Tenaille

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Scheme of the usual fortifications of the bastionary fortification system (only a schematic diagram that tries to represent as many forms of construction as possible). The names and the associated numbers of all works mentioned in the text can be found in the notes.

As Tenaille (. Tenaille from the French.: Pliers, military and pincer movement, embracing), crushing plant is called in the fortress of the early modern period all forms of Fortress outline, which consist only of incoming and salient angles without edges (as about a bastion owns) . The flanks can be dispensed with in such works by the fact that the space in front of the opposite protruding line can be completely covered by the walls of the protruding angle, that is, can be tongued.

The term tenaille is divided into three different categories in fortress construction, which are not always clearly separated from one another in linguistic usage, so that their exact meaning only emerges from the context.

The word tenaille can denote

  1. a work lying in the ditch directly in front of the actual fortress, which primarily has a task covering the structure behind it, such as the trench shears or tenaille in front of the curtain wall or the tenaille or counter-guard (French contre garde) in front of the ravelin . These narrow works to protect a small ravelin against direct attack are not infrequently also called tenaillons (singular: tenaillon ) or "small scissors". Both the trench scissors and the tenaillon can be found regularly in fortifications of the bastionary fortification system since Vauban (at the end of the 17th century). Since these many small works, “which cost a lot and achieve little”, could usually only accommodate a small crew, their resilience was low, which is why they were an essential starting point for criticism of the bastionary fortification system as a whole during the 18th century.
  3. a separate outer work in front of the main ditch, which, as an " advance work " or as an "outer work", should consume the forces of the besiegers as far as possible before the actual encirclement, without harming the actual fortress. Such a structure could also serve as a bridgehead to protect a bridge over a river, or to include a ridge slightly in front of the fortress in the fortification line. A distinction was made between a " simple tenaille " or "swallowtail" (French queue d'hirondelle) and the " double tenaille " or "Pfaffenhut" or "Pfaffenmütze" (French bonnet à prêtre). Corresponding works in front of which there is a ravelin in front of the angle are called a “reinforced single-” or “reinforced double tenaille”. The two works correspond to a horn work or a crown work with a bastionary fortification front. Such external works, which were very common in French fortress construction in the 18th century, were largely replaced by detached forts in the 19th century .
  5. one of the fortification systems that emerged in the 18th century and is essentially made up of fortifications, the floor plan of which was only composed of angles that jump in and out (→ Tenaill system ).

References and comments

  1. ^ Hoyer, General Dictionary of War Architecture, 1817, sv Tenaille
  2. ↑ on the graphic overview numbers 31 and 32
  3. ↑ on the graphic overview No. 30. Note: the modern graphic artist does not have the Tenaillons here next to a Ravelin (= No. 25), but incorrectly next to a crescent moon (French: demi-lune) (= No. 21) in front of one Bastion drawn where they are pointless, since they cannot be flanked there at all.
  4. ↑ Hoyer, Textbook of War Architecture, 1818, 137
  5. ↑ Hoyer, Textbook of War Architecture, 1818, 137
  6. ↑ v. Prittwitz and Gaffron, Textbook of Fortification Art and the Fortress War, 1865, 260f
  7. ↑ Prittwitz describes all works that lie in front of the covered path as "outer work" (v. Prittwitz and Gaffron, Textbook of Fortification Art and the Fortress War, 262. Note: this is taken from the modern graphic overview opposite, which was originally taken from a lexicon was unfortunately not shown correctly. Since the covered path (= No. 8) surrounds the entire fortress on this graphic, these works only serve as couvre ravelin and are therefore not external works. This certainly happened, but wasn't the rule.)
  8. ↑ No. 20 on the graphic overview
  9. ↑ on the graphic overview, No. 27 and No. 33
  10. ↑ v. Prittwitz and Gaffron, Textbook of Fortification Art and the Fortress War, 1865, 262
  11. ↑ No. 22 on the graphic overview
  12. ↑ on the graphic overview number 24

literature

Johann G. von Hoyer, Textbook of War Building Art, 1818 (Reprint 2011: ISBN 978-1-173-73982-9 ) Hartwig Neumann, Fortress architecture and fortification technology, 1994 ISBN 3-7637-5929-8

See also