| A | B |
|---|
| armistice | the end of fighting under agreed terms |
| army corps | military grouping made up of a number of divisions |
| artillery | big guns and howitzers |
| barrage | concentration of heavy artillery fire in front of advancing or reteating troops |
| no-man's land | land between the opposing front line trenches |
| attrition | tactic of wearing down the opposition through heavy casualities - repeated attack and counter attack |
| C.E.W. Bean | Australia's official war historian |
| billet | house |
| Blighty | England: as a reference to home |
| bombers | expert fighters with hand grenades |
| bully beef | tinned |
| dixie | large |
| dogfight | fight between two small groups of aircraft |
| duckboard | wooden slats used for walking tracks to keep feet above the water in the trenches |
| dugout | shelter from shell fire; made by digging into the side of the trench wall or down from the floor |
| emplacement | site for one or more guns |
| enfilade | bombard a trench from end to end either with shells or bullets |
| fascines | large bundles of sticks placed in shell holes or trenches so tanks etc could pass |
| fatigue | light duties including kitchen work |
| firestep | raised step on the side of a trench facing the enemy - used to watch or to fire at the enemy |
| flare | small signal light |
| funk-hole | small dugout |
| Hindenburg Line | complex trench system built by the Germans in front of Cambrai - used in their withdrawal of 1917 |
| Jerry | used by front line troops to refer to the Germans |
| mustard gas | yellow gas that blistered eyes and skin and caused the body's systems to collapse |
| offensive | large scale attack |
| parapet | side of the fire trench - topped with sandbags |
| pillbox | fortified concrete structure to house machine guns - built by the Germans |
| platoon | part of a company - had four sections of 16 men |
| puttee | cloth wound around the calf of the leg to give support when marching over distances |
| revetment | strengthening the sides of trenches using sandbags |
| salient | narrow bulge that jutted out into German held territory - Ypres Salient formed in 1914 |
| schrapnel | shell fragments |
| snipers | sharp shooters placed in concealed positions to fire on the enemy |
| tactics | controlled battlefield manoeuvres aimed to achieved a set objective |
| tanks | armoured fighting vehicles |
| sap | lines of communication within the trench system |
| trench foot | frostbite of the foot in the trenches |
| whizz-bang | light shell fired from small gun |
| Vickers | a large |
| Lewis | a small machine gun |
| Alfred von Schlieffen | his plan formed basis of Germany's 1914 war strategy |
| Erich von Ludendorff | German leader responsible for the militarisation of the German economy and use of unrestricted submarine warfare |
| Sir Douglas Haig | British General criticised for Somme |
| Sir John Monash | Commander of Australian Corps on Western Front from May 1918; broke Hindenburg Line |
| Sir John French | British commander who blamed Kitchener for shell shortage 1915; replaced after Loos |
| Crown Prince Rupprecht | German leader who favoured an early peace |
| Helmuth von Moltke | German commander who failed to control right wing armies; lost his nerve under pressure; lost the 1st Battle of Marne |
| Paul von Hindenburg | ended the war of attrition at Verdun; withdrew to the Hindenburg Line; launched March offensive 1918 |
| Joseph Joffre | French CIC 1914 -1916; belief in superiority of offensive; halted Germans at Marne |
| Robert Nivelle | (French) distinguished at Marne; counter attacks at Verdun; 1917 failure of Spring offensive led to troop mutinies |
| Henri Philippe Petain | (French) skillful defence of Verdun; restored morale after troop mutinies; policy of defence in depth 1918 |
| Ferdinand Foch | (French) energetic leadership; dedicated to offensive; flexible approach to stalemate; coordinated allied armies 1918 |
| von Falkenhayn | (German) launched attack on Verdun |
