Brigade

Brigade (pronounced bri-geyd)

(1) In army organisation, a military unit having its own headquarters and consisting of two or more regiments; the army formation immediately larger than a regiment, smaller than a division.

(2) In casual use, sometimes used to describe a large body of troops.

(3) A group of individuals organized for a particular purpose (used sometimes in a derogatory sense).

(4) A historical term for a convoy of canoes, sleds, wagons, or pack animals, especially as used to supply trappers in the eighteenth and nineteenth century Canadian and US fur trade.

(5) To form or unite into a brigade; to group together.

(6) In the slang of Internet trollers, to harass an individual or community online in a coordinated manner.

1630–1640: From the French brigade (body of soldiers) from the Old Italian brigata (troop, crowd, gang) derived from the Old Italian brigare (to fight, brawl) from briga (strife, quarrel), perhaps of Celtic (and related to the Gaelic brigh and Welsh bri (power) or Germanic origin.  The French brigand (foot soldier) which later adopted the meaning “outlaw or bandit” is also related.  Brigade is a noun & verb and brigaded & brigading are verbs; the noun plural is brigade.

The word endures in describing one of the standard (though numerically various) units of army organisation but was used also by the International Brigades as a general description of the volunteer forces which assembled during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1940) to assist the doomed Spanish Republic.  Despite the use of the term, the formations in which members of the International Brigades fought were of varied size and there was no real relationship to the traditional use of "brigade" by armies.  Specialized formations (intelligence corps, medical corps et al) exist in all branches of the military with no rules or consistency in the numbers of their establishment but whereas the structures of navies (squadrons, flotillas, fleets etc) and air forces (flights, squadrons, wings, groups etc) are based on the number of vessels or airframes attached, the army (mostly) defines its organization by the number of personnel allocated, the numbers listed below generally indicative based on historic formations.  

Army Formations: Indicative Size Ranges

Army Group: 400,000-2,000000
Army: 150,000-360,000
Corps: 45,000-90,000
Division: 10,000-30,000
Brigade: 1500-5000
Regiment: 1500-3500
Battalion: 500-1500
Company: 175-250
Platoon: 12-60
Squad: 4-24

Most armies use all or a subset of the above although the numbers vary (greatly).  A division is made up of 3-4 brigades, a corps of 3-4 divisions and so on.  In Western armies, the numbers listed above reflect the big-scale mass formations used during World War II (1939-1945); peacetime armies are a fraction of the size but the organizational framework is retained, most forces actively using only the smaller clusters.  During WWII, US army command groups tended to be up to twice the size of British units though within the same army, divisions often varied in size, an infantry division usually larger than an armored.  A corps can be assembled from the armies of more than one nation, the Australian & New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) being formed in 1915 prior to deployment as part of the Dardanelles Campaign.  Other organizational tags such as squadron also exist but tend now either to be rare or, like battery, applied to specialized units based on function rather than size.  A special case is troop which generally is an alternative word for platoon but there are exceptions.

In twenty-first century wars, entire divisions are rarely committed operationally and brigade level engagements are regarded as large-scale; in the world wars of the twentieth century (uniquely big, multi-theatre affairs), the standard battlefield unit tended to be the division and by 1944 Soviet Union was fielding nearly five-hundred.  The numbers in the world wars were certainly impressive but in a sense could be deceptive, the percentage of those listed on the establishment actually committed to combat sometimes surprisingly low (though this tended to apply less to those of the USSR).  Winston Churchill (1875-1965; UK prime-minister 1940-1945 & 1951-1955), who had served as a subaltern in the era of the Raj and the last days of cavalry charges, pondering this, complained to the Chief of the Imperial General Staff that the army reminded him “…of a peacock; all tail and very little bird”.  Dryly, Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke (late Lord Alanbrooke, 1883–1963; Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS) 1941-1946) (who happened to be one of the country's leading ornithologists) responded by pointing out “the peacock would be a very poorly balanced bird without its tail” and the point was well-made, the combat units of the modern, mechanized army needing a large support staff of cooks, clerks, mechanics, medics and all sorts of specialists though as the US proved in their response to the German's Ardennes Offensive (the so-called "Battle of the Bulge" in December 1944), that these ancillary staff had all undergone basic military training did mean they could in a crisis be armed and sent to the front line.

The military rank brigadier ("Brig" the standard abbreviation) has had a varied history but in UK and US (where it’s styled as brigadier general) us it sits between colonel and major-general.  The NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) rank code is OF-6 which aligns it in the UK with a Royal Navy (RN) commodore and Royal Air Force (RAF) air commodore.  Historically, brigadier was originally an appointment conferred on colonels (a la the way RN captains were created commodore and captains in the US Navy were upon retirement made rear-admirals) but since 1947 it has been a substantive rank in the British Army.  In the British Army the rank of brigadier-general was abolished in 1921, that rationale being the functional role was that of a senior colonel (ie a field officer) rather than a junior general (ie a staff officer) but such changes are never popular with the officer class and in 1928 the position was gazetted as brigadier.  Curiously, for over a year after the RAF was created in April 1918, there were brigadier-generals until the title air commodore was adopted.  Many other air forces have continued to have generals.

Colonel Andrus announces to the press the suicide of Hermann Göring who used a smuggled potassium cyanide capsule, taken just hours before he was to be hanged.

In civilian life, the most familiar (and probably most valued) brigades are fire brigades and the first municipal brigade is thought to have been established in the Roman Republic by Octavian (Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus, 63 BC–AD 14; founder of the Roman Empire and first Roman emperor 27 BC-AD 14).  Created in 32 BC, the system was manned (in the Roman way) by slaves and organized along military lines, each of the seven “fire stations” headed by a centurion.  The structure replaced an earlier system set up by a rich individual who paid for the slaves; in gratitude, the Romans elected him a magistrate, a development which didn’t appeal to Octavian.  In the centuries which followed, things tended to be more ad hoc until the Great Fire of London (1666) made insurance companies suffer such losses that quickly it was worked out it was cheaper to fund a competent, standing fire brigade than pay for the consequences of a conflagration.  Fire brigades funded by property insurance companies were soon in operation and the idea spread with the core structure still in use today although the responsibility for funding has been assumed by governments at various levels although in many places with small populations, volunteer fire brigades are common, their physical resources (machinery, communications etc) often provided by the state.  The role of firefighter (the modern, gender-neutral, replacement for the old “fireman”) is much respected but the Nazis still managed to make it a slight.  When held in the cells of Nuremberg’s palace of Justice during the first Nuremberg trial (1945-1946), Hermann Göring (1893–1946; leading Nazi 1922-1945, Hitler's designated successor & Reichsmarschall 1940-1945) contemptuously described the jail’s commandant as a “fire brigade colonel”.  Göring, a dashing fighter pilot in World War I (1914-1918) was not impressed by the immaculate uniform and strict discipline imposed by Colonel Burton C Andrus (1892–1977) who, although having served in the regular army since 1917, had never seen combat.  When the colonel in 1969 published his memoirs, of the many slights the prisoners had made of him, the only one about which he seems to have been sensitive was that he might have been a few pounds overweight.

La Brigade de cuisine

Portrait of Auguste Escoffier.

The decoration is the Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur (National Order of the Legion of Honour, France’s highest order of merit, awarded to both civilians and the military.  It was established in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821; leader of the French Republic 1799-1804 & Emperor of the French from 1804-1814 & 1815)).  In the internal logic of French culture it was a wholly appropriate honor for a chef though to the south not all would have approved: Benito Mussolini (1883-1945; Duce (leader) & Prime-Minister of Italy 1922-1943) had expressed his disgust at the decadence of the modern Italian people, believing they had been seduced by French ways into “elevating cooking to the status of high art”, declaring he would never allow Italy to descend to the level of France, a country ruined by “alcohol, syphilis and journalism”.

The Brigade de cuisine (kitchen brigade) was a hierarchical organizational chart for commercial kitchens, codified from earlier practices by French chef, Georges-Auguste Escoffier (1846–1935) who, following his service in the French army, had refined and codified the the kitchen structure which had existed since the fourteenth century.  The military-type chain-of-command became formalized but what was novel was what he dubbed the chef de partie system, an organizational model based on sections which were both geographically and functionally defined.  His design was intended to avoid duplication of effort and facilitate communication.  The economic realities of technological innovation, out-sourcing to external supply chains and the changing ratio of labour costs to revenue have meant even the largest modern kitchens now use a truncated version of the Escoffien system although the sectional chef de partie structure remains.  In the pre-modern era, Escoffier’s idealized structure was adopted only in the largest of exclusive establishments or the grandest of cruise liners and, like the Edwardian household, is a footnote in sociological, organizational and economic history.  The positions were:

Chef de cuisine or Executive Chef: The culinary and administrative head of the kitchen.

Sous-chef de cuisine:  The Executive Chef’s deputy.

Saucier or sauté cook: Prepares sauces and warm hors d'oeuvres, completes meat dishes, and in smaller restaurants, may work on fish dishes and prepare sautéed items.  One of the most technically demanding positions in the brigade.

Chef de partie: The senior chef of a particular section.

Demi Chef: An experienced chef working under a chef de partie.

Chen:  A chef allocated to particular dishes (essentially a specialist demi chef).

Cuisinier:  A generalist chef working in one or more sections.  This tends now to be a role undertaken by many commis and demi chefs rather than a stand-alone position.

Commis Chef: A junior chef, working under supervision and often responsible for maintaining the tools and fittings of the section.  The modern commis chef now often undertakes a much wider range of duties than was the traditional role.

Apprentice: Trainee or student chefs gaining theoretical and practical training while performing preparatory and cleaning work; duties become more complex as experience builds and some of the training is now often undertaken in dedicated culinary schools or other institutions.

Plongeur: Dishwasher or kitchen porter who cleans dishes and utensils, and may be entrusted with basic preparatory jobs otherwise done by apprentices.  In modern use, the role is now described usually as "kitchen hand".

Joining La Brigade de cuisine: Lindsay Lohan as sous-chef de cuisine on celebrity cooking shows. 

Marmiton: A pot and pan washer, sometimes also known as kitchen porter; again, the term "kitchen hand" has prevailed.

Rôtisseur: The roast cook who manages the team which roasts, broils, and deep fries dishes.

Charcutier: A chef who prepares pork products such as pâté, pâté en croûte, rillettes, hams, sausages and any cured meats; may coordinate with the garde manger and deliver cured meats.

Grillardin: The grill cook who, in larger kitchens, prepares grilled foods instead of the rôtisseur.

Friturier: The fry cook who, in larger kitchens, prepares fried foods instead of the rôtisseur.

Poissonnier: The fish cook who prepares fish and seafood dishes.

Entremetier: The entrée preparer who prepares soups and other dishes not involving meat or fish, including vegetable and egg dishes.

Potager: The soup cook who, in larger kitchens, reports to the entremetier and prepares the soups, often also assisting the saucier.

Legumier: The vegetable cook who, in larger kitchens, also reports to the entremetier and prepares the vegetable dishes.

Garde manger: The pantry supervisor responsible for preparation of cold hors d'oeuvres, pâtés, terrines and aspics; prepares salads; organizes large buffet displays; and prepares charcuterie items.

Tournant: The spare hand or rounds man, a utility position which exists to move about the kitchen as required, assisting as needed.  In military terms, the reserve.

Pâtissier: The pastry cook who prepares desserts and other meal-end sweets, and for locations without a boulanger, also prepares breads and other baked items; may also prepare pasta.

Confiseur: In larger kitchens, prepares candies and petit fours instead of the pâtissier.

Glacier: In larger kitchens, prepares frozen and cold desserts instead of the pâtissier.

Kitchen Brigade in the New Kitchen, Café Riche, Paris, 1865 (unknown artist).

Décorateur: In larger kitchens, prepares show pieces and specialty cakes instead of the pâtissier.

Boulanger: The baker who, in larger kitchens, prepares bread, cakes, and breakfast pastries instead of the pâtissier.

Boucher: The butcher who butchers meats, poultry, and sometimes fish; often also in charge of breading meat and fish items.

Aboyeur: The announcer or expediter who takes orders from the dining room and distributes them to the various stations; this role may also be performed by a senior chef.

Communard: Prepares the meal served to the restaurant staff.

Garçon de cuisine: The “kitchen boy", a junior position who performs preparatory and auxiliary work, sometimes as a prelude to a formal apprenticeship.

Hilt

Hilt (pronounced hilt)

(1) The handle of a sword or dagger.

(2) The handle of many weapons and tools.

(3) In anatomy, the base of the penis.

(4) To furnish with a hilt.

(5) As the idiom “to the hilt”, to the maximum extent or degree; completely; fully.

Pre 900:  From the Middle English hilt, from the Old English hilt & hilte (handle of a sword or dagger); cognate with the Middle Dutch hilt & hilte, the Old Norse hjalt, the Old Saxon helta (oar handle) and the Old High German helza (handle of a sword).  Source was the Proto-Germanic helt, heltą, heltǭ, heltō & hiltijō, probably from the primitive Indo-European kel- (to strike, cut).  One form of the idiom which died out was “up to the hilts”, the plural having exactly the same meaning as the still familiar singular; first noted in the 1670s, it was extinct by the mid-eighteenth century except in Scotland and the border regions of northern England where it survived another hundred-odd years.  The vivid imagery summoned by the expression “to the hilt” is of a dagger stabbed into someone’s heart, the blade buried all the way to the hilt.  The phrase is used to suggest one’s total commitment to something although those training British commandos in such things during World War II (1939-1945) did caution that a blade buried in a victim "to the hilt" could be "difficult to get it out", such were "the contractions of the sinews".  Hilt is a noun & verb, hilting is a verb, hilted is a verb & adjective and hiltless is an adjective; the noun plural is hilts.

Consisting of the pommel, grip & guard, hilt was a European swordsmith’s technical name for the handle of a knife, dagger, sword or bayonet; the once used terms haft and shaft have long been obsolete.  The pommel is the large fitting at the top of the handle, originally developed to prevent the weapon slipping from the grasp but during the late medieval period, swordsmiths began to add weight so they were sufficiently heavy to be a counterweight to the blade.  This had the effect of shifting the point of balance closer to the hilt, the physics of this assisting swordsmanship.  The pommel could also be used as a blunt instrument with which to strike an opponent, something from the German school of swordsmanship known as the Mordhau (or Mordstreich or Mordschlag (literally “murder-stroke” or “murder-strike” or “murder-blow”)) method, a half-sword technique of holding the sword inverted, with both hands gripping the blade while striking one's opponent with the pommel or cross-guard.  The technique essentially makes as sword function as a mace or hammer and in military training was envisaged for use in armoured combat although in the hands of a skilled exponent it could be deadly in close combat.  Some hilts were explicitly designed for this purpose.  Pommel was from the Middle English pommel (ornamental knob or ball, decorative boss), from the Old French pom (hilt of a sword) & pommel (knob) and the Medieval Latin pumellum & pōmellum (little apple), probably via the Vulgar Latin pomellum (ball, knob), diminutive of the Late Latin pōmum (apple).  The use in weaponry came first, the sense of "front peak of a saddle" dating from the mid 1400s and in fifteenth and sixteenth century poetry it also sometimes meant "a woman's breasts".  The gymnast's pommel horse (vaulting horse) is so called by 1908, named for the removable handles, which resemble pommels of a saddle, the use in saddlery noted first in 1887.

Grips still are made almost always of wood or metal and once were usually wrapped with shagreen (untanned tough leather or shark skin) but this proved less durable in climates with high-humidity and in these regions, rubber was increasingly used from the mid-nineteenth century.  Whatever the material, it’s almost always both glued to the grip and wrapped with wire in a helix.  The guard sits between grip and blade.  The guard was originally a simple stop (a straight crossbar perpendicular to the blade (later called a quillon)) to prevent the hand slipping up the blade but later evolved into an armoured gauntlet to protect the wielder's entire hand from an opponent’s sword.  By the sixteenth century, guards became elaborate, now often decorative as well as functional, the innovation of this time being a single curved piece alongside the fingers (parallel with the blade and perpendicular to any cross-guards); it became known as the knuckle-bow.

Lindsay Lohan with saw-tooth edged dagger held at the hilt; from a Tyler Shields (b 1982) photo session, 2013.

The “blood” in this photograph is believed to be “fake blood” of the type used in film & television production; it's a substance with an interesting history.  Before the introduction of color film, the liquid was not red but black or a deep blue because those were the hues which, when using monochrome (ie black & white) or sepia film stock, those were the shades which looked convincingly “red” while true red did not.  In the industry, the stuff variously is called “stage blood”, “theatrical blood”, “Prop blood”, “FX blood” or “SFX blood”.  “FX” is the general term for “effects” while “SFX” refers to “special effects” and there’s also “VFX” which, meaning “visual effects” doesn’t have a blood department.  Chemically, the mix is interesting stuff because there are a number of flavours including (1) edible blood which is safe (though not necessarily pleasant) to ingest (made from water, corn syrup & vegetable-based food coloring, etc), (2) non-edible blood used on clothing and props (it can include detergents, thickeners and even sand), (3) rapid-drying blood designed to simulate dried or clotted blood and (4) flowing blood which is used in scenes with active bleeding so realistic viscosity is needed, the mixes ranging from “squirting” to “flowing”.  Historically, each variety was tailored to the specific lighting conditions in use but with post-production digital editing of brightness, color saturation and such now routine, that’s now less critical.

Great moments in elaborately carved hilts: Ivory hilt for ceremonial sword carved in 1801-1802 by the London firm Rundell, Bridge and Rundell for George IV (1762–1830) King of the United Kingdom 1820-1830).

George IV’s ivory hilt (left) depicts the rescue of Andromeda by Perseus, who descended on his winged horse Pegasus to destroy the fierce dragon tormenting his captive.  The artisans were thought to have been influenced by the ivory carvings which emerged during the mid-seventeenth century from workshops in the Netherlands city of Maastricht when large volumes of ivory were being imported by the Dutch East India Company.  The hilt consists of four separate pieces: (1) pommel and grip (with Perseus and the chained Andromeda), (2) knuckle-guard (with the long neck and mouth of the dragon), (3) quillon-block and rear quillon (the dragon's back and tail) and (4) the (somewhat diminished) shells, carved with the dragon's wings and feet.  The wavy-edged blade was sometimes a feature of ceremonial swords.  In London, the most accomplished of the artisans who worked with ivory were members of the Worshipful Company of Cutlers.

Great moments in elaborately carved hilts: Ivory hilt for hunting sword carved circa 1740 and attributed to German artisan Joseph Deutschmann (1717-1787) for Maximilian III Joseph (1727–1777; Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire and Duke of Bavaria 1745-1777).

Prince Maximilian’s ivory hilt is a classic example of the Rococo ornamentation of the era (some were more extravagant) and is thought also to be a piece of unsubtle political messaging, the lion a top the grip holding a crescent moon in its claws, an allusion to recent European victories over the Ottoman Turks on the battlefields of Eastern Europe and, despite being crafted as a “hunting sword”, this blade almost certainly was reserved for ceremonial purposes.  Hunting swords were one-handed weapons which in the mid-twelfth century emerged in Europe as a distinct class.  They were characterized by a relatively short blade and were essentially a sidearm carried when hunting big (and sometimes dangerous) game, their size and weight making them a convenient weapon able quickly to be drawn and swung.  Many single-edged hunting swords featured a saw-like serrated pattern on the back edge; this was another convenience item as hunters utilized this for slicing or sectioning the catch.  The blade shape evolved over the centuries to become narrower on the first two-thirds of its length before at the end widening.  Hunting swords remained in general use well into the eighteenth century.

Corps

Corps (pronounced kore)

(1) A military body with a specific function (intelligence corps, medical corps etc).

(2) A military unit of ground combat forces consisting of two or more divisions and other troops.

(3) A group of persons associated or acting together (diplomatic corps; press corps et al).

(4) In printing, a continental designation that, preceded by a number, indicates size of type in Didot points of 0.0148 inches (3.8 mm).

(5) An alternative word for a corpse (obsolete).

(6) In classical ballet, as the corps de ballet, the group of dancers who are not soloists

1225-1275; Middle English corps and Middle French cors, both derived from Latin corpus (body) from the primitive Indo-European kwerp- (body, form, appearance).  Sense in English evolved from dead body (thirteenth century) to live body (fourteenth century) to body of citizens (fifteenth century).  The modern military sense (dating from 1704) is from French corps d'armée, picked up in English during Marlborough's campaigns, the use at the time not based on a specific number of troops but the more generalized "a part of an army expressly organized and having a head".  In English, pronunciation was corse at first and this persisted until the eighteenth century by which time it was archaic except for poetic use.

The field corps, a tactical unit of an army and which contained two or more divisions, was one of Napoleon’s structural innovations in military re-organization although such formations, ad-hoc or planned, had long been a known feature of battlefield tactics. The word was soon extended to other organized groups under a leader, as in corps de ballet (1826) or corps diplomatique (1796), although with the latter, the leader (dean of the diplomatic corps) is an appointment for ceremonial purposes, often, by convention, extended to the papal nuncio.  The special use Corpsman (enlisted medical auxiliary) was used first by the US military in 1941.

Army Formations: Indicative Size Ranges

Army Group: 400,000-2,000000
Army: 150,000-360,000
Corps: 45,000-90,000
Division: 10,000-30,000
Brigade: 1500-5000
Regiment: 1500-3500
Battalion: 500-1500
Company: 175-250
Platoon: 12-60
Squad: 4-24

Standard of the British Army's Corps of Royal Engineers.

Specialized formations (intelligence corps, medical corps et al) exist in all branches of the military with no rules or consistency in the numbers of their establishment.  However, whereas the structures of navies (squadrons, flotillas, fleets etc) and air forces (flights, squadrons, wings, groups etc) are based on the number of vessels or airframes attached, the army (mostly) defines its organization by the number of personnel allocated, the numbers listed below generally indicative based on historic formations.  Most armies use all or a subset of the above although the numbers vary (greatly).  A division is made up of 3-4 brigades, a corps of 3-4 divisions and so on.  In Western armies, the numbers listed above reflect the big-scale mass formations used during World War II (1939-1945); peacetime armies are a fraction of the size but the organizational framework is retained, most forces actively using only the smaller clusters.  During WWII, US army command groups tended to be up to twice the size of British units though within the same army, divisions often varied in size, an infantry division usually larger than an armored.  A corps can be assembled from the armies of more than one nation, the Australian & New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) being formed in 1915 prior to deployment as part of the Dardanelles Campaign.  Other organizational tags such as squadron also exist but tend now either to be rare or, like battery, applied to specialized units based on function rather than size.  A special case is troop which generally is an alternative word for platoon but there are exceptions.

In twenty-first century wars, entire divisions are rarely committed operationally and brigade level engagements are regarded as large-scale; in the world wars of the twentieth century (uniquely big, multi-theatre affairs), the standard battlefield unit tended to be the division and by 1944 Soviet Union was fielding nearly five-hundred.  The numbers in the world wars were certainly impressive but in a sense could be deceptive, the percentage of those listed on the establishment actually committed to combat sometimes surprisingly low (though this tended to apply less to those of the USSR).  One British prime-minister, pondering this, complained to the Chief of the Imperial General Staff (the CIGS one of the country's leading ornithologists) that the army reminded him “…of a peacock; all tail and very little bird”.  Dryly, the field marshal responded by pointing out “the peacock would be a very poorly balanced bird without its tail”.

Royal Flying Corps publicity photograph, 1917.

The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was created in 1912 as the air arm of the British Army.  Late in the First World War, it was merged with Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), the Royal Air Force (RAF) being formed on 1 April 1918.  Military aviation didn't however become exclusive to the RAF, the army retaining its own operations, mainly for communications, reconnaissance and meteorological services.  The Admiralty was never entirely happy about the merger and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA), though still an operational unit of the RAF, was formed in 1924, necessitated by the launching that year of the of the Royal Navy's first aircraft carrier.  By 1937, even the RAF was convinced naval aviation was different and in 1939 FAA reverted to the Admiralty, operating both from carriers and ground stations.

United States Army Air Corps Curtiss P-40, 1940.

Military aviation in the US was formalized in 1907 with the creation of the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC); the service renamed to United States Army Air Force (USAAF) in 1941.  It wasn't until 1947 when, as part of the National Security Act of that year that the US Air Force (USAF) was established as the fourth branch of the US military.  Remarkably, given it was the US which in the 1940s created the parameters for modern, carrier-based warfare, the admirals, still hankering for the great set-piece, high seas clash of the battleship fleets (which would never happen, largely because of aircraft), tried in 1919 to abolish naval aviation because there was “…no use the fleet will ever have for aviation."  The naval aviators (pilots work for the air force they say) however weren't forced to walk the plank and the navy received its first carrier in 1922 though the intra and inter service squabbles would continue for years.

Volkssturm

Volkssturm (pronounced folks-stuhm)

1944: A German compound, the construct being Volk +‎ -s- +‎ Sturm (a civilian militia (literally “people's storm”) formed during the last days of the Third Reich.  Volkssturm is a proper noun.

One member of the Volkssturm was the philosopher Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), noted for his seminal work in phenomenology & existentialism, a flirtation with the Nazis which he spent the rest of his life rationalizing and an affair with the Jewish political theorist Hannah Arendt (1906–1975).  He was drafted into the Volkssturm in 1944 and apparently dug anti-tank ditches.  Although some sources claim a youthful Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger, b 1927; pope 2005-2013, pope emeritus since) was a member of the Volkssturm, he was actually drafted as a Flakhelfer (an auxiliary attached to an anti-aircraft (flak) unit).  According to the Pope Emeritus, he was never part of shooting at anything.

Volk was from the Middle High German volc, from the Old High German folc, from the Proto-West Germanic folk, from the Proto-Germanic fulką.  It was cognate with the Dutch volk, the English folk, the Swedish folk, the Norwegian Bokmål folk, the Norwegian Bokmål folk, the Icelandic fólk and the Danish folk.  Volk is famously associated with its best understood meaning (people of a certain race united by culture, history, descent & language) with the phrase used by Adolf Hitler (1889-1945; German head of government 1933-1945 and head of state 1934-1945) to describe the “Führer state”: Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Führer! (One People, One Realm, One Leader!).  Whatever the inconsistencies in the reality of the Nazi state, the phrase is an accurate description of the Nazi vision of how the German nation should be understood.  Historically, Volk was also used in the sense of (1) “the common people, the lower classes, the working classes” (now largely archaic), (2) “a large gathering of people (a crowd) in any context” & (3) in zoology (especially entomology) to refer to a herd, covey, swarm, colony etc”.

Sturm was from the Middle High German and Old High German sturm (storm), the retention of the u vowel being irregular; it was lowered to o because of a mutation in all other West Germanic languages (and the Old Norse), despite German being the one Germanic language where a-mutation most consistently occurred, especially of u to o.  A Sturm was a “strong, blustery wind; gust; gale; squall; a storm or tempest” and in Prussia the imagery appealed to the military which applied it to mean a sudden, rushed attack and in the Imperial Army created relatively small units called Sturmtruppen (storm troopers).  As a technique, the precise infiltration tactics of the Sturmtruppen weren’t a German invention and had probably been part of organized military operations as long as warfare has been practiced but the development of rapid-fire weapons had limited the effectiveness of the use of massed formations and during the nineteenth century, the concept of the surgical strike became popular and nowhere was it more fully developed than in the Prussian army manual.  The best known example of the used of the word in this context was the notorious Sturmabteilung (the SA, literally "Storm Detachment"), the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party which was a vital component of the structure until power was gained in 1933, after which, having outlived its usefulness to the point where (a as formation with a membership of millions many discontented with the results of the party had offered them once in power) the Nazi hierarchy (and the army) came to regard them as a (at least potential) threat and a bloody purge (Nacht der langen Messer (Night of the Long Knives), also called Unternehmen Kolbri (Operation Hummingbird)) was executed.

Austrian Sturm.

In Austrian viniculture, Sturm is a beverage made from white or red grapes that has begun to ferment but that has not yet turned into wine.  It’s not obviously appealing to look at and is most popular between late September & early October, served usually poured in a pint glass or large tumbler and resembles a hazy, unfiltered beer.  Sturm is unusual in that it’s a partially completed product, being still fermenting and that said to be a large part of the appeal and there’s much variation, some made with red grapes (though most are from white) and they tend from the sweet to the very sweet, all sharing a fresh, juicy, slightly fizzy quality.  Definitely not produced for cork dorks, Sturm is meant to be guzzled.  As a point of note for English speakers, when the word Sturm is used in the original (meteorological) context, the word has no association with rainfall; a Sturm may be accompanied by rain but it refers only to strong winds.

Lindsay Lohan at the Weisses Fest (White Festival), Linz, Austria, July 2014.

The Volkssturm was a civilian militia created by the Nazi Party after Dr Joseph Goebbels (1897–1945; Nazi propaganda minister 1933-1945) was appointed Reichsbevollmächtigter für den totalen Kriegseinsatz (Reich Plenipotentiary for the Total War Effort) in the wake of the attempted assassination of Hitler in July 1944.  The attempt clearly focused the Führer’s mind on the dire situation confronting Germany or, as Goebbels noted in his diary: “It takes a bomb under his ass to make Hitler see sense”.  By then however it was already too late.  Had the Germany economy been moved to a total war footing during 1941 it might have altered the course (though probably not the outcome) of the war but, paradoxically, the authoritarian Nazi state lacked the structure to impose the controls the democracies were able quickly to implement early in the conflict.

Hitler Youth members with Panzerfausts.

Germany’s military was by 1944 in retreat on three fronts (the position worse still considering the loss of superiority in the air and the state of the war at sea) and armament production, although it would peak that year, was not sufficient even to cover losses.  The same was true of the manpower required to replace battlefield causalities and for this reason, the decision was taken to created the Volkssturm by conscripting males aged between 16-60 who had not yet been absorbed by the military unit.  Initially, the Volkssturm members continued in their usual occupations, drilling in the evenings or on (their now rare) days off or constructing obstacles such as tank ditches or barricades.  Poorly equipped and lacking adequate weapons or even uniforms, the Volkssturm, when finally committed in combat in the battle for Berlin in 1945 were militarily ineffective (their greatest successes coming in the number of Soviet tanks destroyed with the remarkably effective Panzerfaust (tank fist) although with these bazooka-like devices the Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) formations proved even more effective) and suffered a high rate of causalities, just as predicted by the Army commanders which opposed their deployment, correctly fearing they would only obstruct movement. 

Volkssturm members with Panzerfausts. 

The Volkssturm truly was scraping the bottom of the manpower barrel but, in terms of the only strategic option left open to the regime, by 1945 it did make sense in that its deployment might delay the advance of the allied armies and it was Hitler’s last hope that that if defeat could be staved off, the differences the Western powers and the Soviet Union might see their alliance sundered, one bizarre thought being that the UK and US might realize their true enemy was the USSR and they might join with Germany in vanquishing the "Bolshevik menace".  The Führerbunker must have been a strange place to be in the last days although few actually shared Hitler’s more outlandish hopes and it’s not clear exactly when Hitler too finally realized his luck had run out but almost to the end, however many of the Volkssturm could be cajoled or threatened to assemble, were sent into battle.  As well as the support of Goebbels, the platoons of the old and sick were championed by Martin Bormann (1900–1945; leading Nazi functionary and ultimately Secretary to the Führer 1943-1945), one of the breed of blood-thirsty non-combatants which right-wing politics to this day seems to attract.  Hitler would well have understood service in the Volkssturm was a death sentence for those not able to sneak away (which many did).  In 1937 in an address to the Kreisleiters (district leaders) in Vogelsang Castle, he described such civilian militias as a “totally worthless crowd” because “drumming up enthusiasm” could never produce soldiers.  Mr Putin may be reaching the same conclusion.

While videos and photographs circulating on the internet suggest the Russian military machine is not now what it once was (and by most until a few months ago presumed still to be), the Kremlin’s problem is not the dire shortage of men available for military mobilization but their collective unwillingness to join the battle.  It’s unlikely the photographs in circulation showing some rather grey and elderly recruits are representative of the mobilization; like every military, the Russian databases will have a few incorrect records but all the indications are that there are shortfalls in the equipment able to be supplied to the troops thus far available for immediate deployment, let alone those undergoing training.  Certainly, the Kremlin’s claim (apparently verified as official) that the September 2022 mobilization would yield some 300,000 troops (there was no comment on how many would be combat-ready) or about 15 divisions (in historic terms) seems unlikely to be realized.  Even had the numbers become available, the course of the special military action (war) thus far suggests even the available Russian forces so reinforced would not been sufficient to conquer, let alone occupy Ukraine but expectations may have been lowered (adjusted in political-speak) to the point where a serviceable and defensible land-bridge to the Crimea would suffice for victory to be declared.  However, that would likely merely re-define rather than resolve the Kremlin’s problems.  It appears too that the Kremlin’s problems pre-date the special military action (war), the aim in autumn of 2021 to recruit 100,000 volunteers to the Russian Combat Army Reserve falling well short, as did subsequent attempts, the most recent initiated in June 2022.  The compulsory mobilization is a tacit admission the formation of “volunteer battalions” has not been successful.  Still, it’s unlikely the Kremlin will resort to creating its own Volkssturm to try to plug the gaps.

Practical advice to newly mobilized Russian troops.  

Purpose

Purpose (pronounced pur-puhs)

(1) The reason for which something exists or is done, made, used, etc.

(2) An intended or desired result; end; aim; goal.

(3) Determination; resoluteness.

(4) The subject in hand; the point at issue.

(5) Practical result, effect, or advantage.

(6) To set as an aim, intention, or goal for oneself.

(7) To intend; design.

(8) To resolve to do something.

(9) To have a purpose.

1250-1300 (noun): The noun form with the meaning "intention, aim, goal" was from the Anglo-French & Middle English purpos from the twelfth century Old French porpos (aim, intention) from porposer (to put forth), the construct being por- (forth) (from the Latin pro- (forth) + the Old French poser (to put, place).  The phrase “on purpose” dates from the 1580s.  The verb followed soon, the first citations noted in the fourteenth century, from the Anglo-French purposer in the sense of "to design" and the Old French porposer (to intend, propose), a variant of proposer.  It’s from the same root Latin gained prō (forth) + pono (hence propono & proponere with conjugation altered based on poser).  Purpose is a noun & verb, purposer is a noun, purposeful & purposeless are adjectives, purposefully is an adverb, purposing is a verb and purposed is a verb & adjective; the noun plural is purposes.

The General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG)

Although the manually-cranked Gatling gun (1861) was the first practical rapid-fire (200 rounds-per-minute (rpm)) battlefield weapon, the fully automatic, water-cooled, Maxim machine gun (1884), with a fire-rate of 600 rpm, revolutionized war.  By the end of the First World War, machine guns had been deployed by all sides, in some battles accounting for over ninety percent of the small-arms ammunition expended.  The concept became entrenched in all branches of the military and a number of forks developed from the original design, each with their own set of special features depending on their application.  Machine guns used by armies, navies and air-forces became increasingly specialized.

Mauser Maschinengewehr 42 (MG 42) (7.92×57mm rounds).

The General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG) came later, originating in an innovative 1934 design by Germany’s Mauser which cleverly circumvented restrictions imposed by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles.  Highly adaptable to all military applications, it could be deployed in a traditional infantry role, used either on aircraft or as an air defense weapon, mounted on anything from light vehicles to tanks and just about any warship.  Development was accelerated by the demands of the Second World War, the GPMG an ideal product to which the techniques of mass-production and production-line standardization could helpfully be applied.  Attaining a fire-rate of up to 1500 rpm, the WWII GPMGs represent a technological plateau and there’s been little change since, all the design elements of the 1940s still present in today’s weapons, innovations restricted mostly to improved materials and add-ons such as laser-assisted sighting.  Like the shark and the pencil, the GPMG evolved to attain perfection and possible improvements to the design are not immediately obvious.

Lindsay Lohan with submachine gun.

A GPMG is not simply any machine gun used for “general purposes” (and a definition of that in this context would be impossible exactly to codify) and in the military the GPMG is a specific class of weapon.  A submachine gun (SMG) and a GPMG differ in design, purpose and application although there can be some overlap in the use of parts, tool kits and (less commonly), ammunition.  The classic SMG is (in relative terms) light, compact and those appropriately trained can fire some of them using only one hand although most are fitted with a (sometimes foldable or detachable) shoulder to enhance stability.  Many SMGs feature selective fire modes permitting a choice between a single shot, bursts (typically 3 shots) or fully automatic, continuous firing.  SMGs with an effective maximum range between 100-150 m (300-500 feet) are intended for close-quarters combat (they were designed during World War I (1914-1918) and intended to be decisive in trench warfare but the conflict ended before they could be deployed) in which, with a higher rate of fire than a rifle and a longer range than most side arms, they can be ideal.  Conveniently they often use the same ammunition as a sidearm although with a higher capacity.

The GPMG is larger, heavier and designed to sustain continuous fire for long periods.  They are now almost always belt fed and use rifle-style & size cartridges, requiring a team of two or three effectively to operate.  As “general purpose” suggests, GPMGs are highly mobile, versatile weapons which can be deployed in a range of combat situations including suppressing fire to sustain either attacks or withdrawals and can engage targets at medium range, something especially useful in theatres where the use of artillery would risk causalities from friendly fire.  GPMG offer a high rate of fire and some Western forces in the late twentieth century concentrated on those using the 5.56 x 45mm NATO load because of the expectation the days of the set-piece, medium-range battle was a thing of the past but experience in recent conflicts confirmed the army’s need for heavier loads and many units were re-equipped with GPMGs using the 7.62 x 51mm NATO round, the latter with an effective range of 800-1220 m (2600-4000 feet) and thus suitable for any form of infantry support.