an army. It also signifies a fort or other suitable place appropriated
for the reception of recruits, or detached parties belonging to
different regiments. In fortification, the term is likewise used to
denote a particular place at the trail of the trenches out of the reach
of the cannon of a besieged place. It is here that besiegers generally
assemble when ordered to attack the outworks, or support the troops in
the trenches when there is reason to imagine the besieged intend making
a sally.
=Depredate.= To take plunder or prey; to commit waste; as, the troops
depredated on the country; also, in an active sense, to plunder or
pillage; to spoil; to lay waste.
=Depressed Gun.= Any piece of ordnance having its mouth depressed below
the horizontal line.
=Depression.= The pointing of any piece of ordnance so that its shot may
be projected short of the point-blank.
=Depth.= A technical word, peculiarly applicable to bodies of men drawn
up in line or column. The depth of a battalion or squadron is the number
of men in rank and file from front to rear.
=Deputy-Marshal.= In the British service, is the senior sergeant-major
of each regiment of Foot Guards, who sees after and makes out the routes
of deserters, and receives an allowance for so doing.
=Deraser= (_Fr._). To cut off the superfluous clay from a gun-mold
previous to its being placed in the pit.
=Derayeh, El.= A town of Arabia, nearly in the centre of the district
called El Nedjed. It is tolerably well fortified, but after a siege of
seven months, in 1819, it was nearly destroyed by the troops of Ibrahim
Pasha.
=Derbend=, or =Derbent=. A town of Russia, the capital of the province
of Daghestan. It is surrounded by strong walls and flanked and
strengthened by massive bastions. It was taken from Persia by Russia in
1722, restored to the former power in 1735, and retaken by the
Muscovites in 1795.
=Derivation= (_Fr._). Drift of rifle projectiles. See PROJECTILES.
=Descend.= In a military sense, means to make an attack or incursion as
if from a vantage-ground.
=Descents.= In fortification, are the holes, vaults, and hollow places
made by undermining the ground.
=Descents into the Ditch.= Cuts and excavations made by means of saps in
the counterscarp, beneath the covert way. They are covered with thick
boards and hurdles; and a certain quantity of earth is thrown upon the
top in order to obviate the bad effects which might arise from shells,
etc.
=Descriptive Book.= A book in which descriptive lists of the soldiers
belonging to a company are kept.
=Descriptive List of Soldier.= A paper giving a short history of the
soldier, a description of his person, and the statement of his account.
It accompanies him wherever he goes, being intrusted to his detachment
or company commander.
=Descriptive Memoir.= This memoir, which should always accompany a
sketch of a topographical reconnoissance, is intended to convey that
information relating to the natural features of the ground not expressed
upon the sketch; to express that information for which there are no
conventional signs, and to present those facts relative to the ground
which become important by being considered in connection with the
probable military operations to be undertaken.
=Desenzano.= A town of Lombardy, in the province of Brescia. Garibaldi,
in command of the Italian volunteers, defeated an Austrian force near
this place in 1859.
=Desert.= To quit a service without permission; to run away; as, to
desert from the army; to forsake in violation of duty; as, to desert
one’s colors.
=Deserter.= A soldier who absconds, during the period for which he is
enlisted, from the service of the army or navy. In England this crime
was by certain old statutes made punishable with death, but now the
punishment is left to the discretion of a court-martial. In the United
States, deserters in the time of war may be sentenced to death, but in
time of peace the penalty for this offense is lighter.
=Desertion.= The act of absence from duty without intention to return.
See APPENDIX, ARTICLES OF WAR, 47.
=Despatch=, or =Dispatch=. An official military letter sent by the
commander of an army in the field to the authorities at home. The term
is also applied to the military letters giving an account of military
operations sent by subordinate officers holding detached commands to the
general of an army in the field. See DISPATCHES.
=Detach.= To separate for a special object or use; as, to send out a
body of men on some particular service, separate from that of the main
body.
=Detached Bastion.= In fortification, is that basis which is separated
from the enceinte by a ditch.
=Detached Works.= In fortification, are such outworks as are detached,
or at a distance from the body of the place; such as half-moons,
ravelins, bastions, etc.
=Detachment.= In military affairs, an uncertain number of men drawn out
from several regiments or camps equally, to march or be employed as the
general may think proper, whether on an attack, at a siege, or in
parties to scour the country. A detachment of 2000 or 3000 men is a
command for a general officer, 800 for a colonel, 500 for
lieutenant-colonel, 200 or 300 for a major, 80 or 100 for a captain, 40
for a lieutenant, 12 for a sergeant, and 6 for a corporal.
=Detachment, Gun.= The men required for the service of a piece of
artillery.
=Detachment, Manœuvring.= The men required for mechanical manœuvres of a
siege or sea-coast gun.
=Detail for Duty.= Is a roster, or table, for the regular performance of
duty either in camp or garrison. The general detail is regulated by the
adjutant-general, according to the strength of the several corps. The
adjutant of each regiment superintends the detail of officers and
non-commissioned officers for duty, and orderly sergeants detail the
privates.
=Detmold.= A town of Northwestern Germany, capital of the principality
of Lippe-Detmold, on the Werra. In the vicinity is the battle-field on
which the army of Varus was destroyed by the Germans under Arminius, in
9 A.D.
=Detonating Powder.= A term applied in chemistry to fulminating mercury
and silver, and to other compounds which suddenly explode when struck or
heated. Some of these compounds have been much used for the ignition of
gunpowder in percussion locks.
=Detonation.= The instantaneous conversion of an explosive into gas; a
term applied to the phenomena attending the explosion of certain
substances, such as _nitro-glycerine_, _chloride of nitrogen_, _iodide
of nitrogen_, _gun-cotton_, the _picrates_, etc. Detonation, or
explosion of the first order, is distinguished from ordinary explosion,
or explosion of the second order, by the different way in which the
explosion is propagated. Ordinary explosion proceeds by inflammation,
being nothing more than a rapid combustion. Detonation is propagated by
vibration. A detonating agent is a substance used to produce the
_initial vibration_, or “impulse of explosion.” The exploder, or cap,
used for this purpose is usually primed with fulminate of mercury, a
substance having a wide range in bringing about detonation in the high
explosives.
=Dettingen.= A village of Bavaria, on the Maine. It is noted for a
victory gained by the English, under George II., over the French,
commanded by Marshal Noailles, in 1743.
=Devastation.= In warfare, is the act of destroying, laying waste,
demolishing, or unpeopling towns, etc.
=Deviation of Projectiles.= See PROJECTILES.
=Device.= The emblem on a shield or standard.
=Devicotta.= A fort and seaport town in the south of India, and district
of Tanjore. It was taken in 1749 from the rajah of Tanjore.
=Devonshire.= A maritime county in the southwest peninsula of England,
between the Bristol and English Channels. The Saxons failed to conquer
Devonshire till the 9th century. It was ravaged by the Danes in the 9th
and 10th centuries, and by the Irish in the 11th century. In 1688 the
Prince of Orange landed at Tor Bay, in this county.
=Deyrah=, or =Dehra=. A town of Northern Hindostan, and the principal
place of the British province designated the Deyrah Doon. During the
Nepaul war in 1815, the Deyrah Doon became the scene of military
operations, and acquired a mournful celebrity by the obstinate defense
made by the Goorkhas at Kalunga, or Nalapani, in the siege of which the
British lost a considerable number of men, including their gallant
commander, Gen. Gillespie.
=Diable= (_Devil-carriage_), _Fr._ A truck-carriage on four trucks, for
carrying mortars, etc., to short distances; it is provided with
draught-hooks at each end, so as to be drawn to front or rear.
=Diameter.= In both a military and geometrical sense, implies a right
line passing through the centre of a circle, and terminated at each end
by the circumference thereof.
=Diaphragm Shell.= An obsolete spherical shell formerly used in the
English service, so named from the arrangement of the interior.
=Diapré.= A term applied in heraldry to fields and charges relieved by
arabesque and geometrical patterns. This ornamentation, not affecting
the heraldic value of the objects to which it was applied, was generally
left to the fancy of the painter.
=Diarbekir.= A city of Asiatic Turkey, and capital of the pashalic of
Diarbekir. This place was successively taken, retaken, and destroyed, in
the ancient wars between the Persians and Romans. It was pillaged by
Tamerlane in the year 1393; and was successively taken and retaken by
the Persian kings, until it was conquered by Selim, the first sultan of
the Osmanli Turks, in the year 1515. In 1605 it again fell into the
power of Persia; but it was afterwards retaken by the Turks, under whose
dominion it has since continued.
=Dictator.= In the earliest times, was the name of the highest
magistrate of the Latin Confederation, and in some of the Latin towns
the title was continued long after these towns were subjected to the
dominion of Rome. In the Roman republic the dictator was an
extraordinary magistrate, irresponsible and endowed with absolute
authority. The dictatorship could not lawfully be held longer than six
months. Dictators were only appointed so long as the Romans had to carry
on wars in and out of Italy, or when any vigorous measure had to be
acted upon. The limits of his power were as follows: he could not touch
the treasury; he could not leave Italy; and he could not ride through
Rome on horseback without previously obtaining the permission of the
people.
=Dideon’s Formulas.= Certain equations relating to the trajectory of a
projectile in the air, obtained by Capt. Dideon of Metz by integrating
the differential equations of the trajectory under certain assumptions
as to the law of the resistance, etc. See PROJECTILES, TRAJECTORY, IN
AIR.
=Diego.= A very strong and heavy sword.
=Diest.= A town of Belgium, in Southern Brabant, on the Demer. This town
was taken by the Duke of Marlborough in 1705, but retaken by the French,
and dismantled, in the same year. Since 1830 it has been surrounded with
fortifications and made a place of great strength.
=Dietary, Military.= See SUBSISTENCE OF ARMIES and FOOD.
=Dieu et Mon Droit= (_Fr._). “God and my Right.” The motto of the royal
arms of England, first assumed by Richard I., to intimate that he did
not hold his empire in vassalage of any mortal. It was afterwards
assumed by Edward III., and was continued without interruption to the
time of William, who used the motto _Je maintiendray_, though the former
was still retained upon the great seal. After him Anne used the motto
_Semper eadem_; but ever since her time _Dieu et mon droit_ has
continued to be the royal motto.
=Differences.= In heraldry, are marks introduced into a coat of arms to
distinguish brothers and their descendants from the father or head of
the house, while he is alive; marks of cadency being used for a similar
purpose after his death.
=Differential Pulley.= A hoisting apparatus consisting of an endless
chain and two pulleys of slightly different diameters. The chain winds
upon one while unwinding from the other. It is attached to a crane, and
used to hoist heavy shot to the muzzle of large cannon.
=Dijon.= An ancient walled city of France, chief town of the department
of Côte-d’Or. It has been several times captured in war. It was attacked
by the Germans under Gen. Beyer, October 30, 1870. The heights and
suburbs were taken by Prince William of Baden, and the town surrendered
October 31.
=Dike=, or =Dyke=. A channel to receive water; also a dam or mound, to
prevent inundation. Dikes differ from sluices; the former being intended
only to oppose the flowing of other water into a river, or to confine
the stream by means of strong walls, pieces of timber, or a double row
of hurdles, the intervals of which are filled with earth, stones, or
pebbles.
=Dimachæ.= In ancient military affairs, were a kind of horsemen,
answering to the dragoons of the moderns.
=Dimidiation.= In heraldry, a mode of marshaling arms, adopted chiefly
before quartering and impaling according to the modern practice came
into use, and subsequently retained to some extent in continental,
though not in English heraldry. It consists in cutting two coats of arms
in halves by a vertical line, and uniting the dexter half of one to the
sinister half of the other. Coats of husband and wife were often so
marshaled in England in the 13th and 14th centuries.
=Diminish.= In a military sense, means to decrease the front of a
battalion; to adopt the columns of march, or manœuvre according to the
obstructions and difficulties which it meets in advancing.
=Diminished Angle.= Is that formed by the exterior side and line of
defense in fortification.
=Diminutions.= A word sometimes used in heraldry for differences, marks
of cadency, and brisures, indifferently.
=Dinan.= A town of France, in the department of Côtes-du-Nord, situated
on the Rance. This place was often besieged during the Middle Ages; in
1373 was taken by Du Guesclin, and in 1379 by De Clisson.
=Dinant.= A town of Belgium, on the Meuse, 14 miles south from Namur. It
was taken by Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, in 1466, when 800 of its
inhabitants were taken by twos, tied back to back, and thrown into the
Meuse. The town was also razed to the ground; but in 1493 it was
rebuilt. In 1554 and 1675 it was again taken by the French.
=Dinapore=, or =Dinapoor=. A town of British India, in the presidency of
Bengal, on the Ganges. It is an important military station, containing
extensive barracks and cantonments for English and native troops.
=Dindigul.= Capital of a district in the south of India, in the
presidency of Madras. It was captured by the British troops, under Col.
Stuart, in 1790.
=Dipping of the Muzzle.= A piece of artillery when fired has been
explained by the action of the vent in bringing increased pressure on
the elevating screw or quoin, the reaction from which throws down the
muzzle.
=Direct Fire.= See FIRE, DIRECT.
=Directing Sergeant.= When a company is being drilled in marching, a
sergeant distinguished for precision in marching is selected, who is
called a directing sergeant, and placed in front of the guide on the
line established. This sergeant is charged with the direction and step,
and marches on points selected by himself directly in front of him. The
right guide of the company marches straight in the trace of the
directing sergeant.
=Direction.= In military mechanics, signifies the line or path of a body
in motion, along which it endeavors to force its way, according to the
propelling power that is given to it.
=Direction.= In gunnery, is that element of pointing which relates to
the movement of the piece around an imaginary vertical axis. The
direction is given when the plane of sight passes through the object.
Elevation is a movement about a horizontal axis.
=Directory.= In the history of France, the name given by the
constitution of 1795, to an executive body composed of five members of
the French republic. They assumed authority in a moment of immense
peril. France was environed with gigantic adversaries, while distrust,
discontent, and the malice of rival factions made her internal
administration almost hopeless. The frantic heroism of her soldiers
saved her from spoliation by the foreigner; but, on the contrary, the
home policy of the Directory was deplorable. In 1799 the Directory was
overthrown by the _coup d’état_ of the 18th Brumaire, November 9, 1799,
and was succeeded by the Consulate.
=Dirk.= Is a short dagger which at various times and in various
countries has been much used as a weapon of defense. It is still worn by
Highland regiments in the British service.
=Dirk-knife.= A clasp-knife, having a large, dirk-like blade.
=Disability.= State of being disabled; want of competent physical or
intellectual power. When a soldier becomes disabled from exposure,
accidents, or other causes, he is discharged from the service on a
surgeon’s certificate of disability, which enables him to draw a
pension.
=Disarm.= To deprive of arms; to take away the weapons of; to deprive of
the means of attack or defense.
=Disarmament.= The act of disarming.
=Disarmed.= Soldiers divested of their arms, either by conquest, or in
consequence of some defection.
=Disarmer.= One who disarms.
=Disarray.= To throw into disorder; to break the array of.
=Disarray.= Want of array or regular order; disorder.
=Disbanding.= Is the breaking up of a military organization and the
discharge of soldiers from military duty.
=Disbursing Officer.= An officer whose special function is to make
disbursements of money.
=Discharge.= From military service, is obtained by non-commissioned
officers and privates by expiration of term of service, which varies in
different countries; on surgeon’s certificate of disability, and by
special authority for various reasons, when recommended by the
commanding officer. Soldiers are also discharged with ignominy for great
offenses, being in some cases stripped of their decorations and drummed
out of the service.
=Disciplinarian.= An officer who pays particular regard to the
discipline or the soldiers under his command.
=Discipline.= In military and naval affairs, is a general name for the
rules and regulations prescribed and enforced for the proper conduct and
subordination of the soldiers, etc. This is the technical meaning. In a
higher sense discipline is the _habit of obedience_. The soldier
acquires the habit of subordinating his own will, pleasure, and
inclinations to those of his superior. When the habit has become so
strong that it is second nature, the soldier is disciplined.
=Discomfit.= Defeat, rout, overthrow.
=Discretion.= _Se rendre à discrétion_, surrendering unconditionally to
a victorious enemy.
=Disembarkation.= The act of landing troops from a boat or ship. The
term has lately been applied to the act of quitting a railway train.
=Disembody.= To disarm a military body, and to dispense with its
services.
=Disengage.= To separate the wings of a battalion or regiment, which is
necessary when the battalion countermarches from its centre and on its
centre by files. It likewise means to clear a column or line which may
have lost its proper front by the overlapping of any particular
division. It also signifies to extricate oneself and the troops
commanded from a critical situation. It likewise means to break suddenly
from any particular order in line or column, and to repair to some
rallying-point.
=Disengage.= In fencing, means to quit that side of an adversary’s blade
on which one is opposed by his guard, in order to effect a cut or thrust
where an opportunity may present.
=Disgarnish.= To take guns from a fortress.
=Disgarrison.= To deprive of a garrison.
=Dishelm.= To deprive of the helmet; to take the helmet from.
=Dish of a Wheel.= Is the inclination outward of the spokes when
fastened in the nave.
=Dislodge.= To drive an enemy from a position.
=Dismantle.= To render fortifications incapable of defense, or cannon
unserviceable.
=Dismiss.= To discard, or deprive an officer of his commission or
warrant. See APPENDIX, ARTICLES OR WAR.
=Dismount.= To dismount the cavalry is to use them as infantry. Guards,
when relieved, are said to dismount. They are to be marched with the
utmost regularity to the parade-ground where they were formed, and from
thence to their regimental or company parades, previously to being
dismissed to their quarters. To dismount cannon, is to break their
carriages, wheels, etc., so as to render them unfit for service. It also
implies dismounting by the gin, etc.
=Disobedience of Orders.= Any infraction, by neglect or willful
omission, of orders. See APPENDIX, ARTICLES OF WAR, 21.
=Dispart.= In gunnery, half the difference between the diameter of the
base-ring at the breech of a gun and that of the swell of the muzzle. In
guns which have no front sights, it is therefore the tangent of the
natural angle of sight to a radius equal to the distance from the rear
of the base-ring, or base-line, to the highest point of the swell of the
muzzle, measured parallel to the axis. For convenience the muzzle sight
is usually made equal in height to the dispart in modern guns,--giving a
natural line of sight parallel to the axis of the piece.
=Dispatches.= Official messages. In war, important dispatches which have
to pass through the enemy’s country, or in the vicinity of his forces,
are only intrusted to officers to whom their contents can be confided.
Dispatches are frequently in cipher, especially when telegraphed or
signaled with a liability to interception. See DESPATCH.
=Disperse.= To scatter any body of men, armed or unarmed, who may have
assembled in an illegal or hostile manner. The cavalry are generally
employed on these occasions.
=Displaced.= Officers in the British service are sometimes displaced
from a particular regiment in consequence of misconduct, but they are at
liberty to serve in any other corps.
=Display, To.= In a military sense, is to extend the front of a column,
and thereby bring it into line.
=Displayed.= In heraldic usage, means expanded; as, an eagle displaced,
or what is commonly known as a spread eagle.
=Displume.= To deprive of decoration or ornament; to degrade.
=Dispose.= To dispose cannon, is to place it in such a manner that its
discharge may do the greatest mischief.
=Disposition.= In a general sense, is the just placing of an army or
body of men upon the most advantageous ground, and in the strongest
situation, for a vigorous attack or defense.
=Disposition de Guerre= (_Fr._). Warlike arrangement or disposition.
Under this head may be considered the mode of establishing, combining,
conducting, and finally terminating a war, so as to produce success and
victory.
=Disrespect to a Commanding Officer.= See APPENDIX, ARTICLES OF WAR, 20.
=Disrespectful Words.= See APPENDIX, ARTICLES OF WAR, 19.
=Distance.= In military formation, signifies the relative space which is
left between men standing under arms in rank, or the interval which
appears between those ranks.
=Distance of the Bastion.= In fortification, is the term applied to the
exterior polygon.
=Distances of Objects.= See POINTING.
=Distribution.= Means, generally, any division or allotment made for the
purposes of war; also minor arrangements made for the supply of corps.
=District, Military.= One of those portions into which a country is
divided, for the convenience of command, and to insure a co-operation
between distant bodies of troops.
=Disvelloped=, or =Developed=. Are heraldic terms applied to the colors
of a regiment, or army, when they are flying.
=Ditch.= In fortification, is an excavation made round the works, from
which the earth required for the construction of the rampart and parapet
is obtained. Ditches are of two kinds, wet and dry; but in modern
fortification the dry ditch is considered preferable to the wet one.
When the excavation is on the side farthest from the enemy it is called
a trench.