what is abatis

abatis 

a guard made of felled trees set the long way over one another with the limbs pointing outwards. 

abatis(Noun) 

A methods for safeguard shaped by felled trees, the closures of whose branches are honed and coordinated outwards, or against the adversary. 

Abatis 

Abatis, abattis, or abbattis is a term in field fortress for an obstruction framed of the parts of trees laid in succession, with the honed tops coordinated outwards, towards the adversary. The trees are normally interweaved or tied with wire. Abatis are utilized alone or in mix with wire snares and different obstructions. There is proof it was utilized as ahead of schedule as the Roman Imperial time frame, and as of late as the American Civil War. Abatis is once in a while observed these days, having been to a great extent supplanted by wire obstructions. In any case, it might be utilized as a substitution or supplement when security fencing is hard to find. A type of mammoth abatis, utilizing entire trees rather than branches, can be utilized as an extemporized against tank hindrance. A great utilization of an abatis was found at the Battle of the Chateauguay, 26 October 1813, when around 1,300 Canadian voltigeurs, under the order of Charles-Michel de Salaberry, vanquished an American corps of roughly 4,000 men. Another striking model was its utilization by Alexander Macomb in the dazzling triumph at the Battle of Plattsburgh. An imperative shortcoming of abatis, rather than security fencing, is that it very well may be crushed by flame. Additionally, whenever bound together with rope rather than wire, the rope can be immediately devastated by such flames, after which the abatis can be immediately pulled separated by catching snares tossed from a protected separation.