Glossary of the First World War - C

Cook's Tour: Soldiers slang for a VIP's trip around the trenches.
Cooshu: Sleep.
Cordite: An explosive.
Corkscrew: The metal posts which supported wire entanglements; they had a twisted base, allowing them to be screwed into the ground.
Cossack post: Advanced cavalry patrol.
Covering party: Any group defending a front line working party.
CP: Collecting Post.
CRB: Commission for the Relief of Belgium, the leading international charity formed to provide aid and relief to Belgium during the war. Their ships were never targeted by German submarines but were unable to prevent famine in 1916-17.
Crabs: Lice.
Crapaud: French slang for the German disc grenades, British slang for a French trench mortar.
Crapouillot: Either a French trench mortar or trench howitzer.
Crater: The hole caused by a shell detonation or mine.
CRE: Officer Commanding Royal Engineers.
Créneau de Canardeur: French sniper's hole or loophole.
Creeping Barrage: A slowly moving artillery barrage acting as a defensive curtain for infantry following closely behind.
Cressy: A class of British armoured Cruiser.
Crib: Reinforced metal and wood box/bridge used by tanks to cross wide streams or trenches.
Cricket Ball: British and ANZAC slang for a spherical grenade.
Cruiser: A class of ship. Originally a British concept from the 1880s, Cruisers were smaller than battleships but still armed, armoured and capable of offensive ocean-going operations. Most nations adopted the concept.
Cruiser Rules: Unofficial naval convention where the crew and passengers of civilian vessels where allowed to abandon ship before it was sunk.
Crump: Shell or shell burst.
CSM: Company Sergeant-Major.
CSRG: Chauchat-Sutter-Ribeyrolles-Gladiator, the Chauchat, a French light machinegun.
C-Stoff: German term for mono- and tri- chlormethyl chloroformate gas.
CT: Communication Trench / Com Trench.
CUP: Committee of Union and Progress.
Curtain Fire: A barrage intended to create a 'curtain' of fire between friendly and enemy troops.
Curtis H-4: US designed 'flying boat' airplane used for reconnaissance by the British. Nicknamed 'Small America'.
Curtis H-12: US 'flying boat' airplane used for patrolling by the British and US forces from 1917, developed from the H-4, but enlarged and heavily armed. Nicknamed 'Large America'.
Curtis H-16: US 'flying boat' plane developed from the H-12 and used from 1918 on naval patrols by British and US forces.
Curtis JN 'Jenny': US developed training plane.
Cushy: Happy or easy.
Czapla: Polish square topped cap.
Czech Legion: One of three different units of Czech soldiers created to fight against the Central Powers.