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.”
“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 brass. 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 better 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.”
[Illustration]
“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, so 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.”
“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.”
[Illustration]
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.
“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.”
[Illustration]
1. Bastions. Besides Right face }
2. Curtains. which Right flank } of bastions.
3. Main ditch. there Left face }
4. Ravelin. are Left flank }
5. Ditch of ravelin. the 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 how 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 the other line, facing the fortified
place, is called that of _countervallation_; but you will understand it
better by this drawing.”
[Illustration]
“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.”
“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 points, 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.”
“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 it; 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.”
[Illustration]