Are those shells used to illuminate the battlefields called 'star shells'? Or are they still?
That is the first definition from a WWI history site when I google it. I do not know why they still would not call them that unless it was a rocket or flare gun launched. 'Shell' tends to imply artillery.
I failed to express myself clearly when I asked the question. Actually I meant that 'there are some bullets used to illuminate the battlefield' (There were some in the war between my country and Iraq). Reading 'A Farewell to Arms' I noticed that star shells worked similarly. Now I wanted to know whether the star shells are a kind of those 'illuminating' bullets or they are the bullets themselves.( But as I see here, they are just related to the WWI.) So, I would thank anyone who tells me the name.
"Illuminated bullets" sounds like what i think of as "tracers."
Yes, but tracers aren't used to illuminate the battlefield, just to help guide your fire. Star shells, I gather, are essentially flares on a parachute; they're fired into the air and then hang there giving lots of light.
(Actually, I'm just assuming about the parachute; how else would they hang in the air?)
I don't know how bullets would be used to illuminate the battlefield. If tracers are what's meant, maybe they just "illuminate" the shooter's understanding of where the bullets are going.