Monday, May 15, 2023

05-15-2023-1740 - D-Day, etc. (draft)

In the military, D-Day is the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. The best-known D-Day is during World War II, on June 6, 1944—the day of the Normandy landings—initiating the Western Allied effort to liberate western Europe from Nazi Germany. However, many other invasions and operations had a designated D-Day, both before and after that operation.^[1]

^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-Day_(military_term)}

The military designation of days and hours within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), is specified in AAP-6 (STANAG 3680), NATO Glossary of Terms and Definitions, and marked (NATO) in what follows. Those entries marked (US) are specific to the U.S., and defined only in Joint Publication JP 1-02, Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms.

References to days (or hours) preceding or following a designated day (or hour) use a plus or minus sign and an Arabic numeral following the letter. For example, "D−3" is 3 days prior to D-Day, "C+7" is 7 days after C-Day, "H−2" is 2 hours before H-hour, and so forth.^[1] In less formal contexts, the time is usually spelled out, so that "D−3" becomes "D minus three" or "D minus 3".

A-Day: 20 October 1944, the day the Leyte Island Operation (the invasion of Leyte) began.^[2]
C-Day: Short for "Commencement Day" which usually means when deployment for an operation commences. It is called "Commencement Day" because before deployment candy is usually passed out to G.I.s from charitable organizations.^{[citation needed]} (US)
D-Day

(redundant acronym of day since the D stands for day, so it means day-day)

The unnamed day on which an operation commences or is due to commence. This may be the commencement of hostilities or any other operation. The most famous D-Day was June 6, 1944, when "Operation Overlord" began. Contrary to popular belief, the "D" does not stand for any specific word – the most popular being disembark. (NATO). According to [1], the "D" stands for "Day".
E-Day: The unnamed day on which a NATO exercise commences. (NATO)
F-Hour: The effective time of announcement by the U.S. Secretary of Defense to the Military Departments of a decision to mobilize Reserve units. (US)
G-Day: The unnamed day on which an order, normally national, is given to deploy a unit. (NATO)
H-Hour

(redundant acronym of hour since the H stands for hour so it means hour-hour)

The specific time at which an operation or exercise commences, or is due to commence (this term is used also as a reference for the designation of days/hours before or after the event). (NATO); also known as Zero Hour
I-Day: Used informally within the U.S. military bureaucracy to variously designate the "Implementation Day" or the (Delivery Order) "Issuance Day".
J-Day: Used during both world wars ^[3] to designate the day an assault occurred.
K-Day: The unnamed day on which a convoy system is introduced or is due to be introduced on any particular convoy lane. (NATO)
L-Hour: The specific time at which deployment for an operation commences. (US)
L-Day: For "Landing Day", 1 April 1945, the day Operation Iceberg (the invasion of Okinawa) began.^[4]
M-Day: The day on which mobilization commences or is due to commence. (NATO)
N-Day: The unnamed day an active duty unit is notified for deployment or redeployment. (US)
O-Day: A Maritime Prepositioning Force (MPF, the vanguard of a Marine Air-Ground Task Force, MAGTF) term designating the day the Maritime Propositioning Ship Squadron (MPSRON) off-load begins, or the continuous flow of the Fly-In Echelon (FIE) commences, whichever is later.^[5]^[6]
P-Day: The expected date at which the rate of production of a consumable equals the rate at which the item is required by the Armed Forces. (US)
Q-Day: 23 June 1945, the day of the dress rehearsal of the first atom bomb test^[7] nowadays it is sometimes used informally to mean "Quality Day", or the first day of the calendar quarter.
R-Day: The unnamed day on which redeployment of major combat, combat support, and combat service support forces begins in an operation. (US)
S-Day: The unnamed day the President authorizes Selective Reserve callup (not more than 200,000 men). (US)
T-Day: The effective day coincident with Presidential declaration of national emergency and authorization of partial mobilization (not more than 1,000,000 personnel exclusive of the 200,000 callup). (US)
V-Day: Sometimes used to designate "Victory Day", the day an operation successfully concludes.
V-E Day: "Victory in Europe"; designates 8 May 1945, the date when the Allies formally celebrated the defeat of Nazi Germany.
V-J Day: "Victory over Japan"; designates 14 August 1945, the date of Japan's unconditional surrender.
W-Day: The effective day the President takes the adversary decision to prepare for war (unambiguous strategic warning). (US)
X-Day: 1 November 1945, the day Operation Downfall (the invasion of Japan) was to begin.^[8] The term also generically means "attack day".
Y-Day: 1 March 1946, the day Operation Coronet (the invasion of Tokyo Plains) was to occur.^[8]
Z-Day: 10 June 1945, the day the Australian Imperial Forces landed in Brunei Bay to liberate Brunei, part of Operation Oboe Six.

References

"FM 101-5-1 Operational Terms & Graphics (U.S.)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-07-14. Retrieved 2006-08-31.

"HyperWar: The U.S. Army Campaigns of World War II: Leyte". www.ibiblio.org.

"Infantry in Battle". June 25, 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-06-25.

"MilitaryHistoryOnline.com". www.militaryhistoryonline.com.

Military Glossary Terms E-H Archived 2005-05-13 at the Wayback Machine

Military Glossary Terms M-P Archived 2005-05-13 at the Wayback Machine

"Glossary of U.S. Naval Abbreviations".

"Pastel: deception in the Invasion of Japan". May 31, 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-05-31.

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Military terminology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_designation_of_days_and_hours

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Military_terminology

Transition to war (TTW) is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military term^[1] referring to a period of international tension during which government and society move to an open (but not necessarily declared) war footing. The period after this is considered to be war, conventional or otherwise, but the term TTW found its origins in the peak of the Cold War as a key NATO concept within the tripwire escalation of the DEFCON status. This could include the suspension of peacetime services, closing motorways to all but military traffic and the internment of subversives without charge or trial.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transition_to_war

In trench warfare, a traverse is an adaptation to reduce casualties to defenders occupying a trench. One form of traverse is a U-shaped detour in the trench with the trench going around a protrusion formed of earth and sandbags. The fragments or shrapnel, or shockwave from a shell landing and exploding within a trench then cannot spread horizontally past the obstacle the traverse interposes. Also, an enemy that has entered a trench is unable to fire down the length at the defenders, or otherwise enfilade the trench.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traverse_(trench_warfare)

Human-in-the-loop or HITL is used in multiple contexts. It can be defined as a model requiring human interaction.^[1]^[2] HITL is associated with modeling and simulation (M&S) in the live, virtual, and constructive taxonomy. HITL along with the related human-on-the-loop are also used in relation to lethal autonomous weapons.^[3] Further, HITL is used in the context of machine learning.^[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human-in-the-loop

A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale.^[2] Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power influence, which may cause middle or small powers to consider the great powers' opinions before taking actions of their own. International relations theorists have posited that great power status can be characterized into power capabilities, spatial aspects, and status dimensions.^[3]

^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_power}

Military logistics is the discipline of planning and carrying out the movement, supply, and maintenance of military forces. In its most comprehensive sense, it is those aspects or military operations that deal with:^[1]

Design, development, acquisition, storage, distribution, maintenance, evacuation, and disposition of materiel.
Transport of personnel.
Acquisition or construction, maintenance, operation and disposition of facilities.
Acquisition or furnishing of services.
Medical and health service support.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_logistics

The term Tier One Special Mission Unit or Special Missions Unit (SMU) is a term sometimes used, particularly in the United States, to describe some highly secretive military special operations forces.^[1] Special mission units have been involved in high-profile military operations, such as the killing of Osama bin Laden.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_mission_unit

Statary is a term currently applied in fields such as ecology, ethology, psychology. In modern use it contrasts on the one hand with such concepts as migratory, nomadic, or shifting, and on the other with static or immobile. The word also is of historical interest in its change of meaning as its usage changed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statary

The fog of war (German: Nebel des Krieges) is the uncertainty in situational awareness experienced by participants in military operations.^[1] The term seeks to capture the uncertainty regarding one's own capability, adversary capability, and adversary intent during an engagement, operation, or campaign. Military forces try to reduce the fog of war through military intelligence and friendly force tracking systems.

The term has become commonly used to define uncertainty mechanics in wargames.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fog_of_war

Search and destroy, seek and destroy, or simply S&D is a military strategy best known for its employment in the Malayan Emergency and the Vietnam War. The strategy consists of inserting ground forces into hostile territory, searching out the enemy, destroying them, and withdrawing immediately afterward. The strategy was developed to take advantage of the capabilities offered by a new technology, the helicopter, which resulted in a new form of warfare, the fielding of air cavalry,^[1] and was thought to be ideally suited to counter-guerrilla jungle warfare. The complementary conventional strategy, which entailed attacking and conquering an enemy position, then fortifying and holding it indefinitely, was known as "clear and hold" or "clear and secure". In theory, since the traditional methods of "taking ground" could not be used in this war (as all disputed territory was technically already under the control of allied forces), a war of attrition would be used, with the aim of systematically and relentlessly finding and killing enemy combatants; the "body count" would be the measuring tool to determine the success of the strategy of search and destroy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_and_destroy

A salient, also known as a bulge, is a battlefield feature that projects into enemy territory. The salient is surrounded by the enemy on multiple sides, making the troops occupying the salient vulnerable. The opponent's front line that borders a salient is referred to as a re-entrant – that is, an angle pointing inwards. A deep salient is vulnerable to being "pinched off" through the base, and this will result in a pocket in which the forces in the salient become isolated and without a supply line. On the other hand, a breakout of the forces within the salient through its tip can threaten the rear areas of the opposing forces outside it, leaving them open to an attack from behind.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salient_(military)

Implementation

Salients can be formed in a number of ways. An attacker can produce a salient in the defender's line by either intentionally making a pincer movement around the military flanks of a strongpoint, which becomes the tip of the salient, or by making a broad, frontal attack which is held up in the centre but advances on the flanks. An attacker would usually produce a salient in his own line by making a broad, frontal attack that is successful only in the center, which becomes the tip of the salient. A salient can also be formed if the attacking army feigns retreat, tricking the defending forces to chase them down, leading to the main army being on all sides in a pre-arranged ambush.^[1]

In trench warfare, salients are distinctly defined by the opposing lines of trenches, and they were commonly formed by the failure of a broad frontal attack. The static nature of the trenches meant that forming a pocket was difficult, but the vulnerable nature of salients meant that they were often the focus of attrition battles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salient_(military)

Reset is an evolving military term currently used to describe the equipment refurbishment process. In current U.S. military terms, "reset" refers to "a series of actions to restore units to a desired level of combat capability commensurate with future mission requirements."^[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reset_(military)

Enfilade and defilade are concepts in military tactics used to describe a military formation's exposure to enemy fire. A formation or position is "in enfilade" if weapon 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 and hostile fire.^[1] The strategies, named by the English during the Hundred Years' War, use the French enfiler ("to put on a string or sling") and défiler ("to slip away or off") spoken by English nobility of the time.^[2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enfilade_and_defilade

A deconfliction line is an official line of communications established between militaries who are or could be hostile, to avoid dangerous misunderstandings and miscalculations based on ignorance. The ultimate aim is to avoid accidents and conflict escalation.

In the 2010s and 2020s, the US and Russia set up deconfliction lines during the Syrian civil war and Russo-Ukrainian War. They were regularly tested by military staff, and used by air traffic controllers and senior military officers. They were used to avoid midair collisions between aircraft in the same or adjacent airspace, and sometimes to give warning of airstrikes. In April 2017, Russia severed the Syrian line in retaliation for a called strike.^[1]^[2]^[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconfliction_line

In naval terminology, a plot is a graphic display that shows all collated data from a ship's on-board sensors, i.e. radar, sonar and EW systems. They also displayed information from external sources - for example, other vessel or aircraft reports. There are four different types of plot, each with varying capabilities, i.e. range, depending on their role;^[1]

Air plot: Used for tracking air contacts, i.e. planes and EW information.
Surface plot: Used for tracking contacts on the surface of the water, i.e. other ships.^[2]^[3]^[4] It can also perform a variety of roles such as:
- Providing a trace of a ship's own course and speed over time.^[2]^[4]
- Plotting the position of a man overboard.^[2]
- Can be used in naval gunfire support missions to plot unidentified contacts and keep track of friendly forces.^[3]
- It also plays an important part in anti-submarine warfare operations and using torpedoes.^[3]
Sub-surface plot: Used for tracking contacts below the surface of the water, i.e. submarines.
General operations plot: Used for tracking shipping on a large-scale chart. Was also used to display exercise boundaries, airplanes and other significant features of maritime interest. In the Royal Australian Navy, the scale used was generally 5 or 10 miles (8.0 or 16.1 km) per 1 inch (25 mm).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plot_(radar)

A potential superpower is a state or other polity that is speculated to be—or to have the potential to soon become—a superpower.

Currently, only the United States fulfills the criteria to be considered a superpower.^[1] However, the United States is no longer the only uncontested foremost superpower and the world's sole hyperpower to dominate in every domain (i.e. military, culture, economy, technology, diplomatic).^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]

Since the 1990s, China,^[6]^[7]^[8] the European Union,^[9] India,^[10]^[11] and Russia^[12] have been commonly described as potential superpowers. Japan was formerly considered a potential superpower due to its high economic growth.^[13]^[14]^[15] However, its status as a potential superpower has eroded since the 1990s due to an aging population and economic stagnation.^[16]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:!ratsewer!/sandbox

A Pyrrhic victory (/ˈpɪrɪk/ (listen) PIRR-ik) is a victory that inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is tantamount to defeat. Such a victory negates any true sense of achievement or damages long-term progress.

The phrase originates from a quote from Pyrrhus of Epirus, whose triumph against the Romans in the Battle of Asculum in 279 BC destroyed much of his forces, forcing the end of his campaign.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhic_victory

Mutual assured destruction (MAD) is a doctrine of military strategy and national security policy which posits that a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by an attacker on a nuclear-armed defender with second-strike capabilities would cause the complete annihilation of both the attacker and the defender.^[1] It is based on the theory of rational deterrence, which holds that the threat of using strong weapons against the enemy prevents the enemy's use of those same weapons. The strategy is a form of Nash equilibrium in which, once armed, neither side has any incentive to initiate a conflict or to disarm.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_assured_destruction

Pyrrhic defeat theory /ˈpɪrɪk/ is the idea that those with the power to change a system, benefit from the way it currently works.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhic_defeat_theory

A strategic victory is a victory that brings long-term advantage to the victor and disturbs the enemy's ability to wage a war. When historians speak of a victory in general, they usually refer to a strategic victory.^[1] Usually it comes together with a tactical victory on the field that allowed to further progress the objectives of the campaign, but it is also possible for a tactical defeat to be considered a strategic victory because it managed to achieve other goals (e.g. by imposing so many casualties on the opposing side to cripple their advance, resulting in a Pyrrhic victory for the enemy).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_victory

A suicide attack is any violent attack, usually entailing attackers detonating an explosive, where any attackers have accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have occurred throughout history, often as part of a military campaign (as with the Japanese kamikaze pilots of 1944–1945 during World War II), and more recently as part of Islamic terrorist campaigns (such as the September 11 attacks in 2001).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_attack

In military tactics, a tactical victory may refer to a victory that results in the completion of a tactical objective as part of an operation or a result in which the losses of the "defeated" outweigh those of the "victor" although the victorious force failed to meet its original objectives.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tactical_victory

he winner's curse is a phenomenon that may occur in common value auctions, where all bidders have the same (ex post) value for an item but receive different private (ex ante) signals about this value and wherein the winner is the bidder with the most optimistic evaluation of the asset and therefore will tend to overestimate and overpay. Accordingly, the winner will be "cursed" in one of two ways: either the winning bid will exceed the value of the auctioned asset making the winner worse off in absolute terms, or the value of the asset will be less than the bidder anticipated, so the bidder may garner a net gain but will be worse off than anticipated.^[1]^[2] However, an actual overpayment will generally occur only if the winner fails to account for the winner's curse when bidding (an outcome that, according to the revenue equivalence theorem, need never occur).^[3]

The winner’s curse phenomenon was first addressed in 1971 by three Atlantic Richfield petroleum engineers who claimed that oil companies suffered unexpectedly low returns "year after year" in early Outer Continental Shelf oil lease auctions.^[4] Outer Continental Shelf auctions are common value auctions, where value of the oil in the ground is essentially the same to all bidders.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winner%27s_curse

A last stand is a military situation in which a body of troops holds a defensive position in the face of overwhelming and virtually insurmountable odds.^[1] Troops may make a last stand due to a sense of duty; because they are defending a tactically crucial point; to buy time to enable a trapped army, person, or group of people to escape; due to fear of execution if captured; or to protect their ruler or leader. Last stands loom large in history, as the heroism and sacrifice of the defenders exert a large pull on the public's imagination. Some last stands have become a celebrated part of a fighting force's or a country's history, especially if the defenders accomplished their goals (or in rare cases, defeated their attackers).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_stand

Over ground workers (OGWs), according to Indian security forces, are people who help militants, or terrorists, with logistical support, cash, shelter, and other infrastructure with which armed groups and insurgency movements such as Hizbul Mujaheddin and Jaish-e-Muhammad in Jammu and Kashmir can operate. OGWs play a vital role in militant attacks, providing real-time information and support to the tactical elements. Over ground workers have diversified into other roles such as stone-pelting, mob-rioting, ideological support, radicalisation, and recruitment of militants. In 2020, up until 8 June, around 135 over ground workers were arrested in Jammu and Kashmir by the Jammu and Kashmir police. While the term is used and associated extensively with the Kashmir region, the term has also been used officially in other parts of India where insurgency is still active, such as in the Naxalite–Maoist insurgency and in Meghalaya for the Garo National Liberation Army.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Over_ground_worker

The culminating point in military strategy is the point at which a military force is no longer able to perform its operations.^[1]

On the offensive, the culminating point marks the time when the attacking force can no longer continue its advance, because of supply problems, the opposing force, or the need for rest.^[2] The task of the attacker is to complete its objectives before the culminating point is reached. The task of the defender on the other hand, is to bring the attacking force to its culminating point before its objectives are completed.^[3]

The concept of a culminating point (Kulminationspunkt) was formulated by the Prussian general and military theorist Carl von Clausewitz in his book On War published in 1832 (Book 7, Chapter 5).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culminating_point

The Loss of Strength Gradient (LSG) is a military concept devised by Kenneth E. Boulding in his 1962 book Conflict and Defense: A General Theory. He argued that the amount of a nation's military power that could be brought to bear in any part of the world depended on geographic distance. The Loss of Strength Gradient demonstrated graphically that, the farther away the target of aggression, the less strength could be made available. It also showed how this loss of strength could be ameliorated by forward positions.^[1]

^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_of_Strength_Gradient}

Crossing the T or capping the T is a classic naval warfare tactic used from the late 19th to the mid-20th centuries in which a line of warships crosses in front of a line of enemy ships to allow the crossing line to bring all their guns to bear while it receives fire from only the forward guns of the enemy.^[1]

It became possible to bring all of a ship's main guns to bear only in the late 19th and the early 20th centuries, with the advent of steam-powered battleships with rotating gun turrets, which were able to move faster and turn more quickly than sailing ships, which had fixed guns facing sideways. The tactic became largely obsolete with the introduction of missiles and aircraft as long-range strikes are less dependent on the direction the ships are facing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_T

In military terminology, a countersign is a sign, word, or any other signal previously agreed upon and required to be exchanged between a sentry or guard and anybody approaching his or her post. The term usually encompasses both the sign given by the approaching party as well as the sentry's reply. However, in some armies, the countersign is strictly the reply of the sentry to the password given by the person approaching.^[1] A well-known sign/countersign used by the Allied forces on D-Day during World War II: the challenge/sign was "flash", the password "thunder", and the countersign (to challenge the person giving the first code word) "Welcome".^[2] Some armies will select passwords or challenges that are difficult to pronounce by the enemy force speaking a different language.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countersign_(military)

A military exclusion zone (MEZ) is an area in the immediate vicinity of a military action established by a country to prevent the unauthorized entry of civilian personnel/equipment for their own safety or to protect natural assets already in place in the zone. It is also established to prevent an enemy from acquiring any material which could help them. The comparable term used by the air forces is that of no-fly zone.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_exclusion_zone

Military parlance is the vernacular used within the military and embraces all aspects of service life; it can be described as both a "code" and a "classification" of something. Like many close and closed communities, the language used can often be full of jargon and not readily intelligible to outsiders—sometimes this is for military operational or security reasons; other times it is because of the natural evolution of the day-to-day language used in the various units.

For example: "Captain, this situation is 'Scale A'", "Scale A" being an army's parlance for "This situation requires the closest of attention and resources and all members of relevance should be present."

The military has developed its own slang, partly as means of self-identification. This slang is also used to reinforce the (usually friendly) interservice rivalries. Some terms are derogatory to varying degrees and many service personnel take some pleasure in the sense of shared hardships which they endure and which is reflected in the slang terms.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_parlance

Military supply-chain management is a cross-functional approach to procuring, producing and delivering products and services for military materiel applications. Military supply chain management includes sub-suppliers, suppliers, internal information and funds flow.^[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_supply-chain_management

Mobile barrages squad is an element of a combat or operational order in the form of a temporary military formation, which is created from units of engineering troops and army aviation.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Engineer-sapper units of the Western Military District of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (2016)

The abbreviation for the temporary formation of troops or forces used in service documents is MBS. The main purpose of MBS is to set up mine blast barrages during combat and to destroy transport infrastructure on behalf of friendly forces.^[3] Until July 1943 they were referred to simply as a barrage squad.^[3]^[4]^[5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_barrage_squad

Mobility in military terms refers to the ability of a weapon system, combat unit or armed force to move toward a military objective. Combat forces with a higher mobility are able to move more quickly, and/or across more hostile terrain, than forces with lower mobility.

Mobility is regarded as a vital component of the modern battlefield, as the ability to deliver weapon systems or combat units to their objective quickly can often mean the difference between victory and defeat. Armies around the world have massively increased their mobility over the last 100 years. In World War I, for example, most combat units could move on the battlefield only as fast as a soldier could walk. In the face of overwhelming firepower presented by machine guns and artillery, that resulted in stalemate and an inability to outmaneuver the enemy. By World War II, battlefield mobility had greatly improved with the development of the tank, and with tracked and other mechanized vehicles, to move forces to, from, along and across the battlefront even under fire.^[1]

Since the end of World War II, armies have continued to develop their mobility. By the 1980s, for example, intercontinental travel shifted from sea to air transport, enabling military forces to move from one part of the world to another within hours or days instead of weeks.

Mobility has also been referred to as a combat multiplier. A highly-mobile unit can use its mobility to engage multiples of its own combat strength of less mobile units. For example, German panzer divisions in World War II were considered the equivalent of two or three infantry divisions, partly by their superior mobility and partly by their inherently greater firepower.

As intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance capabilities are rapidly developing, mobility becomes even more important. In 2016, Chief of Staff of the United States Army Gen. Mark A. Milley stated that "On the future battlefield, if you stay in one place longer than two or three hours, you will be dead... With enemy drones and sensors constantly on the hunt for targets, there won't even be time for four hours' unbroken sleep".^[2]

Mobility has also been defined in terms of three generally recognized levels of warfare: tactical, operational, and strategic. Tactical mobility is the ability to move under fire. Operational mobility is the ability to move men and materiel within the area of operations to the decisive point of battle. Strategic mobility is the ability to move an army to the area of operations.

In World War I, most armies lacked tactical mobility but enjoyed good strategic mobility through the use of railroads, thus leading to a situation where armies could be deployed to the front with ease and rapidity, but once they reached the front became bogged down by their inability to move under fire.

Mobility corridor

A mobility corridor is an area where a military force will be canalized (channeled) due to terrain restrictions. It allows forces to capitalize on the principles of mass and speed, and needs to be relatively free of obstacles.^[3]

Mobility corridors can be combined to make avenues of approach. Maximum distances between mobility corridors (sizes of avenues of approach) are as follows:^{[citation needed]}

Division avenues of approach have regimental mobility corridors no more than 10 kilometers apart.
Regimental avenues of approach have battalion mobility corridors no more than 6 kilometers apart.
Battalion avenues of approach have company mobility corridors no more than 2 kilometers apart.
Company avenues of approach are at least 500 meters wide.

References

Wragg, David W. (1973). A Dictionary of Aviation (first ed.). Osprey. p. 195. ISBN 9780850451634.

"Miserable, Disobedient & Victorious: Gen. Milley's Future US Soldier - Breaking Defense Breaking Defense - Defense industry news, analysis and commentary". 5 October 2016.

"Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms". United States Department of Defense. Archived from the original on 2016-10-10. Retrieved 2016-10-24.

Categories:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobility_(military)

A catastrophic kill, K-Kill or complete kill is damage inflicted on an armored vehicle that renders it permanently non-functional (most commonly via fire and/or an explosion).

Among tank crewmen it is also commonly known as a brew-up, coined from the British World War II term for lighting a fire in order to brew tea. The expression arose because British troops used an old petrol tin with holes punched in the side as a makeshift stove on which to brew their tea. The flames licking out of the holes in the side of the tin resembled a burning tank, and thus the expression was coined.

Typically, a catastrophic kill results in the ignition of any fuel the vehicle may be carrying as well as the detonation (cooking off, or sympathetic detonation) of its ammunition. A catastrophic kill does not necessarily preclude the survival of the vehicle's crew, although most historical casualties in armored warfare were the result of K-kills.

This type of kill is also associated with the jack-in-the-box effect, where a tank's turret is blown skyward due to the overpressure of an ammunition explosion. Some tank designs employ blow-off panels, channeling such explosions outside of the vehicle, turning an otherwise catastrophic kill into a firepower kill.

By contrast, the term knocked out refers to a vehicle which has been damaged to the point of inoperability and abandoned by its crew, but is not obviously beyond the point of repair. A knocked-out vehicle may, however, be later determined to be irreparable and written off.

References

Glossary of military terms

This military-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Categories:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catastrophic_kill

firepower kill (plural firepower kills)

(military, slang) The damage inflicted by a weapon on a vehicle that destroys its weapon systems, or substantially reduces its ability to deliver weapons accurately, but does not significantly affect its ability to move.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/firepower_kill

A casualty, as a term in military usage, is a person in military service, combatant or non-combatant, who becomes unavailable for duty due to any of several circumstances, including death, injury, illness, capture or desertion.

In civilian usage, a casualty is a person who is killed, wounded or incapacitated by some event; the term is usually used to describe multiple deaths and injuries due to violent incidents or disasters. It is sometimes misunderstood to mean "fatalities", but non-fatal injuries are also casualties.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualty_(person)

A body count is the total number of people killed in a particular event. In combat, a body count is often based on the number of confirmed kills, but occasionally only an estimate. Often used in reference to military combat, the term can also refer to any situation involving multiple killings, such as the actions of death squads or serial killers.

The military gathers such figures for a variety of reasons, such as determining the need for continuing operations, estimating efficiency of new and old weapons systems, and planning follow-up operations.

The term has since been used to describe the number of sexual partners a person has engaged with.^[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_count

Manning the rail is a method of saluting (or rendering honors) used by naval vessels. The custom evolved from that of "manning the yards", which dates from the days of sail. On sailing ships, crew stood evenly spaced on all the yards (the spars holding the sails) and gave three cheers to honor distinguished persons. Today, the crew are stationed along the rails and superstructure of a ship when honors are rendered.

The United States Navy prescribes manning the rail as a possible honor to render to the President of the United States and for the heads of state of foreign nations. A similar but less formal ceremony is to have the crew "at quarters" when the ship is entering or leaving port.^[1] Manning the rail is also the traditional way to honor the USS Arizona Memorial when it is passed by all U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Merchant Marine vessels. More recently, as foreign military vessels are entering Pearl Harbor for joint military exercises, foreign sailors have participated in the traditional manning the rails. Notable instances occurred on July 24, 1997, when the guided-missile destroyer USS Ramage and the frigate USS Halyburton rendered honors to the USS Constitution during her 200th birthday celebration, and on September 14, 2001, when the crew of the German destroyer Lütjens manned the rails as they approached the destroyer USS Winston Churchill and displayed an American flag and a banner reading "We Stand By You".^[2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manning_the_rail

Marching fire, also known as walking fire, is a military tactic—a form of suppressive fire used during an infantry assault or combined arms assault. Advancing units fire their weapons without stopping to aim, in an attempt to pin down enemy defenders. Marching fire usually ends with an infantry charge to engage the enemy in close combat. The tactic requires ample ammunition and rapid-fire weapons. It differs from fire and movement in that the attacking force advances in unison rather than leapfrogging forward in alternating groups.

An early form of marching fire was used with little success by Prussian troops at the end of the 18th century, then victoriously in the 1866 Battle of Königgrätz because of the fast-firing Dreyse needle gun. The modern form of marching fire evolved in the early 20th century from a French Army infantry assault concept which suggested the use of suppressive fire from a light machine gun carried by one man—the Chauchat automatic rifle. The tactic was employed to a limited degree in World War I then further codified with the introduction of the M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle and described in U.S. small unit infantry tactics manuals in the early 1920s. As a combined arms stratagem, the tactic was prominently advocated and utilized by General George S. Patton in World War II during his command of the Third Army.

Infantry alone may be insufficient to suppress a well-positioned, well-armed and resolute enemy, especially during the final charge phase. To augment marching fire, supporting forces including heavy weapons teams and armored units may be halted in static positions to maintain suppressive fire throughout the final charge of friendly troops.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marching_fire

In military terminology, a base of fire is a supporting force that provides overwatch and covering fire to other advancing units while they are executing fire and movement tactics. A base of fire can be a platoon during company fire and movement, by individual armoured fighting vehicles (esp. tanks) or infantry sections, in platoon fire and movement, or even by fireteams or individual soldiers, in the final stages of an assault.^{[citation needed]}

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_of_fire

Land navigation is the discipline of following a route through unfamiliar terrain on foot or by vehicle, using maps with reference to terrain, a compass, and other navigational tools.^[1] It is distinguished from travel by traditional groups, such as the Tuareg^[2] across the Sahara and the Inuit^[3] across the Arctic, who use subtle cues to travel across familiar, yet minimally differentiated terrain.

Land navigation is a core military discipline, which uses courses that are an essential part of military training. Often, these courses are several miles long in rough terrain and are performed under adverse conditions, such as at night or in the rain.^[4]

In the late 19th century, land navigation developed into the sport of orienteering.^[5] The earliest use of the term 'orienteering' appears to be in 1886. Nordic military garrisons began orienteering competitions in 1895.^[6]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_navigation

Lethality (also called deadliness or perniciousness) is how capable something is of causing death. Most often it is used when referring to diseases, chemical weapons, biological weapons, or their toxic chemical components. The use of this term denotes the ability of these weapons to kill, but also the possibility that they may not kill. Reasons for the lethality of a weapon to be inconsistent, or expressed by percentage, can be as varied as minimized exposure to the weapon, previous exposure to the weapon minimizing susceptibility, degradation of the weapon over time and/or distance, and incorrect deployment of a multi-component weapon.

This term can also refer to the after-effects of weapon use, such as nuclear fallout, which has highest lethality nearest the deployment site, and in proportion to the subject's size and nature; e.g. a child or small animal.

Lethality can also refer to the after-effects of a chemical explosion. A lethality curve can be developed for process safety reasons to protect people and equipment. The impact is typically greatest closest to the explosion site and lessens to the outskirts of the impact zone. Pressure, toxicity and location affect the lethality.

Lethality is also a term used by microbiologists and food scientists as a measure of the ability of a process to destroy bacteria. Lethality may be determined by enumeration of survivors after incremental exposures.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lethality

Stopping power is the ability of a weapon – typically a ranged weapon such as a firearm – to cause a target (human or animal) to be incapacitated or immobilized. Stopping power contrasts with lethality in that it pertains only to a weapon's ability to make the target cease action, regardless of whether or not death ultimately occurs. Which ammunition cartridges have the greatest stopping power is a much debated topic.

Stopping power is related to the physical properties and terminal behavior of the projectile (bullet, shot, or slug), the biology of the target, and the wound location, but the issue is complicated and not easily studied. Although higher-caliber ammunitions usually have greater muzzle energy and momentum and thus traditionally been widely associated with higher stopping power, the physics involved are multifactorial, with caliber, muzzle velocity, bullet mass, bullet shape and bullet material all contributing to the ballistics.

Despite much disagreement, the most popular theory of stopping power is that it is usually caused not by the force of the bullet but by the wounding effects of the bullet, which are typically a rapid loss of blood causing a circulatory failure, which leads to impaired motor function and/or unconsciousness^{[citation needed]}. The "Big Hole School" and the principles of penetration and permanent tissue damage are in line with this way of thinking. The other prevailing theories focus more on the energy of the bullet and its effects on the nervous system, including hydrostatic shock and energy transfer, which is similar to kinetic energy deposit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stopping_power

In the United States Armed Forces, a line officer or officer of the line is a U.S. Navy or U.S. Marine Corps commissioned officer or warrant officer who exercises general command authority and is eligible for operational command positions, as opposed to officers who normally exercise command authority only within a Navy Staff Corps.^[1] The term line officer is also used by the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Coast Guard to indicate that an officer is eligible for command of operational, viz., tactical or combat units. The term is not generally used by officers of the U.S. Army – the roughly corresponding Army terms are basic branch (e.g, Infantry) and special branch (e.g., Medical Corps) qualified officers, although the concepts are not entirely synonymous, as some Army special branch officers (e.g., Judge Advocate General's Corps) are eligible to hold command outside their branch specialty.^[2]

Officers who are not line officers are those whose primary duties are generally in non-combat specialties including (depending upon the service) attorneys, chaplains, civil engineers, health services professionals, and logistics and financial management specialists. A line officer may hold authority over a non-line officer of higher rank by the nature of their assignment or appointment/succession to command,^[3] but is otherwise expected to observe normal customs and courtesies outside that role.

See explanation of staff and line.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_officer

Live, Virtual, & Constructive (LVC) Simulation is a broadly used taxonomy for classifying Modeling and Simulation (M&S). However, categorizing a simulation as a live, virtual, or constructive environment is problematic since there is no clear division among these categories. The degree of human participation in a simulation is infinitely variable, as is the degree of equipment realism. The categorization of simulations also lacks a category for simulated people working real equipment.^[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live,_virtual,_and_constructive

Loss exchange ratio is a figure of merit in attrition warfare. It is usually relevant to a condition or state of war where one side depletes the resources of another through attrition. Specifically and most often used as a comparator in aerial combat, where it is known as a kill-ratio.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_exchange_ratio

Stalemate is a situation in chess where the player whose turn it is to move is not in check and has no legal move. Stalemate results in a draw. During the endgame, stalemate is a resource that can enable the player with the inferior position to draw the game rather than lose.^[2] In more complex positions, stalemate is much rarer, usually taking the form of a swindle that succeeds only if the superior side is inattentive.^{[citation needed]} Stalemate is also a common theme in endgame studies and other chess problems.

The outcome of a stalemate was standardized as a draw in the 19th century. Before this standardization, its treatment varied widely, including being deemed a win for the stalemating player, a half-win for that player, or a loss for that player; not being permitted; and resulting in the stalemated player missing a turn. Stalemate rules vary in other games of the chess family.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalemate

Killed in action (KIA) is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their own personnel at the hands of enemy or hostile forces at the moment of action.^[1] The United States Department of Defense, for example, says that those declared KIA did not need to have fired their weapons, but only to have been killed due to hostile attack. KIAs include those killed by friendly fire in the midst of combat, but not from incidents such as accidental vehicle crashes, murder or other non-hostile events or terrorism. KIA can be applied both to front-line combat troops and to naval, air and support troops.

Furthermore, KIA denotes a person to have been killed in action on the battlefield whereas died of wounds (DOW) relates to someone who survived to reach a medical treatment facility. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) also uses DWRIA, rather than DOW, for "died of wounds received in action".^{[citation needed]}

PKIA means presumed killed in action. This term is used when personnel are lost in battle, initially listed missing in action (MIA), but after not being found, are later presumed to have not survived.^[2] This is typical of naval battles or engagements on other hostile environments where recovering bodies is difficult. A very large number of soldiers killed in action went unidentified in World War I, like John Kipling, the son of British poet Rudyard Kipling, prompting the formation of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.^[3]

NATO definition

NATO defines killed in action or a battle casualty as a combatant who is killed outright or who dies as a result of wounds or other injuries before reaching a medical treatment facility or help from fellow comrades.^[4]

References

"U.S. Department of Defense Dictionary: killed in action". Archived from the original on 2012-09-27. Retrieved 2007-02-04.

"USS Milius — Named in honor of Navy pilot Captain Paul L. Milius". public.navy.mil. US Navy. Retrieved 10 January 2018.

Brown, Jonathan (28 August 2006). "The Great War and its aftermath: The son who haunted Kipling". The Independent. Retrieved 3 May 2018.

AAP-06, NATO Glossary of terms and definitions (PDF), NATO, 2013, p. 123, archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-03

External links

Media related to Killed in action at Wikimedia Commons

Categories:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killed_in_action

his is a list of established military terms which have been in use for at least 50 years. Since technology and doctrine have changed over time, not all of them are in current use, or they may have been superseded by more modern terms. However, they are still in current use in articles about previous military periods. Some of them like camouflet have been adapted to describe modern versions of old techniques.

Administrative

Cantonment: a temporary or semi-permanent military quarters; in South Asia, the term cantonment also describes permanent military stations.
Logistics
Materiel (also matériel)
Military supply chain management
Staging area

Intelligence

Signals intelligence (SIGINT) and signals intelligence in modern history
- Electronic intelligence (ELINT)
  - High-frequency direction finding (nicknamed huff-duff) is the common name for a type of radio direction finding employed especially during the two world wars.
- Communications intelligence (COMINT)
Human intelligence (HUMINT)
Imagery intelligence (IMINT)
Measurement and signature intelligence (MASINT)
Open-source intelligence (OSINT)

On land

Demilitarized zone (DMZ): Area that is specifically established to be free from military presence or action. Often used to create a buffer between two conflicting states to prevent accidental border skirmishes and established by treaty or a third party peace keeper.
No man's land: land that is not occupied or, more specifically, land that is under dispute between countries or areas that will not occupy it because of fear or uncertainty, or for tactical or strategical considerations. No man's land was what the Allied Expeditionary Force under the command of General Pershing would refer to the land separating the fronts of the two opposing armies, as it was deadly to be there.

Arms and services

Artillery includes any engine used for the discharge of large projectiles.
Artillery battery: an organized group of artillery pieces (previously artillery park).
Also see below Artillery

Doctrinal

These terms are used for talking about how armed forces are used. Many of the terms below can be applied to combat in other environments although most often used in reference to land warfare.

Ambush: carrying out a surprise attack on an enemy that passes by a concealed position.
Artillery barrage: a line or barrier of exploding artillery shells, created by continuous and co-ordinated fire of a large number of guns.
Battalia: an army or a subcomponent of an army such as a battalion in battle array (common military parlance in the 17th century).
Blockade: a ring of naval vessels surrounding a specific port or even an entire nation. The goal is to halt the movement of goods which could help the blockaded nation's war effort.
Booby trap
Breach: a gap in fortified or battle lines.
Breakout: exploiting a breach in enemy lines so that a large force (division or above) passes through.
Bridgehead and its varieties known as beachheads and airheads.
Charge: a large force heads directly to an enemy to engage in close quarters combat, with the hope of breaking the enemy line.
Chequered retreat, (retraite en échiquier, Fr.) a line or battalion, alternately retreating and facing about in the presence of an enemy, exhibiting a deployment like chequered squares
Column: a formation of soldiers marching in files in which the files is significantly longer than the width of ranks in the formation.
Counterattack
Counter-battery fire
Coup de grâce: a death blow intended to end the suffering of a wounded soldier; also applied to severely damaged ships (called scuttling when applied to friendly ships).
Coup de main: a swift pre-emptive strike.
Debellatio: to end a war by complete destruction of a hostile state. More severe than sacking.
Decisive victory: an overwhelming victory for one side, often shifting the course of conflict.
Defilade: a unit or position is "defiladed" if it is protected from direct exposure to enemy fire; see also Hull-down.
DUSTOFF: a now traditional call sign for US Army Air Ambulance helicopter operations engaging in MEDEVAC.
Echelon formation: a military formation in which members are arranged diagonally.
Encirclement: surrounding enemy forces on all sides, isolating them.
Enfilade: a unit (or position) is "enfiladed" when enemy fire can be directed along the long axis of the unit. For instance, a trench is enfiladed if the enemy can fire down the length of the trench. May also refer to placing a unit in a position to enfilade, or the position so enfiladed.
Envelope
Extraction point: the location designated for reassembly of forces and their subsequent transportation out of the battle zone.
Fabian strategy: avoiding pitched battles in order to wear down the enemy in a war of attrition.
Fighting withdrawal: pulling back military forces while maintaining contact with the enemy.
File: a single column of soldiers.
Flanking maneuver: to attack an enemy or an enemy unit from the side, or to maneuver to do so.
Forlorn hope: a band of soldiers or other combatants chosen to take the leading part in a military operation, such as an assault on a defended position, where the risk of casualties is high.^[1]
Frontal assault or frontal attack: an attack toward the front of an enemy force.
Garrison: a body of troops holding a particular location on a long-term basis.
Guerrilla tactics: attacking the enemy and the subsequent breaking off of contact and retreating; also referred to as "hit-and-run tactics".
Hors de combat: a unit out of the fight, surrendered, wounded (when incapacitated), and so on.
Infantry square, pike square, or schiltron
Infiltration
Interdiction: to attack and disrupt enemy supply lines.
Killing field
Lodgement: an enclave made by increasing the size of a bridgehead.
MEDEVAC: the tactical medical evacuation of wounded from the field of battle by air, bringing them to a higher level of medical care and treatment, e.g. from a forward field location or a forward aid station to a combat support hospital, forward surgical team or other treatment facility able to provide significant stabilizing care or definitive treatment to the injured.^[2]
Melee or Mêlée
Mess: A place where troops gather for their meals
Mikes: Minutes. When used in normal vernacular speaker will say will be ready in X-Mikes where X represents number of minutes.
Mobile columns, or movable columns (French: colomnes mobiles or troupes en activité) — in contrast to stationary troops troupes sédentaire. This may be used as a bureaucratic description to describe the function for which troops are raised for example the regiments of the Highland Fencible Corps were raised for garrison duties while Scottish line regiments in the British Army were raised to fight anywhere;^[3] or it may be an operational description.^[4]
No quarter given: all enemy troops are to be killed, even those who surrender. Also referred to as "take no prisoners".
Overwatch: tactical technique in which one unit is positioned in a vantage position to provide perimeter surveillance and immediate fire support for another friendly unit.^[5]
Patrolling
Parthian shot
Phalanx
Pickets (or picquets): sentries or advance troops specifically tasked with early warning of contact with the enemy. A soldier who has this job is on "picket duty", and may also be referred to as a "lookout." (see also Vedette, a mounted sentry or outpost)
Pincer maneuver
Pitched battle
Pocket: see "salient".
Pyrrhic victory: a victory paid for so dearly that it potentially could lead to a later defeat ("a battle won, a war lost").
Raid
Rank: a single line of soldiers.
Reconnaissance
Retreat: withdrawal of troops from a battlefield (can be either orderly or unorderly; fighting or by rout).
Rout: disorderly withdrawal of troops from a battlefield following a defeat, either real or perceived.
Sack: the destruction and looting of a city, usually after an assault.
Safe-guard: individual soldiers or detachments placed to prevent resources (often farms full of crops and livestock) from being looted or plundered
Salients: a pocket or "bulge" in a fortified or battle line. The enemy's line facing a salient is referred to as a "re-entrant".
Scorched earth: the deliberate destruction of resources in order to deny their use to the enemy.
Scuttlebutt: For gossip or water fountain.
Scuttling: the deliberate destruction of a ship to prevent its capture and use by an enemy. Commonly used as a coup de grâce, but has also been a protest (as after the First World War).
Shield wall: the massed use of interconnected shields to form a wall in battle.
Shield wall (fortification): the highest and thickest wall of a castle protecting the main assault approach.
Shoot and scoot: a type of fire-and-movement tactic used by artillery to avoid counter-battery fire.
Siege: a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by force or attrition, often accompanied by an assault in the later phase.
- Siege en régle: A siege where a city or fortress is invested but no bombardment or assault takes place. Instead, the besieger attempts to persuade the defenders to surrender through negotiation, inducement, or through privations such as starvation. This may be done because the fortress is too strong for the attackers to capture through bombardment and assault, or because if the fortification when captured is undamaged it immediately becomes a functional strong point for the former besiegers.^[6]
- Circumvallation: a line of fortifications built by the attackers around the besieged fortification facing towards it.
- Contravallation: a second line of fortifications behind the circumvallation facing away from the enemy fort to protect the besiegers from attacks by allies of the besieged.
- Escalade: the act of scaling defensive walls or ramparts with the aid of ladders, a prominent feature of siege warfare in medieval times.
- Chevaux de frise: sword blades chained together to incapacitate people trying to charge into a breach in the walls.
- Investment: surrounding an enemy fort (or town) with armed forces to prevent entry or escape.
- Military mining, undermining of defence positions either fortifications or enemy front line trenches (see also camouflet).
- Parallel trenches
- Sapping: digging approach trench towards enemy fortifications within range of the besieged guns.
- Siege engines: specialised weapons used to overcome fortifications of a besieged fort or town; in modern times, the task has fallen to large artillery pieces.
- Siege train: specialised siege artillery moved in a column by road or by rail.
- Siege tower: a wooden tower on wheels constructed to protect assailants and ladders while approaching the defensive walls of a fortification.
Sortie (also "to sally (forth)"): a sudden attack against a besieging enemy from within a besieged fort or town.
Surrender at discretion: unconditional surrender instead of surrendering with terms.
Skirmish
Switch position: A defensive position oblique to, and connecting, successive defensive positions paralleling the front.^[7]
thunder run: quick surprise penetration attack deep into enemy territory, designed to confuse and potentially break enemy lines and take a city.
Vedette, a mounted sentry or outpost, who has the function of bringing information, giving signals or warnings of danger, etc.
Withdrawal (military): retreat (i.e., pulling back) of troops from a battlefield (can be either orderly or unorderly; fighting or by rout)

Ordnance

These terms concern identification of means of combat to inflict damage on the opponent.

Edged

Weapons that inflict damage through cutting or stabbing.

Projectile munitions

Munitions are weapons and ordnance that inflict damage through impact.

Individual

Bow (weapon)
Crossbow
Sling (weapon) and slingshot (hand catapult)

Firearms

Artillery

Crew-served, non-vehicle mounted weapons

Guns

Explosives

Explosive ordnance causes damage through release of chemical energy.

Incendiary

Incendiary ordnance causes damage through release of heat.

Vehicles

Engineering

See also List of fortifications

Abatis: a defensive obstacle consisting of an obstacle formed (in the modern era) of the branches of trees laid in a row.

Banquette, or fire step
Barbed wire
Bartizan: a cylindrical turret or sentry post projecting beyond the parapet of a fort or castle
Bastion
Bastion fortress: a star-shaped fortress surrounding a town or city (also known as star fort or Trace italienne).
Battery: an artillery position, which may be fortified.
Berm
Blast wall: a barrier for protection from high explosive blast.
Blockhouse: a) Medieval and Renaissance - a small artillery tower, b) 18th and 19th centuries - a small colonial wooden fort, c) 20th century - a large concrete defensive structure.
Breastwork
Bulwark
Bunker: a heavily fortified, mainly underground, facility used as a defensive position; also commonly used as command centres for high-level officers.
Caponier: a defensive firing position either projecting into, or traversing the ditch of a fort.
Carnot wall: a wall pierced with loopholes, sited above the scarp of a ditch but below the rampart.
Casemate: a vaulted chamber for protected storage, accommodation or if provided with an embrasure, for artillery
Castle
- Medieval fortification
  - Arrow slit (arrow loop, loophole)
  - Barbican
  - Chemin de ronde
  - Concentric castle
  - Drawbridge
  - Gatehouse
  - Keep or donjon
  - Moat
  - Machicolation
  - Murder-hole
  - Portcullis
Citadel
Counterscarp: the opposing side of a ditch in front of a fortification, i.e., the side facing it.
Counterscarp gallery: a firing position built into the counterscarp wall of the ditch.
Counter mine: anti-siege tunnel dug by a fortification's defenders below an attacker's mine with the intent of destroying it before the attackers are able to damage (the foundations of) the fortification's walls.
Coupure
Covertway
Defensive fighting position; for example, a rifle pit, sangar or fox hole.
Demi-lune
Ditch: a dry moat.
Dragon's teeth: Triangular obstacles acting as roadblocks for armoured vehicles.
Dutch Water Line: a series of water-based defensive measures designed to flood large areas in case of attack.
Earthworks
Embrasure: an opening in a parapet or casemate, for a gun to fire through.
Fascine is a bundle of sticks or similar, were used in military defences for revetting (shoring up) trenches or ramparts, especially around artillery batteries, or filling in ditches and trenches during an attack.
Flèche: an arrow shaped outwork, smaller than a ravelin or a lunette, with 2 faces with a parapet and an open gorge
Fort
Fortification
Fortress
Gabion: a large basket filled with earth, used to form a temporary parapet for artillery
Glacis: a bank of earth sloping away from the fort, to protect it from direct artillery fire
Gorge: opening at the rear of an outwork for access by defending troops from the main defensive position
Hill fort (New Zealand: Pa (Māori))
Lunette: an outwork consisting of a salient angle with two flanks and an open gorge.
Magazine: a protected place within a fort, where ammunition is stored and prepared for use.
Mining: a siege method used since antiquity against a walled city, fortress or castle, where tunnels are dug to undermine the foundations of the walls; also see counter-mine.
Outwork: a minor defence, built or established outside the principal fortification limits, detached or semidetached.
Parapet: a wall at the edge of the rampart to protect the defenders.
Pillbox: a small concrete guard post.
Polygonal fort: a later type of fort without bastions.
Rampart: The main defensive wall of a fortification.
Ravelin: a triangular fortification in front of bastion as a detached outwork.
Redan: a V-shaped salient angle toward an expected attack, made from earthworks or other material.
Redoubt: a fort or fort system usually consisting of an enclosed defensive emplacement outside a larger fort, which can be constructed of earthworks, stone or brick.
Reduit: an enclosed defensive emplacement inside a larger fort; provides protection during a persistent attack.
Sangar: a small temporary fortified position with a breastwork originally of stone, but built of sandbags and similar materials in modern times.
Sally port
Sapping
Scarp: the side of a ditch in front of a fortification facing away from it.
Sconce: a small protective fortification, such as an earthwork, often placed on a mound as a defensive work for artillery.
Sea fort: a coastal fort entirely surrounded by the sea, either built on a rock or directly onto the sea bed.
Slighting: the deliberate destruction of an (abandoned) fortification without opposition from its (former) occupants and/or defenders.
Sortie
Star fort: a star-shaped fortress surrounding a town or city (also known as Bastion fortress or Trace italienne).
Tenaille (archaic Tenalia): an advanced pincer-shaped defensive work in front of the main defences of a fortress.
Terreplein: the fighting platform on top of a rampart, behind the parapet.
Tête-de-pont: a temporary defensive work defending a bridge at the end closest to the enemy.
Trace italienne: a star-shaped fortress surrounding a town or city (also known as Bastion fortress or star fort).
Trench

Geographic

Defile: a geographic term for a narrow pass or gorge between mountains. It has its origins as a military description of a pass through which troops can march only in a narrow column or with a narrow front.
Debouch:
- To emerge from a defile or similar into open country;
- A fortification at the end of a defile;
- Water that flows out of a defile into a wider place such as a lake.

Naval

Arms and services

These terms concern combat arms and supporting services of armed forces used in naval warfare.

Doctrinal

These terms concern the type of use of naval armed forces.

Blockade
Coup de grâce: a final shot intended to finish off a sinking (enemy) ship (which should be distinguished from scuttling).
Crossing the Tee
Vanguard—the leading part of an advancing military formation
Line astern, line ahead, or line of battle
Raking fire
Scuttling
Weather gage

Operational

Adrift: Loose and out of control. Typically applied to a ship or vessel that has lost power and is unable to control its movement.^[8]
Aft: Any part of the ship closer to the stern than you currently are.^[8]
All Hands: The entire ship's crew to include all officers and enlisted.^[8]
Aye, Aye: Response acknowledging and understanding a command.^[8]
Bow: Front of the ship.^[8]
Below: Any deck beneath the one you are currently on.^[8]
Carry on: An order given to continue work or duties.^[8]
Cast off: To throw off, to let go, to unfurl.^[8]
Colours: Raising and lowering of the National Ensign, the National flag, and organization flags.^[8]
Fathom: Unit of measurement generally used for depth from sea level to sea floor.^[8]
General Quarters: Battle stations.^[8] Generally set when the ship is about to engage in battle or hostile activities.
Jettison: To throw or dispose of something over the side of the ship.
Ladder: Also known as a ladder well. Much like civilian stairs, however much steeper.^[8]
Leave: Vacation time nearly completely free unless an emergency recall occurs.^[8]
Shore leave or Liberty (US): Permission to leave the ship/base to enjoy non-work activities.^[8]
Mid-watch: Tends to be the midnight to 0400 watch. Also known as "balls to four" due to military time equivalent 0000-0400.^[8]
Port Side: Left hand side of the ship.^[8]
Quarters: Generally the morning assembly of all hands for muster and accountability.^[8]
Starboard: Right hand side of the ship.^[8]
Stern: Rear of the ship.^[8]
Taps: Lights out, time to sleep.^[8]
Turn to: Start working.^[8]
Working Aloft: Working above the highest deck, generally performing maintenance on the ship's mast or antennas.^[8]

Ordnance

Vessels

Engineering

Air

Arms and services

These terms concern combat arms and supporting services of armed forces used in air warfare.

Operational

Sortie: used by air forces to indicate an aircraft mission count (flew seven sorties) or in the sense of a departure (the aircraft sortied).

Doctrinal

These terms concern the type of use of aviation armed forces.

Tactics

Bombing: specifically area bombing, carpet bombing and pattern bombing.
Sortie: a mission flown by an aircraft

Ordnance

Aircraft

Engineering

References

Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Forlorn Hope" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

https://api.army.mil/e2/c/downloads/355651.pdf^{[bare URL PDF]}

James, Charles (1816), n Universal Military Dictionary, in English and French: In which are Explained the Terms of the Principal Sciences that are Necessary for the Information of an Officer (4 ed.), T. Egerton, p. 798

Murray, Nicholas (2013), The Rocky Road to the Great War: The Evolution of Trench Warfare to 1914 (illustrated ed.), Potomac Books, p. 101, ISBN 9781597975537

Safire, William (October 14, 2007). "Overwatch". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.

"Fergusson on Fortification". The Dublin University Magazine. Dublin: James McGlashan. 34 (199): 250. July–December 1849.

US Army Military Intelligence Service. "British Military Terminology" (PDF). Retrieved Sep 27, 2018.

"Glossary of Terms : Navy.com". www.navy.com. Retrieved 2016-06-23.

External links

A Dictionary of Military Architecture: Fortification and Fieldworks from the Iron Age to the Eighteenth Century by Stephen Francis Wyley, drawings by Steven Lowe
Victorian Forts glossary. A more comprehensive version has been published as A Handbook of Military Terms by David Moore at the same site
Military Earthworks Terms by the National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior
Military Terms Dictionary Lookup on military terms offering you clear definitions by some of the most reliable reference works in this field.
Military acronyms and abbreviations

Categories:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_established_military_terms

Blog Archive

Monday, May 15, 2023

05-15-2023-1740 - D-Day, etc. (draft)

References

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