Tenaillon

Also called great lunettes. In permanent fortifications tenaillons were a outworks that covered demi-lune faces and threw the salient of the demi-lune into a re-entrant angle. Their purpose was to add an extra layer of depth to the defense between the covered way and demi-lune that would prolong the time required to seize the demi-lune. While the salients of tenaillons covering a demi-lune were projected forward of the demi-lune salient, they did not interpose any obstacle between the crest of the covered way in front of the demi-lune salient and the demi-lune itself and all three salients, the demi-lune and both tenaillons, could be battered and breached by batteries established at the salient of the covered way.

January, 2003