Part 169

GABION farci, Fr. a stuft gabion.

GABIONADE, Fr. a term made use of when a retrenchment is suddenly thrown up and formed of gabions, for the purpose of covering the retreat of troops, who may be obliged to abandon a work, after having defended it to the last extremity. Every parapet that is made of gabions is generally called gabionade.

GABIONNER, Fr. to cover or secure with gabions.

GAFFLES, the steel lever with which the ancients bent their cross-bows.

GAGES, Fr. wages. Among the French this phrase signified the fruits or compensations which were derived by individuals from appointments given by the crown, whether of a military, civil, or judicial nature, or for service done at sea or by land.

GAIN is frequently used in a military sense, as they gained the day, &c.

To GAIN ground. See GROUND.

GAINE de flamme, Fr. a sort of linen sheath or cover, into which the staff of a flag or pendant is put.

GAINE de pavilion, Fr. a cloth, or linen-band, which is sewed across the flag, and through which the different ribands are interlaced.

GAINES de girouettes, Fr. bands, or pieces of linen, with which the vanes are tied to the staff.

GAITERS, a sort of cover for the leg, usually made of cloth, and are either long as reaching to the knee, or short, as only reaching just above the ancle; the latter are termed half-gaiters.

GALERIES Capitales, Fr. are those galleries which lie under the capitals in works of fortification.

GALERIE tranversale, Fr. is a gallery in fortification which cuts the capital in a perpendicular direction.

GALERIE meurtriére ou de premiere envelope, Fr. a gallery which runs under the whole extent of the covert-way, and is frequently carried close to the counterscarp, in order to afford a circulation of air.

GALERIE d’envelope, Fr. a gallery which is constructed at the extremity of the glacis, and is commonly made parallel to the magistral or principal line of fortification. The envelope is the chief gallery in a fortress or garrison-town, and serves as a path of communication or covered way to all the rest.

It is of the utmost consequence to the besieged to secure this gallery from every approach of the enemy; and if any impression should be made, to repair the injury without delay. From this gallery the garrison always direct their attacks, whenever it is necessary to keep the assailants out of the covert-way.

GALERIE d’écoute, Fr. a gallery in front of the envelope. Ecouter, which signifies to listen, sufficiently explains the purpose for which these galleries are erected.

Petites GALERIES, ou rameaux, Fr. small galleries, branches, or arraignées, in fortification, which issue from the counter-mine, and at the extremities of which the furnace or chamber for the lodgment of gunpowder is constructed. There is not any established or fixed rule to direct the height to which small galleries, branches, or arraignées ought to be carried; in general they should have the least possible elevation.

When galleries are built of mason-work their height is from five to six feet, their breadth from three to four, and sometimes only three.

GALERIES de mines, Fr. galleries in mining differ from counter-mines, in as much as that they are supported by coffers resting upon frames, which are covered with earth three feet in depth; that is, two feet and a half from one frame to another. These galleries are usually built three feet and a half high, and two and a half broad; and whenever there is a necessity to work in the rameau or arraignée, the galleries in that case are reduced to smaller proportions.

GALERIE magistrale, Fr. in mining signifies any covered avenue or gallery which is parallel to the magistral or principal line of the place, and exists under the whole or part of the front of the fortifications. This gallery is usually as thick as the enemy’s mason-work against which the counter-mine is directed. By means of this work, the besieged generally endeavour to interrupt every attempt which the besiegers may make in the passage of the fossé or ditch.

GALERIE à passer un fossé, a gallery constructed for the purpose of crossing a ditch. It is a small passage made of timber-work, having its beams or supporters driven into the bottom of the ditch, and being covered at top with boards that are again covered with earth, sufficiently strong to bear the miner, and to withstand the effect of artificial fire, or the weight of stones which the enemy might direct against them. This sort of gallery is sometimes called the traverse, or cross way.

These galleries have been out of use for some years. The miner gets at the body of the place which is attacked, either through a subterraneous gallery that is dug beneath the ditch, when the nature of the ground will permit the attempt, or under cover of the epaulement, which covers the passage of the ditch. When the ditch is full of water, and the miner has made considerable progress under it, he instantly makes the best of his way to the breach, either by swimming, or by supporting his body on a raft of timber; as soon as he has reached the spot, he works into the earth among the ruins of the wall, and completes the object of his enterprize.

GALERIES de communication, Fr. are subterraneous galleries, by means of which, the garrison of a besieged town or place may, without being perceived by the enemy, communicate from the body of the place, or from the counterscarp, with the different outworks.

GALERIES souterraines des anciens, Fr. Subterraneous galleries as originally invented by the ancients. The author of the Dictionnaire Militaire in his last edition of that work enters upon the explanation of these galleries by the following curious assertion.

“I must, he observes, in this place, assert with the chevalier Folard, that it would be absurd to deny the superiority which the ancients possessed over us in the essential knowlege and requisites of war, and that they pushed the different branches of that science to as high a pitch of perfection as it was possible to raise it.

“The only inventions which the moderns can boast of, are those of fire-arms, mines, and furnaces. But then, on the other hand, we stand indebted to them for our lines of circumvallation and of contravallation, our approaches or trenches which are effected from a camp to its different batteries, together with the construction of those batteries; our parallel entrenchments or places of arms, the descent into, or the filling up of the ditch, our covered saps in mining, and our open galleries; we owe to them, in fact, the original art of throwing up works and of creating obstacles, by which we are enabled to secure ourselves, or by various stratagems to annoy our enemies. The ancients were indeed superior to us, in the means of defence.

“The origin of subterraneous galleries or passages in mining, is totally unknown to us; a circumstance which proves their antiquity. We read in the History of Josephus, that the Jews frequently made use of them; so that neither the Greeks nor the Romans, who, in many instances arrogate to themselves the exclusive glory of invention, were the authors of this discovery.