Suitcase (fortress construction)

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Suitcase , sometimes also called "trench suitcase" or "double suitcase", derived from the French le coffre (originally chest, box), is a technical term used in fortress construction . The first "case" in the form of two closely standing lower walls were originally (17th century) as a protected way between the actual fort and the front of the moat lying outworks . The two parallel ramparts, which covered the path running between them on both sides, were soon raised and sloped on the outside and finally equipped with raised parapets for riflemen on the inside. In this form and under the name Coffre , they were first introduced by the French marshal and fortress builder Vauban and then increasingly served as (open-top) trench pranks . In order to make it more difficult for the enemy to penetrate the suitcase, they were often provided with palisades and in some cases even covered. Especially in this last form, they hardly differed from the caponies , apart from the fact that they initially still crossed the entire fortress moat in their original function as a protected connection route (French: communication ).

In the German textbooks and handbooks on the construction of fortifications of the 19th century, a distinction was often made between “suitcases” that were open at the top and “Kaponièren” that were closed at the top (covered) for the trench strokes . In general usage after 1850/60, however, the two terms increasingly coincided; All the more so since after 1815 hardly any “suitcases” were rebuilt according to the original definition. In the Austro-Hungarian specialist literature towards the end of the 19th century, caponies were predominantly, if not exclusively, referred to as suitcases.

See also

literature

  • Hartwig Neumann: Fortress architecture and fortress construction technology. Bernard & Graefe, 1994, ISBN 3-7637-5929-8 .
  • Kurt Mörz de Paula: The Austro-Hungarian fortifications 1820–1914 . Stöhr, Vienna 1997.

References and comments

  1. ↑ suitcase . In: Bernhard von Poten : Concise dictionary of the entire military sciences. 1877.
  2. ↑ v. Prittwitz and Gaffron: Textbook of fortification art and fortification war. 1865, p. 242 ff.
  3. ↑ suitcase . In: Riistow: Military concise dictionary. 1858.
  4. ^ Mörz de Paula with numerous illustrations from treatises published around 1900.