World War 1 Glossary

18 Pounder - A gun weighing 18 pounds that can fire shells. There are various other sizes including the 16 pounder.

.45 - A type of revolver or automatic gun whose barrel has an inside diameter of 45/100 of an inch.

Allies - In WW1, Belgium, France, Great Britain, Russia and Serbia. The war became more truly a world war as Japan, in 1914, and Italy, in 1915 joined the Entente Powers, while Turkey lined up with Germany and Austria. Other countries were drawn in, one by one, until by 1917 every continent and all the oceans of the world were involved. Canada was at war automatically when Britain was at war.

Barbed wire entanglement - Both sides used barbed-wire entanglements and barriers in No Man's Land to slow the advancement of the enemy.

Bayonet - A blade connected to a rifle which could be used in close combat to stab enemy soldiers.

Big Brass - High ranking Army officers.

Boer War - The war between the Boers of South Africa and Britain, which began in 1899 and ended in 1902.

Central Powers - The enemies - Austria-Hungary, Germany and the Ottoman Empire (now Turkey).

Dig In - Troops dug rows of deep trenches protected by barbed wire and machine guns. This was done to maintain their position after an attack.

Heliograph - A device with mirrors capable of sending flashes of light. These flashes represent messages which are translated using the principles of Morse Code.

Howitzer - A type of cannon which had a short barrel used to hit fix targets that are hidden.

Limber - A detachable front part of the carriage of a horse-drawn field gun.

Lucas Lamp - A signaling lamp used to relay messages, especially when telephone lines were destroyed by enemy shelling.

Morse Code - A system of dots, dashes, and spaces which are used to represent messages in telegraphy or signaling.

Musketry - The art of shooting with rifles or other types of small guns.

Parapets - A mound of earth or sandbags placed at the top of trenches to protect soldiers from enemy gunfire.

Tapper - A telegraph key which makes a contact and breaks another in the same movement.

Trench Mortar - A type of short cannon which is used to fire shells at enemy trenches. The shells are fired in a manner so that they drop on the trenches from above.

Whiz Bang Gun - A gun that shoots a shell at high speed. The sound of the shot is the whizzing sound of the shell's movement overhead.

Zero Hour - The time an attack began, usually in the early morning.

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Information Provided by: War Memories