During the defense, the architecture of the fortress played a decisive role. Location, walls, equipment - all this determined how successful the assault would be, and whether it was worth undertaking at all.

Athenian long walls

After the victory in the Greco-Persian wars, Athens began to flourish. For protection from an external enemy, the huge city was covered with a fortress wall, not only surrounding the city, but also protecting the path to the main sea gate of Athens - the port of Piraeus. The long walls, built in a short time, stretched for six kilometers. Since in the 5th century BC, the supply of Athens with grain was carried out from the colonies of the Northern Black Sea region, it was strategically important to preserve the possibility of supplying the huge city by sea. There was no external threat to Greece at that time, most of the Greek city-states possessed much smaller armies than Athens, and the main probable enemy of the Athenians - the Spartans - were invincible in a field battle, but they did not know how to take fortresses. Therefore, Athens theoretically turned into an impregnable fortress, capable of withstanding a long-term siege, with no prospects for the enemy to seize the city. In fact, it turned out to be so - in order to defeat Athens, Sparta had to build a fleet, and only after the sea routes were blocked, Athens was forced to surrender. Under the terms of the civilian, the inhabitants of the city were forced to destroy the walls, which were later restored and finally destroyed only in the Roman era.

Castle Krak des Chevaliers

In the Middle Ages, when small armies of several tens, hundreds and extremely rarely thousands of people fought against each other, powerful stone walls surrounded by a moat were practically impregnable. Long sieges, requiring colossal exertion of forces, were also rarely practiced. Only in cinematography and a number of works of fiction can one find a dashing description of the storming of a medieval castle. In reality, this task is difficult and extremely difficult. One of the most powerful fortresses of the Crusaders on the territory of modern Syria was the castle of Krak de Chevalier. Through the efforts of the Hospitaller Order, a wall from 3 to 30 meters thick was erected, reinforced with seven towers. In the 13th century, the castle had a garrison of up to 2,000 people and a huge amount of reserves that made it possible to withstand a long siege. The Krak de Chevalier was practically impregnable, repeatedly repelling the onslaught of the enemy .. It was besieged more than once, but always unsuccessfully. Only in 1271 the fortress was taken, however, not by storm, but only with the help of military cunning.

San Elmo. Malta

By the middle of the 16th century, the stronghold of the Knights of Malta was an imposing fortress. It was surrounded by a system of fortified walls with bastions, and the batteries had the ability to crossfire, causing significant damage to the attackers. To destroy the fortress, it was necessary to systematically bombard it with artillery fire. The Maltese fleet was safely sheltered in the inner harbor behind the line of the Borgo city defenses. The narrow entrance to the bay was blocked by a massive chain. In 1565, when the Turks attempted to seize the fortress, the garrison consisted of 540 knights, 1,300 mercenaries, 4,000 sailors and several hundred inhabitants of Malta. The siege army of the Turks numbered up to 40 thousand people. During the battles, the Turks, at the cost of colossal losses, managed to take Fort San Elmo, but later they had to abandon their attempts to storm other fortifications of the fortress and lift the siege.

Shusha

The security of a fortress does not always depend on the massiveness of its walls and defensive structures. An advantageous location can negate any numerical superiority of the siege army. For example, as in the case of the Shusha fortress in Karabakh, which was defended by Russian troops in 1826. The citadel, erected practically on sheer cliffs, was virtually impregnable. The only way to the fortress was a winding path, which was perfectly shot from the fortress, and two guns installed along it could repel any attempt to approach the gate with buckshot. In 1826 Shusha withstood a 48-day siege by the 35,000-strong Persian army. Two assault attempts were repulsed with huge losses for the besiegers. The peculiarities of the position of the fortress did not allow the enemy to completely block the tiny fortress, which received food from the outside. It is noteworthy that during the siege the garrison of the fortress lost only 12 people killed and 16 missing.

Bobruisk fortress

By the beginning of the Patriotic War of 1812, the Bobruisk fortress was considered new and one of the strongest on the western borders of the Russian Empire. The main defensive line of the fortress included 8 bastions. The four thousandth garrison was armed with 337 guns, huge reserves of gunpowder and food. The enemy could never be sure of the success of the frontal assault, and the long siege meant that the fortress was fulfilling its main role - to delay the enemy and gain time. In the Patriotic War of 1812, the Bobruisk fortress withstood a months-long blockade, being in the deep rear of the Napoleonic army throughout the war. The 16-thousandth Polish detachment carrying out the siege, after several unsuccessful clashes, limited itself only to the blockade of the Bobruisk fortress, abandoning the assault attempts.

You write about the baron in the castle - if only you can imagine how the castle was heated, how it was ventilated, how it was illuminated ...
From an interview with G.L. Oldie

At the word “castle”, the image of a majestic fortress arises in our imagination - the hallmark of the fantasy genre. There is hardly any other architectural structure that would attract so much attention from historians, experts in military affairs, tourists, writers and fans of “fairytale” fantasy.

We play computer games, board games and role-playing games where we have to explore, build or capture impregnable castles. But do we know what these fortifications really are? What interesting stories are associated with them? What do the stone walls hide behind them - witnesses of entire eras, grandiose battles, knightly nobility and vile betrayal?

Surprisingly, the fact is that the fortified dwellings of feudal lords in different parts of the world (Japan, Asia, Europe) were built according to very similar principles and had many common design features. But this article will focus primarily on medieval European feudal fortresses, since they served as the basis for the creation of a mass artistic image of the “medieval castle” as a whole.

The birth of a fortress

The Middle Ages in Europe were a turbulent time. Feudal lords on any occasion arranged small wars among themselves - or rather, not even wars, but, in modern language, armed "showdowns". If a neighbor had money, it had to be taken away. Lots of land and peasants? This is simply indecent, because God commanded to share. And if knightly honor is offended, then here it was simply impossible to do without a small victorious war.

Under such circumstances, the large aristocratic landowners had no choice but to strengthen their homes with the expectation that one fine day neighbors may come to visit them, whom they do not feed with bread - let someone kill them.

Initially, these fortifications were made of wood and did not in any way resemble the castles known to us - except that a moat was dug in front of the entrance and a wooden palisade was placed around the house.

The courtyards of Hasterknaup and Elmendorv are the ancestors of castles.

However, progress did not stand still - with the development of military affairs, the feudal lords had to modernize their fortifications so that they could withstand a massive assault using stone cannonballs and rams.

The European castle has its roots in antiquity. The earliest structures of this kind were copied from Roman military camps (tents surrounded by a palisade). It is generally accepted that the tradition of building gigantic (by the standards of that time) stone structures began with the Normans, and classical castles appeared in the 12th century.

The besieged castle of Mortan (withstood the siege for 6 months).

Very simple requirements were imposed on the castle - it must be inaccessible to the enemy, provide observation of the area (including the nearest villages belonging to the owner of the castle), have its own source of water (in case of a siege) and perform representative functions - that is, show the power and wealth of the feudal lord.

Beaumari Castle, owned by Edward I.

welcome

We make our way to the castle, which stands on a ledge of a mountain slope at the edge of a fertile valley. The road goes through a small settlement - one of those that usually grew up near the fortress wall. Simple people live here - mostly artisans, and warriors guarding the outer perimeter of protection (in particular, guarding our road). This is the so-called "castle people".

The scheme of castle structures. Note - there are two gate towers, the largest one stands separately.

The road is laid in such a way that the aliens are always facing the castle with their right side, not covered by a shield. Directly in front of the fortress wall there is a bare plateau, which lies under a significant slope (the castle itself stands on an elevation - natural or embankment). The vegetation is not high here so that there is no cover for the attackers.

The first obstacle is a deep ditch, and in front of it is a shaft of excavated earth. The moat can be transverse (separating the castle wall from the plateau), or crescent-shaped, curved forward. If the landscape permits, the moat surrounds the entire castle in a circle.

Sometimes ditches were dug inside the castle, making it difficult for the enemy to move around its territory.

The bottom near the ditches could be V-shaped and U-shaped (the latter is the most common). If the soil under the castle is rocky, then the ditches were either not made at all, or they were cut down to a shallow depth that only impeded the advance of the infantry (it is almost impossible to dig under the castle wall in the rock - therefore the depth of the ditch was not decisive).

The crest of an earthen rampart, lying directly in front of the moat (which makes it seem even deeper), often carried a palisade - a fence made of wooden stakes dug into the ground, pointed and tightly fitted to each other.

A bridge over the moat leads to the outer wall of the castle. Depending on the size of the moat and bridge, the latter supports one or more supports (huge logs). The outer part of the bridge is fixed, but the last section of it (right next to the wall) is movable.

The scheme of the entrance to the castle: 2 - gallery on the wall, 3 - drawbridge, 4 - lattice.

Counterweights on the gate lift.

Castle gate.

This drawbridge is designed so that in an upright position it covers the gate. The bridge is propelled by mechanisms hidden in the building above them. Ropes or chains run from the bridge to the hoisting machines through the wall openings. To facilitate the work of the people serving the bridge mechanism, the ropes were sometimes equipped with heavy counterweights, which took some of the weight of this structure onto themselves.

Of particular interest is the bridge, which worked on the principle of a swing (it is called "overturning" or "swinging"). One half of it was inside - lying on the ground under the gate, and the other stretched across the moat. When the inner part rose, blocking the entrance to the castle, the outer one (which sometimes the attackers had already managed to run into) sank down into the moat, where the so-called "wolf's pit" was arranged (sharp stakes dug into the ground), invisible from the side, while the bridge is down.

To enter the castle with the gates closed, there was a side gate next to them, to which a separate ladder was usually laid.

The gates are the most vulnerable part of the castle, usually they were not made directly in its wall, but were arranged in the so-called "gate towers". Most often, the gates were double-winged, and the gates were hammered together from two layers of boards. To protect them from arson from the outside, they were upholstered with iron. At the same time, in one of the doors there was a small narrow door, through which one could only be bent over. In addition to locks and iron bolts, the gate was closed by a transverse beam lying in the wall channel and sliding into the opposite wall. The crossbeam could also be inserted into hook-like slots in the walls. Its main purpose was to protect the gate from being dropped by attackers.

There was usually a descending grate behind the gate. Most often it was made of wood, with the lower ends bound with iron. But there were also iron gratings made of steel four-sided rods. The lattice could descend from a gap in the arch of the portal of the gate, or be behind them (from the inside of the overhead tower), dropping along the grooves in the walls.

The lattice hung on ropes or chains, which in case of danger could be chopped off so that it quickly fell down, blocking the path of the invaders.

Inside the gate tower there were rooms for the guards. They kept watch on the upper platform of the tower, asked the guests about the purpose of their visit, opened the gates, and, if necessary, could strike from a bow all those who passed under them. For this, in the arch of the gate portal there were vertical loopholes, as well as “resin noses” - holes for pouring hot resin on the attackers.

Resin noses.

All on the wall!

The most important defensive element of the castle was the outer wall - high, thick, sometimes on an inclined plinth. Treated stones or bricks formed its outer surface. Inside, it consisted of rubble stone and slaked lime. The walls were placed on a deep foundation, under which it was very difficult to dig a tunnel.

Often double walls were built in castles - a high outer wall and a small inner one. An empty space appeared between them, which received the German name "zwinger". The attackers, overcoming the outer wall, could not take with them additional assault devices (bulky ladders, poles and other things that could not be carried inside the fortress). Once in the zwinger in front of another wall, they became an easy target (for archers, there were small loopholes in the walls of the zwinger).

Zwinger at Laneck Castle.

A gallery for defense soldiers ran along the top of the wall. From the outside of the castle, they were protected by a solid parapet half a man's height, on which stone battlements were regularly located. Behind them you could stand at full height and, for example, load a crossbow. The shape of the teeth was extremely varied - rectangular, rounded, in the form of a swallow's tail, decoratively decorated. In some castles, the galleries were covered (wooden canopy) to protect the warriors from bad weather.

In addition to the battlements, behind which it was convenient to hide, the walls of the castle were equipped with loopholes. The attackers were fired through them. Due to the peculiarities of the use of throwing weapons (freedom of movement and a certain firing position), loopholes for archers were long and narrow, and for crossbowmen they were short, with widening on the sides.

A special type of loophole is a ball loop. It was a freely rotating wooden ball fixed in the wall with a slot for firing.

Pedestrian gallery on the wall.

Balconies (the so-called "mashikuli") were very rarely installed in the walls - for example, in the case when the wall was too narrow for the free passage of several soldiers, and, as a rule, performed only decorative functions.

At the corners of the castle, small towers were erected on the walls, most often flanking (that is, protruding outward), which allowed the defenders to fire along the walls in two directions. In the late Middle Ages, they began to adapt to storage facilities. The inner sides of such towers (facing the castle courtyard) were usually left open so that the enemy who burst into the wall could not gain a foothold inside them.

Flanking corner tower.

Castle from the inside

The internal structure of the locks was diverse. In addition to the aforementioned zwingers, behind the main gate there could be a small rectangular courtyard with loopholes in the walls - a kind of "trap" for the attackers. At times, castles consisted of several “sections” separated by inner walls. But an indispensable attribute of the castle was a large courtyard (outbuildings, a well, premises for servants) and a central tower, also known as “donjon”.

Donjon at the Vincennes castle.

The life of all the inhabitants of the castle directly depended on the presence and location of the well. Problems often arose with him - after all, as mentioned above, castles were built on elevations. The solid rocky ground also did not facilitate the task of supplying water to the fortress. There are known cases of laying castle wells to a depth of more than 100 meters (for example, the Kuffheuser castle in Thuringia or the Königstein fortress in Saxony had wells more than 140 meters deep). It took one to five years to dig the well. In some cases, this consumed as much money as all the internal buildings of the castle were worth.

Due to the fact that water had to be difficult to get from deep wells, issues of personal hygiene and sanitation faded into the background. Instead of washing themselves, people preferred to take care of animals - first of all, expensive horses. It is not surprising that the townspeople and villagers wrinkled their noses in the presence of the inhabitants of the castles.

The location of the water source depended primarily on natural causes. But if there was a choice, the well was dug not in the square, but in a fortified room to provide it with water in case of shelter during a siege. If, due to the peculiarities of the occurrence of groundwater, a well was dug outside the castle wall, then a stone tower was erected above it (if possible, with wooden passages to the castle).

When there was no way to dig a well, a cistern was built in the castle, collecting rainwater from the roofs. Such water needed purification - it was filtered through gravel.

The military garrison of castles in peacetime was minimal. So in 1425, two co-owners of the Reichelsberg castle in the Lower Franconian Auba entered into an agreement that each of them exhibits one armed servant, and two gatekeepers and two guards are paid together.

The castle also had a number of buildings that ensure the autonomous life of its inhabitants in conditions of complete isolation (blockade): a bakery, a steam bath, a kitchen, etc.

Kitchen in the Marksburg castle.

The tower was the tallest structure in the entire castle. She provided the opportunity to observe the surroundings and performed the functions of the last refuge. When the enemy broke through all the lines of defense, the population of the castle took refuge in the keep and withstood a long siege.

The exceptional thickness of the walls of this tower made its destruction almost impossible (in any case, it would take a huge amount of time). The entrance to the tower was very narrow. It was located in a courtyard at a considerable (6-12 meters) height. The wooden staircase leading to the inside could be easily destroyed and thus block the path of the attackers.

Entrance to the keep.

There was sometimes a very high shaft inside the tower, going from top to bottom. She served as either a prison or a warehouse. The entrance to it was possible only through a hole in the vault of the upper floor - “Angstloch” (German - frightening hole). Depending on the purpose of the mine, the winch lowered prisoners or provisions there.

If there were no prison rooms in the castle, then the prisoners were placed in large wooden boxes made of thick boards, too small to stand up to their full height. These boxes could be installed anywhere in the castle.

Of course, they were taken prisoner, first of all, to obtain a ransom or to use the prisoner in a political game. Therefore, VIPs were provided according to the highest class - guarded chambers in the tower were allocated for their maintenance. This is exactly how Friedrich the Handsome "spent his term" in Trausnitz castle on Pfeimd and Richard the Lionheart in Trifels.

Chamber at Marksburg Castle.

The tower of the Abenberg castle (12th century) in section.

At the base of the tower there was a basement, which could also be used as a dungeon, and a kitchen with a pantry. The main hall (dining room, common room) occupied an entire floor and was heated by a huge fireplace (it spread heat only a few meters, so iron baskets with coals were placed further along the hall). Above were the chambers of the feudal lord's family, heated by small stoves.

At the very top of the tower there was an open (less often covered, but if necessary, the roof could be thrown off) platform where a catapult or other throwing weapon could be installed to fire at the enemy. The standard (banner) of the owner of the castle was also hoisted there.

Sometimes the donjon did not serve as living quarters. It could well be used only for military-economic purposes (observation posts on the tower, dungeon, food storage). In such cases, the family of the feudal lord lived in the "palace" - the living quarters of the castle, standing apart from the tower. The palaces were built of stone and had several floors in height.

It should be noted that the living conditions in the castles were far from the most pleasant. Only the largest carpets had a large knightly hall for celebrations. It was very cold in the donjons and rugs. The fireplace heating helped, but the walls were still covered with thick tapestries and carpets - not for decoration, but to keep warm.

The windows let in very little sunlight (the fortification nature of the castle architecture affected), not all of them were glazed. Toilets were arranged in the form of a bay window in the wall. They were unheated, so visiting the sanctuary in winter left people with a unique experience.

Castle toilet.

Concluding our “excursion” around the castle, one cannot fail to mention that there was necessarily a room for worship (temple, chapel) in it. Among the indispensable inhabitants of the castle was a chaplain or priest, who, in addition to his main duties, played the role of a clerk and teacher. In the most modest fortresses, the role of the temple was played by a wall niche, where there was a small altar.

Large temples had two floors. The commoners prayed below, and the gentlemen gathered in a warm (sometimes glazed) choir on the second tier. The decoration of such rooms was rather modest - an altar, benches and wall paintings. Sometimes the temple played the role of a tomb for the family living in the castle. Less commonly, it was used as a refuge (along with the keep).

Many tales are told about underground passages in castles. Of course, there were moves. But only a very few of them led from the castle somewhere to the neighboring forest and could be used as an escape route. As a rule, there were no long moves at all. Most often, there were short tunnels between individual buildings, or from the keep to the complex of caves under the castle (additional shelter, warehouse or treasury).

War on land and underground

Contrary to popular misconceptions, the average size of a military garrison of an ordinary castle during active hostilities rarely exceeded 30 people. This was quite enough for defense, since the inhabitants of the fortress were relatively safe outside its walls and did not suffer such losses as the attackers.

To capture the castle, it was required to isolate it - that is, to block all routes for the supply of food. That is why the attacking armies were much larger than the defending ones - about 150 people (this is true for the war of the middle feudal lords).

The food issue was the most painful. A person can live without water for several days, without food - for about a month (at the same time, one should take into account his low combat effectiveness during a hunger strike). Therefore, the owners of the castle, preparing for a siege, often went to extreme measures - they drove out of its borders all the commoners who could not benefit the defense. As mentioned above, the garrison of the castles was small - it was impossible to feed an entire army under siege conditions.

The inhabitants of the castle rarely launched counterattacks. This simply did not make sense - there were fewer of them than the attackers, and outside the walls they felt much calmer. Food outings are a special case. The latter were carried out, as a rule, at night, in small groups that walked along poorly guarded paths to the nearest villages.

The attackers had no less problems. The siege of castles sometimes stretched out for years (for example, the German Turant defended from 1245 to 1248), so the question of the rear supply of an army of several hundred people arose especially acute.

In the case of the siege of Turanta, chroniclers claim that during all this time, the soldiers of the attacking army drank 300 fuders of wine (a fuder is a huge barrel). This amounts to about 2.8 million liters. Either the scribe made a mistake, or the constant number of besiegers was more than 1,000.

Summer was the most preferred season for starving out the castle - it rains less than in spring or autumn (in winter, the inhabitants of the castle could get water by melting the snow), the harvest was not yet ripe, and the old stocks were already over.

The attackers tried to deprive the castle of a source of water (for example, they built dams on the river). In the most extreme cases, "biological weapons" were used - corpses were thrown into the water, which could provoke outbreaks of epidemics throughout the district. Those inhabitants of the castle who were captured were mutilated and released by the attackers. Those returned back, and became involuntary parasites. In the castle they might not have been accepted, but if they were the wives or children of the besieged, then the voice of the heart outweighed considerations of tactical expediency.

The inhabitants of the surrounding villages who tried to deliver supplies to the castle were treated no less cruelly. In 1161, during the siege of Milan, Friedrich Barbarossa ordered the hands of 25 citizens of Piacenza, who were trying to supply the enemies with provisions, to be cut off.

The besiegers set up a permanent camp near the castle. It also had some of the simplest fortifications (palisades, earthen ramparts) in case of a sudden attack by the defenders of the fortress. For protracted sieges, a so-called "counter-castle" was erected near the castle. Usually it was located higher than the besieged, which made it possible to conduct effective observation of the besieged from its walls and, if the distance allowed, to fire at them from throwing guns.

View of the Eltz castle from the Trutz-Eltz counter-castle.

The war against castles had its own specifics. After all, any more or less high stone fortification represented a serious obstacle for ordinary armies. Direct infantry attacks on the fortress could well have been crowned with success, which, however, came at the cost of great sacrifices.

That is why a whole complex of military measures was necessary for the successful capture of the castle (the siege and starvation was already mentioned above). Undermining was one of the most time-consuming, but at the same time extremely successful ways to overcome the defenses of the castle.

The excavations were made for two purposes - to provide troops with direct access to the courtyard of the castle, or to destroy a section of its wall.

So, during the siege of Altwindstein Castle in Northern Alsace in 1332, a sapper brigade of 80 (!) People took advantage of the diversionary maneuvers of their troops (periodic short attacks on the castle) and for 10 weeks made a long passage in solid rock to the southeastern part of the fortress ...

If the castle wall was not too large and had an unreliable foundation, then a tunnel broke through its base, the walls of which were reinforced with wooden struts. Then the spacers were set on fire - just under the wall. The tunnel collapsed, the base of the foundation sagged, and the wall above this place crumbled to pieces.

Storming the castle (miniature of the 14th century).

Later, with the advent of gunpowder weapons, bombs were planted in the trenches under the castle walls. To neutralize the undermining, the besieged sometimes dug counter-tunnels. Enemy sappers were poured with boiling water, bees were launched into the tunnel, feces were poured there (and in ancient times, the Carthaginians launched live crocodiles into Roman tunnels).

Curious devices were used to detect the trenches. For example, large copper bowls with balls inside were placed throughout the castle. If a ball in any bowl began to tremble, it was a sure sign that a tunnel was under way nearby.

But the main argument in the attack on the castle was siege machines - catapults and battering rams. The first ones were not much different from those catapults that were used by the Romans. These attachments were equipped with a counterweight to give the throwing arm the greatest force. With the proper skill of the "gun crew", the catapults were quite accurate weapons. They threw large, smoothly hewn stones, and the range of the battle (on average - several hundred meters) was regulated by the weight of the shells.

A type of catapult is a trebuchet.

Sometimes barrels filled with combustible materials were loaded into the catapults. To deliver a couple of pleasant minutes to the defenders of the castle, catapults threw the severed heads of prisoners to them (especially powerful machines could throw even whole corpses over the wall).

Storming the castle with a mobile tower.

In addition to the usual ram, pendulum ones were also used. They were fixed on high mobile frames with a canopy and were a log suspended from a chain. The besiegers hid inside the tower and swung the chain, forcing the log to hit the wall.

In response, the besieged lowered a rope from the wall, at the end of which steel hooks were fixed. With this rope, they caught the ram and tried to lift it up, depriving it of mobility. Sometimes a gape soldier could get caught on such hooks.

Having overcome the rampart, breaking the palisades and filling up the moat, the attackers either stormed the castle using stairs or used tall wooden towers, the upper platform of which was level with the wall (or even higher). These gigantic structures were doused with water to prevent arson by the defenders and rolled up to the castle along the plank flooring. A heavy platform was thrown onto the wall. The assault group climbed up the inner staircase, went out onto the platform and with a fight invaded the gallery of the fortress wall. This usually meant that in a couple of minutes the lock would be taken.

Silent glanders

Sapa (from the French sape, literally - a hoe, saper - to dig) - a method of fragments of a ditch, trench or tunnel to approach its fortifications, used in the 16-19 centuries. Known flap (quiet, secretive) and flying glanders. The work was carried out with a cross-over ditch from the bottom of the initial ditch without the workers coming to the surface, and the volatile work was carried out from the surface of the earth under the cover of a previously prepared protective embankment made of barrels and sacks of earth. In the second half of the 17th century, engineers appeared in the armies of a number of countries to carry out such work.

The expression to act "quietly" means: sneak, walk slowly, unnoticed, penetrate somewhere.

Fights on the stairs of the castle

From one floor of the tower, one could get to another only by a narrow and steep spiral staircase. The ascent along it was carried out only one after another - it was so narrow. At the same time, the warrior who walked first could only rely on his own ability to fight, for the steepness of the turn of the loop was selected in such a way that it was impossible to act with a spear or long sword from behind the leader. Therefore, the battles on the stairs were reduced to a single combat between the defenders of the castle and one of the attackers. Precisely the defenders, because they could easily replace each other, since a special extended area was located behind them.

All locks have clockwise staircases. There is only one reverse-twist lock - the fortress of the Wallenstein Counts. When studying the history of this genus, it was found that most of the men in it were left-handed. Thanks to this, historians realized that such a design of the stairs greatly facilitates the work of the defenders. The most powerful blow with the sword can be applied to the side of your left shoulder, and the shield in the left hand best covers the body from this direction. All these advantages are available only to the defender. The attacker can only strike to the right side, but his striking hand will be pressed against the wall. If he puts the shield forward, he will almost lose the ability to operate with a weapon.

Samurai castles

Himeji Castle.

The least we know about exotic castles - for example, Japanese.

Initially, samurai and their overlords lived in their estates, where, apart from the watchtower “yagura” and a small moat around the dwelling, there were no other defensive structures. In the event of a protracted war, fortifications were erected in hard-to-reach areas of the mountains, where it was possible to defend against superior enemy forces.

Stone castles began to be built at the end of the 16th century, taking into account European achievements in fortification. An indispensable feature of the Japanese castle is the wide and deep artificial ditches with steep slopes that surrounded it from all sides. Usually they were filled with water, but sometimes this function was performed by a natural water barrier - a river, lake, swamp.

Inside, the castle was a complex system of defensive structures, consisting of several rows of walls with courtyards and gates, underground corridors and labyrinths. All these structures were located around the honmaru central square, on which the feudal lord's palace and the high central tenshukaku tower were erected. The latter consisted of several, gradually decreasing upward, rectangular tiers with protruding tiled roofs and pediments.

Japanese castles were usually small - about 200 meters long and 500 meters wide. But among them there were also real giants. So, Odawara Castle occupied an area of ​​170 hectares, and the total length of its walls reached 5 kilometers, which is twice the length of the walls of the Moscow Kremlin.

The charm of antiquity

Castles are still under construction. Those of them that were in state ownership are often returned to the descendants of ancient clans. Castles are a symbol of the influence of their owners. They are an example of an ideal compositional solution, which combines fusion (defense considerations did not allow the picturesque distribution of buildings across the territory), multi-level buildings (main and secondary) and the ultimate functionality of all components. Elements of the castle architecture have already become archetypes - for example, a castle tower with battlements: its image sits in the subconscious of any more or less educated person.

French castle Saumur (14th century miniature).

Finally, we love castles because they are simply romantic. Knightly tournaments, receptions, dastardly conspiracies, secret passages, ghosts, treasures - in relation to castles, all this ceases to be a legend and turns into history. The expression “walls remember” fits perfectly here: it seems that every stone of the castle breathes and hides a secret. I would like to believe that medieval castles will continue to preserve an aura of mystery - after all, without it, they will sooner or later turn into an old heap of stones.

Trench cavalier- a siege building, proposed by Vauban in 1684, K. t. was assimilated when the besiegers approached, in the middle of the latter, on the right and left, on the continuation. It consisted of 3 high tiers. The breastwork adapted to the rifle defense and made it possible to fire on the covered path with inclined fire and drive out the defender from there. The prototype of K. t. Was used in ancient wars during sieges.

Caucasian fortification- the term appeared during the conquest of the Caucasus in the 19th century. and established itself, although not completely, in the military engineering literature. It was understood as the leading combat and technical data for the construction of fortifications in the Caucasus during the conquest of this region. caused by the mountainous nature of the Caucasus, the characteristics of a slow and stubborn war with the mountaineers and the nature of the tactics and weapons of the latter. K. f. was reduced to the construction of fortifications consisting of residential buildings and high walls connecting them. adapted to the defense. Particular attention was paid to the mutual flank defense of individual units. Inside the fortification, it was necessarily erected from stone defensive structures.

Defensive barracks- barracks, adapted for defense and safe from siege artillery fire. They were multi-storey (2 - 3 floors) stone or brick buildings with thick walls and vaults. artillery adapted for the action of them. They settled on 1 - 2 guns, acting through large, in peacetime, covered with shields. NS. were built in all fortifications of independent importance, forming independent general and private and. They were often placed in a gorge (). Sometimes the defensive barracks were multi-storey ones. With the advent of heavy siege artillery already at the end of the 19th century. lost their meaning.

Casemated fire structures- long-term and field fortifications, erected from reinforced concrete and stone on a solution (in the latter case, with an overlap of iron beams) and giving protection from a whole projectile.

Casemated buildings- cm. .

Casemated flanks- cm. .

Casemates- premises safe from heavy artillery fire and located in. Premises in the walls of fortresses of ancient times are a prototype of K.. The proposal in the literature of the first rational K. belongs to Albrecht Dürer in 1524. In practice, in Russia, K. were built much earlier and were called either Pechuras. To. Are divided into defensive and protective. Defensive weapons include cannon and machine-gun small arms deployed in fortresses; to the security ones - powder magazines, living quarters for people, shelters for guns and machine guns, etc.

Stone town (Kamen town)- the original name of the ancient Russian, built of stone.

Stone throwers (stone throwing land mines)- an obstacle. They were arranged in the form of a pit, like an inclined truncated pyramid. with a propelling explosive charge of about 25 kg, covered with a wooden shield and covered with a stone (about 1.5 - 2 m3). The land mine is camouflaged and explodes electrically or with fire. For the first time K. were used by the Swedes during the siege of Kostnitsa in 1633.

Capital- an imaginary line bisecting the outgoing and incoming corners. The outgoing corners are of great importance, since in its direction in front of the apex of the corner there is a so-called non-defensive or weakly defended sector that does not have a frontal defense. At present, owing to the presence of automatic long-range weapons, the weak side of the K. is significantly compensated by the possibility of creating a crossfire in front of the outgoing angle.

Caponier- a flanking structure giving fire in two opposite directions. To. Are casemated, armored and open; the last two types are used in, and the first - mainly in. In under K. was meant a casemated defensive structure at the bottom of a fortress ditch, adjacent to and intended for longitudinal shelling of the ditch with cannon fire, machine-gun fire. For shelling approaches to the neighboring ones were made, located in.

Caponier system- a system consisting of a combination.

Caponier front- the former name of the serf, which received a flank defense of the ditch from, located in the middle of the line of the landfill, along which the ditches went, and adjoined to.

Castra- a Roman fortified camp.

Castramemetation(Latin castra - camp and metor - I measure) is an old term that fell out of use back in the 19th century. and denoting the art of choosing places for camps of troops to provide them with fortifications and barriers from enemy attack. Initially, K. as a department of military art appeared among the ancient Persians and Greeks, and reached particular development in ancient Rome. In the Middle Ages, K. as a military art disappeared, and camps were erected in the most primitive way. In the 16th century, since the time of Gustav-Adolphus, this art is revived again, and in the 19th century, with a change in the nature of armies and the art of war itself, it completely disappears.

Catapult- a throwing machine of the ancient and middle ages, before the invention of firearms, used for mounted shooting. K. consisted of two frames - horizontal and vertical, firmly attached to the end of the first frame. At the base of the vertical frame was a bundle of twisted wires, into which a lever with a spoon on top was inserted for the projectile. For throwing, the lever was pulled back with a collar or rope to a horizontal position, and a stone was placed in the spoon. After releasing the lever, the latter with force, under the action of twisted veins, hit the crossbar of the vertical frame and threw a projectile. Large K. - - threw stones weighing 150 kg at 600 steps, small - bleeds - stones up to 30 kg at 1200 steps. Small K. survived until the 14th - 15th centuries. and at this time they were used on a par with the first firearms.

Cataract- a lowering lattice for closing the gates of the ancient and middle ages.

Roller armored tower- cm. .

Column barriers of Totleben- cm. .

Cap- a monolithic or prefabricated element made of reinforced concrete or metal, fixedly installed on a wooden or stone base. Designed for fire weapons or surveillance and protects against shrapnel, bullets and mines. Depending on the material, ferroconcrete and metal (armored) are distinguished.

Barbed wire- a special type of wire used for the device. There are several types of K. p. - two-strand, single-strand, round and square section. In a single strand, a piece of wire with pointed ends is wound on a wire thread, in a double strand, it is woven between two strands. The ends of these pieces are cut at an acute angle. K. p. Appeared at the end of the XIX century. for agricultural needs - fences, hedges. During the Anglo-Boer War of 1899 - 1902. the Boers first used it as an obstacle; after them, the British began to use it. This wire was widely used in the Russo-Japanese War. It is currently one of the main anti-personnel obstacles.

Command post- the area where the commander is located with the main part of the headquarters and the means of communication, from where he controls a battle or an operation, is equipped in engineering terms to ensure the work of control bodies and to protect against ground and air attacks.

Fortification Command- exceeding their line of fire (ridge) over the local horizon or the ridge of the parapet of another structure in front. Currently, the term is rarely used.

Counter-requests- at first, they meant all fortifications that the besieged (,, etc.) erected in addition to with the aim of countering the advance () of the enemy. K. a. as a means of active struggle contributed to the duration and stubbornness of the defense, to which the defense of Sevastopol in 1854 - 55. is brilliant proof. At the end of the XIX century. under K. and. began to understand mainly the broad, which were led towards the attacker. For the first time K. and. were used in 1592 by Villard in the defense of Rouen.

Counter-batteries- siege cannon batteries, set up by the attacker at the fortress against the flanks to destroy the flank moats.

Counter-roll line(Latin contra - against, vallare - to strengthen) - an uninterrupted line of fortifications, erected in the ancient and Middle Ages by the besiegers to ensure against attacks from the side and the breakthrough of the garrison from the fortress. The line of fortifications usually consisted of a continuous ditch with a rampart and towers or towers located at a certain distance from each other.

Counterguard(French contre-garde - to protect something from any attempts) - in the form of a rampart, armed with artillery and located in the moat in front of the fronts.

Counter-mine system- a set with connecting sleeves and ramifications, located in front of individual fortifications or sections, for the defense of the nearest approaches to them with mines.

Kremlin- Old Russian, the internal fortification of Russian cities, built of stone with thick walls and towers, more often located than on the outer walls.

Skeleton Fortresses- cm. .

Rampart- Earthworks. which, before the appearance, was surrounded by the whole, and after - the core of the fortress. Its purpose was to serve, together with the moat, as an obstacle for the assaults, to give superiority to the command of the fortress artillery over the enemy, the convenience of shelling the surrounding terrain and siege operations of the enemy, and to cover the interior of the fortress from longitudinal fire. Consisted of, and a number of additional structures. It also bore the name of the main rampart - in the event that there were additional ramparts, such as a lowered rampart located in front.

Fortress polygon (fortress polygon)- a polygon along the sides of which they are located. The sides of the polygon are called the polygon line; corners. formed by them, by the corners of the polygon, and straight lines. dividing the corners in half, - with capitals of the corners of the polygon.

Serf front- a combination of long-term strengthening faces (), which have an independent flank defense of the ditches. The fronts, depending on the nature of the flanking, are divided into bastion, tonal, polygonal (or caponier) and cremalier.

Fortress bars- vertical in the form of iron bars made of rods up to 5 m high, installed on, and in ditches on a concrete foundation as an obstacle for storming.

Fortress- there are the following definitions of K. a) K. is a fortified position of a long-term nature, allowing to defend a given strategic point with the smallest forces against the superior forces of the enemy and, even in peacetime, equipped with everything necessary for its defense, stubborn and completely independent; b) Cavalry — a harmonious combination of troops, command and control, weapons, reserves, and long-term fortifications, always ready for battle. adapted for the independent defense of a given point of military importance, with small forces against the superior forces of the enemy until the end of the war; c) Kazakhstan — a strategic point fortified by means of long-term fortification and supplied with a permanent garrison, weapons, supplies, and command and control.

K. as a fortification element of general measures for the protection of territory and borders is known in ancient times. The pharaohs of ancient Egypt and the kings of Babylon built fortifications along the borders. K. consisted of high walls, sometimes in several rows, with high towers, which most closely corresponded to the art of siege of that time. In the era of feudalism, Kazakhstan disappears as an element of border defense, but the entire territory of the country is covered by and. The rebirth of Kazakhstan is wholly connected with the emergence of absolutist states, which liquidated feudal fragmentation.

The appearance of artillery changed the nature of the fortification of Kiev: high walls and towers disappeared, and in their place earthen ramparts appeared, covering the low walls, which had a bastion, then tonal and polygonal outline. However, K. were still confined to a small area of ​​the city, surrounded by a continuous fence. Similar types of battle corresponded both to the size of the armies of the 17th - 18th centuries and to the art of war of that time.

The emergence of mass armies (early 19th century) showed that these colonies did not correspond to the new principles of military art and the very size of armies, which freely left them in their rear and allocated small detachments for their siege. For the new conditions, a new form of K. was needed.This form was the K., consisting of a core (old K.) and a belt of separate fortifications (), carried forward several kilometers, and received the name. The rudiments of fort K. first appeared in Russia under Peter I in Kronstadt. The new idea was theoretically substantiated by the French engineer Montalembert at the end of the 18th century. In Russia, the word "fortress" appears for the first time in the 17th century, but only in the meaning of material means for strengthening fortified points, and in the 18th century. it is replaced by the name “fortified permanent site”.

The development of artillery in the second half of the 19th century. - its range and destructiveness of action - forced to increase the diameter of K., erect a second belt of fortifications and start strengthening. Before the First World War 1914 - 18 K. were divided as follows: or maneuverable K., which served as a support for the maneuvering of the field army; small K. or K.-outposts - several separate forts that made up one group whose task was to cover only this point from the capture of the fort-outpost - K., which consisted of one fortification, the task of which was the same as for K. -forcing. but in secondary areas of the war.

In addition, large fortresses also had the following gradation: K. of normal location, when the radius of the fortress did not exceed 5 - 6 km; K. close location - with a smaller radius; K. wide location - with a large radius, in which there were two belts of external fortifications - the inner one from the forts and the outer one from and.

World War 1914-18 showed that although to a certain extent the K. played their role, but as an element of the fortification preparation of the borders, they no longer matched the massive, millions-strong armies equipped with the most advanced military equipment, and they were replaced. However, the Great Patriotic War showed that closed forms of circular defense of large areas under certain conditions can still find application, therefore the term K. with a changed content may reappear.

Outpost fortress- cm. .

Fortress camp- the name at the time when it was looked at as a refuge for a broken army. After the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 - 71, when the insolvency of such an appointment became clear, the name of a maneuverable fortress appeared as a support for the action of a field army.

Fortress of normal location- cm. .

Stronghold close location- cm. .

Fortress of wide location- cm. .

Chrome- An ancient Russian term meaning the outer defensive wall of fortified cities.

The crown of the parapet- a term used in the 18th and 19th centuries. and is currently out of use. It meant the highest point or line of intersection of the planes of the parapet slope and its internal slope. This line was also called the covering line, the top of the parapet and the crest of the parapet.

Crown-werk(German kronwerk - crown-shaped fortification) - external, which served to strengthen and consisted of one bastion and two half-bastions on the sides, giving it the appearance of a crown. where the name comes from. It was first used in Holland during the War of Independence in the 16th - 17th centuries, when the haste to erect fortifications, in the absence of stone, made it necessary to compensate for the lack of strength of buildings by their number, and, consequently, by the depth of defense.

Covered glanders- Acceptance of work on a fragment or, in which a covering of boards, fence posts, etc. is immediately made over an open area, and thus a covered passage is formed behind the workers. It was first used by the Spaniards during the siege of Haarlem in 1572.

Destroyer hook- the destructive machine of the ancients. It was a long wooden bar with an iron hook attached to one end, which was suspended by ropes from a high narrow frame mounted on a cart. It was used to tear off the battlements and other covers from the walls.

Couvre-fas(French couvrir - to cover, face - face) - a building in the middle of the moat in the form of a long narrow fortification, covering the faces from destruction by enemy artillery, hence the name.

Curtain(Italian curitne - curtain) - a section of the fortress fence between two adjacent or between two towers.

Ditch- a deep ditch in the middle of the bottom of dry fortress ditches for drainage of water, up to 4 - 6 m wide and up to 2 m deep. It was usually filled with water and served as an additional obstacle to the attacker. It is also called kyunet.

Notes:

Abshnit(German Abschnitt - segment) - an auxiliary fortress in the form of a rampart with a moat in front, which made it possible to continue the defense after that. how the enemy occupied the main shaft (see), and fire on the interior of the latter. The term "abshnit" appeared in our country in the 18th century. and did not exist for long; has been replaced by the term.

Acropolis(Greek acros - upper and polis - city) - an internal fortification in ancient Greek cities, usually located in the upper part of the city. Played a role.

Active flooding- cm. .

Albanian stone thrower- anti-assault infantry, used for defense in mountainous conditions and consisted of stones laid on a steep and held on it by logs parallel to the breastwork. To bring the artillery into action, the rope or rope holding the logs was chopped off - the stones rolled down and crushed the attacker.

Embarkation point(French embarcation - transport and other small sea vessels) - a section of the sea coast occupied and fortified by the landing force in order to facilitate and ensure the arriving expeditionary force landing on the enemy coast and its further advance inland, and in case of failure - to cover its retreat and boarding back to ships. At the present time it is called the landing and not entirely successfully - a bridgehead or fortification (see).

Embrasure(French embrasure - loophole, window hole in the wall, expanding into the room) - a horizontal cutout in or in the wall of the fortification of such a size and shape that the muzzle of a gun or other means of fire could enter it. turn to the sides and, if necessary, lower and raise to the required angles. It looks like a truncated pyramid, usually facing outward with a wide base. The lower surface of A. is called, the lateral surfaces are called the cheeks A. The part of the embankment or wall below A., between its sole and the horizon of the position of the tool, is called chair A. The narrowest part of A. is called A. neck. See also.

Embrasure barrier- a device for protecting the gun crew from enemy rifle fire directed at, and for masking the latter.

Anvelop(French enveloppe - wrapper) - external, used in the era of smooth-bore artillery to cover the escarp walls (see) dry and the main shaft (see) from destruction by enemy artillery fire from. A. was located directly behind and surrounded by a continuous line one or more fronts of the fortress fence. An outer moat was arranged in front of the artillery of the same depth as the moat of the main rampart, but of a smaller width and with its longitudinal defense. A. was especially developed in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Anchor(French ancre - anchor) - a device for keeping embankments from collapsing under the influence of earth pressure. Consists of a sharpened stake about 1 m long () and braces made of rope, wire or two intertwined. The guy line with one end is grabbed by the stake of clothing, and with the other it is tightly attracted to the anchor stake, firmly driven in behind the line of the natural slope of the given soil, usually at a distance of at least 1.5 depths of the pit being worn.

Ensemble(French ensemble - together) - large groups tied together by one tactical task and a single fortification solution. Erected on the northeastern borders of France (on the "Lipny Maginot"). Artillery, occupying each area of ​​about 1 km 2, were equipped with firing structures of the type of reinforced concrete cannon and machine-gun and, armored machine-gun and gun mounts and armored observation posts, interconnected by deeply laid underground communications and enclosed and. Deep underground barracks were erected for the garrison of A., a command post, a power station, warehouses, etc. A. were created at points that are decisive in an operational sense and were supposed to have great firepower. The "Maginot Line" was bypassed by the Germans in 1940 and therefore was not fully tested in combat conditions.

Enfilade fire(French enfilade - cannon salvo along the ship) - shooting in the direction of the fortification faces with the aim of knocking out guns located nearby. Represents the development of the Vauban ricochet fire. With the introduction of and for guns, it turned into flip-flop for guns. This term is currently not used.

Anfiling- application.

Ramp(French apparelle - entrance) - a shallow earthen dump for communication and for dragging guns onto high embankments, used instead of a ladder. A. is also called gentle slopes into various ditches, trenches, shelters, etc.

Aproshi(French approcher - to approach) - wide, erected by the attacker at the fortress to move forward and for safe communication between. For for. longitudinal fire shields from the fortress of A. were carried out in zigzags. moreover, in places of turns, each knee slightly went behind the one lying behind, forming dead ends or turns. Work on the construction of the A. was carried out mainly at night or as a cross-over. A. were first used by the British in the Hundred Years War in 1418 during the siege of Rouen and by the French in 1420 during the siege of Melun. Russian name A. -.

Arcobalista (toxobalista)(lat. arcus - arc, ballo - to throw) - of the ancient and middle ages, resembling large crossbows in its structure. A long bow, up to 3.5 m, wooden or iron, was attached to a frame located on a pair of large-diameter wheels: the bowstring was pulled by a collar attached to the frame. Shooting was carried out with ordinary arrows and stone or lead balls. It was transported with the troops.

Artillery shaft- cm. .

Artillery glacis- a glasis-shaped embankment (see), erected between the forts and adapted for setting up fortress guns behind them in wartime, and at a certain distance from each other there were niches for shells and charges. It was proposed for the first time by Totleben on the basis of the experience of the defense of Sevastopol in 1854 - 55.

Artillery trench- a gun platform buried in the ground to a certain depth, surrounded by a low one. Serves to protect the gun crew from destruction and better concealment of the gun. For pulling in and out of the gun, it is arranged behind; in the parapet there is an open one, and on the sides there are ditches for numbers and niches for ammunition.

Rearguard positions- positions intended to facilitate the retreat of the main forces in marching (and that in battle) order. They were used until the First World War 1914-18.

Boolean Well Attack- the destruction of the enemy, not by counter-mines, but from above, from the surface of the earth, -. It is possible only when the enemy is completely careless and in special terrain conditions (invisibility of work for the enemy).

Afghan towers- small fortifications of a round shape, located on hills, with a fence made of a dry-folded stone wall with a stone or wooden wall adjoined to it from the inside. On the wall at the top, teeth were laid out from stone or bags of earth. The entrance to the fortification was blocked by a small moat with an easily disassembled bridge. Inside there was a wooden barrack for the garrison. They were used by the British for forward posts during the war with Afghanistan in 1877-1880. They got their name for their resemblance to the same fortifications in Afghan villages.

Bakul- the name of the ancient lifting fortress gates at the entrances to or to a separate independent part of the fortress.

Balista(Latin ballista - projectile) - ancient, driven by the elasticity of twisted bundles of veins. B. was a long wooden trough, mounted on wheels or on a special frame. A transverse frame with bundles of veins stretched along its edges was attached to the end of the groove, into which it was inserted along the lever. Both levers were connected with a bowstring. A slider was attached to the latter in the middle, sliding along the trough. The slider was pulled back with the help of the gate, then lowered from the gate, under the influence of tension from the twisted veins, it rushed forward with force. A projectile in the form of a stone or arrow received a strong blow from the slider and flew out of the trough. B. first appeared apparently among the Phoenicians in the 4th - 3rd centuries. BC e., and then passed to the Greeks and Romans.

Balistaria (balistiers)- personnel serving throwing siege machines. In Russia collars corresponded to them.

Bank(French banc - bench) - part above the field fortifications. When the shooting was carried out not through, but over the parapet, it was called "shooting through the bank."

Banquet(French banquette - attack) - an embankment behind the high fortifications for the placement of shooters on it, shooting from behind this parapet. The height of the fire was made such that, while standing on it, it was possible to shoot comfortably, that is, the fire must be below the line of fire by. In the old days, B. also called observation posts, which were set up near siege and intermediate batteries to observe the fall of shells and to correct the shooting.

Drum tower- a cylinder in the armored towers, on which the tower dome rests.

Barbican(Persian bala-khanch - window, balcony for shooting above the entrance) - an old fortification building. During the Crusades, this was the name of the wall in the fortified cities of Palestine. Later, this name passed to individual towers that defended the approaches to the posts or to the outer entrances of the fortress fences, and from the fortress gate to the tower there was a stone corridor with in the walls. In the XV century. B. began to call a separate wall, covering between the two towers and having loopholes. Sometimes B. also called the loopholes themselves.

Barbet- an embankment for the fortifications for the installation of guns and machine guns firing through the parapet or, as they say, "through".

Barricade(French barricade - barrage) - from all sorts of improvised materials and objects in settlements across roads, streets and bridges in order to detain the enemy, mainly his infantry, cavalry and tanks. For the latter, they are made of a special design and must be distinguished by special strength, height and verticality of the obstacle.

Barrier gate- wooden gates for locking the exit from field and temporary fortifications (type) and securing them from an accidental attack; sometimes they were put instead of the gate.

Basteja- a semicircular stone fortress building of the 16th century, replacing the fortress towers, for longitudinal shelling of the fortress fence. B. were located mainly in the outgoing corners of the fence, had a large ledge in the field and open. Albrecht Dürer's bastions (1527) had an open defense from above, and below, at the bottom of the ditch, a closed one. from solidly built casemates. In ancient Russian fortresses, such buildings were called. They appeared here earlier than in the West.

Bastide. 1. Small fortified villages in the south of France in the XII-XIV centuries, surrounded by a rampart with towers to provide small detachments from surprise attacks. Sometimes B. were called watchtowers on city walls.

2. A wooden tower of 2-3 floors, used in the Middle Ages during sieges. In ancient times, these towers were known by the name.

Bastille. 1. Bridge fortification in the form of towers on both sides of the entrance, to protect the latter.

2. Fortified castles in the cities of France (in the Middle Ages). intended primarily for protection in the event of popular uprisings; were also called.

3. Separate fortifications made of stones or wood, erected during the siege in the XIII-XVI centuries; sometimes they were connected with each other by earthen ditches and ramparts.

Bastion(Italian bastionato - any protruding building) - pentagonal in form, with two, two and open, erected at the corners of the fortress fence and adjoining it. The halves of two adjacent barriers facing each other and the section of the fence connecting them form. The combination of several bastion fronts, reinforced with auxiliary buildings, was called. B.'s inventor is unknown. It is only historically reliable that the first two B. were built in 1527 by the Italian engineer San Michele during the fortification of Verona. The predecessor of the bastions of San Michele were the rectangular fortifications of another Italian Martini, built by him at the end of the 15th century.

Bastion system- cm. .

Bastion corner- the angle made up by the facets.

Batardo- a stone or brick building, arranged in a fortress ditch and had the purpose of keeping water in water ditches at the required height, and in dry ditches - to intercept shells aimed at, if the enemy can use the mouth of some other ditch for firing. resting on the main one.

Dugout- Initially, this term was used to refer to any covering that protects manpower from damage. Then B. began to call any field fortification protective structure that has one or another degree of protection against defeat from above. These bombers included the simplest structures, ranging from canopies to structures that provide protection against whole shells of heavy artillery. Depending on the position of the cover, the bombers were divided into horizontal, in which the cover was horizontal, and inclined, in which the cover, covered in front by a high embankment, had an inclined position, with a fall in the direction of the projectile's flight. At present, all protective structures erected at some distance from the line of fire are known by the name, and by B. is meant only shelters for manpower and fixed assets, set up near a firing position under or next to it. B. became widespread for the first time in Sevastopol in 1854 - 55.

Blinding- provision of artillery fire for structures assigned for various needs of troops or directly for conducting combat. B. usually boiled down to the construction of a ceiling made of rigid materials - wood, iron - and sprinkling with earth.

Blockade of the fortress- the encirclement of the fortress by troops to end all external relations. As a result, the garrison is deprived of the opportunity to receive any assistance from the outside and, due to the depletion of life and combat reserves, in the end it is forced to surrender the fortress (most often from hunger). In the ancient and Middle Ages, during the blockade, the fortress was usually surrounded by fortifications that make up. In the XIV - XVI centuries. the latter was also called the blockade line and consisted of separate fortifications (s) connected by a moat and a rampart.

Blockhouse(German Blockhaus - a log building) - a fortification, adapted for all-round fire and for the residence of a garrison in it. The form and design of a bombardment is very diverse and depends on the purpose, nature of the enemy, terrain, and the availability of certain materials. B. are usually used to protect communications and in forest conditions. Being more or less isolated and being that must resist on their own for a long time, they usually have strong walls and ceilings that can withstand artillery fire of one or another calculated caliber. for rifles and machine guns, they are cut through so that there are no dead corners in front of the B. Embrasures for machine guns are made in the most dangerous directions. With a cordon location, each of them must fire at the approaches to the neighboring ones. In 1917 there was an attempt under the term "blockhouse" to include everything of a heavy type, even not intended for housing. as, for example, machine-gun and frontal machine-gun fire structures, even mortar fire structures. However, in such an arbitrarily expanded understanding, the term "blockhouse" did not take root, retaining its former narrower meaning. For the first time B. appeared in 1778 in Silesia during the War of the Bavarian Succession. Since then, they have been widely used. B. was widely used in the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902, when 8,000 blockhouses of various types were erected over 6,000 km to organize the protection of British communications from attacks by the Boers. During the Great Patriotic War, the Germans also often used B. to protect their communications from attacks by partisans.

Battle readiness of fortresses- the readiness of the latter for hostilities in the transition from a peaceful situation to a military one. Proceeding from the definition as a harmonious combination of the garrison, its management, weapons, reserves, and long-term fortifications, it was believed that for the B.

As regards the troops and their control - so that the troops: 1) are familiar with the terrain in which they will have to operate. 2) have firmly mastered the methods of serf warfare. 3) could take up combat positions in time and meet the enemy, even unexpectedly invading their borders. 4) could provide active support by forays into the flank and rear of the enemy passing by the fortress and by fighting for the surrounding area.

As regards weapons and ammunition - so that the fortress has all the artillery means, ammunition and auxiliary means assigned according to the artillery defense plan. and were in their places or were stored in the immediate vicinity.

With regard to food and medical supplies - so that the combat readiness of the fortress is ensured by supplying it for the entire duration of the war.

As regards long-term fortifications, there should be an accurate and detailed plan of work to bring the fortress to the defensive, calculated by day and hour, from which each chief would know what and when to do and where to get labor. materials, tools, etc. The construction of the fortress itself should also proceed according to a certain plan, according to which the fortress, even not completed, would to a certain extent have some of the structures that could be used for defense.

The practice of war showed that not a single fortress at the time of the outbreak of hostilities was ready for a number of reasons completely for defense.

Battle line or line of guard units- so in the first world war of 1914-18. was the name of the first rifle line, which was occupied by the guard units of the defending troops, abundantly supplied with machine guns. The success of its defense was based primarily on a skillful combination of artificial, machine-gun fire and counterattacks from nearby supports.

Combat crest- the bend of the slope of the terrain, from where it is possible to fire the entire underlying slope and the sole without at the range of a valid shot.

Fights plantar, middle and upper- in ancient Russian fortress fences for placing weapons. Plantar and medium fights were called Pechuras and each was armed with one weapon. The upper battles were intended for the placement of the shooters, the plantar ones - for the flat shelling of the terrain.

Bolverk (bolverk)- title ; used in our country in the 18th century. A little used term found only in special literature.

Bonet- local elevation (0.45 m above the line of fire) with in them for rifle fire. They settled down before the Russo-Japanese War in fortifications to protect the shooter's head during shooting.

Bonet caponier- a casemated defensive building in the ditches of the 18th and first half of the 19th centuries, which had separate escarp walls and behind them. Placed in the outgoing corner of the wall. B.- to. gave longitudinal rifle defense to the patrol route, served for its defenders and provided them with communication along the inside of the fortification. It was also called a bonnet-casemate.

Breaching- artillery shooting with the aim of collapsing vertical fortifications or making holes in them.

Gap-battery(royal battery) - a battery that was located, before its appearance, against the bastion front and had the purpose of collapsing the curtain, making a gap in it for the attacker.

Armored door- a door made of armor to protect the entrances to. An armored door for protection against OV is usually made hermetically sealed. A variation of it is an armored shutter, which was installed earlier to protect light holes in residential concrete or.

Armored fortification-, which built a defense based on artillery fire from armored installations, and. Appearance in the second half of the 19th century. rifled artillery and high-explosive shells necessitated not only constructive changes, but also an increase in the diameter of the fortresses, that is, a change in the nature of the fortress itself. The latter circumstance played a decisive role in the emergence of the ideas of the B. f. The increase in diameter caused an increase in the number, and therefore the garrison required for the fortress. Thus, the question was raised either about increasing the total number of the army, or about increasing the number of serf troops by reducing the field forces. Not a single state could agree to the latter, and the former was not within the power of all countries, especially small ones. Therefore, it is no coincidence that the idea of ​​B. f. found its application mainly in countries such as Belgium, Holland, Romania, Switzerland, Denmark, and only partially in Germany and France. The ideologists of the armored fortification were the Belgian military engineer Brialmont, according to whose ideas Belgium, Romania were fortified, in France - Muern, in Germany - Sauer and Schumann. His extreme expression B. f. reached in the ideas of Sauer and Schumann. The first proposed to replace the line of forts with a belt of separate armored towers, built at a distance of half a kilometer from one another, or, even better, with a double line of towers at a distance of 1 km from each other. The towers were garrisoned exclusively by artillerymen. Schumann, in order to reduce the garrison of fortresses and the cost of the latter, proposed to build forts without infantry, in the form of armored batteries, armed with artillery and machine guns and surrounded by obstacles, and the course of defense was to be directed by pressing the buttons of electrical devices from the central observation station. These ideas, as extremely utopian and unrealistic, did not find application. In Russia, the ideas of B. f. did not receive recognition and the main element of the fortress was still recognized as a stronghold for the active operations of the garrison, and not as an expression of the passive strength of the fortress. The World War showed the correctness of the ideas of Russian fortification, which. without abandoning the use of armored installations in forts for anti-assault artillery, she nevertheless built the basis of the defense on the active operations of the garrison.

Armored parapet- a thick metal wall to cover the guns (mainly coastal), replacing the earthen rampart. B. b. were cast in the form of separate segments connected with each other by bolts, wedges, etc. At the appropriate height, it cut through, and the horizontal axis of rotation of the gun was transferred to its muzzle, as a result of which a rather large sector of shelling remained. The segments were slabs convex to the enemy, embedded in masonry and equipped with transverse brackets-stops, which served simultaneously as if for tools. B. appeared b. in the 60s of the XIX century. in England, from where they moved to other countries, including Russia. However, such parapets were not very comfortable, and soon they were abandoned.

Armored jacket- armored lightweight construction for the length of the guns, sometimes associated with the machine tools of the gun carriage, which are the support of the dome. There is no drum, and the rotation is performed on the central axis-rack. It is used for light weapons systems - howitzers and short-range rapid-fire medium-caliber cannons.

Armored posts- armored closures for observers.

Armored belt- advanced armor, encircling the tower room in tower structures and reinforcing the concrete mass.

Armored gunner- a lowering armored turret for small rapid-fire artillery, assigned to repulse the assault in. It also has a name.

Parapet(German brustwehr - chest protection) - a part that is a closure from aimed shots and the gaze of the enemy. In the old fortifications, where B. reached a height of 1.4 m and more, he was at the same time an obstacle to the assault along with the moat in front of him. B. can be earthen, metal, armored, reinforced concrete, and in general from any material. The thickness of a bomb for field fortifications is determined by the condition of being bullet-proof, and for long-term ones - by the condition of being indestructible by a projectile. B.'s profile is determined by three planes: an almost vertical internal, horizontal and external inclined. An inner plane (almost vertical) intersects with an almost horizontal plane. This part of B. is called the internal steepness of B. The second segment "between the inner and outer planes, inclined to the ground at an angle of 30 ° - 45 ° (that is, at the angle of the natural slope of the soil), is called the slope B. The last segment, between slope and horizon of the earth, called the front slope B. The thickness of B. is equal to the length of the slope B. If the front slope of B. is a continuation of its slope, that is, if both planes merge, then such B. is called glasis-like or glacis. B.'s slope is given such an inclination that the bullet of the gun put on it flew no higher than 0.5 m above the horizon. ridge B. or it, the intersection of the slope with the front slope - the outer ridge of B. Bustvera have been known since ancient times. They were made in the form of a vertical wall - from, and in field fortifications - from logs.

Bulevardi- the name of the bastions that had retreat and tiered flanks. They were also called bastilles and turions, and among the Germans - bolverki.

Boolean wells- vertical wells with a cross-section of about 0.75 m squared and up to 4 - 5 m deep, which served to destroy the enemy with an open dawn. house of BB. laid at the bottom of the well. The explosive charge was calculated as to obtain a quadruple funnel, taking the distance from the bottom of the well to the ceiling of the gallery as the line of least resistance. They got their name from the name of the French inventor Captain Boulle. Also called battle wells.

Boulevard- closed earthen fortifications used in the 15th century. during sieges. For the first time B. were used by the British in 1428 during the siege of Orleans and were square with round projections at the corners, in which were placed 3 guns each, firing through the armored. Later, the name "boulevard" passed to the line of earthen ramparts in, and after the abolition and removal of the ramparts, it remained behind the alleys planted in their place.

Defensive curtain- a system of fortifications, consisting of a number of large ones, in between which separate large ones were erected for fire communication - that served to block the main communication routes. It was proposed to protect the northeastern and eastern borders of France after the war of 1870 - 71. engineering general Céret de Riviera and implemented with some modification. Was the first proposal for the continuous strengthening of state borders in the new time.

Defensive barracks- cm. .

Defensive casemate- cm. .

Defensive guard- the simplest form, erected to protect bridges and tunnels from attacks by small parties of the enemy that penetrated the rear, and saboteurs. It consisted of separate structures and walls that blocked access to the coastal abutments of the bridge or the entrances to the tunnels.

Defensive line- the term has several meanings.

1. In the strategy, this was the name of a line that was difficult for troops to pass, for example, a water barrier, a mountain range, a number of local items convenient for defense, etc. O. l. - the same, but calculated for strategic actions and capable of exerting this or that influence on the general course of events in a given theater of war. Therefore, it had to satisfy the same basic requirements that were imposed on any position, i.e. have flanks secured from coverage and represent a number of natural or artificial strongholds and convenient exits for going over to the offensive with significant forces. This term has now been replaced by the term frontier.

2. In the XVII - XVIII centuries. O. l. a position was called, fortified by a rampart with a moat, which usually had a familiar or tonal, and more often a mixed outline. Such lines had an enormous length - up to hundreds of kilometers. Appearance in the XVII - XVIII centuries. such O. l. due to the inactive nature of the wars of that time, caused by the very nature of the armies (mercenary armies) and weapons, the store supply system and, finally, the reluctance of the generals to risk their armed forces. To defend these lines, whole armies were stretched out over an enormous stretch. With indecision of the enemy O. l. achieved their goal, but with the activity of the enemy, their value quickly dropped. Revolutionary wars of the French republic at the end of the 18th century. and Napoleon's wars led to the rapid disappearance of these lines, although in literature they have long been proposed as a form of strengthening the area.

3. In the first world war 1914 - 18. O. l. or a position was a strip of terrain equipped with at least two, located at a distance of about 7 - 8 km from each other, and each having about 1 km in width. Thus, the total depth of O. l. reached 9 - 10 km. Currently, such a fortified O. l. bears the name.

Defensive strip- the position taken for defense by military formations - from the rifle brigade to the army inclusive (the division's commando, the army's commando unit).

Defensive building- cm. .

Defensive structures- a group designed to fire from them. The term is currently used.

Defensive walls- separate stone walls in the period of pre-explosive bombs, adapted for rifle defense. O. s. were used mainly as separate escarp walls in fortress ditches. The upper part of the wall was covered with a pitched or gable roof made of iron or a stone slab. were located at a distance of 1.0 m from each other, walking behind the wall.

Defensive dugout- a canopy adapted for shooting from through to. Appeared here in the Russo-Japanese War to protect us from shrapnel and shrapnel. He found great application in the war of 1914-18. In the Great Patriotic War, due to the shortcomings inherent in general canopies, found little use. O. b., Cut into the front steepness of the trench for 1 - 2 people, was called a nest for shooters.

Defensive glacis- cm. .

Defensive traverse- adapted for defense.

Terrain equipment- a term that is sometimes used instead of the term fortification of the terrain (see), but broader than the latter, since the ore m. includes not only purely fortification elements, but also the construction of roads, the construction of dugouts, etc. Thus, it is more correct to speak in this case about engineering o. m., strengthening the same terrain is similar to the concept of "fortification equipment of the area."

Reverse glacis- gently sloping earthen with a location of 1:12. making it possible to easily go out into a counter-attack in all directions to the garrison gathered at the bottom of the ditch. His disadvantage was that for the enemy he also did not represent an obstacle as. for example, the usual counter-escarpment.

Sprinkling- the top layer of the earth above, which has the purpose of weakening the fragmentation effect of the means of destruction, to limit and weaken the spread of stones, pieces of concrete, coating and to help camouflage the structure. O. thickness is made from 0.3 to 0.5 m.

Bypass ditch- a ditch for communication behind with a width of about 0.7 m along the bottom.

General retransmission- cm. .

Firing position- a section of the terrain on which a weapon made for combat is located. See also .

Firing point- fire weapon, located on and ready for action. This term is sometimes completely wrongly called the structure itself, intended for placing a fire weapon in it.

Roundabout city- an old Russian term that meant an external defensive fence in cities that had several fences.

Trench- the simplest earthen cover for shooting infantry, machine guns or artillery pieces from it. Depending on this, O. are called:,,, trenches for anti-tank rifles, etc. O. coincided with the appearance of rifled weapons and high-explosive shells, when the increased defeat and accuracy of fire were forced to bury themselves in the ground. The structures erected before this time cannot be called O. in the modern sense of the word, since at that time, bulk structures, such as fortifications (,) and bulkheads, were mainly practiced. This was caused by the need to have a difficult to overcome obstacle for the assault and to defeat the enemy most effectively, advancing in columns to the full height of a person (therefore, the aiming line had to be raised higher). The only exceptions were also during the siege of fortresses, which were intended mainly for approaching the fortress, and not for shooting. The increase in the power of weapons, which caused a change in the formation of battle formations during attack and defense, the appearance of dashes, as well as the requirements of camouflage, made it necessary to dig in the ground and abandon high embankments. The first types of O., "legalized" by fortifiers, appeared during the defense of Sevastopol in 1854–55. in the form of various kinds (artillery, infantry). In America, during the civil war, ostracism, in the form of long trenches, was already used in large numbers, which was caused by the arming of the Americans with rifled weapons. The appearance in 1872 of an infantry infantry and its introduction in equipment in subsequent years in all armies led to the universal use of O. on a par with redoubts and lunettes.

Russo-Japanese War 1901 - 05 it finally revealed that noticeable high fortifications are of little use in modern conditions for field warfare and that the only acceptable form is subtle ops with a small amount. A little earlier, in the Anglo-Boer War, appeared (Boer trenches). During the First World War 1914-18. the main type O. adopted O. complete profiles. The Great Patriotic War, on the other hand, adopted the standard for standing shooting from the bottom of the ditch as a normal type of shooting, as it was narrower and gave better protection against mortar, aviation, and tank fire.

During the First World War 1914-18. artillery often refused to dig in guns, but the Great Patriotic War, in connection with the development of aviation, showed the need for artillery trenches.

Trench fortification profile- a profile, or other similar fortifications, similar to a full profile with a height of 0.5 m. Reinforced with artificial (wire, notches) located in front, in a shallow ditch, closed from the enemy ground observer.

Stronghold- an ancient Russian term for a fortress fence, that is, fortress walls or ramparts.

Strong point- in the most general sense, a fortified point, the possession of which enables the troops to defend other parts of the position and influence them, and with the loss of which these opportunities are lost. Thus, a fortress area can be a military unit for an army group, for an army, some fortified village for a regiment or battalion, etc.

In the narrower sense of the O. n. Positions occupied by troops, were in the XVIII - XIX centuries. separate fortifications - or even. The first were called closed O. p., The second - open, since they were not protected.

During the First World War 1914-18. By O. p. were meant separate points equipped for independent defense and, moreover, so that they could be held in their hands for a long time, after the enemy had already occupied the adjacent areas of the position, and fire from which it was possible to to a large extent make it difficult for the enemy to consolidate and further spread both in depth and in the flanks. This made it possible to gather forces for a counter-attack. The garrison of the garrison was permanent, had to always be in it and, apart from its direct purpose, did not take part in any actions. O. p. Could be permanent or enter into or. The garrison of the garrison was usually a company.

At the present time, an oceum is understood as a section of terrain in a platoon defense area, the retention of which ensures the strength of the area’s defense. To this end, he adapts to a perimeter defense in order to keep the entire zone under fire in front of the front edge, inside the defense area and in the rear, and also to concentrate fire of all means on the flanks and the most dangerous directions. Deals with several departments with reinforcements. The most important of the platoon battle regiments is the main battle regiment of the company and is most strongly strengthened and strengthened by fire, including anti-tank ones. means and stubbornly held.

Gun lodgment- so in the middle of the XIX century. were called.

Main firing position- the firing position from which the firing device solves in the best way the assigned main firing mission.

Prison- the so-called small fortified points. erected in Russia from the XIII century. to protect places of secondary importance, most often on the borders with peoples with little skill in military affairs. During the conquest of Siberia, such buildings were built by Yermak as he moved into the interior of the country. O.'s fortifications were either a palisade or pointed stakes and wattle fence up to 6 m in height. In terms of the O.'s plan, it usually looked like a quadrangle, at the corners of which wooden towers were erected, and a passage tower was made in the middle of one of the sides to communicate with the field. Often the term O. or ostrozhek was used for the name of the mobile. Sometimes O. was called the Russians, who had settled down to siege a fortified city.

Debris- the embankment, which was an earthen fence -. An ancient Russian term.

Reinforcement striking- cm. .

Separate fortress position- a long-term position located in a straight line or in an arc of greater or lesser convexity.

Separate fortification- company fortification, located separately from the general position.

Splitting off- the phenomenon of gouging out pieces of concrete in the coating or walls from the inside of the structure when a shell explodes from the outside. To protect against oxygen, the thickness of the coating or wall is calculated according to special formulas, and to reduce the resulting large thickness, anti-roll-off clothing is used in the form of chain mail nets or flexible reinforcement, or metal beams installed with an interval of 25 - 40 cm.

Central fence- the central fortification, which had a continuous circular fence around and consisted of ramparts with a moat in front, connecting separate strongholds - fortresses (,). The ditches received longitudinal defense from the flanking structures of the strong points or from separately located structures. Appointment of Ts. About. - to provide the core of the fortress from an attack by open force and serve as a rear position in case the enemy breaks through between.

Chain line of fortifications- continuous fortified lines used in the 18th and partly in the 19th century. and consisted either of, or of, connected, or of a combination, or finally of a combination of bastions with curtains located on ledges (ratchet lines).

Cyclopean fortresses- this is the name of the most ancient structures. erected for defense purposes from huge stones weighing several tons. They were named so by the Greek traveler Pausanias, who assumed that such structures could only be erected by the Cyclops - mythical one-eyed creatures with tremendous strength. It is wrong to call Cyclopean structures fortresses, since they were rather stone settlements, where the area itself dictated the need to erect fortifications from stones, and at first they were erected from unfinished stones, and later, when slavery and division of labor appeared, they were already folded from hewn stones. Large stones had the advantage of giving the required verticality of the barrier. Ts.k. is especially a lot in the Transcaucasia.

Circum-Valation Line(lat. circum - around; vallare - to strengthen) - a continuous line of fortifications, erected in the ancient and Middle Ages during the blockade of fortified points to protect from outside attacks on the besieging troops of the troops marching to the rescue of the besieged. Consisted of a solid shaft and a ditch with separate towers.

Citadel(Italian citadella - a small town) - an internal fortification, which had an independent defense, which was a common fortress and served as the last stronghold for the garrison of the fortress in the event of the fall of the main fortifications. Ts. Should be large enough so that the entire remaining garrison could fit in it, and have sufficient supplies. The original purpose of the Ts. Was different: it housed the conqueror's garrison in order to keep the population in obedience. With the development of absolutism in cities for the same purpose, buildings were erected for government troops.