Elements of Trench WarfareWaldron, William H. (William Henry)
History
Elements of Trench Warfare
Waldron, William H. (William Henry)
Intrenchments; Siege warfare
In the construction and repair of entanglements care must be taken to
see that they are firmly fastened into the ground with numerous stay
posts or “deadmen.” This is to prevent the enemy from pulling them
to pieces with grappling hooks connected to ropes that lead to his
trenches and are attached to powerful windlasses or capstans.
[Sidenote: Barricades]
Barricades are employed for the defense of streets, roads, bridges,
etc. They may be made out of any available material such as furniture,
vehicles (overturned or with wheels removed), carts filled with stones,
bales of goods, etc.
Where trees grow along the roadside they may be felled across the road.
If necessary, barbed wire may be run through the branches to make the
passage more difficult.
[Illustration: PLATE 7.—Plan of barricade for blocking a road.]
Barricades should not as a rule close the road entirely to traffic.
Passages are required to allow the defenders to pass through when it
is necessary to do so. Hence they should be made in two parts, one
overlapping the other, as shown in the illustration.
A _fougass_ is a mine so arranged that upon explosion a large mass of
stones is projected against the enemy. An excavation is made in the
shape of a frustum of a cone, inclining the axis in the direction of
the enemy so as to make an angle with the horizon of about 45 degrees.
The sides splay outward slightly. A box of powder is placed in a recess
at the bottom. This is covered with a platform of wood several inches
thick, on which the stones are piled.
The fuse is placed in a groove cut at the back of the excavation, or
the mine may be exploded by means of electricity.
The line of least resistance for the charge must be arranged so that
the powder will act in the direction of the axis and not vertically.
This is accomplished by throwing the excavated earth on the crest
towards the defender’s side and ramming it well.
To ascertain the powder charge for any fougass, divide the number of
pounds of stone in the charge by 150. This gives the number of pounds
of powder in the powder charge. Thus a fougass charged with about 70
pounds of powder will throw about 5 tons of stone over a surface about
160 yards long and 120 yards wide.
[Illustration: PLATE 8.—Fougass.]
[Illustration: PLATE 9.—Vertical fougass.]
When broken up a cubic foot of stone weighs about 100 pounds.
A vertical type of fougass is also shown. A charge of 25 pounds of
powder should scatter a cubic yard of stones over an area about 200 by
100 yards.
Small Land Mines
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