English translation: close combat, armoured cavalry branch
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French to English translations [PRO] Military / Defense / Biography
French term or phrase:mêlée-arme blindée et cavalerie
Hello,
This comes from the biography of a naval captain. En 1993 il est muté à l'Etat-major de l'armée de terre en qualité d'officier traitant de la cellule "combat de mêlée-arme blindée et cavalerie"..obviously something to do with the armoured division, not sure about mêlée-arme..
thanks for any help!
Michel F. Morin is absolutely right when he states that "combat de mêlée" is NOR "close-combat"! And not "skirmish " either...
I think "melee" is acceptable...
As a former French "arme de mêlée" senior officer, and further on, War College graduate, I beg to differ: "combat de mêlée" et "close combat" n'ont pas la même signification.
Le "combat de mêlée" est à peu de chose près celui que se livrent directement des combattants avec leur(s) arme(s): essentiellement l'infanterie et la cavalerie, dont la portée des armes va (en gros) jusqu'à environ 3000 m. Voir "http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Génie_militaire", Par. Génie combat.
"combat de mêlée" is close combat, which is normally a task for infantry and the like. "arme blindée et cavalerie" is the Armoured arm (Royal Armoured Corps in the UK). Possible options: 1) Armoured support for close combat (i.e. tanks supporting dismounted infantry); 2) Infantry close combat and Armoured cavalry (i.e. two distinct responsibilities). But why is a naval officer given responsibility for this General Staff cell? I am puzzled.
"dogfight" is too heavily associated with air warfare to be immediately understandable in relation to armour. Even if it IS applicable, to me again, it would imply tank against tank, just as an aerial dogfight is fighter against fighter. On the ground might not other elements - antitank artillery, infantry suitably equipped, airborne tank killers - be involved in close-quarters combat? (close-quarters combat being anything substantially less than a tank's accurate firing range of what, 3 km?)
Reference information: The trade off was a weaker side armour; the PANTHER Proved to be deadly in open country and shooting from long range, but vulnerable TO CLOSE-QUARTERS COMBAT. Soviet T34/76 medium tank and the new german Panther D ...
mini-history.blogspot.com/2010/.../panther-d-battle-kurst-1943.html
In the trailer THE GAME shows quite some CLOSE QUARTERS COMBAT WITH TANKS running around each other trying to find the weaker armour to ...
forum.falloutstudios.net/index.php?showtopic=36137&st=75
Among the most recent innovations is a new rear firing position for the Merkava Mk 3 and Mk 4[*] permitting more effective CLOSE QUARTERS COMBAT IN BUILT-UP URBAN AREAS. Designers made the improvement following lessons learned in the ongoing Palestinian uprising. Amnon Barzilai, “IDF UNVEILS REAR GUN FOR TANK, Miniature Airborne Camera”, Ha’aretz, March 24, 2004. http://www.acpr.org.il/pp/pp156-Fishbein-E.pdf
[*] The Merkava (Hebrew: About this sound מרכבה (help•info), Chariot) is the main battle tank of the Israel Defense Forces. Since the early 1980s, four main ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merkava
xxxBourth France Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 136
The translation workplace 
