From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Counterscarp

Outer side of a ditch or moat in a fortification

A scarp and a counterscarp are the inner and outer sides, respectively, of a ditch or moat used in fortifications. Attackers (if they have not bridged the ditch) must descend the counterscarp and ascend the scarp. In permanent fortifications, the scarp and counterscarp may be encased in stone. In less permanent fortifications, the counterscarp may be lined with paling fence set at an angle so as to give no cover to the attackers, but to make advancing and retreating more difficult.

If an attacker succeeds in breaching a wall, a coupure can be dug on the inside of the wall to hinder the forlorn hope, in which case the side of the ditch furthest from the breached wall and closest to the centre of the fortification is also called the counterscarp.

Counterscarp gallery

These are tunnels or "galleries" that have been built behind the counterscarp wall inside the moat or ditch. Each gallery is pierced with loopholes for musketry, so that attacking forces which enter the moat can be directly fired upon. Counterscarp galleries were usually built into the angles of the ditch to give the widest field of fire. Occasionally, casemated artillery batteries were built into the counterscarp, but they were more commonly designed for infantry weapons only. The galleries were usually connected to the main body of the fort by a tunnel which passed under the ditch, or by a caponier, a gallery built across the floor of the ditch.

References

Counterscarp: European fortress wall - Art - Britannica Concise: diagram
Stephen Francis Wyley (Drawings by Steven Lowe) A Dictionary of Military Architecture Fortification and Fieldworks from the Iron Age to the Eighteenth Century: Counterscarp
Counterscarp Gallery
E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897 Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898: Counterscarp

;Attribution

Footnotes

References

[http://www.libraryireland.com/articles/clonmelmonastery/index.php Clonmel: Its Monastery, and Siege by Cromwell] From Duffy's Hibernian Magazine, Vol. III, No. 14, August 1861
The term "scarp" is from the same origin as a "scarp slope", the leading edge of [[escarpment]], and in this case the escarpment is the ditch and wall of a fortress. If a defensive ditch is dug on the inner side of a wall then there can be a counterscarp on both sides of the wall.
Pasley, Charles William, Sir (1817) [https://books.google.com/books?id=uyI6AQAAMAAJ&dq=counterscarp+gallery&pg=PA379 ''A Course of Military Instruction Originally Composed for the Use of the Royal Engineers: Volume 3''] John Murray, London (p.380)

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

siege-tactics fortification-(architectural-elements)

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Counterscarp — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report