The nickname of the enemy in the war cannot be neutral. Propaganda and rumors always form the image of the enemy. And if it seems that the word is quite innocent, the background can be unpleasant.
bad kind
Receiving the influence of propaganda with the help of ethnophilisms on the army has been known since ancient times. Ethnophilism - "bad, worthless kind" - an offensive nickname, with a negative evaluative, emotional or stylistic connotation. Ethnophilism can be compound, derived from the name, some natural characteristics of a person and from the name of an animal or other creature.
So, during the Northern War of 1700-1721. Swedish propaganda brought down a flood of publications and bulletins about the horrific actions of the Russians. The enemy always took the form of a monster (Tsar Peter), who was assisted by Cossacks and soldiers. "Russian", "enemy" and "devil" have actually become synonymous.
Describing the situation of the inhabitants of Finland, propagandists associated them with the biblical story about the suffering of the people of Israel in Egyptian slavery, while the Russians were called "Assyrians", their king was "the bastard of the Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar."
The Patriotic War with Napoleon in 1812 enriched both languages - both Russian and French - with such terms as "trash" - from the chevalier, "chantrap" - chantra pas ("can't sing, can't"), "sharomyzhnik" - cher ami ("Dear friend"). In French, the word "bistro" from the Russian "quickly" has taken root. Until now, in France you can hear “berezina”, which in Russian means “everything is very bad” (“full arctic fox” - jarg.).
As for the fighters of the Russian army directly, according to the memoirs of the Napoleonic General de Marbo, the Bashkir soldiers made a great impression on the French. For their mastery of bows, the French called them "cupids".
In the Crimean War of 1853-1856. between the Russian Empire and the coalition of the British, French, Ottoman empires and the Kingdom of Sardinia, the French were not so delicate. Here is what Leo Tolstoy writes in Sevastopol Tales about a captured soldier: “They are not beautiful, these Russian cattle,” says one Zouave from a crowd of Frenchmen. However, the Russian officers themselves, according to Tolstoy, “semi-contemptuously, semi-affectionately call the soldier “Moscow” or else “oath”.
bestial nicknames
Bestial nicknames also form the image of the enemy. As a rule, these are compound ethnophilisms. So, in English they appear: chinese pig - "Chinese pig", russian pig - "Russian pig", varying with the words dog - "dog", dirty - "dirty", filthy - "vile", etc.
In the Great Patriotic War, soldiers of different armies were given short nicknames - Ivan, Tommy, Hans - most fully reflecting their inner essence, at the same time being an identifier of the expectations of their behavior. Such a neutral nickname was explained by the peculiar recognition of the enemy by a strong warrior.
But on the civilian population, the Nazis recouped to the fullest: Schwein - “pig” - they didn’t call Russians otherwise.
From the memoirs of Tamara Grigoryeva, whom her stepmother handed over to work in Germany in 1942: “There were 40 of us in the forest, they gave slippers and picks to chop stones. I didn’t put on slippers, didn’t take a pick in my hands and said loudly to everyone: “Ours will come - they will give them.” The policeman grabbed me by the scythes and threw me into the pit, where my arms and leg were immediately broken. The whole night there was blood in the barracks. And in the morning they took me to the doctor. I would recognize his face even now. He looked, blood was coming, I was all bloodied, my hands were in blood, he said: Vek, schwein (Go away, pig).
Oriental passions
"Blue-eyed" - what's wrong with this nickname? But it scared a native of Central Asia. In 1914, Türkiye entered the First World War on the side of Germany. Turkish subjects were obliged to fight against Russia, but the Assyrians refused to participate in hostilities. Christian Assyrians helped Russia and its allies England and France. Türkiye in response immediately launched a war of extermination against the Assyrian civilian population. A small part survived the massacre and pogroms. About 60 thousand Assyrians left for Russia along with the retreating Russian soldiers. They said: we will go after the "blue-eyed" - that's what they called Russians in Turkey.
It must be understood that “blue-eyed” is not at all a neutral concept. According to the beliefs of the Eastern peoples, genies often took on a human form, and they could be distinguished from people by the color of their eyes - blue - and their hair - blond. “We will leave with the demons,” is what the Assyrians had in mind when they left inhospitable Turkey.
Decades have passed, and now, in civilian life, the Turks call Russian girls a nickname that looks like a name. "Natasha" is a compound nickname.
In the war in Afghanistan (1979-1989), Russian soldiers were called "shuravi", from the Arabic "council". This word takes its origin from the Afghan name for Soviet specialists - military advisers - and has a neutral connotation. But for a Russian special forces soldier, “dushman” has an exclusively negative connotation and means “enemy” in translation.
A negative connotation carries the nickname of Russians "ak-kulak", "ash-kuloh" - "white ears" - a common nickname for Russians in Central Asia. The fact is that according to the customs of these peoples, all women should wear headscarves, and girls should wear hats. Therefore, Russian girls, shamelessly putting their ears on public display, deserve, from their point of view, condemnation.
As the Russians were also contemptuously called:
In Central Asia - "burla" (burlak), as well as "shoshka" (pig eater);
In Estonia - "tibla";
In the USA - "Rasky";
In Finland - "ryussya":
“Laomaozi” (“maozi”), “hairy” is a vernacular designation by the Chinese of Russians.
In the army in general and in aviation in particular, almost everyone has nicknames: people, units, units, combat vehicles and inanimate objects. Interesting stories of their origin.
Here, for example, one fleet aviation commander was called “Photographer” behind his back. He had nothing to do with the high art of photographing, but when he denounced the official activities of an officer, he always ended it with the word "I'm shooting." This did not apply to the appearance of a photograph of the accused, but meant his removal from his post.
Or here's another technician, a big man and an athlete, it was called "Oculist" behind his back, since not a single booze in which he took part ended without him knocking out someone's eye. Behind the eyes, it means the object of influence, and not talking behind your back.
He served in the same regiment as a senior lieutenant. He looked to be about sixty years old, although in fact he was not even forty-five. And he had a nickname - "Colonel". And that's why they named it that.
It is known that in the identity card of an officer, which was issued one and for the entire period of service there is a column: military rank. It provides places for recording military ranks from lieutenant to major general. So he had all these places filled: lieutenant - senior lieutenant - lieutenant - senior lieutenant - lieutenant ... and so on until the penultimate line. Careerist, however.
One navigator with a simple surname Golovnya was called the noble surname Balkonsky. Once on a day off, having taken a hefty dose, he smoked on the balcony of the second floor, from where he successfully rolled over and lay without the slightest sign of consciousness, until he, accompanied by a frightened regiment commander, a lieutenant colonel, was taken to the infirmary. There, having regained consciousness, he saw his native commander and, focusing on two stars on the chase, said understandingly:
-I saw this lieutenant somewhere.
Then, taking advantage of the momentary lack of attention to his person, he fled. And they found him sitting with a glass and a cigarette on the same balcony from which he fell so safely half an hour ago.
Each pilot who broke more than two wheels on landing was given the honorary nickname Pokryshkin until the end of his service in this regiment. Any parachutist who landed unsuccessfully was given a title reflecting the place of landing. If he landed on a summer cottage - a summer resident, a garden - a gardener, in a forest - a arborist, in the thick of a herd - a shepherd or cattle breeder.
I had a second navigator, whose name was Kazachok or the Headless Horseman. Before serving in naval aviation, he was a jockey in Rostov-on-Don, hence Kazachok, and the Headless Horseman well characterizes his behavior and career growth.
In one auto platoon, there was a fighter, known under the pseudonym - Trolleybus. Somehow they lost electricity in the barracks in the basement. This soldier was sent there to find and fix the problem. The fighter, having estimated with his brains what was the price, decided to follow the path of least resistance - he grabbed the wire on the ceiling with both hands (the ceiling in the basement is low) and began to move in small steps in the dark, feeling for the place of the cliff.
Finally found. Well, at least it didn’t kill him to death, and so they pumped him out.
Nicknames had regiments, divisions and, in rare cases, squadrons. So, one regiment was called Romanian only because during a football match between the regiments of the division, someone, cheering up his own, shouted out a phrase from the movie: “Forward, dead Romanians!” And got accustomed.
For some reason, the second regiment was called Zyabrovsky, although the squadron transferred from Zyabrovka was part of the Romanian regiment.
The third, separate regiment of this garrison was called Khunhuz or Chinese for two reasons. First, it originated near the Chinese border. And secondly because of the large number of personnel. The crew of one aircraft could include from 9 to 14 people. And he was served by a whole bunch of technicians.
And the divisions were usually named after the nearest settlement. Ours was initially located in the Sov Gavansky district, and then, as a result of the territorial demarcation, ended up in the Vaninsky district. This gave the commander of the fleet aviation an opportunity to show his wit and joke about our divisional commander:
- You used to be a sovgovnyanin, and now you're just a stinker.
An insulting allusion to the similarity of our unit with excrement, in terms of its fighting qualities, from the point of view of the commander.
By the way, not only inanimate objects become prototypes for the formation of people's nicknames, but people can also become the source of the names of objects. So, for example, our glorious division commander could not stand green and yellow. He especially hated dandelions. That is why every single day someone's caring hand put a bouquet of dandelions in his mailbox, which even more aroused his dislike for this innocent flower ....
It got to the point that someone placed on the steps of the divisional headquarters, just in time for his arrival, a piece of paper and one dandelion. On the sheet it was written:
Don't touch me Shushpanchik,
After all, I'm the last dandelion.
The general's surname was Shushpanov, and dandelions in this division were called nothing more than "shushpanchiki".
Nowhere have I seen such a craving for the distribution of nicknames as in aviation, and the apotheosis of this phenomenon can be considered the name of the monument in front of the House of Officers in Monino.
There they carved a strong fellow with an artificial satellite in his hand in a swift dash forward. The jerk turned out to be so swift that the symbolic clothes slipped back, and this gave reason to call the monument - “I’ll lower everything, but I’ll launch it!”
© Alexander Shipitsyn
The article will focus on choosing (inventing) a call sign for yourself to work on the air of unlicensed bands (CB, LPD, PMR).
Official amateur radio call signs are issued by a special state body on the basis of passing special exams. Roughly speaking, but clearly speaking: radio amateurs have call signs of strict accountability.
The most important points when choosing a callsign:
The callsign must be unique at least within your city, and not just within one channel! If you think that you will come to another channel and choose another call there, then this is a bad idea, you will get confused yourself, and you will confuse people. The call sign should be easy to pronounce (try saying it out loud a few times).
The call sign should not be a rarely used word that can easily be confused with another word that is often used in everyday speech. There is always noise on the air, gaps in the signal and audibility, and one or two letters can easily merge into a completely different letter or be completely masked by noise.
Examples of confusion: thigh - flask, bipod - cat, butuz - watermelon, donut - flash, Alina - raspberries, son-in-law - take.
The call sign should be one word if possible. A few words in a call sign can lead to further confusion. For example, the call sign: "red falcon", although easy to pronounce and sounds beautiful, will inevitably lead to confusion if someone else on the same frequency (channel) chooses a call sign: "red east" or "red" or "falcon" or "clear falcon". Human memory is not infinite, events, people, words, much of what happens to us even in one day, by the morning of the next day is forgotten or can be confused.
Let's suppose you borrowed five hundred rubles for the "Red Falcon" until tomorrow, and the next day you sit and wonder whether it's for the "Red East" or the "Clear Falcon". Disorder.
The call sign should be a unique word if possible. At least in a word that does not sound at every turn, otherwise you will constantly turn around, thinking that you are being called.
Examples: Carat, Granite, Diamond, Star, Roger, Charlie, Whistle, Bison
The callsign must match your gender.
Obviously, girls should choose the following callsigns: Zvezda, Luna, Lada, Belka, Arkada, Atlanta. Boys, type: Falcon, Diamond, Bison, Hawk, Cartridge, Peresvet.
Other important points in choosing a call sign are:
Positivity of emotions caused by the call sign. I will say this: desirable, but not necessary. Naturally, people are more pleasant to hear "Star" than "Snake" and more pleasant to hear "Diamond" and "Hawk" than "Rotten" or "Abscess". Yes, and it will be more pleasant for you to pronounce the phrase "Hello everyone, the Hawk has come into the channel" than "Hello everyone, the Rotten one has come into the channel." Although at first it might seem funny, imagine that you are sitting with your loved one and then they call you on the walkie-talkie to answer the phrase: "Hawk, answer! Hawk in the canal?" much nicer than the phrase "Sneakers, answer! Slippers in the canal?"
The call sign must not be associated with any brand or product, especially those prohibited for free circulation in the Russian Federation, or actions for which legal prosecution is provided. A brand or a certain product may be considered an advertisement, albeit by mistake and misunderstanding, but you will get tired of explaining that you did not advertise. Items, substances and other things prohibited by law can generally lead to very negative consequences. It seems to be trifles, but different things can happen, which is why you should not choose call signs of the form: Anasha, Heroin, Beer, Vodka, Morphine, Killer, Shooter, Pyro, Rapist, Bomb. In communication, a rather serious incident can happen if you choose one of these call signs, or you can even attract extra attention of special government services to yourself and the channel on which you communicate.
Remember - the radio broadcast is heard by many more people than you are answered on this broadcast (on this channel). Not all people listen to this or that channel all the time and not all of those who listen have a sense of humor or will accept with a smile what you think is a good joke.
The call sign must not be a swear word or albeit a literary word, but denoting the genitals, "intimate" places. You should not choose the word "Penis" or "Tit" as your call sign. Remember, some people have their radios turned on when children or the elderly are nearby.
You should not choose your own name as a callsign. Names along with callsigns will create unnecessary confusion, for example, there is in the channel "Bonfire", whose name is "Ivan" and there will be another person whose callsign is "Ivan", then it turns out that it is worth calling "Ivan", then he can answer and "Ivan" and "Bonfire". In general, no need to complicate things, names are usually not unique. Perhaps, it is also not necessary to invent words, the human brain will confuse them with other words that are similar to the word you made up, since I have never heard such a word before.
For example, the word: "paruzik" will be perceived as "tuzik", as "paravozik" and so on.
So, how do you choose a call sign. First of all, carefully listen to the broadcast of your city, in the channel where you will communicate. Listen to other channels. Pay attention to what callsigns are already on the air. Based on what you heard on the air, choose a callsign for yourself.
Open the dictionary, turn on the music and, arriving in a good, positive mood, start looking for a word that matches the above rules. The sonorous one that is easy to pronounce and the one that you think is best suited to personify your essence. Choose a few words. Write them down, in case there is already a person on the air with the first word that caught your eye, so that you can quickly take another one that you also liked, and not look for it all over again.
Say several times aloud the phrases with the words chosen for the call sign:
"Hello everyone, in the channel _callsign_"
"_Callsign_ is leaving the channel"
"_Callsign_ returned to the frequency"
"Who called, here_Callsign_"
if these phrases are pronounced easily and do not put you and your loved ones in a stupor, then you have chosen good words.
For those who are very lazy to go to the dictionary, think about which words are sonorous and which are mumbling-hissing, and as an example, below is a number of words that can be considered quite a good call sign.
Call signs for boys: apricot, lampshade, August, agent, lawyer, admiral, excitement, nitrogen, stork, diamond, amulet, cupid, orange, April, archimedes, atlant, athlete, basalt, balm, banquet, bamboo, golden eagle, wrestler, boatswain, brave, brunette, bouquet, butane, buffet, wind, visit, knight, volcano, harpoon, nail, general, genius, hercules, hero, hail, decanter, landing, dynamo, rain, thrush, raccoon, pearl, token, hare, beast, marshmallow, zenith ...
Call signs for girls: aurora, alphabet, agave, academy, acacia, shark, axiom, anaconda, amazon, embrasure, arena, armada, atmosphere, beluga, squirrel, birch, paper, bay, venus, spring, cherry, viola, wave, volga, height, newspaper, galley, guard, carnation, sleeve, glaze, thunderstorm, maiden, europe, heat, bug, dawn, winter...
Naturally, this is not a selection of all the words, but only from the Explanatory Dictionary of V. Dahl, and even then only the letters A-Z, you can go through other letters and find words that are great for the call sign, you can do it yourself.
Why do we need special forces call signs? Who invented them? We will answer these and many other questions in the article. A call sign (PSO, call sign of identification) in radio communication is an identifier that identifies a radio transmitter. As a rule, this is a set of numbers, letters, or a meaningful word sent at the beginning of a communication session and necessary for the identification of the radio station by the receiving object.
A PSO is assigned to a transmitter by the communications authorities of the state to which it belongs. Callsigns are for radio stations, and for radio amateurs - specific participants in the negotiations.
Military callsigns
Have you ever seen the Table of call signs of officials? This is a reference document containing a list of communication centers, stations for the interaction of ships and aircraft, units, commanders and other employees, as well as the call signs assigned to them (conditional combinations, numbers, letters) in order to hide their true names from the enemy when transmitting information via technical means of communication .
Our military has long studied the speech exchange over communication channels. They were able to find the words that are most convenient to use on the radio, taking into account the interference and phonetics of the Russian language.
For many guys, call signs were not provided by the leadership. Therefore, either they have to invent them on their own, or the commanders give them middle names. Some fighters who received callsigns from the table say that they would be happy to compose them themselves.
Radiocommunication services
What are special forces callsigns? They are created by radio. Radio transmitters related to the radio broadcast service, in the form of PSO, use the names of the media. If necessary, they sometimes indicate the ratings of radio frequencies.
In the amateur radiocommunication service, the PSO is more informative. It is a combination of numbers and letters of the Latin alphabet, which includes from three to six characters. An amateur callsign is always exceptional. There are directories and databases containing additional information about the owner of the PSO. The operator of an amateur radio transmitter is obliged to report his PSO at the beginning of the session and systematically repeat it during long radio communications. At the same time, many seek to increase legibility with the help of a phonetic alphabet. What it is?
This is a standardized way of reading the letters of the alphabet. It is used in radio communications to transmit difficult-to-read words, call signs, abbreviations, e-mail addresses, and the like, in order to reduce errors.
Service specifics
What is common between the call sign of a special forces soldier and the nickname of an agent? Both the first and the second are aliases. Interestingly, it is under a fictitious name that the special forces hero very often achieves fame. These are the principles of service.
In general, very often any pseudonym or nickname depends on the person's last name. The second name can also correspond to the actions or occupation of the fighter. The call signs of the special forces in the radio exchange can be either nicknames or names invented in advance by the command. Many say that the choice of a middle name does not always depend on professions and surnames. A battalion may have a single call sign, and its squads and their commanders may have serial numbers. For example, the call sign "Agat" can be modified as "Agat-1" (company commander), "Agat-2" (company commander), "Agat-8" (battalion medical instructor). Such a system, in principle, works great on a stationary object.
And what do the call signs of the special forces look like when there is a battle? Here everyone is already called either by nicknames, or by their names (if there are no nicknames). Because of the habit, many people get confused in call signs: it is not known who is "Amethyst-1" and who is "Amethyst-2". Many call each other by specific nicknames. For example, "Mole", "Karas", "Khmyr" and so on.
What other rules did the military come up with? Special forces call signs are sometimes assigned according to the personal characteristics of a fighter or his specialty, often from an abbreviation of the last name, first name and patronymic. There are different nuances…
Interception
Many fighters believe that in combat conditions, call signs should be treated carefully. Maybe just a little personal in them should be a little. For example, by intercepting the "Czech" radio, the military even established routes using call signs. But what if the enemy is also familiar with a similar system?
And what is this method of identifying "travel routes" by call sign? But they simply knew, for example, that Temuchin was from Churek-Martan, and Swimmer was from Babai-Yurt. The fighter intercepts the message via radio communication: “First, let's go to the Swimmer and sit with him for a day. At night we go to Temuchin. At this crossing they are met.
"Swimmer" was the first guy in the village, and "Temuchin" was known as a music lover, played a disco in the 80s. For which he received his pseudonym.
Online translators worked in real time only when interacting with artillery and aviation. The Special Forces received transcripts of interceptions two days ago, but for analysts, this was enough. The implementation of the operation took place in the form of an ambush.
There are no such analysts in the armies of a potential enemy (and this is about 98 countries). They think that the call sign "Kuzya" came from the name Kuznetsov. The meanings of the words "seeds 7.62", "castle", "hillock", "cucumbers" are indicated in foreign dictionaries of the army Russian jargon. In general, many soldiers are thinking about the question of how to secure their broadcast.
It is known that Richard Sorge from 1929 to 1944) had the call sign "Ramsay", Lev Borisovich (German communist, GRU officer, agent of the Comintern, shot) - "Alex", Richard Vennikas (GRU resident in Finland, Estonian) - Bergman.
Of course, when there are powerful attacks, many people forget about nicknames and shout in plain text. It must be added that these second names are different. The same fighter may have a nickname, for example, "Bespectacled", and the call sign is completely different.
Description
Many people are interested in knowing what elite troops are, how the fighters who serve in them select call signs, where they use them, selection rules, specifics ... Many say that the letter “P” should be present in the PSO, since it is well heard when interference. Callsigns of officials consist of three-digit numbers. They are all described in the Reference Document (TPDL).
The second names of commanders, their deputies and heads of subdivisions, headquarters and units are created from a noun and a number (1-3 digits). They are indicated in the radio data of the division. For example, "Verba-163", "Spruce-4".
The call sign of the control room is a noun. For example, "Focus", "Ash". Two sets of callsigns are always created - main and reserve. The entire procedure for their appointment, as well as guidance documents, are described in the "Manual on the formation of communications in the NE".
Battalion units do not have their own means of communication, and even call signs are not allocated to units. Therefore, they are appointed only by platoon commanders.
Specialists, as a rule, use primitive schemes. For example, the main one has the call sign "Wing", and the main group - "Falcon". It is precisely one-two-syllable words that are used, since it is difficult to pronounce long nicknames in battle.
Some elite troops use American standard callsigns. In this case, the first letter of the surname in the phonetic Latin alphabet is used: B - bravo, H - Charlie, and so on. A digit is then added when the first letters of the last name match. For example, Foxtrot 1, Sierra 2.
In the Russian troops, the call signs of the unit group commanders are very often selected according to the personal qualities of a person - "Leshy-1", "Bychok-1", "Condor-1". If there are few groups, proper names are used. It is very common to use a unit call sign with any additional digit other than one.
Many fighters say that call signs should not be created by changing the last name and should be easy to remember, and they should not reflect the outward personal characteristics of a person. They argue that most often the second name is the nickname (nickname) of a fighter in everyday life.
Numeric and digital callsigns are commonly seen in exercises when many superiors and observers are present. It is known that there was an officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs who fought in Chechnya with the call sign "200" (two hundredth).
Many fighters say that their PSOs were invented by the command and changed every three months, and they created nicknames on their own in accordance with personal qualities or surnames.
The fighters also testify that call signs and nicknames are different things. After all, the TPDL (table of call signs of officials), which they were given by communication, was completely digital.
In general, callsigns and nicknames are operational aliases. They form in completely different ways. But behind each such sign is a real person, whose fate may be of interest not only to historians or specialists, but also to anyone who is not indifferent.
"Gyurza"
It is known that the call sign "Gyurza" at one time had Aleksey Viktorovich Efentiev. Who is he? This is a Russian and Soviet officer who performed combat missions in Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Nagorno-Karabakh, Kosovo and Chechnya. He successfully performed his work and for personal courage this lieutenant colonel of the reserve was presented to the title of Hero of the Russian Federation, but he was never awarded.
His call sign "Gyurza" during the First Chechen War was known to every inhabitant of the republic. Efentiev made dozens of raids on the rear of the Dudayevites, stormed Bamut and released the Coordination Center surrounded in Grozny. During the last operation, Russian journalists and many senior officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the army were rescued.
Special Forces units
What are Special Forces Units (SPN)? These are battalions of aviation, ground forces and navy trained according to a specific program, as well as police, internal troops, gendarmerie, necessary to perform special tasks using special means and tactics. It is known that call signs for special forces girls are chosen in the same way as for boys - there are no differences.
"Cobra"
The call sign "Cobra" was Lieutenant Colonel Erkebek Abdulaev (special intelligence officer of the Vympel group of the KGB of the USSR). He published his own autobiography. In the special forces of the KGB of the USSR, soldiers like him were called "stuntmen."
His biography is similar to the life of most Vympel officers, among whom were Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, Azerbaijanis and Georgians, Koreans and Karelians. They all defended the interests of their homeland - they performed one task. Each of them was faithful to his duty to the end, although they all had doubts, feelings, and resentment.
"Yakut"
Volodya-Yakut is a Russian fictional sniper, the hero of the urban myth of the same name about the First Chechen War, who became popular due to his high performance. It is believed that this sniper was called Maksimovich, although in the legend his name is Volodya. It is known that he was a hunter-fisherman from Yakutia and had the call sign "Yakut".
US Special Forces
The American logical system of army management is fundamentally different from the Russian one. Not only are the digital call signs inconsistent (the fighters only conventionally call the commander among themselves 01), but the verbal ones do not lend themselves to the corresponding law of thinking (there are not all "birds" and "trees" in the battalion). And this is true - without knowing the TPDL (table of call signs of officials), you will never understand in an open interception network who Dunduk-29 or Woodpecker-36 is. This is how US special forces work.
In Special Forces, when conducting a secret operation, it is customary to choose call signs for yourself (children's nickname, something fashionable, or whatever comes to mind). If a fighter "lit up" on the air while performing a special task, he needs to change the PSO. It is reasonable.
US special forces can give the Russian soldier trouble. America's radio intelligence and electronic warfare know how to crack ciphers. And even if they do not know the cipher, they can monitor the intensity of radio exchange between units or disorient the enemy, jam stations, interfere, and so on. And they can also take direction finding signal sources, which is also bad.
In addition, the Americans have a separate National Security Agency (NSA), which is engaged in electronic and electronic intelligence. This is the most secret institution in the United States.
Today, when weapons rarely have their own name and more and more often only mean alphanumeric combinations in the index, RG remembered the past, namely the bright and ironic nicknames of weapons given to them by soldiers.
"Limonka"
Nearly 100 years ago, an unknown inventor created the F-1 grenade. Cheap and easy to manufacture, it was extremely useful against advancing infantry. Her final appearance was a symbiosis of the French F-1 grenade and the English gunsmith Lemon system grenade. It is not difficult to guess that the first nickname for her at the front of the First World War was precisely lemon or "lemon".
"Limonka" has been in service with dozens of countries for many decades, almost without changing. At the same time, it still holds the palm among the most dangerous anti-personnel grenades. The body of the grenade consists of "dry cast iron" - a material that is very fragile, but at the same time hard. At the time of the explosion, the cast-iron shell shatters into separate fragments that have an irregular shape and sharp edges, hence another name from the soldiers of the Red Army - "fenyush". The striking ability of such a grenade is monstrous, the number of fragments can reach up to 400. By the way, the soldiers of the Red Army had a special tactical scheme for conducting battle with the enemy, where the guarantee of victory was precisely the "lemon", thrown behind the enemy backs in time: a whirlwind of fragments was waiting for them behind, and in front - the muzzle of machine guns.
"Frog Mine"
Mines, like other weapons capable of killing many people at once, became widespread during the First World War. In the cunning disguise and sophistication of such a device, Germany has achieved particular success. They created micromines in the form of shiny metal objects (from stationery pens to watches), which were left in places where the enemy could gather, all kinds of stretch marks, like cobwebs entangling the forest, and, finally, "Sprengmine 35" frog mines.
The principle of operation of such an "amphibian" was that at the slightest contact of its "antennae" sensors, it jumped 25-30 centimeters above the ground and exploded in the air. The use of the mine was not even so much in the physical neutralization of the enemy, most often the soldier only lost his leg, but in his complete demoralization: the soldiers, having heard the slightest click or crack under their feet, were already "morally killed."
"Katyusha"
"Katyusha" is one of the symbols of the victory of the Russian army in the Great Patriotic War, a miracle weapon and another subject of controversy between historians - where does such a sonorous nickname come from? The BM-13 or "Katyusha" field rocket artillery system was put into service on June 21, 1941. Despite its small number in the early stages of the war, this weapon instantly became popular with both ordinary soldiers and the command. A fundamentally new rocket, which has no recoil, could be installed on almost any type of chassis. He was also very mobile, and one Katyusha volley was usually enough for the enemy to run without looking back.
Until now, among military historians, there are several completely different versions of the origin of the popular name BM-13 or "Katyusha". The first is firmly and inextricably linked with the song of the same name by Matvey Blanter to the words of Mikhail Isakovsky. As you know, the new invention was baptized by fire in the Smolensk region, firing a volley of missiles at the Market Square in the city of Rudnya. The installations themselves stood on a hillock, from where it was more convenient to deliver aimed strikes. The song also says:
Apple and pear trees blossomed
Mists floated over the river.
Katyusha went ashore,
On a high bank, on a steep one.
In an interview, a former Red Army soldier and later historian Andrei Sapronov recalled such a dialogue that took place immediately after the memorable first volley: “This is a song! One of the admiring colleagues said, and I answered him - “Katyusha”.
Another, the most common version, even more romantic, says that one of the soldiers, who greatly missed his beloved, once wrote her name on the side of the car. The sonorous name immediately fell in love with fellow soldiers, and soon spread along the entire front.
"Big Bertha"
This is one of the "Wunderwaffe" (German "wonder weapon") of the German armed forces of the early twentieth century. Only the sight of a cannon the size of a two-story house should have terrified people. The projectile weighed 900 kilograms, and the charge process took as long as 8 minutes! The Berta was created to fight against fortified forts and fortresses, but a much more maneuverable type of warfare that appeared in the 20th century forced them to cease production. True, one of the vehicles still survived and even tried to shell Sevastopol during the Great Patriotic War.
The mocking nickname of the model "L / 14", as its real name sounds, was given by journalists from Belgium and France, as one of the first victims under its monstrous fire. The irony was that Berta was the favorite granddaughter of Alfred Krupp, the owner of the factory and the inventor of this cannon. Later, the name took root in the German army itself, which irritated and pissed off the old designer and loving grandfather Alfred, but he could no longer drown out the "voice of the people".
"Goat"
The direct and charming nickname belonged to the GAZ-67, a Soviet military passenger car that was used at headquarters and reconnaissance companies, as well as when transporting the wounded.
Since 1943, the GAZ-67 began to crowd out its Lend-Lease competitors Willys MB and Ford GPW, largely due to the greater simplicity of the design, which made it possible for ordinary soldiers to repair the car directly in the field, without resorting to the help of special technicians. There were also disadvantages in this simplicity - the extremely rigid suspension of the car made trips on it akin to riding a domestic artiodactyl. It is curious that further attempts to eliminate this defect were unsuccessful, even with additional hydraulic shock absorbers. But the car became a legend of the military, and later the agricultural park of the USSR. Such is the legendary "goat".
