i
Copyright, 1894,
BY
JAMES MERCUR,
West Point, N. Y.
Right of Translation Reserved.
iii
In this work an attempt has been made to give inoutline the best modern methods of attack upon a fortifiedposition by assault, surprise, blockade, or siege;and also the detailed constructions of those types oftrenches, batteries, magazines, etc., etc., which seem bestsuited to resist the fire of modern cannon, and to affordcover to a besieging force.
It is not supposed that these types will be exactlycopied in all cases of actual practice, but that a wisediscretion will be used in modifying or combining themwhen necessary or desirable.
The constructions given are standard types, whichhave grown up by combining the suggestions and theexperience of the military engineers of all civilizednations.
In selecting them I have drawn freely upon the textbooksof the schools of military engineering at Chatham,Fontainebleau, Vienna, and Berlin, as well as upon thatof the late Professor Mahan, and the manuals of Duaneand Ernst.
The standard work of Gumpertz and Lebrun is frequentlyreferred to in “Military Mining”; and I amivalso under obligations to General H. L. Abbot, Corps ofEngineers, for the use of his unpublished notes on theexperimental mines at Willett’s Point, and the resultof his experiments upon the mining effects of shellscharged with different explosives.
West Point, N. Y.,
October, 1894.
v
Modern wars have been marked by sharp aggressivecampaigns and great battles in the open field, with fewclose and long-continued sieges.
The subject of siege-works has therefore attractedless 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 andmining operations were necessary to reduce either permanentor field fortifications, if well equipped and defended.
The volume of fire delivered by the small arms andmachine guns now in use has made an open assaultupon a well-supplied and well-defended parapet, underordinary circumstances, a hopeless undertaking, andhas necessitated more deliberate methods of attack.
The increased accuracy and penetration of moderncannon have rendered obsolete many of the oldermethods of making regular approaches.
The newer constructions described herein, while givinggreater protection to the attack, are in generalslower in their advance than those pre