A scarp and a counterscarp are the inner and outer sides, respectively, of a

ditch A ditch is a small to moderate divot created to channel water. A ditch can be used for drainage, to drain water from low-lying areas, alongside roadways or fields, or to channel water from a more distant source for plant irrigation. Ditches ar ...

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...

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 A coupure is a means of closing an opening in a wall, floodwall or levee (dike). The word comes from the French verb ''couper'' which means to cut. In historic times a coupure was a location where a breach in the city walls or the walls of a fo ...

can be dug on the inside of the wall to hinder the

forlorn hope A forlorn hope is a band of soldiers or other combatants chosen to take the vanguard in a military operation, such as a suicidal assault through the kill zone of a defended position, or the first men to climb a scaling ladder against a defen ...

, in which case the side of the ditch farthest from the breached wall and closest to the centre of the fortification is also called the counterscarp.

Counterscarp gallery

Defensive tunnel in Southsea Castle - geograph

These are tunnels or "galleries" that have been built behind the counterscarp wall inside the moat or ditch. Each gallery is pierced with

loopholes A loophole is an ambiguity or inadequacy in a system, such as a law or security, which can be used to circumvent or otherwise avoid the purpose, implied or explicitly stated, of the system. Originally, the word meant an arrowslit, a narrow verti ...

for

musket A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually d ...

ry, so that attacking forces that 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,

casemate A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which artillery, guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary When referring to Ancient history, antiquity, th ...

artillery batteries In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to facil ...

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 caponier is a type of defensive structure in a fortification. Fire from this point could cover the ditch beyond the curtain wall to deter any attempt to storm the wall. The word originates from the French ', meaning "chicken coop" (a ''capon'' ...

, a gallery built across the floor of the ditch.Pasley, Charles William, Sir (1817
''A Course of Military Instruction Originally Composed for the Use of the Royal Engineers: Volume 3''
John Murray, London (p.380)

References

Counterscarp: European fortress wall - Art - Britannica Concise: diagram
* Stephen Francis Wyley (Drawings by Steven Lowe

* ttp://civilwarfortifications.com/dictionary/xgc-015.html Counterscarp Gallery* E. Cobham Brewer 1810–189
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898: Counterscarp
;Attribution *

Footnotes

{{Fortifications Siege tactics Fortification (architectural elements)

Counterscarp gallery

References

Further reading

Footnotes