fortification.—surprise of bergen-up-zoom.—six hundred british troops lay down their arms from a want of knowledge of fortification.—fortified places in england and abroad.—on the origin of fortification.—the battering-ram.—parapets.—embrasures.—square towers.—terraces or ramparts.—bastions.—horn-works.—curtains.—maxims in fortification.—old plan of fortifying a place.—modern plan.—periods of attack.—investment or blockade described.—parallels.—circumvallation and countervallation.—what is necessary to ensure the reduction of a fortress.—blockade of pamplona.—a bombardment, siege, and storming party described.
“well, now i am to describe to you a blockade and a bombardment, a siege, and a storming party; but you will understand them better if i say a word or two first about fortification.”
126“oh yes! let us know something about fortification first.”
“many sad instances of failure and loss have occurred from a want of knowledge of fortification. without knowledge no place of defence is secure; fortresses require to be defended by strong minds as well as by strong walls. at the surprise of bergen-up-zoom, in 1814, a body of six hundred british troops laid down their arms merely because they had no officer with them who knew enough of fortification to conduct their retreat by the covered way. had such an officer been with them every man might have safely made his escape.”
“what a pity!—every officer ought to understand fortification.”
“if an officer be at home, he can if he pleases see the fortifications at dover, portsmouth, chatham and plymouth; and if abroad, he may have, perhaps, the opportunity of inspecting the splendid works at gibraltar, or malta, or those in the east or west indies, or in our american colonies. fortification is the art of strengthening a place, so that a small number of men can defend it against the attack of a great number. whether fortification was first used as a defence against the strong, the unjust, the revengeful, and ambitious, or used by them in furtherance of their designs, might be difficult to determine. the principal engine brought to bear against fortified places in ancient times was the aries, or battering-ram, made mostly of 127brass. this, formed at the end like the head of a ram, was suspended from a beam, and pushed violently against the walls by soldiers, who were hid in a covered carriage on which the battering-ram rested.”
“ay! we have seen a picture of soldiers using the battering-ram.”
“parapets with embrasures, or holes, in them, through which arrows might be shot, were introduced; and after them came strong square towers, erected from each other about a stone’s cast, but when gunpowder was invented these things were comparatively useless. terraces, or ramparts with parapets, were adopted, as well as bastions. a bastion is a huge mass of earth, faced either with sods, brick-work, or stone. it stands out from the rampart, of which it, indeed, forms a principal part. what is now called a bastion was in old times called a bulwark.”
“we have seen the word bulwark in a sea-song—
‘britain’s best bulwarks are her wooden walls.’”
“yes, i remember the song. there were also ravelins, triangular works, projecting outwards; horn-works; two demi-bastions, joined by a curtin, and other works. a curtin, or curtain, is that part of the rampart which lies between the flanks, or sides, of two bastions; it is bordered with a parapet or elevation of earth. but perhaps i had 128better show you a drawing or two of a fortification, and then you will see all the parts.”
“the very thing! the very thing!”
“here is a drawing of the old plan of fortifying a place when bows and arrows were used, before gunpowder was found out. you see the tower, the walls, the ditch, and the battering-ram.”
“ay! we see the battering-ram has been at work, for the wall is broken sadly.”
“before i show you the two other drawings i will explain to you that the principal maxims of fortification are these:—first, that every part of the works be seen and defended by other parts, 129so that the enemy cannot lodge anywhere without being exposed to the fire of the place.”
“ay! that must be very necessary.”
“secondly. a fortress should command all places round it, and, therefore, all the outworks should be lower than the body of the place.”
“that seems to be quite as necessary as the other.”
“thirdly. the works furthest from the centre should always be open to those that are near.”
“everything appears to be thought of in fortification.”
“fourthly. the defence of every part should always be within the reach of musket-shot, so as to be defended both by ordnance and small fire-arms.”
“it must be a hard matter to take a fortress, when such pains are taken to make it strong.”
“fifthly. all the defences should be as nearly direct as possible, for experience shows that soldiers are too apt to fire directly before them, whether they do execution or not.”
“what a deal of thought seems necessary!”
“sixthly. a fortification should be equally strong on all sides, otherwise by being attacked in its weakest point its strength will become useless.”
“that is very plain. a weak part would be sure to be attacked if it were found out.”
“seventhly. the more acute (sharp) the angle at the centre is, the stronger will be the place.”
130“we understand that, because it would throw off the cannon balls better.”
“and, lastly. in great places dry ditches are preferable to those filled with water, because sallies, retreats, succours, etc. are necessary; but in small fortresses wet ditches that can be drained are the best, as standing in need of no sallies.”
“and now, then, you will please to show us the other drawings of a fortification.”
“yes, boys, you shall see them. here is one; you may understand it pretty well by looking it over. the side of the ditch next the rampart is the escarpe, and the side next the country the counterscarpe.”
a b. level of the ground, or plane of site.
a c. rampart: interior slope of the rampart.
d e. terre-plein of the rampart.
f. banquette.
g. interior slope of the parapet.
h. superior slope of the parapet.
h i. exterior slope of ditto.
s l. revêtement, wall of the escarpe.
p. foundation of the revêtement.
r s. revêtement, wall of the counterscarpe.
s t. terre-plein of the covered way.
c. coping-stone, or cordon.
n. palisading, at the foot of, in the interior slope of the glacis.
z b. glacis.
w. ditch.
131“we must puzzle it out, but it is not quite so plain as the other.”
“true, for it is not an easy thing to make everything clear on paper that belongs to fortification. here is another drawing, showing you the tracing or outline of the works round a fortified place.”
1. bastions. besides which there are the right face of bastions.
2. curtains. right flank
3. main ditch. left face
4. ravelin. left flank
5. ditch of ravelin. flanked angle of the bastion.
6. covered way. shoulder angle of ditto.
7. glacis. curtain angle.
8. tenaille. angle of defence.
9. cap. flanked angle of the ravelin.
“we must look over this by ourselves, and then we shall make it all out, no doubt; but, now, will you tell us how so strong a place is to be taken? we want to know everything belonging to it, so please to be particular.”
“i will do my best to make you understand 132how a fortress is taken. you must remember one thing, that let a place be ever so strong, when closely besieged it must gradually get weaker for want of supplies; whereas the besiegers, having the country open to them, can get supplies of men, provisions, and everything else they require.”
“ay, that gives them a great advantage.”
“there may be said to be four periods in an attack on a fortified place; the first includes all the military arrangements and preparations in the investment of the place; the second includes the opening of the trenches, or first parallel; the third includes the establishment of the second parallel; and the fourth includes the third parallel, with all the hazards and toil of seizing the covered way, of getting across the moat, and of obtaining possession, one after another, of all the works of the enemy.”
“what do you mean by the investment of the place?”
“i will tell you. when a fortified place is to be attacked, it is necessary to surround it with troops, so as to prevent the place from holding communication with, or getting supplies from their allies, or from the neighbouring country. it is often the case, too, that the besiegers form two sets of fortified lines, and pitch their camp, for security, between them. the line that faces the country is called the line of circumvallation, and 133the other line, facing the fortified place, is called that of countervallation; but you will understand it better by this drawing.”
“we begin to understand a little more about it now.”
“jones, in his ‘sieges in spain,’ says: ‘to ensure the reduction of a fortress, a fully equipped siege army is absolutely necessary; and any deficiency, especially in the engineer or artillery departments, must assuredly involve an unnecessary loss of life; to save men, science and materials must be brought into play.’ vauban’s invaluable maxim should ever be kept in view, ‘never attempt anything at a siege by open force which may be gained by art and labour.’ in many cases a fortified place may be taken by investment or blockade alone, for if it be not well supplied with provisions, and cannot obtain them, it must of necessity capitulate or surrender.”
134“yes! that is clear enough, or they would all of them be soon starved to death.”
“well do i remember, when the duke of wellington—he was a marquis then—blockaded pamplona, in spain. he was about to besiege the place, but when he and sir richard fletcher came to reconnoitre, they found that it was too strong for them; a sufficient number of troops could not be spared to reduce it, even if they had had ordnance, stores, and materials sufficient for the purpose, which they had not.”
“there were a great many soldiers inside the place, perhaps?”
“the garrison was considerable; but besides that the works were strong, and in good order. there were at least two hundred pieces of ordnance ready to play on the besiegers, and the city was defended on one side by the river, and covered on the other by the citadel. the siege was given up, and a blockade established instead.”
“and how was the blockade managed?”
“in a most masterly way. and wellington gave a proof how well he could change his tactics when necessary, and act in the most efficient manner, according to the circumstances in which he found himself. he confined the garrison, and strengthened his own force, by throwing up works round the place, in the nearest heights, that commanded all the roads and communications with the enemy. there were nine redoubts, garrisoned on favourable 135points, within one thousand five hundred yards, and the remaining force was placed under cover in the villages, or bivouacked out of the range of the fire of the place. marshal soult advanced with a strong force to relieve the place, and penetrated so far as to be within a few miles of it; so that there was every reason to expect an attack from soult, and a desperate sortie from the fortress at the same time, if the latter should be aware that relief was near at hand. yet so well did the british commander provide for the danger, by reinforcing the advanced posts, pushing out chains of sentinels, and keeping the whole blockading force under arms, that not a single communication took place between the fortress and the troops under marshal soult. think, boys, for a moment, of the skill on the part of the commander, and vigilance on the part of the men, to prevent a strong fortress, situated close to its own frontier, from holding the least communication with, or receiving the least information of their friends.”
“and was the place obliged to surrender?”
“it was. let me now describe a bombardment, in few words. a town, city, or fortress, is bombarded by firing bombshells and rockets into it in order to set fire to it, to blow up the powder magazines, to knock down the houses, churches, and other edifices of the place, and to do as much damage as possible, that the place may be compelled to surrender.”
136“why do they fire bombshells, and not common balls?”
“cannon shot are fired to batter down walls and outworks, but bombshells do more damage. when mahomet ii. besieged constantinople in 1453 he battered it with huge stones so large that only four of them could be fired in a day. you must remember, boys, that bombshells and rockets are fired in the air, that they may fall down upon the place attacked, but cannon balls are fired straight. there is a way, it is true, of firing cannon, called ricochet-firing. the gun is loaded with but little powder, and the ball is thrown just over the parapet of the enemy, that it may fall into the works, and roll and bounce, destroying all before it.”
“but why does a bombshell do more mischief than a cannon ball?”
“because it is filled with combustible matter, and has a fuse to it, so that after sinking into the ground, which it does on account of the great height from which it falls, it bursts to pieces with great force, tearing up and destroying everything around it.”
“we understand now. a cannon ball is bad enough, but a bombshell must be dreadful.”
“as a fuller account of a siege and a storming party will be given you before i have done, it will be enough now to say, that to besiege a place is to encamp an army before it with the design to take 137it; and to storm a place is to enter it by force, breaking through all opposition.”
“a storming party must be a desperate affair, and a soldier had need have the heart of a lion.”
“true, boys, a soldier has need of a firm heart to go through what he has to endure; he is expected to be cool in the hottest engagement; to fire steadily though up to his knees in water; and to stand at ease, when required, under the galling grape-shot of an enemy’s battery.”