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Opening of the Trenches |
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In an attack by regular approaches the first night's work in
constructing the first parallel and boyaux leading forward from the artillery
and engineer parks was referred to as the opening of the trenches. This event
marked the beginning of a siege and was used as the basis of calculations
to predict the number of days that would be necessary to finish the approach
trenches and breach the attacked fortification. Prior to the American Civil
War permanent fortifications were designed to withstand sieges lasting a
certain number of days calculated from the opening of an attacking force's
trenches to the day that the fortification's enceinte
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January, 2003 |
could be breached and the place opened to an assault; the period
of the siege was itself based on the time required for an attacking force
to advance its siege works and batter their way through the successive outworks
to reach the enceinte. An aggressively commanded garrison would do all that
it reasonably could, through counter mining, sorties, and running counter
approaches, to upset the attacking force's time-table and prolong the siege.
