Topic summary
Circumvallation

Extracted from the Wikipedia article Investment (military).
A circumvallation may be constructed if the besieging army is threatened by a field army allied to the besieged fort. It is a second line of fortifications outside the contravallation that faces away from an enemy fort. The circumvallation protects the besiegers from attacks by allies of the city's defenders and enhances the blockade of an enemy fort by making it more difficult to smuggle in supplies.