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C - Charlie

C3:

Low grade, worthless. From the lowest British Army classification of fitness - those fit only for base duty.

Cage:

Prisoner of war camp.

Canary:

Instructor, from the yellow armband worn. Often seen at the Bull Ring.

Canteen Medals:

Beer or food stains down the front of a tunic.

Case-Shot:

Short-range artillery anti-personnel shell filled with pellets, chain-links, etc.

Casualty Clearing Station:

Main medical establishment immediately behind the front line.

Cat Stabber:

Clasp knife.

Cat Walk:

Narrow pathway, often only one brick (9 inches) wide, between fields on French and Belgian farms.

Char:

Tea. A nice cup of char. From Hindustani char or Chinese ch'a.

Charpoy:

Bed. From Hindustani.

Chat:

Louse. Possibly derived from chattell, personal belonging. Chatting was the process of removing the lice by hand.

Chatting:

De-lousing. See also crumbing up.

Cherb:

Beer. From Hindustani.

Cheveux de Frise:

Defensive barbed wire entanglement, sometimes with sharpened stakes. From French for frizzy hair.

Chin-Strapped:

Tired, exhausted. From the sense that a man could be so tired he was held upright only by the chinstrap of his cap or helmet. Generally speaking, chin straps were employed only by mounted troops, other soldiers believing that if a bullet or piece of shrapnel were to strike their helmet, the chinstrap may cause choking or break their neck.

Chinese Attack:

Term used to describe a faked attack. When a preliminary bombardment ceased, the defending troops would return to their trenches to meet the presumed attack, whereupon the artillery would start firing again and catch the defenders out of their shelters.

Chipperow:

Quiet, shut up. From Hindustani chuprao.

Chit:

Note or receipt. To be excused duties, a soldier had to be in possession of a sick chit. From Hindustani cittha, a note, originally derived from Sanskrit citra, marked.

Chokey:

Jail. From Hindustani cauki, a lockup.

Christmas Tree Order:

To parade in full equipment with all kit. It was often said that the definition of a soldier was somebody to hang things on.

Chronic:

Very bad. The correct meaning of this word is long lasting, although seldom used in this way except perhaps by Medical Officers.

Chub, Chup:

Abbreviated form of chipperow. Quiet, shut up. From Hindustani chuprao.

Civvy:

Civilian. To be in civvies was to be dressed in civilian clothing rather than uniform.

Civvy Street:

Civilian life. See civvy.

Click:

To make acquaintance with (usually a member of the opposite sex). One could also click a leave or a guard duty.

Cliffs:

Wide shelves hollowed out of the sides of trenches for sleeping on.

Clobber:

(1) Clothing and equipment. (2) To hit. Origin unknown.

Coal-Box:

Heavy German shell, usually a 5.9 inch in diameter. From the black smoke of the shell-burst.

Coal Scuttle:

German steel helmet, or Stahlhelm introduced at Verdun in January 1916. From the similar appearance to domestic fireside coal container.

Coffin Nails:

Cigarettes.

Cold Feet:

Cowardice. To have cold feet was to shirk a duty because of fear.

Cold Meat Ticket:

Identity disc. Men were issued with metal or, more usually, red and green composite material identity discs. These gave the name, number, unit and religion of the holder. One disc remained with the body (the cold meat) in the event of death.

Comic Cuts:

Corps Intelligence Summary. See Divisional Comic Cuts (DCC).

Commanding Officer:

In the British Army the term CO generally refired to the lieutenant-colonel in command of an infantry battalion or cavalry regiment.

Communication Trench:

Narrow trench constructed at an angle to a defensive trench to permit concealed access to the trench.

Compree:

Do you understand? From French compris.

Comsah:

Generic name for anything. From French comme ça.

Conchie:

Conscientious objector. One who refused military service on the grounds of moral or religious beliefs. Such objections were considered by tribunals and some objectors were given total exemption; others were given the option of partaking in work of importance to the war effort, or serving in a non-combatant corps (such as the RAMC at that time). Those who refused these terms were either imprisoned or drafted into military service and court-martialled. Sometimes abbreviated to C.O., which occasionally led to confusion with Commanding Officer.

Conscription:

In January 1916, Parliament passed the first conscription laws (compulsory enrollment) ever passed in Britain. At first only single men and childless widowers aged 18 to 41 were called up. By 1918 compulsory service had been extended to include all men aged 18 to 51. More than 2.3 million conscripts were enlisted before the end of the war in November, 1918.

Coot:

Louse. Pre-war term, said to be derived from a titled lady who had suffered this misfortune.

Corkscrew:

Looped steel post, or picket, for staking barbed wire. The corkscrew shape at the end enabled the stake to be twisted quietly into the ground by wiring parties. Previously, the noise of hammering stakes in had attracted enemy fire.

Corp:

Corporal. Familiar term used by lower ranks.

Covering Party:

A detachment of soldiers protecting a working-party in the front line.

Crassier:

Slag heap of mining spoil, such as those prominent on the battlefield around Loos and exploited to such great effect by German observers and snipers. See also Fosse. From the French, who originally produced the trench maps of these areas.

Creeping Barrage:

Artillery bombardment whose range was extended at timed intervals so as to avoid hitting one's own advancing troops.

Cricket Ball:

British Number 15 hand grenade, a spherical bomb. Used with good effect in the Gallipoli campaign, this grenade went on to be spectacularly unsuccessful at the battle of Loos in September 1915, where wet conditions rendered useless the external friction fuse igniter. Superceded by the Mills bomb in late 1915.

Crimed:

To be put on a charge.

Crown & Anchor:

A popular gambling game.

Crow's Foot:

Caltrop, a four-spiked metal device used in battle since ancient times to disable men and horses. Whichever way the caltrop landed on the ground, one spike was always pointing upwards.

Crumbing Up:

De-lousing. See also chatting.

Crummy:

To be itchy because of louse-bites.

Crump:

German 5.9 inch shell or the burst thereof. The last crump referred to the end of the war. Onomatopoeic.

Cubby Hole:

Small dug-out or shelter in the side wall of a trench. A funk hole. Possibly derived from cupboard.

Cushy:

(1) Easy, pleasant. (2) A minor wound necessitating some time away from the front line; perhaps a Blighty one. From Hindustani khush, pleasant.

Cuthbert:

Someone who remained at home in a cushy job, usually an officer posted to the War Office.