Mantlet

A sort of temporary fortification intended to protect the men working guns in embrasures, casemates, or port-holes from the bullets of sharpshooters. The mantlet is usually made to be hoisted up while the gunner takes aim, and then lowered to cover the whole opening except a circular aperture for the muzzle of the cannon. With every increase in the range and precision of small-arms, mantlets become more e ential for the safety of gunners. Mantlets are made of thick fir, of solid oak planks, or of iron plates, the last being preferable, as the lightest. At Sebastopol, the Ru ians effectively blocked their embrasures by thick mantlets of plaited rope suspended freely. A mantlet of planks or iron plates, about 5 feet high, and occasionally mounted on small wheels, is also used to protect sappers working at the end of a sap, although a rolling gabion is preferred for this purpose by many engineers.