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.
Diu. A once celebrated island and fortress of Hindostan, in the peninsula of Kattywar. In 1515 the Portuguese gained possession of it; they fortified it, and in ten years rendered it impregnable against all the powers of India. With the decline of Portuguese power it fell into decay, and was plundered by the Arabs of Muscat in 1670.
Diversion. An attack upon an enemy in a place where he is weak and unprovided, in order to draw off his forces from making an irruption elsewhere; or a manœuvre, where an enemy is strong, which obliges him to detach part of his forces to resist any feint or menacing attempt of his opponent.
Divest. To strip of clothes, arms, or equipage.
Divine Service. See Appendix, Articles of War, 52.
Division. In military matters, is one section of an army, comprising 2 or more brigades, commanded by a general officer. In regimental formation, 2 companies of a regiment or battalion constitute a division, when in column.
Dizier, St. A town of France, on the Marne. The emperor Charles V. besieged and took this place in 1544; and in its neighborhood Napoleon defeated the allies in two battles fought January 27 and March 26, 1814.
Djokjokarta. A Dutch residency of Java, near the middle of the south coast of that island. The town of the same name is the seat of a Dutch resident and a native sultan, who has a body-guard of young females, completely armed and equipped, some of whom do duty on horseback. It was taken by the British in 1812.
Dobrudscha (anc. Scythia Minor). A name used to denote the northeastern