The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1900-11-15
HINDER AN ARMY'S MARCH.
Obstacles That Are Thrown In II,
Way of an Invading Mill
tary Force.


tary Force.
The use of obstacles in warfare il
as old as war itself, and between the
turf-cov9ed holes and caltrops OF
Bruce at Bannockburn and the mod
ern military pits" and "crowsfoot"
there is little difference, says Pear
sons Magazine.
The obstacle which best fulfiIls the
required conditions and which has
practically only one drawback is ''wire
ENHANCEMENT"
1t does not afford cover to the en-
envy should he gain possession of it.
1t is difficult to remove or surmount,
and special tools, such as cutting
or nippers, are required for its de-
struction. 1t is difficult to see, and
if exposed to artillery fire cannot be
set alight. On the other hand. it is
an obstacle to a counter attack and
in bulk rather cumbrous to trans
port from one place to another.
"Wire ENHANCEMENT" may be either
high" or "low." In the "high" vari-
ETY. stout stakes are driven into the
ground in rows about six feet apart,
about four feet being left above
ground; the wire is then. taken dag
onally from the top of one stake to
the bottom of another. and after
ward horizontally between the stakes,
the whole forming network very
difficult to get through.
In the Glow wire ENHANCEMENT" the
stakes are only IS inches above
ground and the wire is stretched
diagonally and horizontally between
the heads of the stakes.
slow wire ENHANCEMENT" is more
easily concealed than ''high," and also
takes shorter time to erect, but it
is not SO much of an obstacle and
large masses of men soon trample it
down.
'Abatis" is a favorite and effective
form of obstacle, and it's use depends
only on the number of trees available.
It may be formed either by cutting
off the limbs of trees and picketing
them to the ground where they are
wanted, having pointed out and sharp
ened the branches; or, especially
when the edge of the wood is being
held, by half cutting through trees
young ones for preference, as they
do not catch fire so easily-bending
them over in the direction of the en-
envy and interlacing with ropes.
military pits" have rather gone
out of use nowadays, but consist, as
their name implies, of V-shaped pits
from Is inches to three feet deep
with breadth at the top of from
two to three feet.
The pits are arranged in rows,
checkerwise, and are usually covered
with thin layer of turf or brush
wood, while sharp-pointed stakes are
driven into them. They are useful
against cavalry, but are hardly likely
to repay the time and labor involved
in their construction, and, if cap.
tured by the enemy, are easily con-
verted into intrenchments for bis
use.
"Crowsfeet" are practically obso.
lete now, but may be mentioned as a
relic of former days. "Crowsfeet" are
made of four spikes welded together
and arranged in such manner that
whichever way they are thrown one
spike will always be uppermost
They are useful against cavalry, but
on account of their bulk and weight
would rarely be carried by a modern
army.
We now come to an essentially Gal
lie obstacle, "chevaux-de-frise." which
was largely employed during the
street fighting of the French revolu
ton. A section of -frise'
consists of length generally SIX
feet) of iron piping, which is pierced
with holes; through these holes
pointed iron rods are passed, crossing
one another so as to form a double
row of spikes at the top, and at the
same time to act as legs for the sec
ton to stand on.
Palisades" are principally EN-
ployed in the defense of bitches il
front of large earthworks and are
formed by driving stout, pointed
stakes into the bottom of the ditch
the stakes being further secured b,
longitudinal beams called "ribands,'
SO that when the attackers leap int
the ditch they run every chance o.
being impaled.