This 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 Since technology and doctrine have changed over time, not all of them are in current use, or they may have been superseded by more modern terms.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.
Situation room: a room in a government headquarters etc where senior high-ranking military officials in authority find out the latest information about something serious that is happening, and proceed to make decisions about what to do.[1]
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.
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.
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.
Chalk: a group of paratroopers or other soldiers that deploy from a single aircraft. A chalk often corresponds to a platoon-sized unit for air assault operations, or a company-minus-sized organization for airborne operations. For air transport operations, it can consist of up to a company-plus-sized unit. Frequently, a load of paratroopers in one aircraft, prepared for a drop, is also referred to as a stick.
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.
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).
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.
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.[2]
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.[3]
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 mobilesortroupes 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;[4] or it may be an operational description.[5]
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.[6]
Pickets (orpicquets): 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)
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.[7]
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
^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, ISBN9781597975537
