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The G7a T1 was a German 21 inch torpedo used by surface ships and submarines during the Second World War, entering service in 1938. It had a range of 6000 metres at a speed of 44 knots, and 8000 metres at 40 knots. It was armed with a 320 kg Hexanite explosive warhead.
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The G7e T10 (Spinne) was a German 21 inch wire guided torpedo used by submarines of the Second World War, entering service in 1944. It had a range of 5000 metres and travelled at a speed of 30 knots. It was armed with a 200 kg Hexanite explosive warhead.
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The G7e T11 (Zaunkonig 2) was a German 21 inch passive homing torpedo based on the earlier G7e T5, used by submarines of the Second World War, entering service in 1943. The torpedo was intended for use against convoy escorts. It had a range of 5700 metres and travelled at a speed of 25 knots. It was armed with a 200 kg Hexanite explosive warhead.
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The G7e T2 was a German 21 inch torpedo used by submarines and E-boats during the Second World War, entering service in 1939. It had a range of 5000 metres and travelled at 30 knots. It was armed with a 200 kg Hexanite explosive warhead.
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The G7e T3 was a German 21 inch torpedo used by submarines and E-boats during the Second World War, entering service in 1939. It had a range of 5000 metres and travelled at 30 knots. It was armed with a 200 kg Hexanite explosive warhead.
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The G7e T3a was a German 21 inch torpedo used by submarines and E-boats during the Second World War, entering service in 1939. It had a range of 5000 metres and travelled at 30 knots. It was armed with a 200 kg Hexanite explosive warhead.
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The G7e T3d (Dackel) was a German 21 inch long range, slow speed torpedo of the Second World War, intended for use in harbours or restricted bays. It could be programmed with specific circling or legs at the end of a straight run. It had a range of 57000 metres and travelled at a speed of 9 knots.
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The G7e T3e (Kreuzotter) was a German 21 inch midget Submarine torpedo of the Second World War. It had a range of 7500 metres and travelled at a speed of 20 knots.
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The G7e T4 (Falke) was a German 21 inch passive homing torpedo used by submarines of the Second World War, entering service in 1943. Its homing was by a simple noise measurement and the torpedo was intended for use against merchant ships. It had a range of 7500 metres and travelled at a speed of 20 knots. It was armed with a 200 kg Hexanite explosive warhead.
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The G7e T5 (Zaunkonig 1 or Gnat as the allies called it) was a German 21 inch passive homing torpedo used by submarines of the Second World War, entering service in 1943. The torpedo was intended for use against convoy escorts. It had a range of 5700 metres and travelled at a speed of 25 knots. It was armed with a 200 kg Hexanite explosive warhead.
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The G7e T5a was a German 21 inch homing torpedo based on the G7e T5, but used by E-boats of the Second World War, entering service in 1943. The torpedo was intended for use against convoy escorts. It had a range of 8000 metres and travelled at a speed of 22 knots. It was armed with a 200 kg Hexanite explosive warhead.
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The G7e T5b was a German 21 inch passive homing torpedo based on the G7e T5, used by submarines of the Second World War, entering service in 1943. The torpedo was intended for use against convoy escorts. It had a range of 8000 metres and travelled at a speed of 22 knots. It was armed with a 200 kg Hexanite explosive warhead.
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A gabion was an early form of sandbag, it was a wickerwork basket of cylindrical form but without a bottom and about 50cm in diameter and 84cm tall (20 inches diameter, 33 inches tall). In a siege, when forming a trench a row of gabions was placed on the outside nearest the fortress and filled with earth as it was thrown from the trench, so as to form a protective barrier against fire from the besieged defenders. Gabions were still in use as recently as 1900.
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Gadlings were metal spikes fitted to the knuckles of gauntlets.
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A gaffle was a steel lever used for bending (cocking) a crossbow.
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A galloglass or gallowglass was a heavily armed mercenary soldier, originally Hebridean, maintained by Irish and some other Celtic chiefs from about 1235 to the 16th century.
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The Garde Ecossaise was the Scotch guard in the service of the kings of France, first instituted on a regular footing by Charles VII, who in 1453 selected a hundred Scoth archers to form a special body-guard in. recognition of the service of the Scotch soldiery in the Hundred Years' War. There was also another company of a hundred Scots placed at the head of a regular army of fifteen companies of 100 lances each, which was organized. This body was commanded by Scotchmen of the highest rank. James VI, and his sons Henry and Charles, and James II when Duke of York, held in succession the rank of captain in it.
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The Garde Nationale was a guard of armed citizens instituted at Paris, on July the 13th, 1789, for the purpose of preserving order and protecting liberty. At first it numbered 48,000 men, but was increased to 300,000 when it was organised throughout the whole country. Acting as a royalist and reactionary force it was crushed by Napoleon in 1795. It was reorganized by the Directory and by Napoleon, and again under the Bourbons, to whom, however, it was a source of such disquietude that it was dissolved by a royal ordinance in 1827. Under Louis Philippe it was resuscitated in its old form, and contributed to his overthrow. In 1851 the national guard was again reorganized, but in 1855 it was dissolved. In 1870 the national guard of Paris was again formed for the defence of the city against the Prussians. The resistance of a section of the guard to the decree of disarmament issued under Thiers led to the communal war, at the close of which the guard was declared dissolved by the National Assembly in 1871.
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The Garde Nationale Mobile was a French body constituted by Napoleon III in 1868, on the suggestion of Marshal Niel, to form bases of regiments to supplement the regular army. It was called into action in 1870-1871, but was too ill organized to be efficient.
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Gardener was the KGB codename for a saboteur.
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A garrotte (Spanish for cudgel) was a device used in Spain and Portugal for the execution of criminals. The condemned person was strapped to an upright post in which a rod struck the back of the neck, dislocating the spinal column.
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GATS/GAM is an all-weather, launch and leave, near precision weapon system for aircraft which provides a CEP (circle of error probability) of less than 20 feet.
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Gelignite is a blasting explosive chiefly composed of nitro-glycerine and potassium nitrate.
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The Gendarme were a French cavalry regiment formed in 1791. They served as the King's bodyguard up to the time of Louis XVI and after the French Revolution became armed police.
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In the army, the position of general is a rank ahead of colonel.
In America the peculiar grade of general, as commander of the army, was first created by Act of Congress on March 3rd, 1799, and George Washington was appointed to fill it. The office was abolished in 1802. It was not revived again until 1866, when General Grant was appointed. On the election of Grant to the Presidency, William T Sherman succeeded him in the grade of general. On the retirement of General Sherman on November the 1st, 1883, the office again became extinct. It was revived for a brief time from June to August 1888 for Lieutenant-General Philip H Sheridan.
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Having been a witness of the horrors of the battlefield of Solferino in 1859, Henri Dunant, a Swiss, published his experiences, which induced the Societe Genevoise d'Utilite Publique in 1863 to discuss the question whether relief societies might not be formed in time of peace to help the wounded in time of war by means of qualified volunteers. At an international conference held in October 1863, fourteen governments including Great Britain, France, Austria, Prussia, Italy and Russia, were represented by delegates. The propositions then drawn up were accepted as an international code by a congress which met at Geneva in August 1864, and on the 22nd of August a convention was signed by twelve of the delegates, and it was eventually adopted by all civilised powers except the USA. International conferences were held at Paris in 1867 and at Berlin in 1869 for further developing in a practical manner the objects of the Geneva conference. The International Society (termed the Red Cross Society), established in consequence of these proceedings, was very energetic in relieving the wounded and sick during the Franco-Prussian war in 1870, its flag being recognised as neutral.
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The Geneva protocol is an agreement drawn up in 1925 that bans the use of asphyxiating, poisonous, or other gases in war. It does not, however, ban the development or manufacture of such gases.
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The King's Bodyguard of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms was a body of 39 officers decorated for war services derived from the 'pensioners' of Henry VIII, and founded in 1862 as the first military bodyguard of the sovereign at official functions and ceremonies.
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GENTLEMEN-AT-ARMS
The Gentlemen-at-Arms are a body of forty gentlemen, headed by a captain, lieutenant, and standard-bearer, whose duties are to form a body-guard to the British sovereign on state occasions. The corps was established by Henry VIII in 1509, under the name of the Band of Gentlemen Pensioners. Appointments to the corps are made by the sovereign, from a special list of retired officers kept by the commander-in-chief.
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The Gerber Guardian Back-Up is an American small boot knife designed to be an easily concealed fighting knife. The Gerber Guardian Back-Up has a 3 3/8 inch double-edge dagger blade.
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The Gerber Mk I is an American fighting knife with a 4.75 inch long dagger-shaped blade of stainless steel with either a satin or black-epoxy coating finish.
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The Gerber Mk II is an American fighting knife developed during the Vietnam War in consultation with knife-fighting experts. The Gerber Mk II is a development of the Fairbairn-Sykes design, and has a 6.5 inch dagger-shaped spear-pointed blade with serrations near the hilt, made of stainless steel in either a satin or black-epoxy coating finish.
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A gisarme is a long-shafted battle-axe with a sharp point on the back of the axe head.
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In fortifications, a glacis is a smooth piece of ground, sloping upwards and clear of all obstacles, which must be crossed in order to enter a fort.
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The glaive was mainly a herald's weapon. It consisted of a blade with an arched cutting edge elongated into a point fixed to a pole. On the blunt back-edge of the blade there was usually a hook, straight or curved or crescent-shaped, and on the base of the blade triangular projections. By the mid 16th century the glaive had become obsolete as a combat weapon.
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Glock are an Austrian firearms manufacturer.
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The Gloucestershire Regiment is a British infantry regiment. The 1st Battalion was the old 28th Foot, raised in 1694. In 1782 it received the territorial title 'North Gloucestershire'. The 2nd Battalion was the old 61st Foot, raised in 1758 and in 1782 designated the 'South Gloucestershire'. The regiment bears the Sphinx as its badge worn at both the back and the front of the cap, giving rise to the regiment's nickname of the 'Fore and Aft'. The sphinx badge commemorates the regiments gallantry in resisting a French cavalry attack in front and rear at Alexandria on March 21st 1801.
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Glyoxyline was an explosive invented by Abel in 1867. It was a mixture of gun-cotton, pulp and potassium nitrate saturated with nitro-glycerine.
Glyoxyline was later abandoned for compressed gun-cotton.
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The GME-FMK2-MO is an Argentinean fragmentation hand grenade. The GME-FMK2-MO consists of a metallic body packed with a mixture of recrystallised hexogene and TNT providing a killing radius of five metres from the point of detonation. The GME-FMK2-MO has a 3.6 to 4.5 second delay fuse.
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The Golden Knights are the US Army Parachute Team. It was formed in 1959 at Fort Bragg.
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The Golok is a British army issue machete comprising a simple steel blade with a wooden handle. The blade is 13 inches long, bevel-ground with a slight belly to improve cutting performance and place the weight forward.
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The Gordon Highlanders are a British infantry regiment. They were formed from the amalgamation of the 75th Highland Regiment and the 92nd Highland Regiment in 1881.
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In armour, a gorget was a defence for the throat and chin.
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The grand-guard (also known as a grande-grande and a graun-garde) was a piece of additional plate-armour worn during left shoulder and left breast. It screwed to the breast plate and allowed very little movement of the left arm, its use being confined to horseback jousts.
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Grapeshot was a former spherical iron shot, rather less than half the diameter of the bore of the piece for which it was intended, and put up in stands consisting of three tiers of three shot each; the stand had a circular cast-iron plate at the top and the bottom, connected by a nut and bolt. Grapeshot was formerly employed for blunderbusses and small artillery.
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Greaves was body armour worn at the front of the lower part of the legs and buckled behind the leg, providing all-round protection for the legs - as distinct from demi-greaves which only protected the front shins.
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Greek Fire was an incendiary substance invented by Callinicus and thrown by engines. It was first employed in the 7th century to destroy the Saracens' ships.
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The Green Berets, the US Army's Special Forces, originated in the early 1950s and established a base at Fort Bragg, South Carolina, site of the Army Special Warfare School. America has a rich history of operations by unconventional forces, dating back to the French and Indian wars in the days when the thirteen colonies were still British and including Rogers' Rangers who were active during the War of Independence. A vast conglomeration of special operations units grew like mushrooms during the Second World War, but they were quickly disbanded after the war. Interest was revived in the 1950s following the Korean War, and that led to the formation of the Special Forces. At the time they were kept at low strengths. They were only grudgingly tolerated by the traditionalists in the army's high command, who did not like any unit with pretensions to elite status. Army administrators discouraged officers who wanted to spend more than one tour with the Special Forces, on the basis that they would lose experience in their basic branch,
and thus be unfavourably looked on at promotion time. With the inauguration of President John F Kennedy in 1961 the fate of the Special Forces changed. Kennedy strongly believed that such units were the best way to counter communist 'wars of liberation'. As it became chic in Washington to support the Green Berets: so named because of their distinctive headgear which had been approved by the President, their numbers increased by several orders of magnitude. The original Special Forces mission was to organise guerrilla warfare in enemy-held countries. That role changed as more and more
Green Berets were sent to South East Asia, where they became increasingly involved in counter-insurgency operations. The Special Forces were among the first Americans in action in Vietnam: the 5th Special Forces Group took over the CIA's border surveillance programme, teaching the fundamentals of reconnaissance and local defence to remote tribes in Laos and the Vietnamese highlands. Operating in small teams with large numbers of native auxiliaries, often only marginally less hostile to the government in Saigon than to the communists, they ran patrols from border camps to uncover communist infiltration on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
In more settled parts of Vietnam the Green Berets were assigned as advisors by the US military authorities, to provide anything from advice on personal health and drainage to teaching unarmed combat and demolitions to members of the Civilian Irregular Defence Groups. Following the end of the war in South East Asia, the Green Berets suffered under the general malaise which afflicted the US armed forces but the low intensity conflict that now prevails worldwide ensured that they would not be disbanded. In 1987 Special Forces were made a separate branch of the army, and their orders now come via the US Special Operations Command, which incorporates all special operations units from all US services.
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The Green Hornet was a simple, but very secure, encryption device used to keep secret the telephone broadcasts made between Prime Minister Winston Churchill and American President Franklin D Roosevelt during the Second World War. At the time, trans-Atlantic telephone calls were made by radio transmission, which could be (and were) intercepted, the Green Hornet was a two stage device; at the transmitting end a recording of white noise was added to the transmission and at the receiving end, the same recording of white noise was removed from the received broadcast, making the underlying broadcast intelligible. Without the precise recording of the white noise, the white noise could not be removed from the broadcast, and as such the broadcast was unintelligible.
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The Green Howards are a British infantry regiment, formed in 1688. Green Howards have taken part in most of the main campaigns and wars since the 17th Century, most of them when designated the 19th Regiment of Foot. The Regiment received the nickname The Green Howards in 1744 to avoid confusion on the battlefield when two regiments were named after their Colonel - Howard's Regiment. As one Regiment wore green facings on their scarlet uniforms they were called the Green Howards, whilst the other was nicknamed The Buffs after their buff brown facings. The nickname became official in 1920. The Green Howards raised 24 Battalions in the Great War and thirteen in the Second World War and fought in all the major theatres of war. Since 1945 the Regiment has seen active service in Malaya, Cyprus, Northern Ireland and Bosnia.
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The Green Mountain Boys were a band of Vermont mountaineers who, led by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold, captured Fort Ticonderoga on May the 10th, 1776, securing fifty British prisoners and 300 cannon. They rendered effective service to the American cause throughout the American War of Independence.
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A grenade (from the French 'grenade' meaning pomegranate because of its original resemblance to the fruit) is a small missile, containing an explosive or other charge, usually thrown (hand grenade) but sometimes fired from a rifle.
Hand grenades are generally fitted with a time fuse of about four seconds: a sufficient amount of time for the grenade to reach the target but not enough for the enemy to pick it up and throw it back. Rifle grenades were developed during the Great War to achieve a greater range than was possible with the hand grenade, Grenades were known in the 15th century, but were obsolete by the 19th, only being revived in the Russo-Japanese War 1905.
After the Second World War grenades evolved into a number of combat types: defensive or fragmentation grenades which ejected high velocity pieces of metal or metal balls in a fashion similar to the old grapeshot; offensive or blast types which produced a large blast without fragmentation and anti-tank grenades designed to penetrate armour plate.
Originally grenades used a time delay fuse to allow the thrower of the grenade time to take cover. This delay was optimised at four seconds, being long enough for the grenade to reach a safe distance, but being too short for an enemy soldier to throw the grenade back. After the Second World War impact detonating grenades were developed which either detonated upon making a firm impact, such as against a tank, or were very sensitive and would detonate upon falling to the ground or striking an enemy soldier.
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The Grenade L2 is a British anti-personnel hand grenade based upon the American M26 hand grenade. The Grenade L2 consists of an egg-shaped tin-plate casing containing a coil of notched wire to provide fragmentation and 170 grams of high explosive filling. The Grenade L2 is fitted with a delay fuse.
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The Grenade M19A1 is an American rifle smoke and fragmentation grenade. The Grenade M19A1 comprises a steel cylinder containing a mixture of high explosive and white phosphorus which upon detonation provides a killing zone of 10 metres and generates a thick cloud of white smoke.
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The Grenade No 80 WP is a British smoke grenade designed to produce a smoke screen and intended to be thrown by hand or projected from a multi barrel discharger fitted to an AFV. The Grenade No 80 WP consists of a tin plate cylinder containing white phosphorous.
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A Grenadier was originally an 18th century soldier specially trained for throwing grenades.
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The Grenadier Regiment of Foot Guards (Grenadier Guards) was raised at Bruges in 1656 by King Charles II whilst he was in exile in Belgium. King Charles, allied to the Spanish, was short of funds and so only five regiments were raised. The most loyal supporters formed 'The Royal Regiment of Guards'. On his return to England the King raised another Regiment of Foot Guards, namely the King's Regiment of Guards, for his protection. On the death of Thomas, Lord Wentworth in 1665, these two Regiments were linked to form the First Regiment of Foot Guards. This title remained from then until 1815 when, due to the Regiment's actions at Waterloo, it was granted its present title. The Grenadier Guards is the only Regiment in the British Army that has gained its title directly from the part it played in action. It is in consequence of this that the Grenade is worn as a badge on the forage cap, the tunic and the Colours of the Regiment. A new uniform embodying the Grenade was first worn at Christmas 1815.
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Grot was the codename for a KGB secret arms dump of mines, explosives and detonators hidden in a dead letter-box near Salzburg, Austria in 1963. The dump was intended for future use in sabotage operations in the event of a war with the west. In 1964 road repairs covered the dump, and the KGB never attempted to recover the equipment.
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The Al Mar Grunt I is an American fighting knife based upon Second World War military knife designs. It has a 5 1/87 inch Bowie-type blade with a deep bevel-ground edge and false back edge made of steel.
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The Al Mar Grunt II is an American fighting knife with a 7.75 inch Bowie-type steel blade with a pronounced clip and bevel-ground edge with a sharpened clip edge which gives a sharp point that penetrates well, but lacks prying strength.
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A guerrilla is an irregular soldier fighting in a small unofficial unit, typically against an established or occupying power, and engaging in sabotage, ambush, and the like, rather than pitched battles against an opposing army. The term was first applied to the Spanish and Portuguese resistance to French occupation during the Peninsular War.
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Gun-Cotton is a highly explosive substance invented by professor Christian Schonbein of Basel in 1846. It is made of purified cotton, steeped in a mixture of equal parts of nitric acid and sulphuric acid, and afterwards dried, retaining the appearance of cotton-wool. The first British trial of gun-cotton took place in the Spring of 1864 at Stowmarket in Suffolk.
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Gunpowder is an explosive mixture of potassium nitrate, charcoal and sulphur in the proportions of 75, 15 and 10 - although alternative proportions are also used. The three ingredients must be very finely ground and mixed, and ordinary charcoal is not very suitable. Rather charcoal from dogwood, alder or willow is used. The wood is cut in spring and stored for between two and three years before being cut into small pieces and packed into thick iron containers with holes at one end to allow gases to escape, and heated for four hours. Gunpowder was invented in China and first used in Europe as a propellant by the Moors in the 12th century. It was first used by the English in war at Crecy in the 14th century.
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The Gustav line was a German defensive line in Italy running from the mouth of the Garigliano river through Cassino and across the Apennines to a point south of Ortona during the Second World War.
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Abbreviations
Warfare
