A ''point d'appui'' (French fo
fulcrum, in military theory, is a location where
troop
A troop is a military sub-subunit, originally a small formation of cavalry, subordinate to a squadron. In many armies a troop is the equivalent element to the infantry section or platoon. Exceptions are the US Cavalry and the King's Troo ...
s are assembled prior to a
battle
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force co ...
. Often a monument is erected to commemorate the ''point d'appui'' for notable battles. In some battles there may be more than a single ''point d'appui''.
Examples
An example is the
Catto Long Barrow
Cairn Catto is a Neolithic long cairn near the village of Longside, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Historic Environment Scotland established the site as a scheduled monument in 1973.
Description
Cairn Catto is located southeast of Longside, in ...
in eastern
Aberdeenshire
Aberdeenshire (; ) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland.
It takes its name from the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Aberdeenshire (historic), Aberdeenshire, which had substantial ...
,
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
, which is located at the ''point d'appui'' of a historic battle between
Viking
Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...
s and
Pict
PICT is a graphics file format introduced on the original Apple Macintosh computer as its standard metafile format. It allows the interchange of graphics (both bitmapped and vector), and some limited text support, between Mac applications, an ...
s.
[C. M. Hogan, 2008]
See also
*
Maneuver
*
Schwerpunkt, a term with a similar literal meaning though not a similar military meaning
*
Staging area
A staging area (otherwise staging base, staging facility, staging ground, staging point, or staging post) is a location in which organisms, people, vehicles, equipment, or material are assembled before use. It may refer to:
* In aviation, a desi ...
References
Notes
Bibliography
* F. C. Heath (1911) ''The Royal Engineers Journal'', vol. XIV, Royal Engineers Institute, W. & J. Mackay & Co., Ltd
* C. Michael Hogan (200
"Catto Long Barrow fieldnotes" ''Modern Antiquarian''
Military operations
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