Theater (warfare)In warfare, a theater or theatre is an area in which important military events occur or are in progress. A theater can include the entirety of the airspace, land and sea area that is or that may potentially become involved in war operations. In his book On War, Carl von Clausewitz defines the term Kriegstheater (translating the older, 17th-century Latin term theatrum belli) as one that: Denotes properly such a portion of the space over which war prevails as has its boundaries protected, and thus possesses a kind of independence.
Field hospitalA field hospital is a temporary hospital or mobile medical unit that takes care of casualties on-site before they can be safely transported to more permanent facilities. This term was initially used in military medicine (such as the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital or MASH), but it has also been used to describe alternate care sites used in disasters and other emergency situations. A field hospital is a medical staff with a mobile medical kit and, often, a wide tent-like shelter (at times an inflatable structure in modern usage) so that it can be readily set up near the source of casualties.
Italian ArmyThe Italian Army (Esercito Italiano [EI]) is the land-based component of the Italian Armed Forces. The army's history dates back to the Italian unification in the 1850s and 1860s. The army fought in colonial engagements in China, Libya, Northern Italy against the Austro-Hungarian Empire during World War I, Abyssinia before World War II and in World War II in Albania, Balkans, North Africa, the Soviet Union, and Italy itself. During the Cold War, the army prepared itself to defend against a Warsaw Pact invasion from the east.
Quartermaster generalA quartermaster general is the staff officer in charge of supplies for a whole army. He is in charge of quartermaster units and personnel, i.e. those tasked with providing supplies for military forces and units. In the Imperial German Army, while a Quartiermeister was a non-commissioned officer in charge of supplies, a Generalquartiermeister did not deal with supplies, but with operational command. He was the most senior officer below an Army's Chief of Staff.
BombardmentA bombardment is an attack by artillery fire or by dropping bombs from aircraft on fortifications, combatants, or towns and buildings. Prior to World War I, the term was only applied to the bombardment of defenseless or undefended objects, houses, public buildings, etc. It was only loosely employed to describe artillery attacks upon forts or fortified positions in preparation for assaults by infantry. Since then, it has come to mean any mass attack delivered by artillery or short-range tactical missiles, and later, aerial bombardment delivered by aircraft or long-range missiles.
FeldwebelFeldwebel (Fw or F, field usher) is a non-commissioned officer (NCO) rank in several countries. The rank originated in Germany, and is also used in Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, and Estonia. The rank has also been used in Russia, Austria-Hungary, occupied Serbia and Bulgaria. Feldwebel is a contraction of feld meaning 'field' and weibel, an archaic word meaning 'usher'. Weibel comes from the Old High German weibôn, meaning to go back and forth (as in 'wobble').
World warA world war is an international conflict that involves most or all of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for the two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World War I (1914–1918) and World War II (1939–1945), although some historians have also described other global conflicts as world wars, such as the Nine Years' War, the War of the Spanish Succession, the Seven Years' War, the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, the Cold War, and the War on Terror.
HowitzerThe howitzer (ˈhaʊ.ɪtsər) is an artillery weapon that falls between cannon and a mortar. With their long-range capabilities, howitzers can be used to great effect in a battery formation with other artillery pieces, such as long-barreled guns, mortars, and rocket artillery. The English word howitzer comes from the Czech word houfnice, from houf, 'crowd', and houf is in turn a borrowing from the Middle High German word Hūfe or Houfe (modern German Haufen), meaning 'crowd, throng'. While -nice is a Czech nominal suffix.
Scapa FlowScapa Flow ('skɑːpə,_'skæpə; ) is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. Its sheltered waters have played an important role in travel, trade and conflict throughout the centuries. Vikings anchored their longships in Scapa Flow more than a thousand years ago. It was the United Kingdom's chief naval base during the First and Second World wars, but the facility was closed in 1956.
WhitehallWhitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London, England. The road forms the first part of the A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea. It is the main thoroughfare running south from Trafalgar Square towards Parliament Square. The street is recognised as the centre of the Government of the United Kingdom and is lined with numerous departments and ministries, including the Ministry of Defence, Horse Guards and the Cabinet Office.
