and is usually constructed from posts that are connected by boards, wire, rails or netting. A fence differs from a wall in not having a solid foundation along its whole length, alternatives to fencing include a ditch. Brushwood fencing, a fence made using wires on either side of brushwood, slate fence, a type of palisade made of vertical slabs of slate wired together. Commonly used in parts of Wales and this type of fence is commonly used for privacy. Vaccary fence, a fence to restrain cattle, made of upright thin slabs of stone, the slabs are not necessarily linked to each other. Found in various places in the north of the UK where suitable stone can be found, vinyl fencing Wattle fencing, of split branches woven between stakes. Wood-panel fencing Wrought iron fencing, made from steel, also known as ornamental iron. Hedge, including, Cactus fence Hedgerows of intertwined, living shrubs Live fencing is the use of woody species for fences. Transformer stations are surrounded with barbed-wire fences. Around mast radiators, wooden fences are used to avoid the problem of eddy currents, common disagreements include what kind of fence is required, what kind of repairs are needed, and how to share the costs. In some legislatures the standard height of a fence is limited, servitudes are legal arrangements of land use arising out of private agreements. Under the feudal system, most land in England was cultivated in common fields, by the sixteenth century the growth of population and prosperity provided incentives for landowners to use their land in more profitable ways, dispossessing the peasantry. Fences redefined the means by which land is used, resulting in the law of servitudes. In the United States, the earliest settlers claimed land by simply fencing it in, ownership of a fence on an ownership boundary varies. Generally title deeds will show which side owns the fence, using a T symbol, commonly the cladding is on non-owners side, enabling access to the posts for the owner when repairs are needed but this is not a legal requirement. They may then erect a fence or hedge on the spoil, exceptions often occur, for example where a plot of land derives from subdivision of a larger one along the centre line of a previously-existing ditch or other feature. On private land in the United Kingdom, it is the responsibility to fence their livestock in. Conversely, for land, it is the surrounding landowners responsibility to fence the commons livestock out
7.
Dragon's teeth (fortification)
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Dragons teeth are square-pyramidal fortifications of reinforced concrete first used during the Second World War to impede the movement of tanks and mechanised infantry. The idea was to slow down and channel tanks into killing zones where they could easily be disposed of by anti-tank weapons and they were employed extensively, particularly on the Siegfried Line. In practice, the use of engineers and specialist clearance vehicles enabled them to be disposed of relatively quickly. The obstacles could also simply be buried using bulldozers and dump trucks, Dragons teeth were used by several armies in the European Theatre. The Germans made extensive use of them in the Siegfried Line, typically, each tooth was 90 to 120 cm tall depending on the precise model. Land mines were laid between the individual teeth, and further obstacles constructed along the lines of teeth. Behind minefields were the dragons teeth and they rested on a concrete mat between ten and thirty meters wide, sunk in a meter or two into the ground. On top of the mat were the teeth themselves, truncated pyramids of reinforced concrete about a meter in height in the front row and they were staggered and spaced in such a manner that a tank could not drive through. The only way to take those pillboxes was for infantry to get behind them, but behind the first row of pillboxes and dragon’s teeth, there was a second, and often a third, and sometimes a fourth. Due to the numbers laid and their durable construction, many thousands of dragons teeth can still be seen today, especially in the remains of the Siegfried. Switzerland continues to maintain lines of teeth in certain strategic areas. In the military jargon these constructions are often referred to as Toblerone lines, Dragons teeth are also present in some areas along the Korean Demilitarized Zone borderline and were also used on the Eastern Side of the Berlin Wall. Bollard is another term for such a post, some countries, such as those formed after the breakup of Yugoslavia, have movable teeth, positioned at roadsides at strategic locations, which are to be lifted and placed on the roads. Some stages of Rallye Deutschland, the German round of the WRC rally championship, are run on roads belonging to the training ground at Baumholder. The roads are lined with teeth, known as hinkelsteins. They usually serve as obstacles to prevent tanks from leaving the roads, popular Science, June 1942, pp. 106–112. Field expedient tank traps constructed of logs, white Cliffs Underground - Dragons Teeth and Tank Traps around Englands south coast Dragons Teeth on Libyan border with Egypt ANTI-TANK OBSTACLES, ISLE OF GRAIN, KENT
8.
Land mine
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A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically detonated automatically by way of pressure when a target steps on it or drives over it, a land mine may cause damage by direct blast effect, by fragments that are thrown by the blast, or by both. The name originates from the ancient practice of mining, where tunnels were dug under enemy fortifications or troop formations. These killing tunnels were at first collapsed to destroy targets located above, nowadays, in common parlance, land mine generally refers to devices specifically manufactured as anti-personnel or anti-vehicle weapons. The use of mines is controversial because of their potential as indiscriminate weapons. They can remain dangerous many years after a conflict has ended, harming the economy, to date,162 nations have signed the treaty. To act as passive area-denial weapons, land mines are currently used in large quantities mostly for this first purpose, thus their widespread use in the demilitarized zones of likely flashpoints such as Cyprus, Afghanistan and Korea. As of 2013, the governments that still laid land mines were Myanmar in its internal conflict. Land mines continue to kill or injure at least 4,300 people every year, even decades after the ends of the conflicts for which they were placed. This claim is dubious, as gunpowder warfare did not develop in China until the advent of the flamethrower in the 10th century, while the land mine was not seen in China until the late 13th century. Explosive land mines were being used in 1277 by the Chinese during the Song dynasty against an assault of the Mongols, the invention of this detonated enormous bomb was credited to one Lou Qianxia of the 13th century. The wad of the mine was made of wood, carrying three different fuses in case of defective connection to the touch hole. Pieces of bamboo are sawn into sections nine feet in length, all septa in the bamboo being removed, save only the last, boiling oil is next poured into and left there for some time before being removed. The fuse starts from the bottom, and is compressed into it to form an explosive mine, the gunpowder fills up eight-tenths of the tube, while lead or iron pellets take up the rest of the space, then the open end is sealed with wax. A trench five feet in depth is dug, the fuse is connected to a firing device which ignites them when disturbed. Further description of how this flint device operated was not made until a Chinese text of 1606 AD revealed that a drive had been used to work the steel wheel. Besides the use of steel wheels providing sparks for the fuses, there were other methods used as well, when the weapons were removed from the mound, this movement disturbed the bowl beneath them where the butt ends of the staffs were, which in turn ignited the fuses. According to the Wubei Huolongjing volume of the 17th century, the formula for this slow-burning incandescent material allowed it to burn continuously for 20 to 30 days without going out
9.
Union (American Civil War)
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The Union was opposed by 11 southern slave states that formed the Confederate States, or the Confederacy. All of the Unions states provided soldiers for the U. S. Army, the Border states played a major role as a supply base for the Union invasion of the Confederacy. The Northeast provided the resources for a mechanized war producing large quantities of munitions and supplies. The Midwest provided soldiers, food, horses, financial support, Army hospitals were set up across the Union. Most states had Republican governors who energetically supported the war effort, the Democratic Party strongly supported the war in 1861 but in 1862 was split between the War Democrats and the anti-war element led by the Copperheads. The Democrats made major gains in 1862 in state elections. They lost ground in 1863, especially in Ohio, in 1864 the Republicans campaigned under the National Union Party banner, which attracted many War Democrats and soldiers and scored a landslide victory for Lincoln and his entire ticket. The war years were quite prosperous except where serious fighting and guerrilla warfare took place along the southern border, prosperity was stimulated by heavy government spending and the creation of an entirely new national banking system. The Union states invested a great deal of money and effort in organizing psychological and social support for soldiers wives, widows, orphans, and for the soldiers themselves. Most soldiers were volunteers, although after 1862 many volunteered to escape the draft, Draft resistance was notable in some larger cities, especially New York City with its massive anti-draft riots of 1863 and in some remote districts such as the coal mining areas of Pennsylvania. In the context of the American Civil War, the Union is sometimes referred to as the North, both then and now, as opposed to the Confederacy, which was the South. The Union never recognized the legitimacy of the Confederacys secession and maintained at all times that it remained entirely a part of the United States of America, in foreign affairs the Union was the only side recognized by all other nations, none of which officially recognized the Confederate government. The term Union occurs in the first governing document of the United States, the subsequent Constitution of 1787 was issued and ratified in the name not of the states, but of We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union. Union, for the United States of America, is repeated in such clauses as the Admission to the Union clause in Article IV. Even before the war started, the preserve the Union was commonplace. Using the term Union to apply to the non-secessionist side carried a connotation of legitimacy as the continuation of the political entity. In comparison to the Confederacy, the Union had a large industrialized and urbanized area, additionally, the Union states had a manpower advantage of 5 to 2 at the start of the war. Year by year, the Confederacy shrank and lost control of increasing quantities of resources, meanwhile, the Union turned its growing potential advantage into a much stronger military force
10.
Ambrose Burnside
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Ambrose Everett Burnside was an American soldier, railroad executive, inventor, industrialist, and politician from Rhode Island, serving as governor and a United States Senator. His distinctive style of facial hair became known as sideburns, derived from his last name and he was also the first president of the National Rifle Association. Burnside was born in Liberty, Indiana and was the fourth of nine children of Edghill and Pamela Brown Burnside and his great-great-grandfather Robert Burnside was born in Scotland and settled in the Province of South Carolina. His father was a native of South Carolina, he was an owner who freed his slaves when he relocated to Indiana. Ambrose attended Liberty Seminary as a boy, but his education was interrupted when his mother died in 1841, he was apprenticed to a local tailor. He graduated in 1847, ranking 18th in a class of 47 and he traveled to Veracruz for the Mexican–American War, but he arrived after hostilities had ceased and performed mostly garrison duty around Mexico City. In 1849, he was wounded by an arrow in his neck during a skirmish against Apaches in Las Vegas and he was promoted to 1st lieutenant on December 12,1851. In 1852, he was assigned to Fort Adams, Newport, Rhode Island, the marriage lasted until Marys death in 1876, but it was childless. In October 1853, Burnside resigned his commission in the United States Army and he devoted his time and energy to the manufacture of the famous firearm that bears his name, the Burnside carbine. President Buchanans Secretary of War John B, Floyd contracted the Burnside Arms Company to equip a large portion of the Army with his carbine, mostly cavalry, and induced him to establish extensive factories for its manufacture. The Bristol Rifle Works were no sooner complete than another gunmaker allegedly bribed Floyd to break his $100,000 contract with Burnside, Burnside ran as a Democrat for one of the Congressional seats in Rhode Island in 1858 and was defeated in a landslide. The burdens of the campaign and the destruction by fire of his contributed to his financial ruin. He then went west in search of employment and became treasurer of the Illinois Central Railroad, McClellan, who later became one of his commanding officers. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Burnside was a general in the Rhode Island Militia. He raised the 1st Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and was appointed its colonel on May 2,1861, two companies of this regiment were then armed with Burnside Carbines. Within a month, he ascended to command in the Department of Northeast Virginia. He commanded the brigade without distinction at the First Battle of Bull Run in July, and took over division command temporarily for wounded Brig. Gen. David Hunter. His 90-day regiment was mustered out of service on August 2 and he conducted a successful amphibious campaign that closed more than 80% of the North Carolina sea coast to Confederate shipping for the remainder of the war
11.
American Civil War
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The American Civil War was an internal conflict fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865. The Union faced secessionists in eleven Southern states grouped together as the Confederate States of America, the Union won the war, which remains the bloodiest in U. S. history. Among the 34 U. S. states in February 1861, War broke out in April 1861 when Confederates attacked the U. S. fortress of Fort Sumter. The Confederacy grew to eleven states, it claimed two more states, the Indian Territory, and the southern portions of the western territories of Arizona. The Confederacy was never recognized by the United States government nor by any foreign country. The states that remained loyal, including border states where slavery was legal, were known as the Union or the North, the war ended with the surrender of all the Confederate armies and the dissolution of the Confederate government in the spring of 1865. The war had its origin in the issue of slavery. The Confederacy collapsed and 4 million slaves were freed, but before his inauguration, seven slave states with cotton-based economies formed the Confederacy. The first six to declare secession had the highest proportions of slaves in their populations, the first seven with state legislatures to resolve for secession included split majorities for unionists Douglas and Bell in Georgia with 51% and Louisiana with 55%. Alabama had voted 46% for those unionists, Mississippi with 40%, Florida with 38%, Texas with 25%, of these, only Texas held a referendum on secession. Eight remaining slave states continued to reject calls for secession, outgoing Democratic President James Buchanan and the incoming Republicans rejected secession as illegal. Lincolns March 4,1861 inaugural address declared that his administration would not initiate a civil war, speaking directly to the Southern States, he reaffirmed, I have no purpose, directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the United States where it exists. I believe I have no right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. After Confederate forces seized numerous federal forts within territory claimed by the Confederacy, efforts at compromise failed, the Confederates assumed that European countries were so dependent on King Cotton that they would intervene, but none did, and none recognized the new Confederate States of America. Hostilities began on April 12,1861, when Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter, while in the Western Theater the Union made significant permanent gains, in the Eastern Theater, the battle was inconclusive in 1861–62. The autumn 1862 Confederate campaigns into Maryland and Kentucky failed, dissuading British intervention, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which made ending slavery a war goal. To the west, by summer 1862 the Union destroyed the Confederate river navy, then much of their western armies, the 1863 Union siege of Vicksburg split the Confederacy in two at the Mississippi River. In 1863, Robert E. Lees Confederate incursion north ended at the Battle of Gettysburg, Western successes led to Ulysses S. Grants command of all Union armies in 1864
12.
Battle of Fort Sanders
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The Battle of Fort Sanders was the crucial engagement of the Knoxville Campaign of the American Civil War, fought in Knoxville, Tennessee, on November 29,1863. The Confederacy had never had control of large areas of East Tennessee. Slavery wasnt practiced as widely in East Tennessee as in the portions of the state. This led to, unlike the rest of the state, pro-Union sentiment before, because of the fact that the few slaves there were in East Tennessee were household slaves for luxurious purposes, East Tennesseans felt disconnected from the economic practice of plantation slavery. Many East Tennesseans were classified as Yeoman farmers, and held a high spirit for the Union, in fact, Tennessee would furnish more volunteers for the Union than any other Confederate state combined, the majority of these volunteers were from East Tennessee. Union engineers commanded by Captain Orlando M. Poe built several fortifications in the form of bastioned earthworks near Knoxville, one was Fort Sanders, just west of downtown Knoxville across a creek valley. It was named for Brig. Gen. William P. Sanders, the fort, a salient in the line of earthworks that surrounded three sides of the city, rose 70 feet above the surrounding plateau and was protected by a ditch 12 feet wide and 8 feet deep. An almost vertical wall rose 15 feet above the ditch, inside the fort were 12 cannons and 440 men of the 79th New York Infantry. After Burnside escaped a trap at the Battle of Campbells Station, his men took up positions around Knoxville. Longstreet determined that Fort Sanders was the most appropriate place to attempt a breakthrough of the Union defenses and he initially planned an assault on November 20, but chose to delay while he received reinforcements. His eventual assault was conducted by three brigades, under Brig. Gen. Benjamin G. Humphreys, Brig. Gen. Goode Bryan. On November 23,1863, Longstreets forces seized Cherokee Heights, a tall bluff south of the Holston River from Knoxville, inexplicably, he squandered the element of surprise by deploying skirmishers forward hours before the assault. Although this movement placed them in positions for sharpshooting, it clearly revealed his plans to the Union troops. The assault, conducted on November 29,1863, was planned and executed. Longstreet discounted the difficulties of the physical obstacles his infantrymen would face and he had witnessed, through field glasses, a Union soldier walking across the ditch and, not realizing that the man had crossed on a plank, believed that the ditch was very shallow. He also believed that the walls could be negotiated by digging footholds. The Confederates moved to within 120-150 yards of the salient during the night of freezing rain and snow and their attack at dawn has been described as cruel and gruesome by 19th century standards. When they reached the ditch, they found the wall to be almost insurmountable, frozen
13.
Knoxville Campaign
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The mountainous, largely Unionist region of East Tennessee was considered by President Abraham Lincoln to be a key war objective. Besides possessing a population largely loyal to the Union, the region was rich in grain and livestock, throughout 1862 and 1863, Lincoln pressured a series of commanders to move through the difficult terrain and occupy the area. Burnsides plan to advance from Cincinnati, Ohio, with his two corps was delayed when the IX Corps was ordered to reinforce Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in the Vicksburg Campaign. While awaiting the return of the IX Corps, Burnside sent a brigade under Brig. Gen. William P. Sanders to strike at Knoxville with a force of cavalry and infantry. In mid-June, Sanders men destroyed railroads and disrupted communications around the city, controlled by the Confederate Department of East Tennessee, by mid-August, Burnside began his advance toward the city. The direct route to Knoxville ran through the Cumberland Gap, a position favoring the Confederate defenders. Instead, Burnside chose to flank them, despite poor road conditions, his men were able to march as many as 30 miles per day. As the Chickamauga Campaign began, Buckner was ordered south to Chattanooga, leaving only a brigade in the Cumberland Gap. Maj. Gen. Samuel Jones replaced Buckner as commander of the department at East Tennessee, one of Burnsides cavalry brigades reached Knoxville on September 2, virtually unopposed. The following day, Burnside and his main force occupied the city, in the Cumberland Gap,2,300 inexperienced soldiers commanded by Brig. Gen. John W. Frazer had built defenses but had no orders about what to do following Buckners withdrawal. On September 7, confronted by DeCourcy to his north and Brig. Gen. James M. Shackelford approaching from the south, Burnside and an infantry brigade commanded by Col. Samuel A. Gilbert left Knoxville and marched 60 miles in only 52 hours. Finally realizing that he was outnumbered, Frazer surrendered on September 9. Foster attacked at noon and in the battle, shelled the town and initiated a flanking movement. Confederate Brig. Gen. John S. Williams, with his force, set out to disrupt Union communications. He wished to take Bulls Gap on the East Tennessee & Virginia Railroad. On October 3, while advancing on Bulls Gap, he fought with Brig. Gen. Samuel P. Carters Union Cavalry Division, XXIII Corps, at Blue Springs, about nine miles from Bulls Gap, Carter withdrew, not knowing how many of the enemy he faced. Carter and Williams skirmished for the few days. On October 10, Carter approached Blue Springs in force, the battle began about 10,00 a. m. with Union cavalry engaging the Confederates until afternoon while another mounted force attempted to place itself in a position to cut off a Rebel retreat
14.
Electrical telegraph
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An electrical telegraph is a telegraph that uses electrical signals, usually conveyed via dedicated telecommunication lines or radio. From early studies of electricity, electrical phenomena were known to travel with great speed, in 1753 an anonymous writer in the Scots Magazine suggested an electrostatic telegraph. In 1774 Georges-Louis Le Sage realised an early electric telegraph, the telegraph had a separate wire for each of the 26 letters of the alphabet and its range was only between two rooms of his home. In 1800 Alessandro Volta invented the voltaic pile, allowing for a current of electricity for experimentation. Both their designs employed multiple wires to represent almost all Latin letters, thus, messages could be conveyed electrically up to a few kilometers, with each of the telegraph receivers wires immersed in a separate glass tube of acid. The telegraph receivers operator would watch the bubbles and could record the transmitted message. This is in contrast to later telegraphs that used a single wire, hans Christian Ørsted discovered in 1820 that an electric current produces a magnetic field which will deflect a compass needle. In the same year Johann Schweigger invented the galvanometer, with a coil of wire around a compass, in 1824, Peter Barlow said that such a system only worked to a distance of about 200 feet, and so was impractical. In 1825 William Sturgeon invented the electromagnet, with a winding of uninsulated wire on a piece of varnished iron. During his tenure at The Albany Academy from 1826 to 1832, in 1835 Joseph Henry and Edward Davy invented the critical electrical relay. Davys relay used a needle which dipped into a mercury contact when an electric current passed through the surrounding coil. This allowed a weak current to switch a larger current to operate a powerful local electromagnet over very long distances, Davy demonstrated his telegraph system in Regents Park in 1837 and was granted a patent on 4 July 1838. He also developed an electric relay, the first working telegraph was built by the English inventor Francis Ronalds in 1816 and used static electricity. At the family home on Hammersmith Mall, he set up a subterranean system in a 175 yard long trench as well as an eight mile long overhead telegraph. The lines were connected at both ends to revolving dials marked with the letters of the alphabet and electrical impulses sent along the wire were used to transmit messages, offering his invention to the Admiralty in July 1816, it was rejected as “wholly unnecessary”. Elements of Ronalds’ design were utilised in the subsequent commercialisation of the telegraph over 20 years later, the telegraph invented by Baron Schilling von Canstatt in 1832 had a transmitting device which consisted of a keyboard with 16 black-and-white keys. These served for switching the electric current, the receiving instrument consisted of six galvanometers with magnetic needles, suspended from silk threads. Both stations of Shillings telegraph were connected by eight wires, six were connected with the galvanometers, one served for the return current, when at the starting station the operator pressed a key, the corresponding pointer was deflected at the receiving station
15.
Second Schleswig War
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The Second Schleswig War was the second military conflict as a result of the Schleswig-Holstein Question. It began on 1 February 1864, when Prussian forces crossed the border into Schleswig, decisive controversy arose due to the passing of the November Constitution, which integrated the Duchy of Schleswig into the Danish kingdom in violation of the London Protocol. Reasons for the war were the controversy in Schleswig and the co-existence of conflicting political systems within the Danish unitary state. The war ended on 30 October 1864, when the Treaty of Vienna caused Denmarks cession of the Duchies of Schleswig, Holstein, the northern and middle parts of Schleswig spoke Danish, but over time, the language in the southern half had shifted gradually to German. German culture was dominant among the clergy and nobility, Danish culture had a social status and was spoken mainly by the rural population. For centuries, while the rule of the king was absolute, however, when ideas of liberal democracy spread and nationalist currents emerged about 1820, identification was mixed between Danish and German. To that was added a grievance about tolls charged by Denmark on shipping passing through the Danish Straits between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, to avoid that expense, Prussia planned the Kiel Canal, which could not be built so long as Denmark ruled Holstein. Much of the focused on the heir of King Frederick VII of Denmark. Prince Christian had served on the Danish side in the First Schleswig War in 1848-1851, at the time, the king of Denmark was also duke of the duchies of Holstein and Schleswig. In 1848, Denmark had received its first free constitution and at the time had fought a civil war with the Germans of Schleswig-Holstein in which Prussia had intervened. The peace treaty stipulated that the duchy of Schleswig should not be treated any differently from the duchy of Holstein in its relations with the Kingdom of Denmark and that was a clear breach of the 1851 peace treaty and gave Prussia and the German union a casus belli against Denmark. France had colonial problems, not least with Britain, Bismarck had effectively neutralized Russia politically and succeeded in obtaining cooperation from Austria which underlined its major power status within the German union. The adoption of the Constitution of Denmark in 1849 complicated matters further, as many Danes wished for the new constitution to apply to all Danes. Thus two systems of government co-existed within the state, democracy in Denmark, and absolutism in Schleswig. This caused a deadlock for practical lawmaking, in Copenhagen, the Palace and most of the administration supported a strict adherence to the status quo. In 1858, the German Confederation deposed the union constitution of the Danish monarchy concerning Holstein and Lauenburg, the two duchies were henceforth without any constitution, while the union constitution still applied to Schleswig and Denmark proper. As the heirless King Frederick VII grew older, Denmarks successive National-Liberal cabinets became increasingly focused on maintaining control of Schleswig following the kings demise. The king died in 1863 at a critical time, work on the November Constitution for the joint affairs of Denmark and Schleswig had just been completed
16.
Second Boer War
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The Second Boer War, usually known as the Boer War and also at the time as the South African War, started on 11 October 1899 and ended on 31 May 1902. Great Britain defeated two Boer states in South Africa, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State, Britain was aided by its Cape Colony, Colony of Natal and some native African allies. The British war effort was supported by volunteers from the British Empire, including Southern Africa, the Australian colonies, Canada, India. All other nations were neutral, but public opinion in them was largely hostile to Britain, inside Britain and its Empire there also was significant opposition to the Second Boer War. The British were overconfident and under-prepared, the Boers were very well armed and struck first, besieging Ladysmith, Kimberley, and Mafeking in early 1900, and winning important battles at Colenso, Magersfontein and Stormberg. Staggered, the British brought in numbers of soldiers and fought back. General Redvers Buller was replaced by Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener and they relieved the three besieged cities, and invaded the two Boer republics in late 1900. The onward marches of the British Army were so overwhelming that the Boers did not fight staged battles in defense of their homeland, the British quickly seized control of all of the Orange Free State and Transvaal, as the civilian leadership went into hiding or exile. In conventional terms, the war was over, Britain officially annexed the two countries in 1900, and called a khaki election to give the government another six years of power in London. However, the Boers refused to surrender and they reverted to guerrilla warfare under new generals Louis Botha, Jan Smuts, Christiaan de Wet and Koos de la Rey. Two more years of attacks and quick escapes followed. As guerrillas without uniforms, the Boer fighters easily blended into the farmlands, which provided hiding places, supplies, the British solution was to set up complex nets of block houses, strong points, and barbed wire fences, partitioning off the entire conquered territory. The civilian farmers were relocated into concentration camps, where very large proportions died of disease, especially the children, then the British mounted infantry units systematically tracked down the highly mobile Boer guerrilla units. The battles at this stage were small operations with few combat casualties The war ended in surrender, the British successfully won over the Boer leaders, who now gave full support to the new political system. Both former republics were incorporated into the Union of South Africa in 1910, the conflict is commonly referred to as simply the Boer War, since the First Boer War is much less well known. Boer was the term for Afrikaans-speaking white South Africans descended from the Dutch East India Companys original settlers at the Cape of Good Hope. It is officially called the South African War and it is known as the Anglo-Boer War among some South Africans. In Afrikaans it may be called the Anglo-Boereoorlog, Tweede Boereoorlog, in South Africa it is officially called the South African War
17.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
18.
Machine gun
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A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm designed to fire bullets in quick succession from an ammunition belt or magazine, typically at a rate of 300 to 1800 rounds per minute. Note that not all fully automatic firearms are machine guns, submachine guns, rifles, assault rifles, shotguns, pistols or cannons may be capable of fully automatic fire, but are not designed for sustained fire. Many machine guns also use belt feeding and open bolt operation, unlike semi-automatic firearms, which require one trigger pull per round fired, a machine gun is designed to fire for as long as the trigger is held down. Nowadays the term is restricted to heavy weapons, able to provide continuous or frequent bursts of automatic fire for as long as ammunition lasts. Machine guns are used against personnel, aircraft and light vehicles, or to provide suppressive fire. Some machine guns have in practice sustained fire almost continuously for hours, because they become very hot, practically all machine guns fire from an open bolt, to permit air cooling from the breech between bursts. They also usually have either a barrel cooling system, slow-heating heavyweight barrel, although subdivided into light, medium, heavy or general-purpose, even the lightest machine guns tend to be substantially larger and heavier than standard infantry arms. Medium and heavy guns are either mounted on a tripod or on a vehicle, when carried on foot. Medium machine guns use full-sized rifle rounds and are designed to be used from fixed positions mounted on a tripod. 50in, the M249 automatic rifle is operated by an automatic rifleman, but its ammunition may be carried by other Soldiers within the squad or unit. The M249 machine gun is a crew-served weapon, Machine guns usually have simple iron sights, though the use of optics is becoming more common. Many heavy machine guns, such as the Browning M2.50 caliber machine gun, are enough to engage targets at great distances. During the Vietnam War, Carlos Hathcock set the record for a shot at 7382 ft with a.50 caliber heavy machine gun he had equipped with a telescopic sight. This led to the introduction of.50 caliber anti-materiel sniper rifles, selective fire rifles firing a full-power rifle cartridge from a closed bolt are called automatic rifles or battle rifles, while rifles that fire an intermediate cartridge are called assault rifles. Unlocking and removing the spent case from the chamber and ejecting it out of the weapon as bolt is moving rearward Loading the next round into the firing chamber. Usually the recoil spring tension pushes bolt back into battery and a cam strips the new round from a feeding device, cycle is repeated as long as the trigger is activated by operator. Releasing the trigger resets the trigger mechanism by engaging a sear so the weapon stops firing with bolt carrier fully at the rear, the operation is basically the same for all autoloading firearms, regardless of the means of activating these mechanisms. Most modern machine guns use gas-operated reloading, a recoil actuated machine gun uses the recoil to first unlock and then operate the action. Machine guns such as the M2 Browning and MG42, are of this type, a cam, lever or actuator demultiplicates the energy of the recoil to operate the bolt
19.
Casualty (person)
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In civilian usage, a casualty is a person who is killed, wounded or injured by some event, and is usually used to describe multiple deaths and injuries due to violent incidents or disasters. Casualties is sometimes misunderstood to mean fatalities, but non-fatal injuries are also casualties, any casualty is no longer available for the immediate battle or campaign, the major consideration in combat, and the reason for lumping together all these different cases. The word has been used in a military context since at least 1513, civilian casualties are civilians killed or injured by military personnel or combatants, sometimes instead referred to by the euphemistic expression collateral damage. Any casualty incurred as the result of hostile action, sustained in combat or relating thereto. These definitions are popular among military historians, in relation to personnel, any person killed in action, missing in action or who died of wounds or diseases before being evacuated to a medical installation. There is a distinction between combat medical casualty and non-combat medical casualty, a casualty classification generally used to describe any person reported missing during combat operations. They may have deserted, or may have killed, wounded. A casualty classification generally used to any person who has incurred an injury by means of action of hostile forces. A casualty classification generally used to any person captured and held in custody by hostile forces. These numbers are cited together with or instead of total casualties. According to WHO World health report 2004, deaths from injuries were estimated to be 2. 8% of all deaths. In the same report, unintentional injury was estimated to be responsible for 6. 2% of all deaths, list of causes of death by rate Casualty – Definition from the Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary. Online text, War Casualties, by Albert G. Love, Lt. Colonel, Medical Corps, Medical Field Service School, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. The Army Medical Bulletin Number 24, selected Death Tolls for Wars, Massacres and Atrocities Before the 20th Century. Twentieth Century Atlas – Death Tolls, combat Casualties and Race, What Can We Learn from the 2003–2004 Iraq Conflict. Armed Forces & Society, Jan 2005, vol, kummel, Gerhard and Nina LeonhardCasualties and Civil-Military Relations, The German Polity between Learning and Indifference. Armed Forces & Society, Jul 2005, vol. A Review of Popular Theories of Casualty Aversion, Armed Forces & Society, Jul 2005, vol. 31, pp. 487–512 Van Der Meulen, Jan and Joseph Soeters. Considering Casualties, Risk, Armed Forces & Society, Jul 2005, vol
20.
Trench warfare
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The most famous use of trench warfare is the Western Front in World War I. It has become a byword for stalemate, attrition, sieges, Trench warfare occurred when a revolution in firepower was not matched by similar advances in mobility, resulting in a grueling form of warfare in which the defender held the advantage. On the Western Front in 1914–18, both sides constructed elaborate trench and dugout systems opposing each other along a front, protected from assault by barbed wire, mines, the area between opposing trench lines was fully exposed to artillery fire from both sides. Attacks, even if successful, often sustained severe casualties, with the development of armoured warfare, emphasis on trench warfare has declined, but still occurs where battle-lines become static. Field works are as old as armies, Roman legions, when in the presence of an enemy, entrenched camps nightly when on the move. In the early modern era they were used to block possible lines of advance and they played a pivotal role in manoeuvring that took place before the Battle of Blenheim. The lines were captured by the French in 1707 and demolished, the French built the 19-kilometre-long Lines of Weissenburg during the War of the Spanish Succession under the orders of the Duke of Villars in 1706. These were to remain in existence for just over 100 years and were last manned during Napoleons Hundred Days, the French built the Lines of Ne Plus Ultra during the winter of 1710–1711, which have been compared to the trenches of World War I. They ran from Arras to Cambrai and Valenciennes where they linked up with existing defensive lines fronted by the river Sambre and they were breached in the 1711 campaign season by the Duke of Marlborough through a magnificent piece of manoeuvring. During the Peninsular War, the British and Portuguese constructed the Lines of Torres Vedras in 1809 and 1810, nor were fortifications restricted to European powers. British casualty rates of up to 45 percent, such as at the Battle of Ohaeawai in 1845, proved contemporary firepower was insufficient to dislodge defenders from a trench system. Fundamentally, as the range and rate of fire of rifled small arms increased and this was only made more lethal by the introduction of rapid-firing artillery, exemplified by the French 75, and high explosive fragmentation rounds. The increases in firepower had outstripped the ability of infantry to cover the ground between firing lines, and the ability of armour to withstand fire and it would take a revolution in mobility to change that. Trench warfare is associated with the First World War of 1914–18. Both sides concentrated on breaking up attacks and on protecting their own troops by digging deep into the ground. Trench warfare was conducted on other fronts, including Italy. Trench warfare has become a symbol of the futility of war. To the French, the equivalent is the attrition of the Battle of Verdun in which the French Army suffered 380,000 casualties, Trench warfare is associated with mass slaughter in appalling conditions
21.
Repeating rifle
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A repeating rifle is a single barreled rifle containing multiple rounds of ammunition. These rounds are loaded from a magazine by means of a manual or automatic mechanism, Repeating rifles were a significant advance over the preceding breech loaded single-shot rifles when used for military combat, as they allowed a much greater rate of fire. Repeating rifles saw use in the American Civil War during the early 1860s, while some early long guns were made using the revolver mechanism popular in hand guns, these did not have longevity in the marketplace. The bolt closes the end of the barrel and contains the firing pin. The bolt is held in place with a lever that fits into a notch, moving this lever out of the notch will release the restraint on the bolt, allowing it to be drawn back. An extractor removes the spent cartridge, which is ejected through the lever slot. A spring at the bottom of the magazine pushes up the reserve rounds, pushing the bolt lever forward chambers this round and pushing the lever into the notch locks the bolt and enables the trigger mechanism. The complete cycle action also resets the firing pin, the Russian Mosin–Nagant rifle, the British Lee–Enfield, and the Norwegian Krag–Jørgensen are examples of alternate bolt-action designs. In a classic lever-action firearm of the Henry-Winchester type, rounds are loaded into a tubular magazine parallel to. A short bolt is held in place with an over center toggle action, once closed, the over center action prevents opening solely by the force on the bolt when the weapon is fired. This toggle action is operated by a grip that forms part of the trigger guard. When operated, a spring in the magazine pushes a fresh round into position. Returning the operating lever to the home position chambers the round, an interlock prevents firing unless the toggle is fully closed. The famous Model 1873 Winchester is exemplary of this type, later lever-action designs, such as Marlin leverguns and those designed for Winchester by John Browning, use one or two vertical locking blocks instead of a toggle-link. There also exist lever-action rifles that feed from a box magazine, a one-off example of Lever action reloading on automatic firearms is the M1895 Colt–Browning machine gun. This weapon had a lever beneath its barrel that was actuated by a gas bleed in the barrel. This unique operation gave the nickname potato digger as the lever swung each time the weapon fired, with a pump-action firearm, the action is operated by a movable fore-end that goes backwards and forwards to eject, extract, and chamber a round of ammunition. Pump-actions are usually associated with shotguns, but one example of a rifle is the Remington Model 7600 series
22.
Quick-firing gun
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A quick-firing gun is an artillery piece, typically a gun or howitzer, which has several characteristics which taken together mean the weapon can fire at a fast rate. Quick-firing was introduced worldwide in the 1880s and early 1890s and had a impact on war both on land and at sea. The Royal Navy advertised for a quick firing gun in 1881 and this rate of fire became increasingly important with the development of the first practical torpedoes and torpedo boats, which posed an extreme threat to the Royal Navys maritime predominance. The first quick-firing light gun was the 1-inch Nordenfelt gun, built in Britain from 1880, the gun fired a solid steel bullet with hardened tip and brass jacket. The gun was used in one, two and four-barrel versions, the ammunition was fed by gravity from a hopper above the breech subdivided into separate columns for each barrel. The gunner loaded and fired the multiple barrels by moving a lever on the side of the gun forward. The French firm Hotchkiss produced the QF3 pounder as a light 47-mm naval gun from 1886, the gun was ideal for defending against small fast vessels such as torpedo boats and was immediately adopted by the RN as the Ordnance QF3 pounder Hotchkiss. It was built under licence by Elswick Ordnance Company, the Royal Navy introduced the QF4. 7-inch in HMS Sharpshooter in 1889, and the QF 6-inch MK1 in HMS Royal Sovereign, launched 1891. Other navies followed suit, the French navy installed quick-firing weapons on its ships completed in 1894-5, quick-firing guns were a key characteristic of the pre-dreadnought battleship, the dominant design of the 1890s. The quick-firing guns, while unable to penetrate armour, were intended to destroy the superstructure of an opposing battleship, start fires. An early quick-firing field gun was created by Vladimir Baranovsky in 1872-5 which was adopted by the Russian military in 1882. On land, quick-firing field guns were first adopted by the French Army, other nations were quick to copy the quick-firing technology. The QF4. 7-inch Gun Mk I–IV was initially manufactured for naval use, British forces in the Second Boer War were initially outgunned by the long range Boer artillery. Scott then improvised a travelling carriage for 4.7 inch guns removed from their usual static coastal or ship mountings to provide the army with a field gun. These improvised carriages lacked recoil buffers and hence in action drag shoes and they were manned by Royal Navy crews and required up to 32 oxen to move. The first war in which quick-firing artillery was widespread was the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5, the quick-firing howitzer offered the potential for practical indirect fire. Traditional howitzers had been employed to engage targets outside their line of fire, quick-firing weapons were capable of a heavy indirect bombardment, and this was the main mode of their employment during the 20th century. The characteristics of an artillery piece are, Buffers to limit recoil
23.
20 (number)
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20 is the natural number following 19 and preceding 21. A group of twenty units may also be referred to as a score,20 is a tetrahedral number as 1,4,10,20. 20 is the basis for vigesimal number systems,20 is the third composite number comprising the product of a squared prime and a prime, and also the second member of the q family in this form. 20 has a sum of 22. Accordingly,20 is the abundant number and demonstrates an 8-member aliquot sequence. 20 is the smallest primitive abundant number,20 is the 4th composite number in the 7-aliquot tree. Two numbers have 20 as their sum, the discrete semiprime 34. Only 2 other square primes are abundant 12 and 18,20 can be written as the sum of three Fibonacci numbers uniquely, i. e.20 =13 +5 +2. The product of the number of divisors and the number of divisors of 20 is exactly 20. 20 is the number of required to optimally solve a Rubiks Cube in the worst case. 20 is the number with more than one digit that can be written from base 2 to base 20 using only the digits 0 to 9. The third magic number in physics, the IAU shower number for Coma Berenicids. The number of amino acids that are encoded by the standard genetic code. In some countries, the number 20 is used as an index in measuring visual acuity, 20/20 indicates normal vision at 20 feet, although it is commonly used to mean perfect vision. When someone is able to see only after an event how things turned out, the Baltimore Orioles and Cincinnati Reds, both for Hall of Famer Frank Robinson. The Kansas City Royals, for Frank White, the Los Angeles Dodgers, for Hall of Famer Don Sutton. The Philadelphia Phillies, for Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt, the Pittsburgh Pirates, for Hall of Famer Pie Traynor. The St. Louis Cardinals, for Hall of Famer Lou Brock, the San Francisco Giants, for Hall of Famer Monte Irvin, who played for the team when it was the New York Giants
24.
Randomness
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Randomness is the lack of pattern or predictability in events. A random sequence of events, symbols or steps has no order, individual random events are by definition unpredictable, but in many cases the frequency of different outcomes over a large number of events is predictable. For example, when throwing two dice, the outcome of any particular roll is unpredictable, but a sum of 7 will occur twice as often as 4. In this view, randomness is a measure of uncertainty of an outcome, rather than haphazardness, and applies to concepts of chance, probability, the fields of mathematics, probability, and statistics use formal definitions of randomness. In statistics, a variable is an assignment of a numerical value to each possible outcome of an event space. This association facilitates the identification and the calculation of probabilities of the events, Random variables can appear in random sequences. A random process is a sequence of variables whose outcomes do not follow a deterministic pattern. These and other constructs are extremely useful in probability theory and the applications of randomness. Randomness is most often used in statistics to signify well-defined statistical properties, Monte Carlo methods, which rely on random input, are important techniques in science, as, for instance, in computational science. By analogy, quasi-Monte Carlo methods use quasirandom number generators, Random selection is a method of selecting items from a population where the probability of choosing a specific item is the proportion of those items in the population. For example, with a bowl containing just 10 red marbles and 90 blue marbles, note that a random selection mechanism that selected 10 marbles from this bowl would not necessarily result in 1 red and 9 blue. In situations where a population consists of items that are distinguishable and that is, if the selection process is such that each member of a population, of say research subjects, has the same probability of being chosen then we can say the selection process is random. In ancient history, the concepts of chance and randomness were intertwined with that of fate, many ancient peoples threw dice to determine fate, and this later evolved into games of chance. Most ancient cultures used various methods of divination to attempt to circumvent randomness, the Chinese of 3000 years ago were perhaps the earliest people to formalize odds and chance. The Greek philosophers discussed randomness at length, but only in non-quantitative forms and it was only in the 16th century that Italian mathematicians began to formalize the odds associated with various games of chance. The invention of the calculus had a impact on the formal study of randomness. The early part of the 20th century saw a growth in the formal analysis of randomness. In the mid- to late-20th century, ideas of information theory introduced new dimensions to the field via the concept of algorithmic randomness
25.
Artillery
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Artillery is a class of large military weapons built to fire munitions far beyond the range and power of infantrys small arms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach fortifications, and led to heavy, as technology improved, lighter, more mobile field artillery developed for battlefield use. This development continues today, modern self-propelled artillery vehicles are highly mobile weapons of great versatility providing the largest share of an armys total firepower, in its earliest sense, the word artillery referred to any group of soldiers primarily armed with some form of manufactured weapon or armour. In common speech, the artillery is often used to refer to individual devices, along with their accessories and fittings. However, there is no generally recognised generic term for a gun, howitzer, mortar, and so forth, the United States uses artillery piece, the projectiles fired are typically either shot or shell. Shell is a widely used term for a projectile, which is a component of munitions. By association, artillery may also refer to the arm of service that customarily operates such engines, in the 20th Century technology based target acquisition devices, such as radar, and systems, such as sound ranging and flash spotting, emerged to acquire targets, primarily for artillery. These are usually operated by one or more of the artillery arms, Artillery originated for use against ground targets—against infantry, cavalry and other artillery. An early specialist development was coastal artillery for use against enemy ships, the early 20th Century saw the development of a new class of artillery for use against aircraft, anti-aircraft guns. Artillery is arguably the most lethal form of land-based armament currently employed, the majority of combat deaths in the Napoleonic Wars, World War I, and World War II were caused by artillery. In 1944, Joseph Stalin said in a speech that artillery was the God of War, although not called as such, machines performing the role recognizable as artillery have been employed in warfare since antiquity. The first references in the historical tradition begin at Syracuse in 399 BC. From the Middle Ages through most of the era, artillery pieces on land were moved by horse-drawn gun carriages. In the contemporary era, the artillery and crew rely on wheeled or tracked vehicles as transportation, Artillery used by naval forces has changed significantly also, with missiles replacing guns in surface warfare. The engineering designs of the means of delivery have likewise changed significantly over time, in some armies, the weapon of artillery is the projectile, not the equipment that fires it. The process of delivering fire onto the target is called gunnery, the actions involved in operating the piece are collectively called serving the gun by the detachment or gun crew, constituting either direct or indirect artillery fire. The term gunner is used in armed forces for the soldiers and sailors with the primary function of using artillery. The gunners and their guns are usually grouped in teams called either crews or detachments, several such crews and teams with other functions are combined into a unit of artillery, usually called a battery, although sometimes called a company
26.
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
27.
Screw picket
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A screw picket is a metal device which is used to secure objects to the ground. Today, screw pickets are used widely to temporarily picket dogs and they are also used to graze animals such as sheep, goats, and horses. Screw pickets are used to stabilize small trees, tent poles. The original picket was a stake hammered into the ground to secure a horse by tying it to the stake and this required a second tool or the availability of a rock to use instead of a tool. The screw picket is screwed into the ground, in hard ground, it requires a second tool or the availability of a length of wood. Screw pickets can be bent or broken, but less easily pulled from the ground. Screw pickets were introduced c.1915 as a replacement for timber posts, the French name for this type of steel stake was queue de cochon or pigtail. The World War I steel stake became known in the British Army as a corkscrew picket, the corkscrew picket was made from a steel bar which had its bottom end bent into a spiral coil. It also had three loops or eyes formed, one at top, one at midway and one just above the corkscrew spiral, the final product was about eight feet long. Groups of soldiers known as wiring parties went out at night into no mans land to position these supports and they later strung the barbed wire through the loops to form a defensive wire obstacle as a protection for their trench line. The British called this type of stake a corkscrew picket because it was screwed into the rather than hammered in as the timber posts had been. The screw pickets replaced the posts, because they could be installed rapidly and silently. A wiring party is described in detail in World War I novel All Quiet on the Western Front by contemporary author Erich Maria Remarque. The corkscrew picket was screwed into the ground by turning it in a clockwise direction using an entrenching tools handle or a stick inserted in the eye of the picket for leverage. The bottom eye was used in order to avoid bending the vertical bar of the picket, auger Materiel Wire obstacle Trench warfare
28.
MG 08
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The Maschinengewehr 08, or MG08, was the German Armys standard machine gun in World War I and is an adaptation of Hiram S. Maxims original 1884 Maxim gun. It was produced in a number of variants during the war, the MG08 served during World War II as a heavy machine gun in many German infantry divisions, although by the end of the war it had mostly been relegated to second-rate fortress units. The Maschinengewehr 08 —so-named after 1908, its year of adoption—was a development of the license made Maschinengewehr 01, the firing rate depends on the lock assembly used and averages 500 rounds per minute for the Schloss 08 and 600 rounds per minute for the Schloss 16. Using a separate attachment sight with range calculator for indirect fire, additional telescopic sights were also developed and used in quantity during the war. The MG08, like the Maxim gun, operated on the basis of short barrel recoil and its practical range was estimated at some 2,000 metres up to an extreme range of 3,600 metres. The MG08 was mounted on a mount that was ferried between locations either on carts or else carried above mens shoulders in the manner of a stretcher. Pre-war production was by Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken in Berlin and by the government Spandau arsenal, when the war began in August 1914, approximately 12,000 MG 08s were available to battlefield units, production, at numerous factories, was however markedly ramped up during wartime. It also had a range of round about 2-4,000 yards.5 millimeters — was tested as a prototype in 1915 by a team of weapon designers under the direction of an Oberst Friedrich von Merkatz—the MG 08/15. The MG 08/15 had been designed to be manned by four trained infantrymen spread on the ground around the gun, to accomplish that purpose, the MG 08/15 featured a short bipod rather than a heavy four-legged sled mount, plus a wooden gunstock and a pistol grip. At 18 kg, the MG 08/15 was lighter and less cumbersome than the standard MG08 and it nevertheless remained a bulky water-cooled weapon that was quite demanding on the quality and training of its crews. Accurate fire was difficult to achieve and usually in short bursts only and it was first introduced in battle during the French Chemin des Dames offensive in April 1917, where it contributed to the very high casualty count among the French assailants. Its deployment in large numbers with all front line infantry regiments continued in 1917 and during the German offensives of the spring. The MG 08/15 became, by far, the most common German machine gun deployed in World War I since it reached a full allocation of six guns per company or 72 guns per regiment in 1918. By that time, there were four times as many MG 08/15 light machine guns than heavy MG08 machine guns in each infantry regiment. To attain this goal, about 130,000 MG 08/15 had to be manufactured during World War I, most of them by the Spandau and Erfurt government arsenals. An air-cooled and thus water-free and lighter version of the MG 08/15, the MG 08/18s barrel was heavier and it could not be quick-changed, thus overheating was inevitably a problem. The word 08/15 lives on as an idiom in colloquial German, 08/15, being used today as an adjective to denote something totally ordinary. However, this is one of possible origins of the idiom. I through the E. III production versions of the Fokker Eindecker
29.
Enfilade and defilade
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Enfilade and defilade are concepts in military tactics used to describe a military formations exposure to enemy fire. A formation or position is in enfilade if weapons fire can be directed along its longest axis, a unit or position is in defilade if it uses natural or artificial obstacles to shield or conceal itself from enfilade. The strategies invented by the English use the French enfiler and défiler which the English nobility used at that time, enfilade fire, a gunfire directed against an enfiladed formation or position, is also commonly known as flanking fire. Raking fire is the equivalent term in naval warfare, strafing, firing on targets from a flying platform, is often done with enfilade fire. A formation or position is in enfilade if weapons fire can be directed along its longest axis, for instance, a trench is enfiladed if the opponent can fire down the length of the trench. A column of marching troops is enfiladed if fired on from the front or rear such that the travel the length of the column. A rank or line of advancing troops is enfiladed if fired on from the side, the benefit of enfilading an enemy formation is that, by firing along the long axis, it becomes easier to hit targets within that formation. Enfilade fire takes advantage of the fact that it is easier to aim laterally than to correctly estimate the range to avoid shooting too long or short. Additionally, both indirect and direct fire projectiles that might miss a target are more likely to hit another valuable target within the formation if firing along the long axis. A unit or position is in if it uses natural or artificial obstacles to shield or conceal. For an armored fighting vehicle, defilade is synonymous with a hull-down or turret-down position, defilade is also used to refer to a position on the reverse slope of a hill or within a depression in level or rolling terrain. Defiladed positions on hilltops are advantageous because dead space – a space that cannot be engaged with direct fire – will be created in front of the position. Ideally, this space should be covered by the interlocking fields of fire of other nearby positions. In the case of weapons, and especially short-range man-portable antitank rockets. Early detection and elimination of antitank threats is an important reason that tanks attack with infantry support, the same principles apply to fighting positions for artillery and armored fighting vehicles. A unit sited in defilade threatens an enemy that decides to pass it and move forward, the friendly unit would be in a position that is shielded by terrain from direct enemy fire, while still being able to fire on the enemy in an effective manner
30.
Water cooling
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Water cooling is a method of heat removal from components and industrial equipment. As opposed to air cooling, water is used as the heat conductor, the main mechanism for water cooling is convective heat transfer. Cooling water is the water removing heat from a machine or system, cooling water may be recycled through a recirculating system or used in a single pass once-through cooling system. Recirculating systems may be if they rely upon cooling towers or cooling ponds to remove heat or closed if heat removal is accomplished with negligible evaporative loss of cooling water. Environmental regulations emphasize the reduced concentrations of waste products in non-contact cooling water, the advantages of using water cooling over air cooling include waters higher specific heat capacity, density, and thermal conductivity. This allows water to heat over greater distances with much less volumetric flow. The water jacket around an engine is very effective at deadening mechanical noises. Water accelerates corrosion of parts and is a favorable medium for biological growth. Dissolved minerals in water supplies are concentrated by evaporation to leave deposits called scale. Cooling water often requires addition of chemicals to minimize corrosion and insulating deposits of scale, an open water cooling system makes use of evaporative cooling, lowering the temperature of the remaining water. This method was common in internal combustion engines, until scale buildup was observed from dissolved salts. Modern open cooling systems continuously waste a fraction of recirculating water as blowdown to remove dissolved solids at low enough to prevent scale formation. Some open systems use inexpensive tap water, but this requires higher rates than deionized or distilled water. Purified water systems still require blowdown to remove accumulation of byproducts of chemical treatment to prevent corrosion, modern automotive cooling systems are slightly pressurized, often to 15 psi. This raises the boiling-point of the coolant and reduces evaporation, the use of water cooling carries the risk of damage from freezing. Automotive and many other engine cooling applications require the use of a water, antifreeze also inhibits corrosion from dissimilar metals and can increase the boiling point, allowing a wider range of water cooling temperatures. Its distinctive odor also alerts operators to cooling system leaks and problems that would go unnoticed in a cooling system. The heated coolant mixture can also be used to warm the air conditioning system inside the car by means of the heater core, other less common chemical additives are products to reduce surface tension
31.
Vickers machine gun
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The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a name primarily used to refer to the water-cooled.303 British machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The machine gun typically required a six to eight-man team to operate, one fired, one fed the ammunition and it was in service from before the First World War until the 1960s, with air-cooled versions of it on many Allied World War I fighter aircraft. The weapon had a reputation for solidity and reliability. Using 100 barrels, they fired a million rounds without a failure and it was this absolute foolproof reliability which endeared the Vickers to every British soldier who ever fired one. The Vickers machine gun was based on the successful Maxim gun of the late 19th century, a muzzle booster was also added. The British Army formally adopted the Vickers gun as its machine gun on 26 November 1912. There were still great shortages when the First World War began, Vickers was, in fact, threatened with prosecution for war profiteering, due to the exorbitant price it was demanding for each gun. As a result, the price was slashed, as the war progressed, and numbers increased, it became the British Armys primary machine gun, and served on all fronts during the conflict. After the First World War, the Machine Gun Corps was disbanded, however, the Vickers remained in service with the British Army until 30 March 1968. Its last operational use was in the Radfan during the Aden Emergency and its successor in UK service is the L7 GPMG. In 1913, a Vickers machine gun was mounted on the experimental Vickers E. F. B.1 biplane, which was probably the worlds first purpose-built combat aeroplane. However, by the time the version, the Vickers F. B.5, had entered service the following year. During World War I, the Vickers gun became a weapon on British and French military aircraft. Although heavier than the Lewis, its closed bolt firing cycle made it easier to synchronize to allow it to fire through aircraft propellers. The belt feed was enclosed right up to the guns feed-way to inhibit effects from wind, steel disintegrating-link ammunition belts were perfected in the UK by William de Courcy Prideaux in mid-war and became standard for aircraft guns thereafter. The famous Sopwith Camel and the SPAD XIII types used twin synchronized Vickers, as did most British and French fighters between 1918 and the mid-1930s. Several sets of louvred slots were cut into the jacket to aid air cooling. The Gloster Gladiator was the last RAF fighter to be armed with the Vickers, the Fairey Swordfish continued to be fitted with the weapon until production ended in August 1944
32.
MacAdam Shield Shovel
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The MacAdam Shield-Shovel, also known as the Hughes Shovel, was an item of Canadian infantry equipment during the First World War. It was designed and patented by Sam Hughes, the Canadian minister for the Department of Militia and Defence in 1913, combining function as a spade/shovel and as a shield. Ena MacAdam, Hughes personal secretary, had first suggested the idea of a shovel to Hughes after she witnessed Swiss soldiers making field entrenchments during field exercises. The MacAdam shield-shovel resembled the standard portable infantry spade of its day in both size and shape, in order to stop or deflect enemy fire, thicker steel was used in the construction of the blade, it measured at three-sixteenths of an inch thick. Heavy steel was used to make the shovels detachable handle which measured four feet in length. Unique to the shield-shovel was the inclusion of a 3.5 by 2 inch sight-hole in the blade. The shovel was intended to be used as a shield by folding the handle to ~90° toward the side of the blade. The spike would then be driven into the ground, resulting in the blade standing vertically, in total, the MacAdam shield-shovel weighed 5 pounds 4 ounces. It was patented as CA157592 in name of Ena MacAdam, who listed occupation as Stenographer and she also patented it in the US as 1148180, filed on 24 August 1914 and published on 27 July 1915. In 1914,25,000 shield-shovels were ordered and shipped to Europe for use by the 1st Canadian Division, preliminary tests, however, revealed that the shovel’s blade was incapable of stopping even small caliber bullets. With such a reputation, several high-ranking Canadian and British military officials refused to press the instrument into service, with these developments, an executive order was eventually issued for the shovels to be reduced to scrap. A total sum of $1,400 was recovered in the salvage, a far less than the original contract price. Despite being condemned by the military, a following of Canadian snipers continued to use the shovel. Aware of the limitations, they preferred to use them in a collective series for added protection. The MacAdam Shield-Shovel currently stands in Canadian First World War historiography as an invention which was poorly conceived given that its purpose was never fully realized. One historian is of the opinion that the MacAdam Shield Shovel must be recognized for what he feels it represents, Others feel the device is simply indicative of Sir Sam Hughes greed and arrogance who often put his own well-being ahead that of his troops. It is also an illustration of the economic nationalism whereby locally developed technologies were ardently believed by their proponents inherently superior because they were products of the country, haycock, Ronald G. Sam Hughes, The Public Career of a Controversial Canadian, 1885-1916. Toronto, Wilfrid Laurier University Press,1986, marching to Armageddon, Canadians and the Great War 1914-1919
33.
Stormtrooper
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Stormtroopers were specialist soldiers of the German Army in World War I. In the last years of the war, Stoßtruppen were trained to fight with infiltration tactics, men trained in these methods were known in Germany as Sturmmann, formed into companies of Sturmtruppen. The infiltration tactics of the stormtroopers are still in use today, other armies have also used the term assault troops, shock troops or fireteams for specialist soldiers who perform the infiltration tasks of stormtroopers. Ever since introduction of breech-loading infantry rifles there had been a growing realization that the days of close order infantry assault were coming to an end. g. Open order tactics reliant more on achieving fire superiority and moving when enemy fire was ineffective than positioning oneself for the bayonet charge. This process either failed, or at most gained only a distance, while incurring enormous casualties. The first experimental Pioneer assault unit of the German army formed in the spring of 1915, founded by Major Calsow, the methods which Rohr developed form the basis of all modern small-unit infantry tactics. Infiltration tactics in the Allied armies were first formally proposed by French Army captain André Laffargue, in 1915 Laffargue published a pamphlet, The attack in trench warfare, based upon his experiences in combat that same year. He advocated that the first wave of an attack identify hard-to-defeat defenses but not attack them, the French published his pamphlet for information, but did not implement it. The distinction between the German and French tactics was that Laffargue recommended using waves of infantry to attack despite the high casualities that would ensue, soldiers were trained to consider fire as a means to facilitate movement in progress. Movement would be a call for fire, N. R. McMahon advocated using combined arms in the attack, particularly light machine guns using a decentralised fire control and tactical command system. These methods, suggested in 1909, bore a resemblance to the Stoßtrupptaktik used by the Germans six years later. In February 1917, the British Army issued Manual SS143 on the subject, using them throughout 1917, the British perfected all-arms battle. The British made the platoon the basic unit rather than the company as in 1916. The platoon was made up of four sections, Lewis Gun, rifle grenade, grenade, the new organisation allowed the platoon to make best use of the trench-fighting equipment that had arrived in adequate quantities since the beginning of the battle of the Somme. The concept of Stormtroopers first appeared in March 1915, when the Ministry of War directed the Eighth Army to form Sturmabteilung Calsow, SA Calsow consisted of a headquarters, two pioneer companies and a 37mm gun battery. The unit was to use shields and body armor as protection in attacks. However, SA Calsow was never employed in its intended role, instead it was sent into the line in France as emergency reinforcements during heavy Allied attacks
34.
Ballistic shield
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The most capable of hand-carried ballistic shields will reliably defeat high-velocity centerfire rifle calibers at muzzle velocities. Although perhaps better described as rather than shields, wheel-mounted rolling armored panels pushed along the ground by users are now being sold as a type of ballistic shield. Recent advances in science have resulted in more efficient bullet protective composites. Mission compatibility is an important consideration when determining which shield design is most appropriate to provide protection against the anticipated threat, or will policy dictate purely defensive shield usage such as perimeter establishment, observation, and slow clearing operations. There is no one size fits all shield design solution to all potential uses and possible threats to a ballistic shield. Many modern hand-carried ballistic shields provide clear armored viewing visors, lighting systems, kickstands, carrying straps, other designs are more basic and provide only a simple armor panel bolted onto a handle
35.
Infiltration tactics
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These were partially adopted on 9 May 1915, the opening day of the Second Battle of Artois, by the French XXXIII Corps which advanced 4.5 kilometres in the first hour and a half of the attack. The problem was reinforcing and holding the gains against German counterattack, a young French infantry officer, Captain André Laffargue, put forward similar ideas in a pamphlet written in August 1915 Étude sur l’attaque dans la période actuelle de la guerre. Laffargue based his proposals in particular on his experiences attacking immediately south of Neuville-Saint-Vaast on 9 May 1915 when commanding a company of 153rd Infantry Regiment. Laffargue was left wounded on the German front line but his regiment advanced another 1.5 kilometres and they would then be encircled and dealt with by successive waves. Had these methods been followed Laffargue suggests that the attack could have resulted in a breakthrough of the German defences. Laffargue put forward the view that the support of the attack in line was necessary to enable men to advance against heavy fire. The French Army published Laffargues pamphlet in 1915 and the year a commercial edition found wide circulation. The British, like all combatants during 1914–1918, made frequent use of wave attacks, the US Infantry Journal published a translation as The Attack in Trench Warfare in 1916. The claim that the Germans translated and used Laffargues pamphlet as a training manual has been refuted by Gudmundsson, the bombardment also targeted enemy rear areas to destroy or disrupt roads, artillery, and command units. This was done to confuse the enemy, and reduce their capability to launch effective counterattacks from secondary defense lines, for maximum effect, the exact points of attack remained concealed until the last possible moment. They would attempt to penetrate weak points to bypass and isolate heavily defended positions in the front line. Infantrymen with heavier weapons would then follow-up and have an advantage when attacking the isolated enemy strong points. Other reinforcements would then enter these breaches, and the enemy line would shortly collapse. The attacks relied heavily on speed and surprise and this tactic initially worked well and saw heavy use. However, because of this implementation, the enemy quickly developed effective defenses. Also, as in the case of the traditional mass attack. One of the problems of World War I was that even when a breakthrough was made, thus, even with the new tactics and their relatively light use of artillery, attacks would tend to bog down sooner or later, and no massive breakthrough was possible. Other parachute battalion and company also used similar tactics during the battle
36.
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
37.
Korean Demilitarized Zone
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The Korean Demilitarized Zone is a highly militarized strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula. It was established at the end of the Korean War to serve as a zone between the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea. The DMZ is a de facto border barrier that divides the Korean Peninsula roughly in half and it was created by agreement between North Korea, China and the United Nations in 1953. The DMZ is 250 kilometres long, and about 4 kilometres wide, within the DMZ is a meeting-point between the two nations in the small Joint Security Area near the western end of the zone, where negotiations take place. There have been incidents in and around the DMZ, with military. Several tunnels are claimed to have built as an invasion route for the North Koreans. The Korean Demilitarized Zone intersects but does not follow the 38th parallel north and it crosses the parallel on an angle, with the west end of the DMZ lying south of the parallel and the east end lying north of it. The DMZ is 250 kilometres long, approximately 4 km wide, though the zone separating both sides is demilitarized, beyond that strip the border is one of the most heavily militarized borders in the world. The Northern Limit Line, or NLL, is the disputed maritime demarcation line between North and South Korea in the Yellow Sea, not agreed in the armistice, the coastline and islands on both sides of the NLL are also heavily militarized. Upon the creation of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea in 1948, it became a de facto international border, both the North and the South remained dependent on their sponsor states from 1948 to the outbreak of the Korean War. In the Armistice Agreement of 27 July 1953, the DMZ was created as each side agreed to move their troops back 2,000 m from the front line, creating a buffer zone 4 km wide. The Military Demarcation Line goes through the center of the DMZ, the armistice agreement explains exactly how many military personnel and what kind of weapons are allowed in the DMZ. Sporadic outbreaks of violence have killed over 500 South Korean soldiers,50 US soldiers and 250 soldiers from DPRK along the DMZ between 1953 and 1999, Daeseong-dong and Kijŏng-dong are the only settlements allowed by the armistice committee to remain within the boundaries of the DMZ. Residents of Tae Sung Dong are governed and protected by the United Nations Command and are required to spend at least 240 nights per year in the village to maintain their residency. In 2008, the village had a population of 218 people, the villagers of Tae Sung Dong are direct descendants of people who owned the land before the 1950–53 Korean War. To continue to deter North Korean incursion, in 2014 the United States government exempted the Korean DMZ from its pledge to eliminate anti-personnel landmines, inside the DMZ, near the western coast of the peninsula, Panmunjom is the home of the Joint Security Area. There are several buildings on both the north and the side of the Military Demarcation Line, and there have been some built on top of it. The JSA is the location where all negotiations since 1953 have been held, including statements of Korean solidarity, the MDL goes through the conference rooms and down the middle of the conference tables where the North Koreans and the United Nations Command meet face to face
38.
Tank
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A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat, with heavy firepower, strong armour, and tracks providing good battlefield maneuverability. The first tanks were designed to overcome the deadlock of trench warfare, now they are a mainstay of ground forces. Modern tanks are versatile mobile land weapon platforms, mounting a large-calibre cannon in a rotating gun turret. In both offensive and defensive roles, they are units that are capable of performing tasks which are required of armoured units on the battlefield. As a result of advances, tanks underwent tremendous shifts in capability in the years since their first appearance. Tanks in World War I were developed separately and simultaneously by Great Britain and this was a prototype of a new design that would become the British Armys Mark I tank, the first tank used in combat in September 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. The name tank was adopted by the British during the stages of their development. While the British and French built thousands of tanks in World War I, Germany was unconvinced of the tanks potential, Tanks of the interwar period evolved into the much larger and more powerful designs of World War II. Tanks in the Cold War were designed with these weapons in mind, improved engines, transmissions and suspensions allowed tanks of this period to grow larger. Aspects of gun technology changed significantly as well, with advances in shell design, during the Cold War, the main battle tank concept arose and became a key component of modern armies. Modern tanks seldom operate alone, as they are organized into combined arms units which involve the support of infantry and they are also usually supported by reconnaissance or ground-attack aircraft. The tank is the 20th century realization of an ancient concept, the internal combustion engine, armour plate, and continuous track were key innovations leading to the invention of the modern tank. Many sources imply that Leonardo da Vinci and H. G. Wells in some way foresaw or invented the tank, leonardos late 15th century drawings of what some describe as a tank show a man-powered, wheeled vehicle with cannons all around it. However the human crew would not have power to move it over larger distance. In the 15th century, Jan Žižka built armoured wagons containing cannons, the caterpillar track arose from attempts to improve the mobility of wheeled vehicles by spreading their weight, reducing ground pressure, and increasing their traction. Experiments can be traced back as far as the 17th century and it is frequently claimed that Richard Lovell Edgeworth created a caterpillar track. It is true that in 1770 he patented a machine, that should carry and lay down its own road and his own account in his autobiography is of a horse-drawn wooden carriage on eight retractable legs, capable of lifting itself over high walls. The description bears no similarity to a caterpillar track, armoured trains appeared in the mid-19th century, and various armoured steam and petrol-engined vehicles were also proposed
39.
Armoured fighting vehicle
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An armoured fighting vehicle is a combat vehicle, protected by strong armour and generally armed with weapons, which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities. AFVs can be wheeled or tracked and it is not uncommon for AFVs to be simply referred to as armour. Armoured fighting vehicles are classified according to their role on the battlefield. This classification is not absolute, at different times different countries will classify the vehicle in different roles. For example, armoured carriers were generally replaced by infantry fighting vehicles in a similar role. Modern armoured fighting vehicles are the realization of an ancient concept, War machines with rudimentary armour have been used in battle for millennia. These designs historically struggled between the paradox of exposed-mobility, effective-firepower and cumbersome-protection, Siege engines, such as battering rams and trebuchets, would often be armoured in order to protect the crews from the defenders. Very large movable siege towers, helepolis were developed by Polyidus of Thessaly, the idea of a vehicle with a tortoise like cover has been known since antiquity. Frequently cited is Leonardo da Vincis 15th century sketch of a mobile, protected gun platform, the machine was to be mounted on four wheels which would be turned by the crew through a system of hand cranks and cage gears. Leonardo quoted I will build armored wagons which will be safe, there will be no obstacle which it cannot overcome. Modern replicas have demonstrated that the crew would have been able to move it over only short distances. The war wagon were medieval weapon-platforms developmed during the Hussite Wars around 1420 by Hussite forces rebelling in Bohemia. These heavy wagon were given protective sides with firing slits and heavy firepower from either a cannon or a force of hand-gunners and crossbowmen, supported by infantry using pikes, heavy arquebuses mounted on wagons were called arquebus à croc. These carried a ball of about 3.5 ounces, the first modern AFVs were armed cars, dating back virtually to the invention of the motor car. The Motor Scout was designed and built by British inventor F. R. Simms in 1898 and it was the first armed petrol engine powered vehicle ever built. The vehicle was a De Dion-Bouton quadricycle with a mounted Maxim machine gun on the front bar, an iron shield offered some protection for the driver from the front, but it lacked all-around protective armour. The armoured car was the first modern fully armoured fighting vehicle, the first of these was the Simms Motor War Car, designed by Simms and built by Vickers, Sons & Maxim in 1899. The vehicle had Vickers armour 6 mm thick and was powered by a four-cylinder 3. 3-litre 16 hp Cannstatt Daimler engine giving it a speed of around 9 miles per hour
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Bangalore torpedo
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A Bangalore torpedo is an explosive charge placed within one or several connected tubes. It is used by engineers to clear obstacles that would otherwise require them to approach directly, possibly under fire. It is sometimes referred to as a Bangalore mine, banger or simply Bangalore. Per United States Army Field Manual 5-250 section 1-14, page 1-12 b, the primary use of the torpedo is clearing paths through wire obstacles and heavy undergrowth. It will clear a 3- to 4-metre wide path through wire obstacles, the Bangalore torpedo was first devised by Captain McClintock, of the British Indian Army unit the Madras Sappers and Miners at Bangalore, India, in 1912. He invented it as a means of exploding booby traps and barricades left over from the Boer War, the Bangalore torpedo could be exploded over a mine without a sapper having to approach closer than about 3 m. Bangalore torpedoes are currently manufactured by Mondial Defence Systems of Poole, UK, for the UK and they have been used recently in operations in Afghanistan for actions such as clearing enemy supply dumps within deep cave systems. By the time of World War I the Bangalore torpedo was used for clearing barbed wire before an attack. It could be used while under fire, from a position in a trench. The torpedo was standardized to consist of a number of externally identical 1.5 m lengths of threaded pipe, the pipes would be screwed together using connecting sleeves to make a longer pipe of the required length, somewhat like a chimney brush or drain clearing rod. A smooth nose cone would be screwed on the end to prevent snagging on the ground and it would then be pushed forward from a protected position and detonated, to clear a 1.5 m wide hole through barbed wire. During the 1917 Battle of Cambrai, British Royal Engineers used them as diversions to distract the enemy from where the battle was to be fought. The Bangalore torpedo was adopted by the U. S. Army during World War II. It was widely used by the U. S. Army, the Bangalore torpedo was reportedly used in the British offensive on Bardia during the Western Desert Campaign, on 3 January 1941. The Bangalore continues to be used today in the little-changed M1A2 version, the PE is then primed with detonating cord and a detonator, and pickets are taped or wired together to make a long torpedo, producing fragments that cut the wire when detonated. This method produces results similar to the standard-issue Bangalore, and can be assembled to the length by adding picket segments. The Bangalore Blade was developed in the United Kingdom by Alford Technologies and is intended for use both standard army and special forces units. An example of Bangalore Torpedo technique can be seen in the 1927 silent film Wings, breakthrough, a 1950 movie set in World War II, depicts a Bangalore Torpedo clearing a mine field
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Antitank mine
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An anti-tank mine is a type of land mine designed to damage or destroy vehicles including tanks and armored fighting vehicles. Compared to anti-personnel mines, anti-tank mines typically have a larger explosive charge. While obviously the anti-tank mine as such did not pre-date the deployment of tanks in 1916, for example, during the U. S. Civil War, Confederate forces created pressure-activated anti-railroad mines which destroyed at least two trains. The first anti-tank mines were improvised during the First World War as a measure against the first tanks introduced by the British towards the end of the war. Initially they were nothing more than a high explosive shell or mortar bomb with its fuze upright. Later, purpose built mines were developed, including the Flachmine 17, the Soviet Union began developing mines in the early 1920s, and in 1924 produced its first anti-tank mine, the EZ mine. The mine, which was developed by Yegorov and Zelinskiy, had a 1 kg charge, meanwhile, in Germany, defeat spurred the development of anti-tank mines, with the first truly modern mine, the Tellermine 29, entering service in 1929. It was a disc shaped device approximately 30 cm across filled with about 5 kg of high explosives, a second mine, the Tellermine 35 was developed in 1935. Anti-tank mines were used by both sides during the Spanish Civil War, notably, Republican forces lifted mines placed by Nationalist forces and used them against the Nationalists. This spurred the development of anti-handling devices for anti-tank mines, the Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland also saw widespread use of anti-tank mines. The German Tellermine was a purpose-built anti-tank mine developed during the period between the first and second world wars, the first model being introduced in 1929. Some variants were of a shape, but in all cases the outer casing served only as container for the explosives and fuze. Tellermine was the prototypical anti-tank mine, with elements of its design emulated in the Pignone P-1, NR25. Because of its high operating pressure, a vehicle would need to pass directly over top of the mine to set it off. But since the tracks represent only about 20% of a tanks width, as a tank passed over the mine, the rod was pushed forward, causing the charge to detonate directly beneath it. The blast often killed the crew and sometimes exploded onboard ammunition, now that tank crews were directly at risk, they were less likely to plow through a minefield. Shaped charge devices like the Hohl-Sprung mine 4672 were also developed by Germany later in the war, the most advanced German anti-tank mine of the war was their minimal metal Topfmine. In contrast to the dinner plate mines such as the German Tellermine were bar mines such as the German Riegel mine 43 and this form of mine was the inspiration for the British L9 bar mine
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Antipersonnel mine
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Anti-personnel mines are a form of mine designed for use against humans, as opposed to anti-tank mines, which are designed for use against vehicles. Anti-personnel mines may be classified into blast mines or fragmentation mines, the mines are often designed to injure, not kill, their victims in order to increase the logistical support required by enemy forces that encounter them. Some types of mines can also damage the tracks on armoured vehicles or the tires of wheeled vehicles. What makes them different from most anti-tank mines, however, is their smaller size and this process can be done manually, via dispensers on land vehicles, or from helicopters or aircraft. Alternatively, they can be dispensed by cargo-carrying artillery shells and their primary purpose is to blow the victims foot or leg off, disabling them. Injuring, rather than killing, the victim is viewed as preferable in order to increase the burden on the opposing force. When a person steps on a blast mine and activates it, the shock wave sends a huge compressive force upwards, ejecting the mine casing and any soil covering the mine along with it. When the blast wave hits the surface, it transfers the force into the subjects footwear. This results in a compression force being applied. In most cases, the foot is blown off by the blast wave. Different types of soil will result in different amounts of energy being transferred upward into the subjects foot, secondary injuries from a blast mine are often caused by the material that has been torn loose by the mines explosion. This consists of the soil and stones that were on top of the mine, parts of the victims footwear and this debris creates wounds typical of similar secondary blast effects or fragmentation. Special footwear, including combat boots or so-called blast boots, is only moderately protective against the effects of blast mines. Blast mines have little effect on armoured vehicles, but can damage a vehicle if it runs directly over the mine. Small blast mines will severely damage a tire, rendering it irreparable while some types could also damage adjacent running gear, the mine casing houses the components of the mine and protects it from its environment. Early mines, such as the used in the World War II era, had casings made of steel or aluminium. However, by the middle of the conflict, the British Army was using the first, practical, the Germans responded with mines that had a wooden or glass casing to make detection harder. Wooden mines had been used by the Russians in 1939, before the appearance of metal detectors, some, like the PP Mi-D mine, continued to be used into the 1980s as they were easy to make and hard to detect
43.
Bounding mine
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A bounding mine is an anti-personnel mine designed to be used in open areas. When tripped, a propelling charge launches the body of the mine 3–4 feet into the air. The original World War II German S-mine has been widely influential, other countries that have employed bounding mines in war include the United States of America, the Soviet Union, Vietnam and countries of former Yugoslavia. China and Italy have also produced them, some American mines designed for this purpose used a standard 60 mm HE mortar round with an improvised time delay fuse which is activated by the propelling charge. Bounding mines are more expensive than typical AP blast mines, because they are designed to be buried, they are appropriate for command-detonated ambushes, but tripwire operation is common as well. By design, bounding mines contain an amount of steel. However, it is often the case that minimum metal mines have also planted in the same minefield. S-mine, Germany, nicknamed the Bouncing Betty by most Allied troops and nicknamed the Jumping Jack by Australian, m16 APM, United States, based on captured S-mine plans. It launches 4 feet into the air and detonates, spraying high-velocity iron fragments in all directions, Anti-personnel mine Land mine Global Security. org M14/M16 Anti-personnel mines
44.
PROM-1
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The PROM-1 is a Yugoslavian manufactured bounding type of anti-personnel mine. It consists of a body with a pronged fuze inserted into the top of the mine. It is broadly similar in operation to the German S-mine, the mine is triggered by the tilting of the prongs situated on top of the mine. This is caused by direct pressure on the prongs or by tension on a tripwire attached to them. Tilting the prongs allows three striker retaining balls to escape and this releases the spring-loaded striker, which is flipped downwards into the percussion cap and fires the three gram propellant charge. The mines body is tethered to its base by a length of wire. When the mine reaches a height of approximately 65 centimetres the wire is pulled and this jerks the detonator assembly downwards into the striker. The detonator fires, triggering the explosive charge, which shatters the internally grooved body into a large number of high-velocity steel fragments. Because the time taken from triggering the mine to detonation is so short, as with all bounding mines the PROM-1 is lethal at relatively long distances. It is capable of projecting dangerous fragments to range of 100 metres or more and this mine will almost certainly kill or seriously injure anyone caught within 30 metres of the blast. The PROM-1 can be hard to spot in undergrowth because, apart from the prongs, most of it is buried underground. Although this mine contains lots of steel the act of sweeping the detection head over the ground can easily strike the prongs, in any case, PROM-1s in a minefield may be surrounded by various types of minimum metal antipersonnel blast mines which further hinders the clearance process. The PROM-1 is difficult to render safe because its fuze becomes unstable after being exposed to weather for several years, most deminers therefore recommend that this mine is destroyed in situ by detonating an explosive charge next to it. Usually trip-wires measuring around 20 feet in length are fitted to this mine in order to increase its activation area, when tracking trip-wires back to their source, deminers must keep in mind that other landmines may have been planted along its length. It is all too easy to concentrate on following a back to its source, forgetting that there could be PMA-3. The mine has been found in Angola, Bosnia, Chile, Croatia, Eritrea, Iraq, Kosovo, Mozambique and Namibia
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Booby trap
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A booby trap is a device or setup that is intended to kill, harm or surprise a person, unknowingly triggered by the presence or actions of the victim. As the word implies, they sometimes have some form of bait designed to lure the victim towards it. At other times, the trap is set to act upon trespassers that violate personal or restricted areas, the device can be triggered when the victim performs some type of everyday action e. g. opening a door, picking something up or switching something on. They can also be triggered by driving along a road as in the case of victim-operated improvised explosive devices. Booby traps should not be confused with mantraps which are designed to catch a person, booby traps which merely cause discomfort or embarrassment are a popular form of practical joke. The Spanish word bobo translates to stupid, daft, naïve, simple, fool, idiot, clown, funny man, one who is easily cheated, the slang of bobo, bubie, translates to dunce. Variations of this word exist in other languages, with their meaning being to stammer, the word has also been applied to the Sula genus of sea birds, with their common name being boobies. These birds, adapted for sea flight and swimming, have flat feet and wide wingspans. As a result, they are considered clumsy and easy to catch when onshore and they are also known for landing aboard seagoing vessels, whereupon they have been eaten by the crew. In approximately 1590, the word appearing in the English language as booby, meaning stupid person. The phrase booby trap originally applied to schoolboy pranks, but took on its more sinister connotation during World War I. A military booby trap may be designed to kill or injure a person who activates its trigger, most, but not all, military booby traps involve explosives. There is no division between a booby trap and buried conventional land mines triggered by a tripwire or directional mine. Other, similar devices include spring-guns and mechanisms such as the SM-70 directional antipersonnel mine, what distinguishes a booby trap is that its activation is intended to be unexpected to its victim. Thus booby trap design is varied, with traps or their trigger mechanisms often hidden. Frequently at least part of the device is improvised from standard ordnance, such as a shell, grenade. Part of the skill in placing booby traps lies in exploiting natural human behaviors such as habit, self-preservation, an example that exploits an instinct for self-preservation was used in the Vietnam War. Spikes known as Punji sticks were hidden in grassy areas, when fired upon soldiers instinctively sought to take cover by throwing themselves down on the ground, impaling themselves on the spikes
46.
Grenade
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A grenade is a small bomb typically thrown by hand. A variety of hand grenades exist, the most common being explosive grenades designed to detonate after impact or after a set amount of time, Grenadiers were originally soldiers who specialized in throwing grenades. The word grenade derives from the French word for an explosive shell. Its first use in English dates from the 1590s and it is likely derived from Old French pomegranate and influenced by Spanish granada, as the fragmenting bomb is reminiscent of the many-seeded fruit. Rudimentary incendiary grenades appeared in the Eastern Roman Empire, not long after the reign of Leo III. Byzantine soldiers learned that Greek fire, a Byzantine invention of the century, could not only be thrown by flamethrowers at the enemy. The use of Greek fire spread to Muslim armies in the Near East, in China, during the Song Dynasty, weapons known as Zhen Tian Lei were created when Chinese soldiers packed gunpowder into ceramic or metal containers. In 1044, a military book Wujing Zongyao described various gunpowder recipes in which one can find, according to Joseph Needham, the Chinese also discovered the explosive potential of packing hollowed-out cannonball shells with gunpowder. The mid-14th-century book Huolongjing, written by Jiao Yu, recorded an earlier Song-era cast iron cannon known as the flying-cloud thunderclap cannon, the manuscript stated that, The shells are made of cast iron, as large as a bowl and shaped like a ball. Inside they contain half a pound of divine fire and they are sent flying towards the enemy camp from an eruptor, and when they get there a sound like a thunder-clap is heard, and flashes of light appear. If ten of these shells are fired successfully into the enemy camp, the first cast iron bombshells and grenades did not appear in Europe until 1467. A hoard of several hundred ceramic greandes were discovered during building works in front of a bastion of the Bavarian City of Ingolstadt. Lots of the grenades obtained their original blackpowder loads and igniters, most probably the grenades were intentially dumped the moat of the bastion before the year 1723. In 1643, it is possible that Grenados were thrown amongst the Welsh at Holt Bridge during the English Civil War and these grenades were not very effective and, as a result, saw little use. Improvised grenades were used from the mid-19th century, being especially useful in trench warfare. In the American Civil War, both sides used hand grenades equipped with a plunger that detonated the device on impact, the Union relied on experimental Ketchum Grenades, which had a tail to ensure that the nose would strike the target and start the fuse. The Confederacy used spherical hand grenades that weighed about six pounds and they also used Rains and Adams grenades, which were similar to the Ketchum in appearance and mechanism. Improvised hand grenades were used to great effect by the Russian defenders of Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War
47.
Tripflare
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A tripflare is a device used by military forces to secure an area and to guard against infiltration. It consists of tripwire around the area, linked to one or more flares, when the tripwire is triggered, as by someone unsuspectingly disturbing it, the flare is activated and begins burning. The light from the flare simultaneously warns that the perimeter may have been breached, in defensive operations, trip flares are usually placed in predetermined kill zones with machine guns sighted on them
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Cheval de frise
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The cheval de frise was a medieval defensive anti-cavalry measure consisting of a portable frame covered with many projecting long iron or wooden spikes or spears. They were principally intended as an obstacle but could also be moved quickly to help block a breach in another barrier. They remained in use until they were replaced by wire obstacles just after the American Civil War. During the Civil War, the Confederates used this type of more often than the Union forces. During World War I, armies used chevaux de frise to temporarily plug gaps in barbed wire, Chevaux de frise of barbed wire were used in jungle fighting on south Pacific islands during World War II. The term is applied to defensive works comprising a series of closely set upright stones found outside the ramparts of Iron Age hillforts in northern Europe. French, Cheval de frise literally means Frisian horse, the Frisians, having few cavalry, relied heavily on such anti-cavalry obstacles in warfare. The Dutch also adopted use of the device when at war with Spain. The term came to be used for any spiked obstacle, such as broken glass embedded in mortar on the top of a wall. The cheval de frise was adapted in New York and Pennsylvania during the American Revolutionary War as a defensive measure installed in rivers to prevent upriver movement by enemy ships. During the American Revolutionary War, Robert Erskine designed a version of the cheval-de-frise to prevent British warships from proceeding up the Hudson River. A cheval-de-frise was placed between Fort Washington at northern Manhattan and Fort Lee in New Jersey in 1776, similar devices planned by Ben Franklin were used in the Delaware River near Philadelphia, between Fort Mifflin and Fort Mercer. A cheval-de-frise was retrieved from the Delaware River in Philadelphia on November 13,2007 in excellent condition, a small promontory on the north-east Essex coast in the United Kingdom, between Holland Haven and Frinton on Sea, was named Chevaux de Frise Point
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