Annals of a FortressViollet-le-Duc, Eugène-Emmanuel
History
Annals of a Fortress
Viollet-le-Duc, Eugène-Emmanuel
Fortification -- France -- History; Fortification -- History; Siege warfare -- History
During the 22nd of February, the besiegers could not restore battery No.
1, because the besieged kept up a constant discharge on this point. They
succeeded only at nightfall in remounting their guns in batteries 2 and
3; and having determined the range before night, discharged the balls of
two guns on the salients of the redans. About midnight Colonel Dubois
sent out five hundred men, who, traversing the western ridge of the
plateau, attacked battery No. 1. A few moments afterwards, a second
troop of four hundred men attacked the two batteries, 2 and 3; and the
besieger having been dislodged from battery No. 1, the first troop of
the besieged came and formed in line of musketry between battery No. 2
and the salient of the redan on the right; while fusiliers posted at the
trench, A,[62] and one of the howitzers, swept the ground as far as
battery No. 1, in order to hinder the enemy from taking the sortie in
the rear.
This operation was completely successful; not only were the works of
battery No. 1 damaged, and the three guns with which it was armed (the
carriages belonging to these guns, as stated above, were already
broken), but around batteries 2 and 3 there was a very sharp struggle
which resulted in the Germans being repulsed, the guns rendered useless,
the munitions scattered, and the gabions and earth-bags thrown down. A
body of a hundred men had also been posted by the colonel on the slopes
of the plateau to hinder the enemy from making his way along that
escarpment to attack the work A.
Under favour of this sortie, two hundred workmen had been placed by
Captain Allaud along the western ridge of the plateau, to raise a new
work, B C D (Fig. 74), which consisted of three new redans presenting
three batteries each for two guns, traced _en crémaillère_, and
separated by strong traverses. By the morning of the 23rd of February
the first battery, B, was sufficiently strong to resist projectiles.
Moreover, this battery could not be immediately attacked by battery No.
1, which was abandoned, and whose guns were useless. Forty-eight hours
at least were required to enable the besieger to restore batteries 2 and
3. Batteries 4 and 5 must change their embrasures to direct their fire
on this battery B, and only batteries 6 and 7 could sweep the redans A
and B. Now these batteries, 6 and 7, received the fire of the two guns
of the right face of the right-hand redan, of the two guns of the right
face of the bastion II., of the two guns of the left face of the bastion
III., and of a gun of the right face of the demi-lune 2. Every moment it
was necessary to repair the gabionades, and replace the earth-bags; and
since the beginning of the day the enemy had had ten artillerymen
killed, and as many more wounded, in these two batteries.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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