Part 106

DEFENSE, Fr. être en défense, technically signifies to be in a state of defence, or able to resist. The French usually say: Cette redoute est en défense. This redoubt is in a state of defence.

DEFENSES d’une place, Fr. See DEFENCE in FORTIFICATION.

DEFENSIVE, serving to defend; in a state or posture of defence.

DEFENSIVE-war. See WAR.

DEFIANCE. See CHALLENGE.

DEFICIENT, wanting to complete, as when a regiment, troop, or company has not its prescribed number of men.

DEFILE, in military affairs, a strait narrow passage, or road, through which the troops cannot march, otherwise than by making a small front, and filing off; so that the enemy may take an opportunity to stop, or harrass their march, and to charge them with so much the more advantage, because the rear cannot come up to the relief of the front.

To DEFILE, is to reduce divisions or platoons into a small front, in order to march through a defile; which is most conveniently done by quarter facing to either the right or left, and then covering to either right or left, and marching through by files, &c. It has been mentioned by a writer on military manœuvres, that defiling should be performed with rapidity, for this obvious reason, that a body of men which advances towards, or retires from an approaching enemy, may get into line, or into columns prepared for action, without loss of time. There may, however, be exceptions to this general rule. For instance, if the regiment is passing a bridge, either retreating or advancing, and the bridge is not firm, the pressure upon it must be as little as possible; because if it should break down, the regiment is suddenly separated, and the remainder may be cut to pieces. In passing a common defile the pace must be proportioned to the nature of the ground.

DEFILING a lodgment. See ENFILADE.

DEFORMER, Fr. in a military sense, signifies to break: as déformer une colonne, to break a column.

DEFY. See CHALLENGE.

DEGAST, Fr. the laying waste an enemy’s country, particularly in the neighborhood of a town which an army attempts to reduce by famine, or which refuses to pay military exactions.

DEGORGEOIR, Fr. a sort of steel pricker used in examining the touch-hole of a cannon; called a priming wire.

DEGRADATION, in a military life, the act of depriving an officer for ever of his commission, rank, dignity, or degree of honor; and taking away, at the same time, title, badge, and every other privilege of an officer.

DEGRADER, Fr. To degrade. The character of a soldier in France was formerly, and we presume still is, so scrupulously watched, that criminals were never delivered over to the charge of the civil power, or sent to be executed, without having been previously degraded; which was done in the following manner:

As soon as the serjeant of the company to which the culprit belonged, had received orders from the major of the regiment, to degrade and render him incapable of bearing arms; he accoutred him cap-a-pied, taking care to place his right hand upon the but-end of the musquet, while the soldier remained tied. He then repeated the following words: finding thee unworthy to bear arms, we thus degrade thee. “Te trouvant indigne de porter les armes, nous t’en dégradons.” He then drew the musquet from his arm backwards, took off his cross-belt, sword, &c. and finally gave him a kick upon the posteriors. After which the serjeant retired, and the executioner seized the criminal. See DRUM-OUT.

DEGRE. See DEGREE.

DEGREE. Though this term properly belongs to geometry, nevertheless it is frequently used both in fortification, and gunnery. Hence it will not be improper to state, that it is a division of a circle, including a 360th part of its circumference. Every circle is supposed to be divided into 360°, parts called degrees, and each degree into 60′, other parts, called minutes; each of these minutes being divided into 60″ seconds, each second into thirds, and so on.

DEHORS, in the military art, are all sorts of out-works in general, placed at some distance from the walls of a fortification, the better to secure the main places, and to protect the siege, &c. See FORTIFICATION.

DELINEATION, an outline or sketch. See DESIGN.

DELIVER. See SURRENDER.

DEMI-BASTION, or half-bastion, is a work with only one face and one flank. See FORTIFICATION.

DEMI-CANNON. See CANNON.

DEMI-CULVERIN. See CANNON.

DEMI-DISTANCE des polygones, Fr. is the distance between the exterior polygons and the angles.

DEMI-DISTANCES, Fr. half distances: as serrez la colonne à demi-distances, close to the column at half distances.

DEMI-FILE, Fr. is that rank in a French battalion, which immediately succeeds to the serre-demi-file, and is at the head of the remaining half of its depth.

DEMI-LANCE, a light lance or spear.