Eight classical maneuvers of warfare
Penetration of the center: This involves the creation of a gap in the enemy line and its exploitation. Two ways of accomplishing this are separating enemy forces and using a reserve to exploit the gap that forms between them (e.g. Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC), the first recorded use of the penetration of the center) or having fast, elite forces smash at a specific point in the enemy line (an enemy weak spot or an area where your elites are at their best in striking power) and, while reserves and holding forces hold your opponent, drive quickly and immediately for the enemy's command or base (i.e., blitzkrieg).
Attack from a defensive position: Establishing a strong defensive position from which to defend and attack your opponent (e.g., Siege of Alesia and the Battle of the Granicus). However, the defensive can become too passive and result in ultimate defeat.
Single envelopment: A strong flank beating its opponent opposite and, with the aid of holding attacks, attack an opponent in the rear. Sometimes, the establishment of a strong, hidden force behind a weak flank will prevent your opponent from carrying out their own single envelopment (e.g., Battle of Rocroi).
Double envelopment: Both flanks defeat their opponent opposite and launch a rear attack on the enemy center. Its most famous use was Hannibal's tactical masterpiece, the Battle of Cannae and was frequently used by the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front of World War II.
Attack in oblique order: This involves placing your flanks in a slanted fashion (refusing one's flank) or giving a vast part of your force to a single flank (e.g., Battle of Leuthen). The latter can be disastrous, however, due to the imbalance of force.
Feigned retreat: Having a frontal force fake a retreat, drawing the opponent in pursuit and then launching an assault with strong force held in reserve (such as the Battle of Maling and the Battle of Hastings). However, a feigned retreat may devolve into a real one, such as in the Battle of Grunwald.
Indirect approach: Having a minority of your force demonstrate in front of your opponent while the majority of your force advance from a hidden area and attack the enemy in the rear or flank (e.g., Battle of Chancellorsville).
Crossing the "T": a classic naval maneuver which maximizes one side's offensive firepower while minimizing that of the opposing force.
Principles
Many military strategists have attempted to encapsulate a successful strategy in a set of principles. Sun Tzu defined 13 principles in his The Art of War while Napoleon listed 115 maxims. American Civil War General Nathan Bedford Forrest had only one: to "[get] there first with the most men".[19] The concepts given as essential in the United States Army Field Manual of Military Operations (FM 3–0) are:[20]
Objective (Direct every military operation towards a clearly defined, decisive, and attainable objective)
Offensive (Seize, retain, and exploit the initiative)
Mass (Concentrate combat power at the decisive place and time)
Economy of Force (Allocate minimum essential combat power to secondary efforts)
Maneuver (Place the enemy in a disadvantageous position through the flexible application of combat power)
Unity of Command (For every objective, ensure unity of effort under one responsible commander)
Security (Never permit the enemy to acquire an unexpected advantage)
Surprise (Strike the enemy at a time, at a place, or in a manner for which he is unprepared)
Simplicity (Prepare clear, uncomplicated plans and clear, concise orders to ensure thorough understanding)
According to Greene and Armstrong, some planners assert adhering to the fundamental principles guarantees victory, while others claim war is unpredictable and the strategist must be flexible. Others argue predictability could be increased if the protagonists were to view the situation from the other sides in a conflict.[21] Field Marshal Count Helmuth von Moltke expressed strategy as a system of "ad hoc expedients" by which a general must take action while under pressure. These underlying principles of strategy have survived relatively unscathed as the technology of warfare has developed.
Strategy (and tactics) must constantly evolve in response to technological advances. A successful strategy from one era tends to remain in favor long after new developments in military weaponry and matériel have rendered it obsolete. World War I, and to a great extent the American Civil War, saw Napoleonic tactics of "offense at all costs" pitted against the defensive power of the trench, machine gun and barbed wire. As a reaction to her World War I experience, France entered World War II with a purely defensive doctrine, epitomized by the "impregnable" Maginot Line, but only to be completely circumvented by the German blitzkrieg in the Fall of France.
A tactical formation (or order) is the arrangement or deployment of moving military forces such as infantry, cavalry, AFVs, military aircraft, or naval vessels. Formations were found in tribal societies such as the "pua rere" of the Māori,[1] and ancient or medieval formations which include shield walls (skjaldborg in Old Norse), phalanxes (lines of battle in close order), Testudo formation and skirmishers. Tactical formations include:
Column
Line
Square
Wedge and inverted wedge
Echelon
V formation
Staggered column
Coil
Herringbone
Skirmish
A vanguard is the forward element of a column formation, and the rear-guard is the rear-most element of the column formation. In naval use only "van" and "rear" are applied to a formation of ships sailing in column.
Examples of military aircraft tactical formations are the kabalion formation, echelon, the combat box, and the finger-four (also known as the "fluid four.")
A tactical formation is not to be confused with military organization or the table of organization and equipment (TOE).
Close order formation
Division (military)
Formation flying
Laager
Military organization
Night attack formation
Offensive strategies
Air supremacy – A degree of air superiority where a side holds complete control of air power over opposing forces. Control of the air is the aerial equivalent of Command of the sea.
Attrition warfare – A strategy of wearing down the enemy to the point of collapse through continuous loss of personnel and material. Used to defeat enemies with low resources and high morale.
Bait and bleed – To induce rival states to engage in a protracted war of attrition against each other "so that they bleed each other white", similar to the concept of Divide and conquer
Battle of annihilation – The goal of destroying the enemy military in a single planned pivotal battle
Bellum se ipsum alet – A strategy of feeding and supporting an army with the potentials of occupied territories
Blitzkrieg – A method of warfare where an attacking force, spearheaded by a dense concentration of armoured and motorised or mechanised infantry formations with close air support, breaks through the opponent's line of defence by short, fast, powerful attacks and then dislocates the defenders, using speed and surprise to encircle them with the help of air superiority.[1]
Blockade / Siege / Investment – An attempt to cut off food, supplies, war material or communications from a particular area by force, usually taking place by sea
Clear and hold – A counter-insurgency strategy in which military personnel clear an area of guerrillas or other insurgents, and then keep the area clear of insurgents while winning the support of the populace for the government and its policies.
Coercion – Compelling the enemy to involuntarily behave in a certain way by targeting the leadership, national communications, or political-economic centers
Command of the sea – A degree of naval superiority where a side holds complete control of naval power over opposing forces. Control of the sea is the naval equivalent of Air Supremacy
Counter-offensive – A strategic offensive taking place after the enemy's front line troops and reserves have been exhausted, and before the enemy has had the opportunity to assume new defensive positions. Tactic is usually implemented through surging at the enemy after their attack.
Counterforce – A strategy used in nuclear warfare of targeting military infrastructure (as opposed to civilian targets)
Countervalue – The opposite of counterforce; targeting of enemy cities and civilian populations. Used to distract the enemy.
Decapitation – Achieving strategic paralysis by targeting political leadership, command and control, strategic weapons, and critical economic nodes
Deception – A strategy that seeks to deceive, trick, or fool the enemy and create a false perception in a way that can be leveraged for a military advantage
Defeat in detail – Bringing a large portion of one's own force to bear on small enemy units in sequence, rather than engaging the bulk of the enemy force all at once. Similar to divide and conquer
Denial – A strategy that seeks to destroy the enemy's ability to wage war
Distraction – An attack by some of the force on one or two flanks, drawing up to a strong frontal attack by the rest of the force
Encirclement – Both a strategy and tactic designed to isolate and surround enemy forces
Ends, Ways, Means, Risk – Strategy is much like a three legged stool of ends, ways, means balanced on a plane of varying degree of risk
Enkulette – A strategy used often in the jungle that aims at attacking the enemy from behind.
Exhaustion – A strategy that seeks to erode the will or resources of a country
Feint – A maneuver designed to distract or mislead, done by giving the impression that a certain maneuver will take place, while in fact another, or even none, will.
Flanking maneuver – Involves attacking the opponent from the side, or rear
Guerrilla tactics – Involves ambushes on enemy troops. Usually used by insurgency.
Heavy force – A counterinsurgency strategy that seeks to destroy an insurgency with overwhelming force while it is still in a manageable state
Human wave attack – An unprotected frontal attack where the attacker tries to move as many combatants as possible into engaging close range combat with the defender
Incentive – A strategy that uses incentives to gain cooperation
Indirect approach – Dislocation is the aim of strategy. Direct attacks almost never work, one must first upset the enemy's equilibrium, fix weakness and attack strength, Eight rules of strategy: 1) adjust your ends to your means, 2) keep your object always in mind, 3) choose the line of the least expectation, 4) exploit the line of least resistance, 5) take the line of operations which offers the most alternatives, 6) ensure both plans and dispositions are flexible, 7) do not throw your weight into an opponent while he is on guard, 8) do not renew an attack along the same lines if an attack has failed
Interior lines – Placing one's forces in between the enemy forces and attacking each in turn in order to allow one's forces to have better communications and allows one to mass all of one's forces against a part of the enemies'
Limited war – A war in which the belligerents do not expend all of the resources at their disposal, whether human, industrial, agricultural, military, natural, technological, or otherwise in a specific conflict.[2]
Motitus - A Motitus or Motti is a double envelopment manoeuvre, using the ability of light troops to travel over rough ground to encircle and defeat enemy troops with limited mobility. By cutting the enemy columns or units into smaller groups, a mobile force can restrict the mobility of a stronger enemy and defeat it in detail. The name comes from the Finnish word for a cubic meter of firewood, and the strategy was used extensively during the Winter War.
Penetration – A direct attack through enemy lines, then an attack on the rear once through
Periclean strategy – The two basic principles of the "Periclean Grand Strategy" were the rejection of appeasement (in accordance with which he urged the Athenians not to revoke the Megarian Decree) and the avoidance of overextension
Persisting strategy – A strategy that seeks to destroy the means by which the enemy sustains itself
Pincer ambush – A "U"-shaped attack with the sides concealed and the middle held back until the enemy advances, at which point the concealed sides ambush them
Pincer maneuver – Allowing the enemy to attack the center, sometimes in a charge, then attacking the flanks of the charge
Punishment – A strategy that seeks to push a society beyond its economic and physiological breaking point
Rapid Decisive Operations – Compelling the adversary to undertake certain actions or denying the adversary the ability to coerce or attack others.
Raiding – Attacking with the purpose of removing the enemy's supply or provisions
Refusing the flank – Holding back one side of the battle line to keep the enemy from engaging with that flank. The refused flank is held by smallest force necessary to hold out against the enemy's attack while concentrating the main battle force against the enemies' center or other flank
Separation of insurgents – A counterinsurgency strategy should first seek to separate the enemy from the population, then deny the enemy reentry, and finally execute long enough to deny the insurgent access
Shape, Clear, Hold, Build – The counterinsurgency theory that states the process of winning an insurgency is shape, clear, hold, build
Siege – Continuous attack by bombardment on a fortified position, usually by artillery, or surrounding and isolating it in at attempt to compel a surrender
Shock and awe – A military doctrine using overwhelming power to try and achieve rapid dominance over the enemy
Swarming – Military swarming involves the use of a decentralized force against an opponent, in a manner that emphasizes mobility, communication, unit autonomy and coordination/synchronization.
Theater strategy – Concepts and courses of action directed toward securing the objectives of national and multinational policies and strategies through the synchronized and integrated employment of military forces and other instruments of national power
Zerg - To overwhelm a base by sending all available units, in hopes to overwhelm their base.
Total war – Conflict in which belligerents engage with all available resources[3]
Troop surge – deploying a large number of troops into theatre in order to overcome resistance
Turning movement – An attack that penetrates the enemy's flank, then curls into its rear to cut it off from home
Win without fighting – Sun Tzu argued that a brilliant general was one that could win without killing anybody
Crescent Strategy - Turkish commanders used this strategy. The soldiers act like a crescent and take the enemy in the middle of the crescent and surround it.
Defensive strategies
Boxing maneuver – A strategy used to "box in" and force an attack on all sides at once
Choke point – A use of strategic geography, usually in a narrow area, intended to concentrate the enemy into a confined area where the defender can maximize his forces
Defence in depth – A strategy to delay rather than prevent the advance of the attackers by buying time and causing additional casualties by yielding space so that the momentum of the attack is lost and the attacking force can be attacked on its flanks
Elastic Defense - A strategy to flexibly absorb then repel the advance of attackers through carefully planned integrated fighting positions, perfected by the
German Army in WWI
Fortification – A semi-permanent or permanent defensive structure that gives physical protection to a military unit
Fabian strategy – Wearing down the enemy by using attrition warfare and indirection, while avoiding pitched battles or frontal assaults. Named after Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus in his defense against Carthage. See Pyrrhic warfare
Military district – An area controlled by a military force, for administrative purposes rather than combat. Also known as Wehrkreis in German
Scorched earth – Destroying anything that might be of use to the enemy while retreating, or advancing
Turtling – Continuous reinforcement of the military front until it has reached its full strength, then an attack with the now-superior force
Withdrawal – A retreat of forces while maintaining contact with the enemy
High ground - An area of elevated terrain which can be useful in combat. Can provide structural advantages for positions of troops and weaponry which can be thrown or fired from above.
Strategic concepts
Center of gravity (military) – The hub of all power and movement on which everything depends, the point at which all energies should be directed
Decisive point – A geographic place, specific key event, critical system, or function that allows commanders to gain a marked advantage over an enemy and greatly influence the outcome of an attack
DIME(FIL) – The elements of national power diplomacy, information, military, and economics, often included are financial, intelligence, and law enforcement see MIDLIFE
Expediency – War is a matter of expedients – von Moltke
Fog, friction, chance – War is characterized by fog, friction, and chance
Golden Bridge – To leave an opponent an opportunity to withdraw in order to not force them to act out of desperation – Sun Tzu
Iron Calculus of War – Resistance = Means x Will – Clausewitz
MIDLIFE – The elements of national power diplomacy, information, military, and economics, often included are financial, intelligence, and law enforcement, see DIME(FIL)
Moral ascendancy – Moral force is the trump card for any military event because as events change the human elements of war remain unchanged – Du Piq
OODA loop – Decision-making occurs in a recurring cycle of observe-orient-decide-act. An entity (whether an individual or an organization) that can process this cycle quickly, observing and reacting to unfolding events more rapidly than an opponent, can thereby "get inside" the opponent's decision cycle and gain the advantage – Boyd
Paradoxical nature – The nature of strategy is a paradoxical and does not follow a linear pattern – Luttwak
Positive ends – The possibility of taking advantage of a new security environment to create conditions for long-term peace – Wass de Czege
Primary Trinity – (1) primordial violence, hatred, and enmity; (2) the play of chance and probability; and (3) war's element of subordination to rational policy – Clausewitz
Secondary Trinity – People, Army, and Government – Clausewitz
Principles of war:
Objective (Direct every military operation towards a clearly defined, decisive, and attainable objective)
Offensive (Seize, retain, and exploit the initiative)
Mass (Concentrate combat power at the decisive place and time)
Economy of Force (Allocate minimum essential combat power to secondary efforts)
Maneuver (place the enemy in a disadvantageous position through the flexible application of combat power)
Unity of Command (For every Objective, ensure Unity of effort under one responsible commander)
Security (Never permit the enemy to acquire an unexpected advantage)
Surprise (Strike the enemy at a time, at a place, or in a manner for which he is unprepared)
Simplicity (Prepare clear, uncomplicated plans and clear, concise orders to ensure thorough understanding) – US Army FM 3.0
Systems approach – Nation-states operate like biological organisms composed of discrete systems. These systems included: leadership, organic essentials, infrastructure, population, and the military – Warden
Tipping point – The point at which "the momentum for change becomes unstoppable." – Gladwell
VUCA – Volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity characterize the strategic environment – U.S. Army War College
Weinberger-Powell Doctrine – A list of questions have to be answered affirmatively before military action is taken by the United States:
Is a vital national security interest threatened?
Do we have a clear attainable objective?
Have the risks and costs been fully and frankly analyzed?
Have all other non-violent policy means been fully exhausted?
Is there a plausible exit strategy to avoid endless entanglement?
Have the consequences of our action been fully considered?
Is the action supported by the American people?
Do we have genuine broad international support?
Economic concepts
Salaries – Always pay your troops on time.
Asymmetric costs – ensure the cost of enemy losses (or objectives) is at least an order of magnitude higher than the costs of attacking.
Budget like a business – Ensure there is sufficient funds and revenue streams to finish the war.
Intentional insufficient Funding(Rcoined) - ensure you make the funds less than the return, if a cost of logistics costs X$ in delivering army collateral, and supplies. By only closing a canal or an route, using sea denial strategy then the price becomes (X$)*4= 4x$.
Administrative
Cantonment: a temporary or semi-permanent military quarters; in South Asia, the term cantonment also describes permanent military stations.
Logistics
Materiel (also matériel)
Military supply chain management
Staging area
Intelligence
Signals intelligence (SIGINT) and signals intelligence in modern history
Electronic intelligence (ELINT)
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.
Communications intelligence (COMINT)
Human intelligence (HUMINT)
Imagery intelligence (IMINT)
Measurement and signature intelligence (MASINT)
Open-source intelligence (OSINT)
On land
Demilitarized zone (DMZ): not all are military
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.
Arms and services
Artillery includes any engine used for the discharge of large projectiles.
Artillery battery: an organized group of artillery pieces (previously artillery park).
Also see below Artillery
Doctrinal
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 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 importation of goods which could help the blockaded nation's war effort.
Booby trap
Breach: a gap in fortified or battle lines.
Breakout: exploiting a breach in enemy lines so that a large force (division or above) passes through.
Bridgehead and its varieties known as beachheads and airheads.
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.
Counterattack
Counter-battery fire
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).
Coup de main: a swift pre-emptive strike.
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.
Envelope
Extraction point: the location designated for reassembly of forces and their subsequent transportation out of the battle zone.
Fabian strategy: avoiding pitched battles in order to wear down the enemy in a war of attrition.
Fighting withdrawal: pulling back military forces while maintaining contact with the enemy.
File: a single column of soldiers.
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.[1]
Frontal assault or frontal attack: an attack toward the front of an enemy force.
Garrison: a body of troops holding a particular location on a long-term basis.
Guerrilla tactics: attacking the enemy and the subsequent breaking off of contact and retreating; also referred to as "hit-and-run tactics".
Hors de combat: a unit out of the fight, surrendered, wounded (when incapacitated), and so on.
Infantry square, pike square, or schiltron
Infiltration
Interdiction: to attack and disrupt enemy supply lines.
Killing field
Lodgement: an enclave made by increasing the size of a bridgehead.
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.[2].
Melee or Mêlée
Mobile columns, or movable columns (French: colomnes mobiles or troupes 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;[3] or it may be an operational description.[4]
No quarter given: all enemy troops are to be killed, even those who surrender. Also referred to as "take no prisoners".
Overwatch: when one small unit provides support for another.
Patrolling
Parthian shot
Phalanx
Pickets (or picquets): 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)
Pincer maneuver
Pitched battle
Pocket: see "salient".
Pyrrhic victory: a victory paid for so dearly that it potentially could lead to a later defeat ("a battle won, a war lost").
Raid
Rank: a single line of soldiers.
Reconnaissance
Retreat: withdrawal of troops from a battlefield (can be either orderly or unorderly; fighting or by rout).
Rout: disorderly withdrawal of troops from a battlefield following a defeat, either real or perceived.
Sack: the destruction and looting of a city, usually after an assault.
Safe-guard: individual soldiers or detachments placed to prevent resources (often farms full of crops and livestock) from being looted or plundered
Salients: a pocket or "bulge" in a fortified or battle line. The enemy's line facing a salient is referred to as a "re-entrant".
Scorched earth: the deliberate destruction of resources in order to deny their use to the enemy.
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.[5]
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).
Parallel trenches
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.
Surrender at discretion: unconditional surrender instead of surrendering with terms.
Skirmish
Switch position: A defensive position oblique to, and connecting, successive defensive positions paralleling the front.[6]
Vedette, a mounted sentry or outpost, who has the function of bringing information, giving signals or warnings of danger, etc.
Withdrawal (military): retreat (i.e., pulling back) of troops from a battlefield (can be either orderly or unorderly; fighting or by rout)
Ordnance
These terms concern identification of means of combat to inflict damage on the opponent.
Edged
Weapons that inflict damage through cutting or stabbing.
Bayonet
Bill (weapon)
Danish axe
Halberd
Hands
Knife or Dagger
Lance
Pole weapon or poleaxe
Pike (weapon)
Partisan (weapon)
Sabre
Spear
Sword
Projectile munitions
Munitions are weapons and ordnance that inflict damage through impact.
Individual
Bow (weapon)
Crossbow
Sling (weapon) and slingshot (hand catapult)
Firearms
Carbine
Machine gun
Musket
Pistol
Revolver
Rifle
Shotgun
Submachine gun
Artillery
Crew-served, non-vehicle mounted weapons
Ballista
Catapult
Mangonel
Onager (siege weapon)
Trebuchet
Guns
Bombard (weapon)
Cannon
Autocannon
Basilisk
Bombard
Carronade
Culverin
Demi-cannon
Demi-culverin
Falconet
Hand cannon
Minion
Saker
Gun
Field gun
Naval artillery
Howitzer
Mortar (weapon)
Explosives
Explosive ordnance causes damage through release of chemical energy.
Artillery shell
Bangalore torpedo
Camouflet
Grenade
Hand grenade
Rifle grenade (see also Grenade launcher)
Rocket propelled grenade
Land mine
Anti-tank mine
Anti-personnel mine
Incendiary
Incendiary ordnance causes damage through release of heat.
Flamethrower
Greek fire
Napalm
White phosphorus
Vehicles
Armored car
Chariot
Half-track
Armored personnel carrier
Tank
Tank destroyer
Engineering
See also List of fortifications
Banquette, or fire step
Barbed wire
Bartizan: a cylindrical turret or sentry post projecting beyond the parapet of a fort or castle
Bastion
Bastion fortress: a star-shaped fortress surrounding a town or city (also known as star fort or Trace italienne).
Battery: an artillery position, which may be fortified.
Berm
Blast wall: a barrier for protection from high explosive blast.
Blockhouse: a) Medieval and Renaissance - a small artillery tower, 
18th and 19th centuries - a small colonial wooden fort, c) 20th century - a large concrete defensive structure.
Breastwork
Bulwark
Bunker: a heavily fortified, mainly underground, facility used as a defensive position; also commonly used as command centres for high-level officers.
Caponier: a defensive firing position either projecting into, or traversing the ditch of a fort.
Carnot wall: a wall pierced with loopholes, sited above the scarp of a ditch but below the rampart.
Casemate: a vaulted chamber for protected storage, accommodation or if provided with an embrasure, for artillery
Castle
Medieval fortification
Arrow slit (arrow loop, loophole)
Barbican
Chemin de ronde
Concentric castle
Drawbridge
Gatehouse
Keep or donjon
Moat
Machicolation
Murder-hole
Portcullis
Citadel
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.
Coupure
Defensive fighting position; for example, a rifle pit, sangar or fox hole.
Ditch: a dry moat.
Dragon's teeth: Triangular obstacles acting as roadblocks for armoured vehicles.
Dutch Water Line: a series of water-based defensive measures designed to flood large areas in case of attack.
Earthworks
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.
Flèche: an arrow shaped outwork, smaller than a ravelin or a lunette, with 2 faces with a parapet and an open gorge
Fort
Fortification
Fortress
Gabion: a large basket filled with earth, used to form a temporary parapet for artillery
Glacis: a bank of earth sloping away from the fort, to protect it from direct artillery fire
Gorge: opening at the rear of an outwork for access by defending troops from the main defensive position
Hill fort (New Zealand: Pa (Māori))
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.
Pillbox: a small concrete guard post.
Polygonal fort: a later type of fort without bastions.
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.
Sally port
Sapping
Scarp: the side of a ditch in front of a fortification facing away from it.
Sconce: a small protective fortification, such as an earthwork, often placed on a mound as a defensive work for artillery.
Sea fort: a coastal fort entirely surrounded by the sea, either built on a rock or directly onto the sea bed.
Slighting: the deliberate destruction of an (abandoned) fortification without opposition from its (former) occupants and/or defenders.
Sortie
Star fort: a star-shaped fortress surrounding a town or city (also known as Bastion fortress or Trace italienne).
Tenaille (archaic Tenalia): an advanced pincer-shaped defensive work in front of the main defences of a fortress.
Terreplein: the fighting platform on top of a rampart, behind the parapet.
Tête-de-pont: a temporary defensive work defending a bridge at the end closest to the enemy.
Trace italienne: a star-shaped fortress surrounding a town or city (also known as Bastion fortress or star fort).
Trench
Geographic
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.
Debouch:
To emerge from a defile or similar into open country;
A fortification at the end of a defile;
Water that flows out of a defile into a wider place such as a lake.
Naval
Arms and services
These terms concern combat arms and supporting services of armed forces used in naval warfare.
Doctrinal
These terms concern the type of use of naval armed forces.
Blockade
Coup de grâce: a final shot intended to finish off a sinking (enemy) ship (which should be distinguished from scuttling).
Crossing the Tee
Vanguard—the leading part of an advancing military formation
Line astern, line ahead, or line of battle
Raking fire
Scuttling
Weather gage
Operational
Adrift: Loose and out of control. Typically applied to a ship or vessel that has lost power and is unable to control its movement.[7]
Aft: Any part of the ship closer to the stern than you currently are.[7]
All Hands: The entire ship's crew to include all officers and enlisted.[7]
Aye, Aye: Response acknowledging and understanding a command.[7]
Bow: Front of the ship.[7]
Below: Any deck beneath the one you are currently on.[7]
Carry on: An order given to continue work or duties.[7]
Cast off: To throw off, to let go, to unfurl.[7]
Colours: Raising and lowering of the National Ensign, the American flag and organization flags.[7]
Fathom: Unit of measurement generally used for depth from sea level to sea floor.[7]
General Quarters: Battle stations.[7] Generally set when the ship is about to engage in battle or hostile activities.
Jettison: To throw or dispose of something over the side of ship.
Ladder: Also known as a ladder well. Much like civilian stairs however much steeper.[7]
Leave: Vacation time nearly completely free unless an emergency recall occurs.[7]
Shore leave or Liberty (US): Permission to leave the ship/base to enjoy non-work activities.[7]
Mid-watch: Tends to be the midnight to 0400 watch. Also known as "balls to four" due to military time equivalent 0000-0400.[7]
Port Side: Left hand side of the ship.[7]
Quarters: Generally the morning assembly of all hands for muster and accountability.[7]
Starboard: Right hand side of the ship.[7]
Stern: Rear of the ship.[7]
Taps: Lights out, time to sleep.[7]
Turn to: Start working.[7]
Working Aloft: Working above the highest deck, generally performing maintenance on the ship's mast or antennas.[7]
Ordnance
Sea mine
Torpedo
Turret
Vessels
Aircraft carrier
Helicopter carrier
Escort carrier
Fleet carrier
Light carrier
Fighter catapult ship
Catapult aircraft merchant ship
Merchant aircraft carrier
Aircraft maintenance carrier
Flagship
Special service ship
Troopship
Ship's tender
Attack transport
Battleship
Dreadnought
Pocket battleship
Seaplane tender
Sloop
Battlecruiser
Cruiser
Heavy cruiser
Armored cruiser
Light cruiser
Scout cruiser
Destroyer
Destroyer escort
Destroyer flotilla leader
Destroyer depot ship
Frigate
Corvette
Hovercraft
Landing Craft Air Cushion
Landing craft depot ship
Merchant cruiser
Submarine
Submarine tender
Midget submarine
Cruiser submarine
Hunter-killer submarine
Ballistic missile submarine
Guided missile submarine
Submarine chaser
Submarine aircraft carrier
Torpedo boat
Amphibious command ship
Amphibious assault ship
Amphibious transport dock
Dock landing ship
Expeditionary transfer dock
Littoral combat ship
Coastal defence ship
Barracks ship
Patrol boat
Research vessel
Survey ship
Dry dock
Torpedo trials craft
Guard ship
Cable layer
Cable repair ship
Cargo ship
Attack cargo ship
Vehicle cargo ship
Dry cargo ship
Replenishment oiler
Oil tanker
Maritime prepositioning ship
Offshore supply ship
Container ship
Hospital ship
Fast combat support ship
Expeditionary fast transport
Salvage ship
Instrumentation ship
Fleet ocean tug
Riverine command ship
Special operations insertion ship
High-speed transport
Maritime security cutter
Medium endurance cutter
High endurance cutter
Fast response cutter
Marine protector
Landing ship
Tank landing ship
Icebreaker
Heavy icebreaker
Inland construction tender
Seagoing buoy tender
Coastal buoy tender
Logistic support ship
Floating battery
Training ship
Minelayer
Mine countermeasures vessel
Minesweeper
Gunboat
Riverine gunboat
Dock landing ship
Monitor
Breastwork monitor
Riverine monitor
Technical research ship
Self defense test ship
Self-propelled radar station
Fast sea frame
Crane ship
Aviation logistics support ship
Moored training ship
Naval trawler
Engineering
Air
Arms and services
These terms concern combat arms and supporting services of armed forces used in air warfare.
Operational
Sortie: used by air forces to indicate an aircraft mission count (flew seven sorties) or in the sense of a departure (the aircraft sortied).
Doctrinal
These terms concern the type of use of aviation armed forces.
Tactics
Bombing: specifically area bombing, carpet bombing and pattern bombing.
Sortie: a mission flown by an aircraft
Ordnance
Bomb
Missile
Aircraft
Airship
Bomber
Dirigible, balloon
Fighter
Fighter bomber
Spotter plane
The United Federations
18th and 19th centuries - a small colonial wooden fort, c) 20th century - a large concrete defensive structure.
