Weapons and Warfare (A-F)


10/22DSP
The 10/22DSP is a
Ruger .22" calibre rimfire carbine. It takes a 10-round rotary magazine.

101st Airborne Division
The 101st Airborne Division (Screaming Eagles) is a US
army division which was activated
on August 15th, 1942. The first commander was Major General William C. Lee. During World War II, the 101st Airborne Division led the way on D-Day in the night drop prior to the invasion.

107th Bengal Light Infantry
The 107th
Bengal Light Infantry was a British army unit raised in 1854. It went on to amalgamate with the 35th Foot to form the Royal Sussex Regiment.

115th Field Artillery Brigade
The 115th Field
Artillery Brigade is a US army unit which was first organized in 1888 in the Wyoming
National Guard as the 1st Regiment, to consist of Company A (Laramie Grays). organized 29 May 1888 at Laramie, and company B (Cheyenne Guards), organized 12 October 1888 at cheyenne.
In 1890 it was redesignated as the 1st Regiment Infantry. And after many more changes
it was redesignated as the Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 115th Field Brigade on the 1st September 1978

12/250 Rapid
The 12/250 Rapid is a precharged
air rifle made by Theoben. It has a 23 inch barrel in .25" calibre and takes a 12-round magazine. Power is adjustable from 33ft/lbs to 40ft/lbs.

12th (East Suffolk) Regiment of Foot
see "
Suffolk Regiment"

13th Foot
The 13th Foot was a British infantry regiment raised in 1685 to fight the Scottish
Jacobites. They fought at Killiecrankie and at the battle of the Boyne.

1st Staffordshire
see "
38th Foot"

21st Royal North British Fusiliers
see "
Royal Scots Fusiliers"

24th Regiment of Foot
The 24th Regiment of Foot was a British
army unit raised in Ireland in 1689. It's first action was under William III at the Battle of the Boyne. It made an incredible stand at Rorke's Drift in January 1879 against an overwhelming mass of Zulus. At some point in it's history the regiment changed it's name to the South Wales Borderers.

25th Foot
see "
Kings Own Scottish Borderers"

2A20
The 2A20 is a
Russian 115mm smooth-bore gun mounted on older T-62 MBT. It has a muzzle velocity of 1615 m/s and armour piercing capabilities of 326mm at 500m and 302mm at 1000m firing APFSDS ammunition.

2A26
The 2A26 is a
Russian 125mm calibre smooth-bore gun mounted on T-64, T-72 and T-80 MBTs. It has a muzzle velocity of 1680m/s and armour piercing capabilities of 397mm at 500m and 363mm at 1000m firing HVAPFSDS ammunition.

2A28
The 2A28 is a
Russian 73mm calibre smooth-bore closed-breech rocket launcher. It fires the PG-9 rocket at a muzzle velocity of 400m/s and is mounted on the BMP-1 IFV.

2A42
The 2A42 is a
Russian 30mm calibre auto-cannon mounted on BMP-2 and ZSU-30-2. It is based upon the British Rarden gun and has dual loading for AP and HE ammunition allowing the gunner to switch rounds without unloading and reloading. The 2A42 has a muzzle velocity of 1000m/s and can pierce 50mm of armour at 500m.

2A46
The 2A46 is a newer version of the
2A26 with a redesigned mechanical loader.

2nd Dragoons
see "
Royal Scots Greys"

2nd Highland Battalion
see "
78th Highlanders"

2nd Royal North British Dragoons
see "
Royal Scots Greys"

31st Foot
The 31st Foot was a British
marine regiment raised in 1702. In 1782 it was renamed the Huntingdonshire Regiment and in 1825 formed part of the East Surrey Regiment.

35th Foot
The 35th Foot was a British
army unit raised in 1701 at Belfast. It captured the standard of the Roussillon Grenadiers on the Plains of Abraham in Quebec. The regiment developed the names "Orange Lillies" and "Prince of Orange's Own" on account of wearing orange facings. The regiment later formed part of the Royal Sussex Regiment.

35th Infantry Regiment
The 35th Infantry Regiment is a US
army unit which was organized on the 13th July 1916 in Arizona of
men from the 11th, 18th and 22nd Infantry. These units dated back to The War Between the States.

38th Foot
The 38th Foot was a British
army infantry unit raised in 1702. It received the title 1st Staffordshire in 1782 and went on to form part of the South Staffordshire Regiment.

39th Foot
The 39th Foot was a British
army regiment raised in 1702, and the first regiment to serve in India, sailing in 1754. It was merged with the 54th Foot into the Dorset Regiment.

3rd Foot Guards
see "
Scots Guards"

3rd Pattern Commando Knife
The 3rd Pattern Commando Knife (Fairbairn-Sykes) was a double edged fighting knife specified by the British
MOD in 1943, and issued to Service Men. It had a 7 inch, double edged carbon-steel blade with a 2 inch oval guard, a ribbed zinc-alloy handle and a brass nut. The blade was finished in black.

42nd Foot
The 42nd Foot was the first battalion of the
Royal Highlanders.

53rd (Shropshire) Regiment
see "
Shropshire Light Infantry."

54th Foot
The 54th Foot was a British
army regiment raised in 1755. It was later merged with the 39th Foot to form the Dorset Regiment.

60th Royal Americans
see "
Kings Royal Rifle Corps"

64th (2nd Staffordshire) Foot
The 64th (2nd
Staffordshire) Foot was a British army unit raised in 1756 to be the 2nd Battalion of the 11th Foot. It received the title "Prince of Wales's" on occasion of the Prince's visit to Malta in 1876.

70th Foot
The 70th Foot was a British
army regiment raised in 1758. In 1825 it formed the 2nd Battalion of the East Surrey Regiment.

73rd Foot
The 73rd Foot was the second battalion of the
Royal Highlanders and was raised in 1780.

78th Highlanders
The 78th Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs) were formed in 1756 as the 2nd
Highland Battalion and reformed in 1793 as the 78th Highlanders and joined with Fraser's Highlanders in 1881 to form the Seaforth Highlanders.

7th (Royal Fusilier) Regiment
see "
Royal Fusiliers"

8-229th Aviation Regiment
The 8-229th Aviation Regiment (Flying Tigers) is a US
army unit formed in 1941 under the command of Colonel Claire L. Chennault,
and formally known as the American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force during World War II.
In 1942 when the U.S. declared war on Japan, they were absorbed into the 10th Air Force and became the nucleus of the China Air Task Force.

80th Foot
The 80th Foot was a British
army infantry unit raised in 1793 which went on to form part of the South Staffordshire Regiment.

90th Light Infantry
The 90th
Light Infantry (Perthshire Volunteers) was a British army unit formed in 1794. It joined with the Cameronians in 1881 to form the Scottish Rifles.

98th Foot
The 98th Foot was a British infantry
army unit raised in 1824 as the 2nd Battalion of the North Staffordshire Regiment.

Abatis
An abatis is a barricade or obstacle comprised of felled
trees arranged with the branches pointing outwards.

Action
In weapon terms, action refers to the working mechanism of a
firearm. Various types exist, including single-shots, multi-barrels, revolvers, slide- or pump-action, lever-action, bolt-action, semi-automatic and automatic.

Acton
An acton was a quilted or padded
tunic worn under a coat of mail as a defence against bruising in combat. They were popular in the 15th century.

Admiral Graf Spee
The
Admiral Graf Spee was a German pocket battleship. She was launched in April 1933 and was scuttled off Montevideo, Uruguay after engaging three British cruisers in the Battle of the River Plate in December 1939. The Admiral Graf Spee was armed with six 11 inch and eight 6 inch guns and had a top speed of 28 knots.

Affondatore
The Affondatore was an Italian turret battleship. She was launched in November 1865 and retired from service with the Italian navy in 1907. She was armed with two 10
inch muzzle-loading rifled guns and had a top speed of 12 knots. The Affondatore was an iron-hulled schooner rigged vessel with two turrets each designed by the British navy's Captain Cowper Coles. She acted as the flagship of Admiral Persano's fleet at the Battle of Lissa in July 1866.

AFV
AFV is an
abbreviation for armoured fighting vehicle.

Agent Orange
Agent
Orange was a selective weedkiller, notorious for its use in the 1960s during the
Vietnam War by American forces to eliminate ground cover which could protect enemy forces. It was subsequently discovered to contain highly poisonous dioxin.
Agent Orange, named for the distinctive orange stripe on its packaging, combines equal parts of 2,4-D (2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid) and 2,4,5-T (2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid), both now banned in the USA.

AGM-114
The AGM-114 (hellfire) is an
American laser-guided anti-tank missile. It can be carried by helicopters or ground forces. It has a flight speed of mach 1.7 and a range of 5 miles.

AGM-114A
The AGM-114A is an anti-tank missile carried by
American helicopters. It has a flight speed of 170 m/s and a maximum range of 7000 meters. It is unusual in being a laser guided missile. Also called the hellfire missile.

AGM-65
The AGM-65 is an air-to-ground missile used by the US
army. It has a flight speed of 180 m/s and a maximum range of 16000 meters.

AGM-65D
The AGM-65D (Maverick) is a 300mm air-to-ground missile used by the
USAF. It is mounted on A-10A and other similar attack aircraft. It has a range of 16000m and an FLIR guidance system. It can penetrate 650mm of flat steel, 527mm of sloped steel armour and 257mm of composite armour.

Airgun
An airgun is not a
firearm but a gun that uses compressed air or carbon dioxide to propel a projectile.

Ajax
The Ajax was a British
light cruiser of the Second World War. She was armed with 8 6 inch guns, 8 4 inch anti-aircraft guns, 8 2 pounder anti-aircraft guns, 12 .5 inch guns and 8 21 inch torpedo tubes. She had a top speed of 32.5 knots. She carried a crew of 550.

AK47
The AK47 is a
Soviet assault rifle. It is an automatic weapon with a cyclic rate of 600 rpm and a muzzle velocity of 717 m/s. It is sighted to 800m. The AK47 takes a 7.62mm round from a 30-round box.

Akagi
The Akagi was a Japanese
aircraft carrier. She was designed as a battle cruiser but the design was altered and she was built to despatch up to 60 aircraft. The Akagi was launched in 1925 and led the Japanese aircraft carrier assault on Pearl Harbour in 1941. She was sunk at the Battle of Midway in 1942 by American dive bombers.

Al-Hussayn
The Al-Hussayn is an Iraqi
army modified Scud missile capable of projecting a smaller payload of about 500 kg a distance of up to 650 km.

Almirante Brown
The Almirante
Brown is an Argentinian Meko 360 Type destroyer. She was
built by Blohm and Voss in Hamburg and launched on the 28th of March
1981. She has a displacement of 2900 tons and is armed with eight
Aerospatiale MM 40 Exocet missiles, one OTO Melara 5in gun, eight
Breda/Bofors 40mm guns, six 324mm ILAS 3 (2 triple) torpedo tubes
and two Breda 105mm SCLAR Chaff rocket launchers. She is powered by
two Rolls-Royce Olympus TM3B gas turbines providing 51600 shp and a
top speed of 30.5 knots and a range of 7200 km. She carries a crew of
26 officers and 174 men.

Altmark
The Altmark was a
German POW ship of the Second World War. The prisoners-of-war were rescued by the British destroyer Cossack.

Ammunition
Ammunition generally refers to the assembled components of complete cartridges or rounds i.e., a case or
shell holding a primer, a charge of propellant (gunpowder) and a projectile (bullets in the case of handguns and rifles, multiple pellets or single slugs in shotguns). Sometimes called "fixed ammunition" to differentiate from components inserted separately in muzzleloaders.

AP
In terms of
ammunition, AP is an abbreviation for armour piercing.

APC
APC is an
abbreviation for armoured personnel carrier.

APCS
see "
APC"

APFSDS
APFSDS is an
abbreviation for armour piercing, fin stabilised, discarding sabot.

Aquila
Aquila is an
American RPV.

Arbalist
see "
Cross-bow"

Ark Royal
The original Ark
Royal was a British galleon of 800 tons built for Sir Walter Raleigh in 1587. She was the flagship of Lord Howard at the battle against the Spanish Armada in 1588. The name Ark Royal was later employed for a British aircraft carrier built in 1937 and sunk in 1941 by the German submarine U81.

Arleigh Burke
Arleigh
Burke is an American guided missile destroyer of 8400 tons and a top speed of over 30 knots.

Armor
Armor is body protection worn in
battle. The invention of gunpowder led, by degrees, to the virtual abandonment of armor until World War I, when the helmet reappeared as a defense against shrapnel.
Modern armor, used by the army, police, security guards, and people at risk from assassination, uses nylon and fiberglass and is often worn beneath clothing.

Armored Personnel Carrier
An Armored Personnel
Carrier (APC) is a wheeled or tracked military vehicle designed to transport up to ten people. Armoured to withstand small-arms fire and shell splinters, it is used on battlefields.

Armoured Landship
Armoured Landships were the official name, rather than the code name, for Tanks. The term never really caught on, and by the Second World War the code name of "
Tank" was in general usage.

Armoured Train
Armoured Trains were railway trains with the engine and carriages protected from
musket fire by armour in the form of high parapets of iron or steel plate. Loopholes in the armour allowed carried soldiers to fire without undue exposure, and machine-guns were also carried on pivot mountings. Armoured Trains were used in France and Belgium during the early part of the Great War, especially at the siege of Antwerp, but were found to be vulnerable to artillery fire and this together with their inability to manoeuvre led to their discontinuation.

Armstrong Gun
The
Armstrong Gun is a type of cannon named after its inventor, William Armstrong. It is made of wrought-iron spirally-coiled bars. It has a rifled barrel. The projectile is covered in soft lead. As the projectile is propelled out of the cannon, the lead coating is compressed into the rifle grroves, causing it to spin. The Armstrong Gun was invented in the middle of the 19th century.

Arquebus
The arquebus was a hand-gun similar to a
musket. It fired a two ounce ball, and was fired from a forked rest. A larger variant which took a heavier ball was used in fortresses.

Arrow
An arrow is a missile projected by a
bow.

Arsine
Arsine, short for Arseniuretted
hydrogen, is a blood irritant gas used during the Second World War. It has very little smell and causes violent vomiting and blood poisoning.

Artillery
Artillery refers to missile type weapons.

AS-14
The AS-14 is a
Soviet air-to-ground anti-tank missile. It has a flight speed of 150-175 m/s and a maximum range of 20000 meters. It is carried by SU-25 and other aircraft.

Asahi
The Asahi was a Japanese battleship built in 1898 and broken up in 1947. She had a top speed of 18 knots and was armed with four 12
inch and fourteen 6 inch guns. The Asahi saw extensive service in the 1904-1905 war with Russia and in 1921 was reclassified as a coast defence ship and in 1923 became a training ship.

ASDIC
ASDIC was an
abbreviation used during the Second World War for Allied Submarine Detection Investigation Committee. It was a device used for detecting underwater ships. The American name was sonar.

Assegai
The assegai is a spear used as a weapon by the Kaffres of
South Africa. It is made of hard wood with an iron tip and is used for throwing and thrusting.

AT-3
The AT-3 (Sagger) is a
Russian 120mm ATGM. It has a flight speed of 120m/s and a range of 3000m. The original AT-3 was introduced during the 1960s and was joystick guided which required a high degree of gunner skill. During the 1970s it was redesigned to optical guidance, whereby the gunner just needs to keep the target in sight.

AT-4
The AT-4 is an
American lightweight multi-purpose weapon. It is a single shot anti-tank rocket with iron sights guidance and a range of about 300m. The AT-4 (Spigot) is a Russian 120mm ATGM introduced during the 1970s and supplied to infantry, BMP-1, BMP-2 and BRDM-3 units. It has a maximum range of 2000m and a flight speed of 185m/s.

AT-5
The AT-5 (Spandrel) is a
Russian 130mm ATGM. It is wire-guided and mounted on the BMP-2 and BRDM-3. It has a flight speed of 185m/s and a maximum range of 4000m. The AT-5 can penetrate 500mm of flat steel, 406mm of sloped steel and 198mm of composite armour.

AT-6
The AT-6 (Spiral) is a
Russian ATGM designed to be fired from helicopters, and is radio guided. It has a flight speed of 225m/s and can penetrate 600mm of flat steel, 487mm of sloped steel and 237mm of composite armour. The AT-6 has a maximum range of 5000m.

AT-8
The AT-8 (Songster) is a
Russian ATGM. It was designed to be fired from the 125mm smooth-bore gun. It uses radio for guidance from the gunner. The AT-8 has a flight speed of 250m/s and a range of 4000m. It can penetrate 550mm of flat steel and 446mm of sloped steel armour.

ATGM
ATGM is an
abbreviation for anti-tank guided missile.

ATGMS
see "
atgm"

ATGW
ATGW is an
abbreviation for anti-tank guided weapon.

Atomic Bomb
The Atomic
bomb is a bomb deriving its explosive force from nuclear fission as a result of a neutron chain reaction. It was developed in the 1940s in the USA into a usable weapon.
Research began in Britian in 1940 and was transferred to the USA after its
entry into World War II the following year.
Known as the Manhattan Project, the work was carried out under the direction
of the American physicist Robert Oppenheimer at Los Alamos, New Mexico.

Automatic (firearm)
An automatic is a
firearm designed to feed cartridges, fire them, eject their empty cases and repeat this cycle as long as the trigger is depressed and cartridges remain in the feed system. Examples: machine guns, submachine guns, selective-fire rifles, including true assault rifles.

AV7
The AV7 was the first
German tank. It was first made in 1918 by Daimler, a total of 20 being made before the war ended. It had two 100hp Daimler petrol engines giving a top speed of 12kmph and a range of 35km. It was armed with a 57mm cannon and six 7.62mm machine guns. The armour plating was a maximum of 30mm thick and it was crewed by 18 men.

Avenger
see "
GAU-8/A"

AWACS
AWACS is an
acronym for Airborne Warning And Control System. It is a surveillance system that incorporates a long-range surveillance and detection radar mounted on a
Boeing E-3 sentry aircraft.It was used with great success in the 1991 Gulf War.

B 111
B 111 was a
German Torpedo Boat Destroyer. It was 98m long, 9.35m wide and had a displacement of 1843 tons. It was powered by two sets of marine turbines providing 40700hp and a top speed of 37.4 knots and a range of 2620 nautical miles. B 111 was armed with four 105mm and six 500mm torpedo tubes and carried eight torpedoes. It was crewed by 4 officers and 110 men.

Baker Rifle
The Baker rifle was the first
rifle accepted for English military use. It was a muzzle loader with a calibre of 0.625". It was produced from 1800 to 1838.

Ball (firearm)
In weapon terminology, a
ball was originally a spherical projectile, now generally a fully jacketed bullet of cylindrical profile with round or pointed nose. Most commonly used in military terminology.

BAR
The
Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) was a .30 inch calibre gas operated automatic rifle designed by Browning and manufactured by Winchester, Colt and other companies from 1918 onwards. It had an effective range of 550m.

Battle of Chickahominy
see "
Battle of Cold Harbor"

Battle of Cold Harbor
The
Battle of Cold Harbor was a battle during the American Civil War. It took place on June 3rd 1864 and involved the defeat of the Federal army of the Potomac under General Grant by the Confederate army of Virginia under General Lee. The battle is also known as The Battle of Chickahominy.

Battle of Coronel
The
Battle of Coronel was fought on November 1st, 1914 between British and German naval squadrons under Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock and Vice-Admiral von Spee respectively. The British were defeated, losing the Good Hope and the Monmouth. The remaining British ships escaped in the night.

Battle of Corunna
The
Battle of Corunna took place on January 16th 1809 during the Peninsular War. At the battle the British under Sir John Moore defeated the French at Soult. However, Sir John Moore was killed at the battle.

Battle of Crecy
The
Battle of Crecy took place in 1346, during the Hundred Years' War, when the English under Edward III routed a largely superior French army under Philip VI. The French losses amounted to over 31,000 including the King of Bohemia, 10 other princes and some 1200 knights. It was the first English battle in which the cannon was used, but victory was the result of the shooting of the English long-bow men.

Battle of Cunaxa
The
Battle of Cunaxa took place in 401 BC between Cyrus the Younger with Orientals and Greek mercenaries against the Persians under his brother Artaxerxes. Cyrus was killed but the Greeks refused to surrender and were allowed to march to the coast.

Battle of Dettingen
The
Battle of Dettingen took place on June 27th 1743 during the War of the Austrian Succession. The British and Hanoverians under George II with the Austrians, defeated the French under Marshal Noailles. This was the last occassion when a British monarch led his troops to battle.

Battle of Dogger Bank
The
Battle of Dogger Bank was a naval action of the Great War. It took place on January 24th 1915 off the Dogger Bank between British battle cruisers under Admiral Beatty and German battle cruisers.

Battle of Dunbar
The
Battle of Dunbar took place on April 27th 1296 when Edward I of England was defeated by the Scots under John Baliol. A second Battle of Dunbar occured on September 3rd 1650 when the Parlimentarians under Cromwell routed the Scottish Royalists under David Leslie.

Battle of Dupplin Moor
The
Battle of Dupplin Moor took place on August 12th 1332 when Edward Baliol and the Scottish barons defeated a numerically superior force of King David of Scotland under the Earl of Mar.

Battle of El Teb
The
Battle of El Teb took place on February 4th 1884 during the Sudan Campaign. A force of Sudanese under Osman Digna practically annihilated an Egyptian column under Baker Pasha which was marching to relieve Sinkat.

Battle of Elandsaagte
The
Battle of Elandsaagte took place on October 21st 1899 during the 2nd Boer War when the British under General French drove a strong force of Boers from their position, capturing the leader, General Koch.

Battle of Ethandune
The
Battle of Ethandune took place in 878 when the West Saxons under King Alfred inflicted a crushing defeat on the Danes under Guthrum.

Battle of Eutaw Springs
The
Battle of Eutaw Springs took place on September 8th 1781 and was the last serious engagement of the American War of Independence. The British under General Stewart gained a victory over the Americans under Greene at Eutaw Springs, South Carolina.

Battle of Evesham
The
Battle of Evesham took place on August 4th 1265 during the Barons' War. The Royalists in largely superior numbers under Prince Edward defeated the Barons under Simon de Montfort, who was slain at Evesham, Worcestershire, thus ending the war.

Battle of Falkirk
The first
Battle of Falkirk took place on July 22nd 1298 when a superior force of English under Edward I routed the Scots under Sir William Wallace. The second Battle of Falkirk occured on January 16th 1746 when the Highland rebels of "45" under the Young Pretender defeated the British under General Hawley.

Battle of Falkland Islands
The
Battle of Falkland Islands was a naval battle of the Great War. It occured on December 8th 1914 between the English and German squadrons. The Germans were lured to the Falkland Islands by a bogus cable sent to Berlin by a British spy, and there were ambushed and almost completely wiped out, only the light cruiser Dresden escaping.

Battle of Ferozeshah
The
Battle of Ferozeshah took place during the 1st Sikh War on December 22nd and 23rd 1845. The British and native troops under Lord Gough defeated 50,000 Sikhs.

Battle of Fredericksburg
The
Battle of Fredericksburg was fought on December 13th, 1862 during the American Civil War. The Federals under General Burnside attacked the Confederates under General Lee, who were occupying a strong position on the hills; they were repulsed, but Lee was unable to follow up his advantage.

Battle of Friedland
The
Battle of Friedland was fought on June 14th 1807 during the Napoleonic Wars. The Russians and Prussians under Bennigsen were routed by the French under Napoleon I and Lannes.

Battle of Fuentes d'Onoro
The
Battle of Fuentes d'Onoro was fought on May 3rd to 5th 1811 during the Peninsular War, and was one of the most hotly contested battles of the war. Massena on his way to relieve Almeida, attacked Wellington, but failed to capture the position and retired ingood order. Wellington's doubtful victory then secured the evacuation of Almeida.

Battle of Omdurman
The
Battle of Omdurman was fought on September 2nd 1898 during the Sudan Campaign. 23,000 British and Egyptian troops under Kitchener defeated 50,000 Dervishes under the Khalifa with a great slaughter of the Dervishes.

Battle of Otterburn
The
Battle of Otterburn was fought in August 1388 when a force of 2800 Scots under the Earls of Douglas, Dunbar and Moray routed a force of 8600 English under Henry Percy. The battle was fought at night by moonlight which prevented the English from employing their archers. The battle is also kniwn as Chevy Chase.

Battle of Suvla Bay
The
Battle of Suvla Bay took place on August 8th 1915 during the Great War, when a landing was made by British troops on the Gallipoli Peninsular with the object of capturing the hills dominating the Dardanelles. The attack failed.

Battle of Tannenberg
The
Battle of Tannenberg took place from August 26th to August 30th 1914 during the Great War, between the Germans and Russians near the village of Tannenberg. The battle virtually destroyed the Russian Second Army and relieved the danger of invasion in East Prussia.

Battle of Trafalgar
The
Battle of Trafalgar took place on October 21st 1805, and was a victory for the British fleet under Nelson over the French and Spanish fleets under Villeneuve. The battle took place off Cape Trafalgar in south-west Spain. The British fleet consisted of 27 sail-of-the-line ships and the enemy fleet 33. The battle began around noon and ended about five. During the battle Nelson was shot and mortally wounded, but lived long enough to know the day was won. The victory destroyed the French and Spanish fleets and secured Britain from invasion.

Battle of Waterloo
The
Battle of Waterloo took place during the Napoleonic Wars, on June 18th 1815 when the allied British, Belgian and Hanoverian forces under the Duke of Wellington, with some 50,000 Prussians under Blucher, utterly routed the French army under Napoleon.

Bayonet
A bayonet is a short
sword attached to the muzzle of a firearm. The bayonet was placed inside the barrel of the muzzleloading muskets of the late 17th century. The sock or ring bayonet, invented 1700, allowed a weapon to be fired without interruption, leading to the demise of the pike.
Since the 1700s, bayonets have evolved into a variety of types. During World War I, the French used a long needle bayonet,the British a sword bayonet, while the Germans adopted a "pioneer" bayonet with the rear edge formed into a saw. As armies have become more mechanized, bayonets have tended to decrease in length.
Although many military leaders have advocated the use of the bayonet, in practice it has been rarely used.

Bazooka
The bazooka was an
American infantry anti-tank missile used during the Second World War. It had a range of 90m.

BBC
BBC is an
abbreviation for Bromo-benzyl-cyanide, a tear gas used during the second world war. It had a smell faintly of watercress. It caused pain in the eyes, a copious flow of tears, spasms of the eyelids and irritation of shaved skin.

Beretta
Beretta are an Italian gun manufacturer.

Beretta m38a
The
Beretta m38a is an Italian sub-machine gun developed during the second world war. It takes a 9mm round from a 10/20/40-round box. Its cyclic rate is 600rpm and it has a muzzle velocity of 420 m/s.

Bergmann MP18
The Bergmann MP18 was a
German sub-machine gun developed during the course of the great war. It takes a 9mm round from a 32-round snaildrum. It has a cyclic rate of 400rpm and a muzzle velocity of 365 m/s.

Bergmann MP28
The Bergmann MP28 was a
German sub-machine gun developed from the Bergmann MP18. It takes a 9mm round from a 20/30/50-round box. Its cyclic rate is 500rpm and it has a muzzle velocity of 365 m/s. Unlike the MP18, it can fire single shots or bursts.

BF 110C
The Messerschmitt BF 110C was a
German fighter aircraft of the Second World War. It carried a crew of 2. It was armed with 4 7.9mm MG 17 machine guns and 2 20mm MG FF cannons in the nose and 1 7.9mm MG 15 machine gun in the rear cockpit. It had a top speed of 349 mph and a range of 565 miles.

BGM-71D
The BGM-71D is a 152mm
TOW ATGM. It has a maximum range of 4000m and a flight speed of 190m/s. It is mounted on various IFV, CFV and ITV. It has an armour penetration of 600mm flat steel, 487mm sloped steel and 237mm composite armour.

Black Watch
see "
The Watch"

Blackpowder
Blackpowder was the earliest type of firearms propellant that has generally been replaced by smokeless powder except for use in muzzleloaders and older breechloading guns that demand its lower pressure levels.

Blank Cartridge
A blank cartridge is a round loaded with
blackpowder or a special smokeless powder but lacking a projectile. Used mainly in starting races, theatrical productions, troop exercises and in training dogs.

Blowpipe
A blowpipe is a tubular weapon through which a missile is blown.

Blunderbuss
The blunderbuss was usually a short
carbine or pistol intended as a defensive weapon which fired a large load of heavy shot at close ranges.

Bolas
Bolas is a form of missile used by South American Indians. It is a length of
rope with a stone or ball of metal at each end. When used it is swung round the head by one hand and then hurled at an animal so as to entangle it by twisting round its legs.

Bolt-action
Bolt-action is a gun mechanism activated by manual operation of the breechblock that resembles a common door bolt.

Bomb
A bomb is a hollow
shell filled with an explosive. The bomb was invented in the 15th century for use with a mortar. Early bombs were a hollow iron ball filled with explosive and fitted with a fuse which was ignited as the bomb left the mortar.

Bombard
A bombard was a type of
cannon or mortar generally loaded with stone instead of iron balls.

Bombardier
A bombardier an
artillery soldier, originally a bombardier was an artillery soldier whose duties were connected with mortars and howitzers, but now is the lowest non-commissioned officer of artillery.

Boomerang
A boomerang is a curved wooden weapon of Australian aborigines.

Bow
A bow is a weapon for propelling arrows. It is made of a strip of flexible wood and a cord.

Boys Anti-Tank Rifle
The Boys Anti-Tank
Rifle was designed by Captain Boys at Enfield in 1935 as an anti-armour weapon. It was a .55 inch calibre short bipod mounted rifle with a bolt action and fed from a 5 round box magazine.

Bradley
Bradley is a nickname for the
M2 and M3 range of American IFV and CFV. See M2A1 and M3A1.

Breech
The breech is the portion of the
barrel with chamber into which a cartridge or projectile is loaded.

Brennus
The Brennus was a
French Battleship of the Great War. She was 114.5 meters long, 20.4 meters wide and had a displacement of 11370 tons. Her steam engines provided 14000psi of power and a maximum speed of 17 knots and a range of 4000 nautical miles. She was armed with three 340mm guns, ten 164mm guns, fourteen 47mm rapid fire guns, seventeen machine guns and four torpedo tubes.

Broadsword
A broadsword is a
sword with a broad blade designed chiefly for cutting. They were used by some British cavalry and Highland infantry. The claymore was a broadsword.

Brown bess
Brown bess is a family of
English flint-lock muskets introduced into the British army towards the end of the 17th century and used at the battle of waterloo.

Browning High Power Pistol
The Browning High Power Pistol is a 9mm automatic
pistol manufactured by FN of Belgium to the Browning design of 1926. It is a recoil-operated semi-automatic pistol which takes a 13-round magazine.

Brunswick Rifle
The
Brunswick Rifle was a .704 inch calibre muzzle loading, percussion cap rifle issued to the British army from 1838 until 1851. It was manufactured by Enfield, and was sighted to 270 m.

BT-5
The BT-5 was a
Russian fast tank of the Second World War. It was based upon Walter Christie's tank design and was armed with a 45 mm gun and 13 mm armour plate. The BT-5 had a top speed of 111 kmph, and a range of 300 km. It was manned by a crew of three.

BT-7
The BT-7 was a
Russian fast tank of the Second World War. It was based upon Walter Christie's tank design and was armed with a 76.2 mm gun and 22 mm armour plate. The BT-7 had a top speed of 74 kmph, and a range of 300 km. It was manned by a crew of three.

BT-7-2
The BT-7-2 was a
Soviet tank used during the Second World War. It was armed with 1 45mm gun and 2 7.62mm machine guns. It had a top speed of 45mph on road wheels, and 30mph tracked. It had a range of 220 miles tracked and carried a crew of 3.

Buckler
A buckler was a small shield worn on the left
arm

Bucks Volunteers
see "
Shropshire Light Infantry"

Bullet
A bullet is the projectile expelled from a gun. It is not synonymous with cartridge. Bullets can be of many materials, shapes, weights and constructions such as
solid lead, lead with a jacket of harder metal, round-nosed, flat-nosed, hollow-pointed, etc.

Burh
A burh was a
Saxon timber palisade encircling the top of a mound as a form of fortification.

Caliber
Caliber is the nominal diameter of a projectile of a rifled
firearm or the diameter between lands in a rifled barrel. In the USA it is usually expressed in hundreds of an inch; in Great Britain in thousandths; in Europe and elsewhere in millimeters.

Cameronians
The Cameronians were a British
army unit raised in 1688 among the Covenanters by Richard Cameron. In 1826 the regiment was renamed the 26th Foot. In 1881 they were joined by the 90th Light Infantry are renamed the Scottish Rifles.

CAP
CAP is an
abbreviation for Chlor-aceto-phenone, a tear gas used during the second world war. It had a smell faintly of floor polish. It caused pain in the eyes, a copious flow of tears, spasms of the eyelids and irritation of shaved skin.

Carbine
A carbine is a
rifle with a relatively short barrel.

Carronade
A carronade is a short, large calibre
ship's gun. It was invented in 1759 by General Melville, who called it a "smasher". It entered service with the British navy in 1779 and was manufactured at the Carron ironworks in Stirling, from whence it got the name "Carronade".

Case-shot
Case-shot was an early form of shrapnel
shell. Small iron balls were put into a cylindrical box (called a canister) that justs fits the bore of the gun. The shell was then fired like any other projectile.

Casemate
A casemate is a valuted chamber within a fortress wall with embrasures for defence, and more recently it describes the armoured enclosure in which warship guns are mounted with embrasures through which they
fire.

Castle
A castle (from the
latin castellum, meaning fortress) was a stone defensive building. The concept of castles was introduced to the British by the Normans and replaced the earlier Saxon burh.

Cateran
A cateran was a
Highland irregular soldier or raider.

Catrail
A catrail is an
earthwork with double ramparts and forts. They are still to be found in parts of Scotland and are belived to pre-date the Roman invasion.

Cei-Rigotti
The Cei-Rigotti automatic
rifle is an Italian gas operated rifle developed in the 1890s. It takes a 6.5Mm round from a 25-round box. It has a muzzle velocity of 730 m/s and is sighted to 1400m. The cyclic rate is 900 rpm.

Center-fire
Center-fire refers to a cartridge with its
primer located in the center of the base of the case.

Centurion Tank
The
Centurion Tank was a British tank developed in 1943 which continued in production until 1962. It was originally armed with a 17-pounder main gun, then with a 20-pounder gun and finally with the 105mm L7A2 gun. It carried a crew of 4, and was protected by armour plate 152 mm thick on the turret front, 76 to 118 mm thick on the hull front depending upon the model and 38 mm to 51 mm thick on the sides and rear. The Centurion Tank had a top speed of 34.6 kmph and a range of 190 km. In the 1960's the Centurion Tank was replaced by the Chieftan Tank as Britain's MBT.

Cestus
The cestus was a
leather thong bound around the hand. It was covered with knots, and often loaded with lead and iron. The Roman origin of the modern-day knuckle duster.

CFV
CFV is an
abbreviation for cavalry fighting vehicle.

Chaffee tank
see "
m24 Chaffee"

Chain-shot
Chain-shot was two
cannon balls joined by a chain which when fired from a cannon revolved upon the shorter axis and were hence effective for mowing down masts and rigging.

Chamber (firearm)
The chamber is the rear part of the
barrel that is formed to accept the cartridge to be fired. A revolver employs a multi-chambered rotating cylinder separated from the stationary barrel.

Chaparral
see "
m48"

Char B1
The Char B1 was a
French tank used during the Second World War. It was made by Renault along similar lines to the American M3 Lee. It had a fully traversing turret and was armed with a 47 mm main gun and a heavy 75 mm gun mounted in the right-hand side of the hull front. It had armour up to 60 mm thick and a top speed of 28 kmph provided by a 307 bhp engine and a range of 150 km.

Char D2
The Char D2 was a
French tank manufactured by Renault and used by the French army during the Second world War. It was similar to the Char B1, but without a 75mm hull mounted gun. It was crewed by three men and weighed 20 tonnes. It had armour up to 40 mm thick and a top speed of 22 kmph and a range of 130 km.

Chassepot
The Chassepot was a
French, bolt action, needle fire rifle manufactured by Imperiale during the 1860s. It was adopted as standard by the French army in 1866 and remained the standard until 1874. It had an effective range of 400m.

Chassepot Rifle
The
Chassepot Rifle was a breech loading rifle adopted by the French infantry in 1866, but given up by the turn of the century.

Chesapeake
The Chesapeake was an
American frigate which on June 1st 1813 sailed out of Boston harbour and battled with the English frigate Shannon. The Chesapeake was boarded and captured by the crew of the Shannon.

Chevy Chase
see "
Battle of Otterburn"

Children's Crusade
The Fifth
Crusade was led by a French boy called Stephen, and embarked from Marseilles in 1212. After a series of maritime disasters the survivors were captured and sold into slavery in Egypt.

Chobham Armour
Chobham
Armour is the currently finest armour plate used on AFV. It was developed in Chobham, England.

Churchill Tank
The
Churchill Tank was a British heavy tank of the second World War. It had armour upto a thickness of 101 mm of the front of the hull and 89 mm around the turret. Early models were armed with a 2-pounder gun, later models the 6-pounder. The main variant, the Churchill IV had a top speed of 25 kmph and a range of 145 km.

City of London Regiment
see "
Royal Fusiliers"

Claymore
The claymore was originaly a large two-handed double-edged
sword of the Scottish Highlanders; now a basket hilted, double-edged broad-sword.

Cohort
A cohort was a division of the
Roman Infantry consisting of 600 men. 10 cohorts formed a legion.

Coldstream Guards
The
Coldstream Guards are the second oldest regiment in the British Army and were raised at Coldstream in 1660 by General Monk as Monk's Regiment. They were given their present name on becoming part of the Household Brigade of Charles II. The regiment served under Marlborough at Oudenarde and Malplaquet and under Wellington in the Peninsular and at Waterloo.

Colour-Sergeant
Colour-Sergeant was a British
Army rank which was created in 1813 at Wellington's suggestion for a senior N.C.O of a company to attend the companies colours (standards and flags). The rank was abolished in 1912.

Colt
Samuel Colt of
Hartford, Conneticut patented the first successful percussion revolver in england in 1835 and in America in 1836.

Colt commando
The
Colt commando is a US automatic rifle. It takes a .223" round from a 20/30-round magazine. It has a muzzle velocity of 915 m/s and a cyclic rate of 750 rpm. It is sighted to 458m.

Column
A column is a military formation in which the units are arranged one behind the other instead of side by side as in a line.

Commander
In the British Navy, Commander is a rank below
Captain, and above lieutenant-commander.

Commissariat
The commissariat is the
army department which supervises the supply of food and forage to the troops, and its transport.

Composite Armour
Composite
Armour is a type of armour plate fitted to AFV. It comprises layers of hard steel and heat resistant ceramics to withstand HEAT ammunition better than normal steel.

Condottieri
The Condottieri were mercenaries hired during the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries to take part in the wars between the Italian States.

Conspicuous service Cross
The Conspicuous Service
Cross was a medal, instituted in 1901, awarded to officers in the Royal Navy below the rank of Lieutenant-Commander and to Warrant Officers. It was replaced in 1914 by the Distinguished Service Cross.

Copperhead
see "
m712"

Cordite
Cordite is a smokeless explosive used in cartridges. It is made from 58%
nitro-glycerine, 37% gun-cotton and 5% vaseline.

Cordon
A cordon is a line of military (and nowadays also police) posts placed around a
district or house etc. in order to prevent communication between it and the parts around it.

Cordon Bleu
Cordon Bleu denoted the blue ribbon worn by the Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Holy Ghost, the leading order of royalist France.

Corporal
Corporal is the lowest rank of non-commissioned officer in the British
Army. He wears two stripes on his sleeve.

Corporal of Horse
Corporal of Horse is the Household Cavalry name for the rank of sergeant.

Corporal-major
Corporal-major is the Household Cavalry name for the rank of sergeant-major.

Corvette
A corvette is a
convoy escort and patrol warship.

Crimean War
The Crimean
War was conducted between Russia on one side and Turkey, Britain, France and Sardinia on the other and was occassioned by a conflict over the supposed right of a Tsar to protect all Christians in the Sultan's dominions. In 1853 a Russian army invaded the principalities of Moldavia and Walachia and Turkey declared war. England followed her traditional policy of protecting Turkey against possible dismemberment and of trying to prevent an expansion of Russia that might threaten British interests in India. France under Napoleon III joined in with the intention of increasing her prestige and diverting attention away from domestic issues.

Croix de Guerre
The Croix de Guerre are
French and Belgian military decorations which were instituted in 1915 and given to members of the forces on land, sea or in the air for conspicuous bravery.

Cromwell Tank
The
Cromwell Tank was a British tank of the Second World War. It was protected by 63 mm thick armour on the front of the hull, 76 mm thick armour on the front of the turret and 32 mm thick armour on the sides of the turret. It carried a crew of five and had a top speed of 51.5 kmph and a range of 278 km. It was armed with a British 17-pounder (76mm) main gun.

Cross-bar shot
Cross-bar shot was
cannon balls with iron bars crossing through them. The bars would extend some 6 to 8 inches out of the cannon ball at both sides. Cross-bar shot was used for destroying rigging and palisading.

Cross-bow
The cross-bow (arbalist) is a
bow fastened across a stock (hence the name cross bow). The bow string was cocked and fired by way of a trigger, projecting a bolt. The cross-bow was invented by the Normans but went out of fashion when the long-bow became popular, mainly because 12 arrows per minute could be fired from a long-bow compared to 3 bolts per minute from a cross-bow.

Cruise missile
The Cruise Missile is a long-range guided missile that has a terrain-seeking
radar system and flies at moderate speed and
low altitude. It is descended from the German V1 of the Second World War. Initial trials in the 1950s demonstrated the
limitations of cruise missiles, which included high fuel consumption and relatively slow speeds as well as inaccuracy and a small warhead.
The Tomahawk cruise missile is an American missile capable of having a nuclear warhead. It has a range of 583km and a flight speed of mach 0.7.

Cruiser
A cruiser is a warship.

Crusade
The Crusades were Military expeditions in the
Middle Ages to the Holy Land, originally sanctioned by the Church. Their objective was twofold - to ensure the safety of pilgrims to Jerusalem, and to recover the Holy Land for Christendom.

Crusader
The crusader was a British
tank used in the second world war. It carreid a crew of five, and had a top speed of 45 kmph. It was initialy armed with a two pounder gun, these were upgraded to the six pounder gun later in the war. It was protected by sloping armour up to 50 mm thick.

Cuirass
A cuirass was a coat or jerkin worn by soldiers as protection against pistol-shot and
sword cuts. Varieties include the chain-mail and metal studded leather coats of the Middle Ages through to the corset worn by the Life Guards on ceremonial parades.

Cuirassiers
Cuirassiers were heavy cavalry which evolved from the mounted men-at-arms of feudal days. An Austrian corps was formed in 1484, very heavily armoured and by 1705 there were 20 corps.

Curtain Fire
Curtain
Fire is a line of shells exploding just in front of an advamcing infantry to shield them from attack. Sometimes the shells would be exploded behind an entrenched enemy position to prevent their retreat.

Curtal-ax
The curtal-ax was a type of short
sword.

Curtana
The curtana is a pointless
sword carried before English monarchs at their coronation. Emblematically it is considered as the sword of mercy.

Cutlass
The cutlass was a short
sword carried by seamen. It was effective due to being short enough to be easy to control, and yet long enough to defend a skilful swordsman. Today the term is used in Jamaica for the machette which resemble in simple form the cutlass they evolved from.

Cylinder (weapon)
The
cylinder is the drum of a revolver that contains the chambers for the ammunition.

D-10TG
The D-10TG is a 100mm calibre
Russian tank rifle. It was designed straight after the Second World War and was the premier high-velocity cannon of the Soviet army during the 1950s. It was mounted on T-54 and T-55 MBTs and had a muzzle velocity of 1415 m/s and armour piercing capabilities of 150mm at 500m and 125mm at 1000m firing HVAPDS ammunition.

D.S.O.
see "
Distinguished Service Order"

DA
DA is an
abbreviation for Di-phenyl-chlor-arsine, a nore irritant gas used during the Second World War. It has no smell. It has a delayed action, but causes sneezing, a burning pain in the chest, nose, throat and mouth after a few minutes.

Dacian Wars
The first Dacian
War took place between Rome and Dacia in 101 untill 102, the second Dacian War between 105 untill 106. They were fought under the Roman Emperor Trajan, and resulted in Dacia becoming a Roman province.

Daga
The Daga was an Italian escort
ship of the Second World War. She was launched in 1943 and mined in October 1944. She was armed with two 100mm guns, six 450 mm guns and torpedo tubes. She was seized by the German navy in 1943 and never saw action for the Italians.

Dahlgren Gun
The
Dahlgren Gun was an improved form of cannon invented in the 19th century by John Dahlgren of the US navy. It was unusual in having less metal between the muzzle and the trunnions than other guns.

Damascus-steel
Damascus-steel was a kind of
steel originally made in Damascus and much prized for making swords. It was a laminate of pure Iron and steel comprising higher than normal quantities of carbon and produced by careful forging, doubling and twisting.

Deringer
The Deringer was a pocket
pistol invented by Henry Deringer of Philadelphia. The original models were single barelled percussion muzzle loaders with a rifled barrel. In 1861 Daniel Moore patented a 0.41" calibre rim-fire cartridge model.

Destroyer
The Destroyer is a small, fast warship designed for antisubmarine work.
Originally called "torpedo-boat destroyers", they were designed by
Britain to counter the large flotillas built by the French and Russian navies in the late 19th century.
They proved so effective that torpedo-boats were more or less abandoned in the early 1900s, but the rise of the submarine found a new task for the "destroyer". They proved invaluable as antisubmarine vessels in both the Great War and Second World War.

Detonator
A detonator is a contrivance containing a very sensitive explosive, used to
fire a larger charge of a less sensitive and more manageable explosive. Detonators commonly contain mercury fulminate, lead azide and tetranitroaniline.

Deutschland
The Deutschland was a
German pocket-battleship of the Second World War. She set out on her first North Atlantic cruise on 24th August 1940.

DH4
The DH4 was the first British daylight bomber
aircraft. It first flew in December 1916 and saw action during the Great War.

Distinguished Conduct Medal
The Distinguished Conduct Medal (D.C.M.) is a British military decoration instituted in 1862 to be conferred upon non-commisioned officers and men for distinguished conduct in the field. Since
August 1918 it can be earned only by services in action.

Distinguished Flying Cross
The Distinguished Flying
Cross (D.F.C.) is a British decoration instituted in 1918 for gallantry displayed by officers and warrant officers of the Royal Air Force while on active service.

Distinguished Service Cross
The Distinguished Service
Cross (D.S.C.) is a British decoration established in 1901 as the Conspicuous Service Cross, and given its present title in 1914 and extended to include officers upto the rank of lieutenant.

Distinguished Service Medal
The Distinguished Service Medal (D.S.M.) is a British medal instituted in 1914 for chief
petty officers and lower ratings in the Navy and non-commisioned officers and men in the Marines, and awarded for acts not quite deserving the award of the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal.

Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order (D.S.O.) is a decoration established in 1886 and bestowed in recognition of distinguished services in
action on the part of commissioned officers of the Army and Navy.

Dorset Regiment
The
Dorset Regiment is a British army regiment which was formed by the merger of the 39th Foot and the 54th Foot.

Double-action
Double-action is a handgun mechanism where pulling the trigger retracts and releases the
hammer or firing pin to initiate discharge.

Dragon
see "
M47"

Dragoon
A Dragoon was a mounted
soldier who carried an infantry weapon such as a "dragon", or short musket, as used by the French army in the 16th century. The name was retained by some later regiments after the original meaning became obsolete.
The Dragoon was a revolver manufactured by Colt in 1855. It was a single-action pin fire revolver with a 6-round cylinder. It had a calibre of .44 inches. It was also known as the Old Model Army Revolver.

Dragoon Guards
The
Dragoon Guards were six mounted regiments raised at the time of Monmouth's Rebellion in 1685, and a seventh raised in 1689. Following the Great War the 3rd and 6t, 4th and 7th and the 5th and 6th Dragoons were amalgamated to reduce the number of regiments to five.

Dreadnought
The Dreadnought was a class of British battleship introduced in 1906. It was the first time
steam turbines had been used, and Dreadnought was armed with 10 12 inch guns, 27 12 pounder guns and 5 torpedo-tubes, and had a speed of 21 knots. Her introduction made all previous battleships obsolete.

DShK
The DShK is a
Russian 12.7mm heavy machine-gun developed during the 1930s. It has a muzzle velocity of 860m/s.

DUKW
The DUKW was an
American amphibious truck used during the Second World War. It was basically a standard 6 x 6 GMC 2.5 ton cargo truck fitted with buoyancy tanks and with screw propulsion when in the water. DUKW were mainly used to ferry supplies and men from ship to shore, and played a vital part in almost every amphibious landing performed by Allied troops.

Dum-dum bullet
The
dum-dum bullet was a British military bullet developed in India's Dum-Dum Arsenal and used on India's North West Frontier and in the Sudan in 1897 and 1898. It was a jacketed .303 cal. British bullet with the jacket nose left open to expose the lead core in the hope of increasing effectiveness.

Earl of Mar's Fusiliers
see "
Royal Scots Fusiliers"

Earthwork
An earthwork is a military fortification formed chiefly of
earth. They were cheaper and easier to repair than stone defences and also carried less risk of injury to the defenders from broken stone.

East Surrey Regiment
The
East Surrey Regiment was a British army unit formed in 1825 from the Huntingdonshire Regiment and the 70th Foot.

EM2
The EM2 is a British automatic
rifle with a cyclic rate of 450 rpm. It takes a .280" round from a 20-round box. The muzzle velocity is 772 m/s and it is sighted to 549m.

Emden
The Emden was a
German light cruiser, launched in 1908, which achieved world-wide notoriety by its attacks on British and Allied shipping and seaports during the Great War. The ship and her crew were captured off North Keeling Island in the Indian Ocean in 1914 by the Australian cruiser Sydney. Emden was then destroyed on November 9th 1914.

Enfilade
Enfilade is military firing directed along the length of th enemy's line or trench, instead of across it. It is particularly destructive, since each shot is potentially effective over a greater length of its flight.

Enterprise
Enterprise is the name of several
American ships. The original Enterprise was a Sloop launched in 1874. She was a barque-rigged, wooden-hulled vessel armed with a 134mm gun, four 228 mm guns and one 280 mm gun. The current Enterprise is an American aircraft carrier launched in 1960 and capable of a top speed of 35 knots and capable of carrying 99 aircraft.

Epee-de-Combat
An Epee-de-Combat is a pointed, dull-edged
sword with a blade roughly 1 meter long used in duelling and fencing. It developed from the 18th century small-sword.

Espora
The Espora is an Argentinian Meko 140 Type
Frigate. She was
built by Afne in Rio Santiago and launched on the 23rd of January
1982. She has a displacement of 1470 tons and is armed with four
Aerospatiale MM 40 Exocet missiles, one OTO Melara 3in gun, four
Breda 40mm guns, six 324mm ILAS 3 (2 triple) torpedo tubes
and Chaff rocket launchers. She is powered by
two Type 16PC2-5V400 SEMT-Pielstick 16-cyl dieselsproviding 20400bhp
and a top speed of 27 knots and a range of 6400 km. She carries a crew of
11 officers and 82 men.

Excalibur
Excalibur was the
sword of King Arthur, who recieved it from the Lady of the Lake. At Arthur's death, Bedivere cast it into a lake, where it was caught by a mysterious hand.

Exeter
The Exeter was a British heavy
cruiser of the Second World War. She was armed with 6 8inch guns, 4 4inch anti-aircraft guns and 2 2pounder anti-aircraft guns and 6 21inch torpedo tubes. She had a top speed of 32.5 knots and a range of 10000 miles.

Exocet
The exocet is a
French anti-ship missile. It has a range of 70km and a flight speed of mach 0.8. Exocet missiles can be launched by aircraft or ships. The missile is guided, and flies less than 3m above the sea level.

F-15
The f-15 is an
American single-seat air superiority fighter aircraft.

F1
The f1 is an accurate Australian sub-machine gun. It takes a 9mm round from a 34-round
box. It has a cyclic rate of 600rpm and a muzzle velocity of 365 m/s.

Fairbairn-Sykes
see "
3rd Pattern Commando Knife"

Fal
The fn fal is a Belgian
rifle. It has a muzzel velocity of 853 m/s, is gas operated, and is sighted to 600m. It takes a 7.62mm round from a 20-round box. It was first manufactured in 1950. It is capable of automatic or single shot fire.

Farquhar-hill
The farquhar-hill
rifle is a British rifle taking a .303" round from a 20-round drum. Operation is automatic with a cyclic rate of 700rpm. It has a muzzle velocity of 732 m/s and is sighted to 1372m.

Female
Female was the name of one of the first British tanks. They were fitted with six machine guns for use in anti-infantry roles.

Ferguson Rifle
The
Ferguson Rifle was a .5 inch calibre breech-loading rifle manufactured by Durs Egg in the 1770s. It was 155 cm long and had an effective range of 250 m.

FG42
The FG42 is a
German assault rifle developed in 1942. It is gas operated and takes a 7.92mm round from a 20-round box. It has a muzzle velocity of 762 m/s and it is sighted to 1200m. It can be fired single shot or in bursts.

FGM-77a
The FGM-77a is a US infantry anti-tank missile developed in the 1970s. It has a flight speed of 175 m/s and a maximum range of 1500 meters.

FH70
The FH70 is a
NATO mobile field howitzer. It fires, under computer control, three 43 kg shells at a range of 32 km in 15 seconds.

Fifth Crusade
The Fifth
Crusade was aimed against Egypt, and led by John of Brienne with Leopold VI and Andrew II of Hungary. It took place from 1218 until 1221 when the invaders withdrew without success.

FIM-43a
The FIM-43a (redeye) is an
American shoulder-fired infantry surface-to-air missile. It entered service in 1964. It flies at a speed of mach 2.5 to a range of 2 miles using initial optical aiming and infrared homing guidance.

FIM-92a
The FIM-92a (stinger) is an
American portable air-defense missile. It was first used by British sas troops in the falklands conflict. The missile flies at a speed of mach 2 to a range of 5km. It uses passive infrared homing guidance.

Firearm
A firearm is a weapon from which projectiles are discharged by the
combustion of an explosive. Firearms are generally divided into two main sections: artillery (ordnance or cannon), with a bore greater than 2.54 cm, and small arms, with a bore of less than 2.54 cm.
Although gunpowder was known in Europe 60 years previously, the invention of firearms dates from 1300 to 1325, and is attributed to Berthold Schwartz, a German monk.

Firefly
The
Sherman Firefly was a British tank built from 1943 onwards. It was a modified Sherman M4A4 tank fitted with a British 17 pounder anti-tank gun.

Fireship
A fireship is a small vessel filled with inflammable material, lighted and set adrift among an enemy's ships in order to set
fire to them. Fireships were used during ancient times and successfully employed against the Duke of Parma by the defenders of Antwerp in 1585 and by the British against the Spanish Armada off Gravelines in 1588. Fireships were rendered obsolete by the introduction of metal warships.

First Crusade
The First
Crusade occured was due to take place in 1096 led by Adhemar Bishop of Puy. The various parties were due to assemble at Constantinople, but some arrived early and others were wiped out on the way. The First Crusade proper took place in 1097 led by Godfrey of Bouillon and others. They invaded Asia Minor and in 1098 captured Antioch after a long siege and Jersualem in 1099.

Flame-thrower
The flame-thrower is a weapon first used by the Germans during 1914 and 1915 consisting of a chamber of
air or nitrogen under high pressure and a container filled with inflammable oil which is propelled by the high pressure gas.

Flammenwerfer
Flammenwerfer is the
German name for a flame-thrower.

Flint-lock
The flint-lock was a development of the discharge method for the
musket. Sparks were generated by one impact of a piece of flint on the steel above the priming powder.

FLIR
FLIR (forward looking Infrared) is a device used on
aircraft that reads the heat signatures of ground items and is optimised to show ground detail and large objects.

Flying Fortress
The Flying Fortress (
Boeing Fortress II) was an American heavy bomber aircraft used during the Second World War. It carried a crew of 9. It had a top speed of 305 mph and a service ceiling of 40000 ft.

Flying Tigers
see "
8-229th Aviation Regiment"

Foreign Legion
A Foreign Legion (such as the
French Foreign Legion) is an irregular body of volunteers raised abroad to help a country at war.

Forlorn Hope
A Forlorn
Hope was a body of men, usually volunteers, of different regiments selected to lead an assault, enter a breach or perform another perilous task. The name comes from the Dutch word hoop meaning a company.

Fourth Crusade
The Fourth
Crusade was intended as a war to conquer Egypt. However, en route the Crusaders were persuaded to take part in a civil war in Constantinople and to restore emperor Isaac Angelus to his throne. They stormed Constantinople in 1204 and established the Latin empire of Romania.

Fowling-piece
Fowling-piece is an alternative name for a sporting shot-gun.

Fox
see "
m93"

Fraise
A fraise is a fortification consisting of pointed stakes driven into the ramparts in a horizontal or inclined position.

Franc-tireur
The Franc-tireur were a body of irregular soldiers organized in
France during the Franco-German War of 1870-1871. They were sharp-shooters employed in guerrilla warfare, harassing the enemy and cutting off detachments.

Franc-tireurs
Franc-tireurs are irregular troops armed with rifles, but not wearing uniform and usually not subject to military discipline. The term was first applied to the franc-tireurs of the
Franco-Prussian War, who were usually shot when caught by the Germans.

Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian
War was fought from 1870 to 1871 and was one of the most important wars of the 19th century. It was fought between France and Germany, with peace concluded in 1871 with France ceeding Alsace and Lorraine to Germany and paying a huge indemnity.

Fraser's Highlanders
see "
Seaforth Highlanders"

French Foreign Legion
The
French Foreign Legion was founded in 1831 with foreign sympathisers for the conquest of Algeria. In 1884 it was divided into 4 battalions, and in 1891 a 5th battalion was added. The French Foreign Legion has a reputation for severe discipline, and today forms one of the world's most elite fighting forces, however in the past it spent more time building roads and bridges than actually fighting.

Frigate
A frigate is a light-weight, fast and nimble warship.

FT-17
The FT-17 was a
French tank produced by Renault and first developed in 1917. 3500 FT-17 tanks were made, and it remained in service until 1940. It was the first true tank, with a rotating turret over a central fighting compartment. It was armed with a 37mm gun and a co-axial machine gun. It was thickly armoured, with 22mm of armour at its thickest point and could travel at 7.7 kmph and had a range of 35km.

Fusil
A fusil was a
light flint-lock musket closely resembling a carbine.

Fusilier
A Fusilier was a
soldier armed with a fusil.