Redan

Is the simplest work in field fortification. It consists of two parapets whose faces join in forming a salient angle toward the enemy, like a letter V, in which the apex is to the front. Regarded by itself, the redan is a work of very little strength, since there is no flanking fire to protect its faces, and nothing to prevent an enemy from forcing an entrance at the gorge; but redans are useful in many positions, and the rapidity with which they may be constructed renders them favorites with engineers and generals. A row of redans along an exposed front of an army adds much to its strength, the troops behind protecting the gorge, and the redans flanking each other. It forms an excellent defense for a bridgehead, the gorge being covered by the river. Redans figured largely in Wellington’s works for defending Lisbon in 1810. The redan of Sebastopol in 1855 was the principal point of the English attack, and the scene of two bloody repulses by the Ru ians in June and September.