by John Grehan
ABATTIS: A barrier of felled trees, with their branches trimmed and sharpened, and placed facing the enemy. ARROW: A small outwork placed in the salient angle of the glacis and connected to the covered way by a short passage. BANQUElIE: A ledge upon which soldiers stood to enable them to fire over the parapet. BASTION: A strongpoint, composed of two faces and two flanks forming part of the main work to allow flanking fire along it. BONNETTE: A work placed before the salient angle of a ravelin. CASEMATE: A vaulted chamber in the rampart with a port to allow artillery to be fired from it. CITADEL: A fort, situated on commanding ground, forming part of the works of a fortress and fortified towards both the town and the country. COMMAND: The vertical elevation above the surrounding country. The height of the crest of the parapet. COUNTERGUARD: An earthwork with two faces forming a salient angle, to protect a bastion or curtain. COUNTERSCARP: The outer wall of a ditch. COVERED WAY: A wide road, usually protected by a parapet, that runs around the outer edge of a ditch. CROWNWORK: A work composed of a bastion between two curtains which are terminated by half-bastions. CURTAIN: That part of the rampart lying between two bastions and joining their flanks. ESCARP: The inner wall or face of the ditch, below the rampart. GLACIS: The external slope of a fortress, stripped of all cover. HORNWORK: A work composed of two half-bastions and a curtain. LUNETTE: A work consisting of two faces and two flanks, used to defend a ravelin. PARAPET: A blank of earth or wall over which troops can fire. RAVELIN: A work constructed in front of the curtain and used to cover the flanks of a bastion. RAMPART: A large bank of earth raised around a fortress. It is usually constructed from earth excavated from the digging of the defensive ditch. REDOUBT: A closed, independent work of either square or polygonal trace, without bastions. TENAILLE: A work consisting of two faces and a small curtain constructed between the flanks of a bastion. TERREPLEIN: The flat surface of a rampart, usually with a parapet, on which the guns of the place are mounted. Design and Contruction of Fortresses Brief Analysis by John Grehan Back to Napoleonic Notes and Queries # 7 Table of Contents Back to Age of Napoleon List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master List of Magazines © Copyright 1992 by Partizan Press. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com |