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Counterscarp Gallery |
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Also Reverse Gallery. In both temporary and permanent fortifications
a counterscarp gallery was a loop-holed enclosure set into the counterscarp
wall of a ditch. Counterscarp galleries provided cover for troops defending
the ditch of unflanked fortifications and, in some cases, provided access
to countermine galleries sunken under the glacis. This type of gallery was
relatively less expensive in time and materials to construct and was less
exposed to distant artillery fire than caponnieres; since there was no direct
access from a counterscarp gallery
Counterscarp galleries in field fortifications were constructed
by widening the ditch along the counterscarp to a depth sufficient to raise
the wooden post and beam frame necessary to enclose the gallery. The posts
and beams were then sheathed with heavy planking on the inside wall abutting
the earth wall of the
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January, 2003 |
into the interior of a field work, as there was with caponnieres,
loss of a counterscarp gallery was much less serious than the loss of a
caponniere.
ditch and on top to take a load of 3 to 4 feet of earth that
both made the gallery bomb-proof and re-established the line of the crest
of the counterscarp. The wall facing the ditch could either be constructed
of doubled cases vertical posts or of heavy planking spiked onto the walls
posts. In either case the wall facing the ditch was treated after the fashion
of caponniere or blockhouse walls with earth banked against the lower part
of the wall to eliminate dead ground at the foot of the wall that could not
be reached by fire from the gallery's loop-holes. A heavy door pierced with
a loop-hole provided access to the gallery from the bottom of the ditch.
Counterscarp galleries could also be prepared for an artillery armament
consisting of light casemate howitzers or carronades.
