low caponniere is built out into the ditch from the escarp or from the mass of the work; in the work 01 of fig. 2 the ends of the two- story concrete barrack are arranged to act as caponnieres.
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FIG. 4
'< (-12.20)'*
An unusual flanking organ designed for Metz is shown in fig. 8. Here the difficulty of giving sufficiently thick protection for an organ flanking wire at or near ground level (e.g. the outer wire of a Feste)
is met by providing a sort of detached cap- onniere in the form of a low, fixed, armour- structure bedded in concrete, the guard- room, etc., being formed in the mass of the latter. It is intended for rifle and pistol fire through loopholes, and like all modern German flanking organs it has a small searchlight.
A battery for main armament is substan- tially an assemblage of two to four indi- vidual gunorhowitzer cupolas in line within one mass of concrete, with the space avail- able between and be- hind cupolas formed into expense-maga- zines, shell-rooms, duty men's rooms, offices, etc. Being as
FIG. 5. Counterscarp Casemates.
a rule dispersed over the open ground comprised in the " group " they require subterranean communications with each other and with their observation posts. The latter are sometimes included in the same concrete mass with the gun cupolas, but it is more usual to withdraw the battery mass behind the crest and to push the obser- vatory forward. Batteries are often wired in, and sometimes given means of local protection against surprise attack. They contain not only a large stock of ammunition, but also, nowadays, labora- tories and workshops.
FIG. 6. Counterscarp from Metz.
Traditore batteries, by hypothesis, fire only to the flank and rear. They are thus always placed, so to say, behind a corner; that is, protection is accumulated in front of the gun casemates, and this protection is continued laterally for such a distance that a projectile from any likely direction will either meet the covering mass or pass clear of the gun muzzles. The original form is that designed in France and known as the " Bourges casemate " (fig. 9) from de Mondesir's Fortification Cuirassee.
FIG. 7. Communication Tunnel to Counterscarp.
A larger traditore of Austrian design is shown in fig. 10. This is formed in the end of a concrete mass of which the remainder con- tains the war barracks, storehouses, etc. The lower embrasures flank the floor of the fort ditch, the upper the real traditore bat- tery sweep the flanks and rear of the external intervals. (T T are the gun casemates; B St is the post of the officer controlling the fire; M M the ammunition room; G S a small flanking element to control the ditch just under the traditore.) Armour is used to reduce the thickness of concrete, both vertically and horizontally.
The gun usually employed in traditore batteries is a field gun of about 75-mm., or a gun of the small naval or tank class, 57-mm., being the commonest calibre. Pompoms (i-pdr. Maxims) and even machine-guns are also found, but as a rule it is the field artillery type of effect that is required and provided for. Cupolas are some- times, but rarely, employed, as their characteristic virtue of all- round fire is not wanted.
Administrative Arrangements. Any work that has to act in isolation, or semi-isolation, is provided with all the necessary "services." Store-rooms, hospitals, barrack-rooms, etc., with all
