The common ammunition waggon will hold from 9 to 13 of these boxes in one tier. The tonnage of ammunition in boxes is equal to its weight: about 12 boxes make one ton. BOYAU, in fortification, is a particular trench separated from the others, which, in winding about, incloses different spaces of ground, and runs parallel with the works of the place, that it may not be enfiladed. When two attacks are made at once, one near to the other, the boyau makes a communication between the trenches, and serves as a line of contravallation, not only to hinder the sallies of the besieged, but likewise to secure the miners. BRACES, in a military sense, are a kind of armor for the arm: they were formerly a part of a coat of mail. BRACKETS, in gunnery, are the cheeks of the travelling carriage of a mortar; they are made of strong wooden planks. This name is also given to that part of a large mortar-bed, where the trunnions are placed, for the elevation of the mortar: they are sometimes made of wood, and more frequently of iron, of almost a semicircular figure, well fastened with nails and strong plates. BRANCH. See MINE and GALLERY. BRAND, an ancient term for a sword; so called by the Saxons. BRAQUER, _Fr._ is improperly used to express the movement of a cannon to any particular side. The correct expression is, to point the cannon, _pointer le canon_. BRASSARTS, _Fr._ thin plates of beaten iron which were anciently used to cover the arms above the coat of mail. Brassarts and cuirasses were worn in the days of St. Louis. BRASSER _la Matiere_, _Fr._ to mix the different ingredients which are required for the making of gunpowder or other combustible matter. BREACH, in fortification, a gap, or opening, in any part of the works of a fortified place, made by the artillery or mines of the besiegers, preparatory to the making an assault. The batteries to make a breach, should commence by marking out as near as possible, the extent of the breach intended to be made; first, by a horizontal line within a fathom of the bottom of the revetement in a dry ditch, and close to the water’s edge in a wet one; and then by lines perpendicular to this line, at short distances from each other, as high as the cordon; then, by continuing to deepen all these cuts, the wall will give way in a body. The guns to produce the greatest effect should be fired as near as possible in _salvos_ or vollies. The breach should be one third the length of the face, from the centre towards the flanked angle. When the wall has given way, the firing must be continued to make the slope of the breach practicable. Four 24 pounders from the lodgement in the covert way will effect a breach in 4 or 5 days, which may be made practicable in 3 days more.