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- Herausgeber: DigiCat
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022
In 'Attack of Fortified Places. Including Siege-works, Mining, and Demolitions', James Mercur delves into the intricacies of military tactics and engineering, focusing on the various methods used to attack and overcome fortified structures. Written in a straightforward and informative style, this book provides a comprehensive overview of siege warfare, mining, and demolitions, giving readers a glimpse into the strategic mindset of military commanders throughout history. Mercur's attention to detail and historical accuracy make this work a valuable resource for scholars and enthusiasts of military history. Drawing on primary sources and firsthand accounts, he expertly analyzes the challenges and innovations in breaching defenses and capturing enemy strongholds. This book combines practical knowledge with theoretical insights, shedding light on the evolution of military strategy and technology. Recommended for readers interested in the art of siege warfare and the architecture of fortified places.
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Attack of Fortified Places. Including Siege-works, Mining, and Demolitions
Table of Contents
PREFACE.
In this work an attempt has been made to give in outline the best modern methods of attack upon a fortified position by assault, surprise, blockade, or siege; and also the detailed constructions of those types of trenches, batteries, magazines, etc., etc., which seem best suited to resist the fire of modern cannon, and to afford cover to a besieging force.
It is not supposed that these types will be exactly copied in all cases of actual practice, but that a wise discretion will be used in modifying or combining them when necessary or desirable.
The constructions given are standard types, which have grown up by combining the suggestions and the experience of the military engineers of all civilized nations.
In selecting them I have drawn freely upon the textbooks of the schools of military engineering at Chatham, Fontainebleau, Vienna, and Berlin, as well as upon that of the late Professor Mahan, and the manuals of Duane and Ernst.
The standard work of Gumpertz and Lebrun is frequently referred to in “Military Mining”; and I am also under obligations to General H. L. Abbot, Corps of Engineers, for the use of his unpublished notes on the experimental mines at Willett’s Point, and the result of his experiments upon the mining effects of shells charged with different explosives.
J. M.
West Point, N. Y.,October, 1894.
INTRODUCTION.
Modern wars have been marked by sharp aggressive campaigns and great battles in the open field, with few close and long-continued sieges.
The subject of siege-works has therefore attracted less popular attention than was formerly devoted to it.
Fort Wagner, Vicksburg, Petersburg, Strasburg, Belfort, Paris, Plevna, and Géok Tépé have shown, however, that at their respective dates regular siege and mining operations were necessary to reduce either permanent or field fortifications, if well equipped and defended.
The volume of fire delivered by the small arms and machine guns now in use has made an open assault upon a well-supplied and well-defended parapet, under ordinary circumstances, a hopeless undertaking, and has necessitated more deliberate methods of attack.
The increased accuracy and penetration of modern cannon have rendered obsolete many of the older methods of making regular approaches.
The newer constructions described herein, while giving greater protection to the attack, are in general slower in their advance than those previously used. This seems, however, to be an unavoidable evil, which is mitigated only by taking advantage of every opportunity for rapid advance offered by the errors of the defence.
It is not to be inferred that light field works and lines will in the general case require for their attack a system of regular approaches; but trenches and saps may be necessary for placing a battery or parapet in a commanding position or one favorable for enfilade, or for giving a covered approach over an exposed ridge; and their frequent employment may be expected on future fields.
The destructive effect of grenades and Coehorn shells charged with high explosives will doubtless in many cases check or stop the advance of saps and trenches, and necessitate the use of blinded approaches or mining-galleries in stubbornly contested sieges. The successful application of mines at Géok Tépé will doubtless lead to their future employment under similar circumstances. In the close attack upon a shielded casemate or disappearing turret their use seems a necessity, and when these defences are founded on rock or massive concrete foundations, tunnelling operations by drilling and blasting will be required. When practicable they will be expedited by the use of power-drills driven by electricity.
It seems hardly necessary to add, that in sapping and mining operations, as in all other branches of military engineering, all new and improved inventions and methods which are applicable to the work on hand will be used, as a matter of course.
The thickness of cover given in the text is based upon the penetrations of the hostile projectiles.
For ready reference the maximum penetrations obtained in experimental firing up to this date (1894) are given herewith, viz.:
Service bullets, copper or German-silver jacket, of 6.5 to 8 mm. calibre, initial velocity from 2000 to 2550 f. s.:
At Muzzle. Inches.
100 yds. Inches.
900 yds. Inches.
2000 yds. Inches.
2730 yds. Inches.
Pine wood
30 to 50
31 to 35
10 to 14
4.4
Seasoned oak wood
4 to 8
1.18
Untamped clay
60 to 78
Light sand
8
At 500 yds....17 inches.
330 yds. Inches.
440 yds. Inches.
880 yds. Inches.
2000 yds. Inches.
Sand and earth
36
33
20
14
4
Steel and iron plate
0.31 to 0.38
0.28
0.24
Brick masonry
4½
Ice
63
Special steel-coated bullets, cal. 0.26 and 0.30:
Pine wood
55
Oak wood, seasoned
16 to 24
Beech wood
23 to 30
Sand
14
Special steel-coated bullets, cal. 0.236, vel. 2600 f. s.
Pine wood
62
But few experiments seem to have been made to determine the penetration of the projectile of field and siege guns into earth, and the published data are very meagre and unsatisfactory.
The German Engineer’s Handbook (Pionier Taschenbuch, 1892) prescribes the following thicknesses of parapets for cover against small-arm and cannon fire, viz.:
Material.
Shrapnel and Splinters.
Small Arm.
Field-guns.
Siege-guns.
Earth, sandy
30"
20" to 40"
16½'
23'
Turf and marshy earth
60"
Wood
34" to 40"
Brick masonry
15"
Brick masonry, single shot
3' 4"
Two steel plates each 0.32"
0.64"
Packed snow
6'
26'
Sheaves of grain
16½'
English authorities report craters of 21 feet length and 8 feet depth blown out from an earth parapet by a single 200-lb. 8-in. howitzer shell. They also state that the projectile of the pneumatic dynamite gun has penetrated 40 feet of earth.
Owing to the rapid development of ordnance the current scientific and military periodicals are in general the only source from which the latest results in penetration, etc., can be obtained.
ATTACK OF FORTIFIED PLACES.
CHAPTER I.THE ATTACK WITHOUT THE USE OF REGULAR APPROACHES.
1. A fortified position may be taken by blockade, surprise, assault, bombardment, or siege.
A blockade consists in so surrounding a place and closing its communications as to keep the garrison from receiving reinforcements, provisions, and supplies sufficient to enable it to continue the defence and to avoid starvation.
The object of the attacking force is, in general, to completely close all communications between the garrison and the exterior; but this is not always possible, nor is it necessary in all cases, since such obstruction of communications as will reduce the incoming supplies below the necessary expenditures of the garrison will ultimately exhaust its stores.
An efficient blockade, continued long enough, will consequently reduce any place.
Whether it is advisable to attempt to reduce a place by blockade will depend upon the time which will probably be taken in its reduction, the force required for surrounding it, and repelling sorties from the interior or beating back a relieving army, and the expense in men and materials of taking the work by other methods. Blockades are more effective in reducing cities and towns than in taking places occupied only by a military garrison, since the presence of a large number of non-combatants in a place rapidly exhausts its store of provisions, renders epidemics more likely to break out, and by the suffering and misery resulting demoralizes the garrison, unnerves the commander, and eventually causes its fall. This justifies the apparent harshness of not allowing non-combatants to leave a beleaguered place.
The steps necessary for establishing the blockade are identical with those taken for the investment in a regular siege and will be described hereafter.
The capture of Paris in 1870-71 is one of the most recent and striking examples of a blockade on a large scale.
SURPRISE.
2. A sudden and unexpected attack made upon a garrison unprepared to receive it is called a surprise.
Formerly these were of not infrequent occurrence, but with modern means of communication and methods of warfare they can hardly be looked for, except in small affairs, where, through the weakness or exhaustion of a garrison or the incapacity of its commander, the necessary and ordinary precautions for their prevention are impracticable or are neglected; or where they are brought about through treachery in the garrison, by which the gates are opened to the attack.
Probably in the majority of cases attempts at surprise will be detected and defeated; but as a success is usually valuable far in excess of the losses suffered in its execution, promising opportunities for their trial should not be neglected.
Surprises, when thought possible, are undertaken under the cover of night, fog, or severe storms. The tactical disposition of the troops is similar to that used in open assault, the columns being preceded by ladder-parties for scaling walls, engineers for blowing down barriers, etc., etc., according to the nature of the case, and followed by a large reserve which is designed to hold any points captured by the advancing columns. It is usually considered best to make simultaneous attacks at several points, in order to confuse and divide the defence, holding the main reserve nearest to the column which is expected to succeed; but making provision also for promptly and fully supporting any other party which may have forced an entrance into the work. An entrance secured, consecutive points should be occupied and held, preserving communication between them, and avoiding too great dispersion of the troops, until a foothold is gained which can in all probability be held against the defence. After this greater boldness may be used in attacking important points within the place.
The complete capture of the work and its garrison cannot ordinarily be expected, however, until daylight allows the systematic movement of the attack throughout the place. In case of failure, any captured gate must be held if possible until all the troops have retreated through it and are covered by the reserves.
DEFENCE AGAINST SURPRISE.
3. The measures necessary to guard a fortified place against surprise are of two classes. First, for its prevention, by use of all the usual outposts and interior guards,—the organization and duties of which need not be repeated here,—and of telegraphic and other signals and communications with the surrounding country by which the approach and movements of any attacking force may be made known before it comes near the work.
Second, for its repulse, by so training and disciplining the garrison that, upon the alarm being given, the parapets, batteries, etc., will be manned and all defensive measures will be taken before the assaulting body can enter the work.
This will be accomplished by so thoroughly drilling the garrison in its duties that each man will go at once to his proper station fully equipped for his duties at any hour day or night, without confusion or unnecessary excitement. The subsequent measures are the same as for resisting any other assault.
ASSAULT.
4. By an assault is meant an open attack upon a position by troops in line or column.
Formerly it was recommended to make assaults at early dawn, in order to have the increasing daylight for securing the results of victory; more recently night attacks have been more strongly advocated in order to diminish the losses from the fire of the defence while making the attack, and the still greater ones which follow a repulse when, the fire of the supports and reserves of the attack being suspended for fear of injuring the retreating troops, the defence pours upon the latter the full close and deadly fire of all its arms. Whether the advantages of a night attack more than counterbalance the dangers resulting from the confusion due to darkness is, however, a question not yet settled.
Open assaults upon fortified positions, well manned and armed, have, since the introduction of firearms, been considered the most bloody, uncertain, and frequently the most unjustifiable operations in war. With the introduction of machine and rapid-fire guns and magazine rifles it may be considered as an established fact that a well-defended line cannot be carried by an assault in front until its fire is overpowered or its ammunition exhausted.
This conclusion, which has been drawn from attacks on field-works, is still more positive in regard to attack upon works of strong profile protected by deep ditches and other obstacles.
DISPOSITIONS FOR AN ASSAULT.
5. When an assault is ordered the tactical dispositions must be so made as to keep the fire of the defence down to its lowest possible limit, until the assailant can close in with the bayonet.
With this end in view, batteries are established sweeping the lines; the assaulting columns, well supplied with ammunition, are formed where protected from fire; working parties are arranged and provided with such tools and appliances as are necessary for removing or overcoming obstacles; and all preparations are made for simultaneous action by the entire force.
It is manifest that to silence the fire of the work the attack must have a marked preponderance of artillery arranged both for enfilade and front fire upon the front of attack and the collateral works; and that the batteries must be established, the fire opened, and the guns of the defence silenced before the assault is made; and that this fire must continue until the assaulting troops are so near the work as to necessitate its discontinuance to avoid injury to them.
The working parties—carrying axes, saws, crowbars, and similar tools which are needed for removing the existing obstacles; explosives for blowing down gates, barriers, etc.; fascines, gabions, hurdles, etc., for crossing ditches, covering trous de loup, and other purposes; and, when necessary, ladders for escalade—move forward with the columns of attack; the latter must be so handled that, when the artillery fire is suspended, they can keep down the fire of the defence with rifle and light machine-gun fire.
Under cover of this fire the obstacles must be removed by the working parties, and the first assault made by the troops detailed for this purpose. With these troops should be a certain number of artillerists provided with lanyards, friction primers, etc., to serve any guns that may be captured, turning them against the defence.
A party of engineers provided with high explosives for blowing down gates, etc., should follow closely behind the advance in case of an escalade; they should also be provided with appliances for blowing up magazines, etc., when possible, in case of a repulse. The gates being captured and opened, the mass of the assaulting troops enter by them and complete the capture of the place.
In case of repulse the retreat of the advanced parties is covered, when possible, by the infantry fire of the reserves, and that of the latter by the artillery, as in the advance.
DEFENCE AGAINST AN ASSAULT.
6. Permanent works being designed to be secure against assaults and surprise, their guns of position are protected as well as circumstances admit against the hostile artillery and infantry fire. During the cannonade preliminary to an assault a wise discretion must be used as to how much ammunition may be profitably expended in replying to it, and how great an exposure of the men to the artillery fire is justifiable. As a rule but little reply is made from the work.
The machine and rapid-fire guns should be withdrawn from the parapets and be protected under bomb-proofs until the relaxation of the hostile fire due to the near approach of the assault allows them to be run out and to open fire. The infantry of the garrison is similarly handled, being held under cover until the proper moment, then manning the parapet and pouring a close, rapid, and deadly fire upon the assault.
The fire of the fronts directly attacked, both machine-gun and infantry, will be directed principally at the assaulting columns and working parties, the collateral works and fronts will, in addition to pouring a cross-fire upon the assaulting columns, direct a large part of their machine-gun fire upon the supports and reserves, while the more powerful guns will generally direct their fire upon the hostile artillery.
The troops not needed for manning the parapets are held under cover in a central position as a reserve, to strengthen the force at any part of the parapet or to meet and drive out any body of the enemy penetrating the work.
Should the attack be repulsed, the most rapid and destructive fire from all arms is directed upon the retreating troops with a view to inflicting the greatest possible losses; but a counter-attack is, as a rule, not attempted. When made, however, it should be limited to making an advance upon one or both flanks to a position giving a more effective fire upon the retreating troops, and retiring from this position to the cover of the work as soon as the main attack is completely repulsed and before the advanced troops become compromised by a close engagement with the enemy.
BOMBARDMENT.
7. By a bombardment, technically speaking, is meant a more or less continuous shell-fire upon a place with a view to destroying magazines, buildings, materials, and supplies of all kinds, in addition to inflicting the greatest possible losses upon the garrison and producing among the inhabitants a state of terror and unrest, frequently extending to mutiny, and finally causing the surrender of the place.
The term bombardment is also frequently applied to a cannonade opened upon a place to silence its artillery prior to an assault or during a siege.
A bombardment promises success when the place is small and not well provided with bomb-proofs, when the garrison is weak or of bad morale, when the inhabitants are numerous and not in sympathy with the garrison, or when the commandant is weak. A well-built and well-equipped modern fort can hardly be reduced by bombardment with any reasonable expenditure of time and ammunition; although the successful use of torpedo-shells charged with high explosives will probably render untenable works not designed to resist their effects.
When it is designed to reduce a place by bombardment a complete investment is, as a rule, necessary only to prevent the withdrawal of the non-combatants (a severe measure, but one frequently adopted), or to insure the capture of the garrison upon the fall of the place.
The disposition of the troops is made for the special object in view. The infantry, cavalry, and field artillery complete the investment, if made; or, when the place is not invested, are concentrated at such points as may be necessary to protect the artillery from any sorties from the place, and to meet and repel attacks from any relieving force.
The artillery of larger calibre used for the bombardment proper should consist principally of rifled howitzers and mortars, which are easier to transport and more suitable for high-angle fire. As it is not intended to dismount or silence the guns of the place by direct or enfilade fire, an artillery duel should be avoided.
The batteries should be located, so far as possible, in places screened from the artillery of the defence by undulations of the ground, etc.; or, if this is impossible, by artificial screens as a cover from sight, and by trenches as a protection from fire.
Considerable latitude is allowed in selecting sites for batteries. For convenience of supply and unity of command they should be collected in groups, the batteries of the groups separated by at least 100 to 200 yards; and the groups should be located, so far as other considerations allow, near the main lines of communication.
If these groups do not entirely surround the place, they should, when practicable, extend at least half way around, so as to bring a reverse fire on all covers.
The fire, once opened, should continue night and day. If a conflagration breaks out, a sharp fire of shells should be directed upon it and its vicinity to prevent its extinction. Special efforts should be made to blow up magazines and destroy shops, storehouses, docks, roads, bridges, or other communications useful to the defence; but, so far as is practicable consistently with these, an attempt should be made to avoid injury to public monuments, museums, antiquities, and works of art.
Bombardments are sometimes commenced and continued for a longer or shorter time without the expectation of reducing the place, but to destroy some of the constructions above mentioned or to prevent the completion or arming of a work which it is intended to attack by other methods. A slow bombardment may also precede the active cannonade which prepares for an assault, or the systematic artillery attack of a regular siege.
DEFENCE AGAINST BOMBARDMENT.
8. The defence against bombardment is frequently, from necessity, strictly passive, and consists in so disposing the troops and materials as to protect them under bomb- and splinter-proofs, repairing damages to the latter and to magazines and parapets as occasion offers; saving the ammunition of the place by firing only such shots as promise to pay for themselves by the effect produced; and reserving all the strength of the place to meet the subsequent attack, if made.
When circumstances admit, a more active defence may be made, by a strong garrison, by well-conducted sorties which may capture and destroy the hostile guns and batteries and defeat and drive off their supports.
Sorties of this kind may sometimes be profitably made against the flanks of the attacking force, or against isolated batteries, even when a general attack cannot be made. Opportunities for their use should not be neglected.
CHAPTER II.SIEGE OR ATTACK BY REGULAR APPROACHES.
PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS, DEFINITIONS, ETC.
9. By a regular siege is meant a systematic and more or less deliberate attack upon a fortified place, in which the besieger aims to invest the place and capture its fortifications in succession by regular approaches, beginning with the most advanced and ending only with the reduction of the innermost keep and the surrender of the garrison.
The successive steps of a siege are usually the following:
The investment.
The artillery attack.
The construction of parallels and approaches.
Breaching by artillery or mines.
The final assault.
The introduction of modern breech-loading rifled guns, howitzers and mortars, rapid-fire and machine guns, and magazine small arms has brought with it the need of a higher grade of mechanical skill and improved machinery for making the ordinary repairs. This imposes upon both attack and defence the necessity for providing machine shops and tools fitted for work of this kind, with the steam power required to drive them. In connection with these, steam sawmills and other simple wood-working machines should be provided, as well as all other available labor-saving appliances which can be used to lighten the labor of the troops.
Portable tools, such as picks, shovels, crowbars, rammers, axes, hatchets, bill-hooks, gabion-knives, hammers, saws, carpenters', joiners' and blacksmiths' tools, etc., etc., must be provided.
