"Enfilade" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... perplexed. Make all clear, therefore, by demonstrating the same result in some other way. With your adroitness, it can cost you no trouble to treat us with a little display of dialectical skirmishing. Show us a specimen of manoeuvring; enfilade him; take him in front and rear; and do it rapidly, ...
— Memorials and Other Papers • Thomas de Quincey
... establish contact with the Shropshire Light Infantry, another regiment on his left. So he knew that right and left he was supported, and by seasoned British regulars. This was very, very comforting, especially when German machine-gun fire was not only coming from the front but in enfilade, which is most trying to a soldier's steadiness. In other words, the P.P.s were shooting at Germans in front, while bullets were whipping crosswise of their trenches and of the regulars on their flanks, too. Some of the ...
— My Year of the War • Frederick Palmer
... retire, and later, gave the command for us to do the same in rushes by threes. Meanwhile our bandoliers were nearly empty, and the Boers were creeping round to our right, which would enable them to enfilade our position. The first three retired, and we were blazing away to cover them, with our heads just showing as we fired over the top of the donga, when the man on my right said, "Mr. Stanley is hit," and looking at him, for he was close to me on my left, I saw he was shot through the ...
— A Yeoman's Letters - Third Edition • P. T. Ross
... bothering the English. "There is a weak spot here," he said, placing a finger upon the map. "It is held by blacks; but the machine guns out in front are manned by whites. If—wait! I have a plan. You can fill that trench with your own men and enfilade the trenches to its right with their own ...
— Tarzan the Untamed • Edgar Rice Burroughs
... to raise and thicken the little bank already there, in front of our gun, and to build a short "traverse" to the right, for protection from enfilade fire. We worked all night, six of us, and by morning we had a slight and rough artillery work, with an embrasure for the gun; the whole thing about four feet high, and two and one-half feet thick, at the top. It was the best that ...
— From the Rapidan to Richmond and the Spottsylvania Campaign - A Sketch in Personal Narration of the Scenes a Soldier Saw • William Meade Dame
... came on again, and it was seen that the Mexicans intended to shift the position of the cannon so that they might enfilade the line,—that is, shoot from one end to ...
— For the Liberty of Texas • Edward Stratemeyer
... in, and stands silent, fully equipped, armed, and ready for all emergencies, till broad daylight shows all clear and safe. At the first sound of the firing Lumsden jumped to his feet, and taking this inlying picquet, rushed out of camp at its head, and so posted it as to enfilade and hold in check the great body of Waziris who now darkened the skyline. Then, hastening back to camp, he reached it almost abreast of the five hundred, who were not to ...
— The Story of the Guides • G. J. Younghusband
... any place; the straight line is done away with in the makeup of a trench. The traverse, jutting out in a sharp angle to the rear, gives way in turn to the fire position, curving towards the enemy, and there is never more than twelve yards liable to be covered by enfilade fire. The traverse is the home of spare ammunition, of ball cartridge, bombs, and hand-grenades. These are stored in depots dug into the wall of the trench. There are two things which find a place anywhere and everywhere, ...
— The Red Horizon • Patrick MacGill
... service. Bonnet, in fortification, is a raised portion of the works at any salient angle, having the same plan, but 10 or 12 feet more command than the work on which it is based. It assists in protecting from enfilade, and affords a ...
— The Sailor's Word-Book • William Henry Smyth
... an abrupt halt. Orderlies dashed to and fro. The artillery came rumbling and creaking to the front, wheeled, the guns unlimbered and ranged so as to enfilade the road. The infantry deployed to right and left while the cavalry swung into position on the flanks. All this was accomplished with the equanimity of dress parade. Maurice could not control his admiration. ...
— The Puppet Crown • Harold MacGrath
... rope, ferry some of the best of his men across the stream in the dark. The landing of the men was to be covered by the heaviest possible fire from the American side, and, as soon as they were safe ashore, the Kansas soldiers were to secure some position where they might enfilade the enemy's trenches, that is, fire through them from one end, so that the Filipinos might no longer find them safe. In the meantime more troops were to come over ...
— The Campaign of the Jungle - or, Under Lawton through Luzon • Edward Stratemeyer
... day of August 26, 1914, wore on, General von Kluck, abandoning frontal attacks, began to use his superior numbers in a great enveloping move on both flanks, and some of his batteries secured positions from which they could enfilade the British line. Smith-Dorrien, having no available reserves, was thus virtually ringed by enemy guns on one side and by hostile infantry on all sides. "It became apparent," says Sir John French's dispatch, "that if complete annihilation ...
— The Story of the Great War, Volume II (of VIII) - History of the European War from Official Sources • Various
... retire in face of a heavy infantry attack covered by artillery. Lomax, commanding the Division, ordered the 1st (Guards) Brigade (1st Batt. Coldstream Guards, 1st Batt. Scots Guards, 1st Batt. Black Watch and 1st Batt. Cameron Highlanders) north of the road to be ready to enfilade ...
— 1914 • John French, Viscount of Ypres
... stone building adjoining the contested bastion. The explosion was tremendous: it was decisive; the bastion was restored. At this moment Captain Biddle was ordered to cause a field piece to be posted so as to enfilade the exterior plain and salient glacis. The captain, though not recovered from a severe contusion in the shoulder, received from one of the enemy's shells, promptly took his position, and served his field piece with vivacity and effect. Captain ...
— The Medallic History of the United States of America 1776-1876 • J. F. Loubat
... houses in front by caponnieres. The church windows were built up and loopholed, and a semicircular tambour, banked with earth to protect it from artillery, was thrown up against the houses in the middle of the street, so as to enfilade it at either side in case of attack. There were troops of the line in Renteria, but no artillerymen, nor was there artillery to be served. Without artillery, however, the place, if properly provisioned, could not be taken, if the defending force ...
— Romantic Spain - A Record of Personal Experiences (Vol. II) • John Augustus O'Shea
... All risk of an enfilade file being thus removed, the whole Union line quickly closed with the Confederates, and the engagement became general with artillery and musketry. On both sides of the bayou the firing was brisk, at times even severe. Save where the view was broken here and there by the ...
— History of the Nineteenth Army Corps • Richard Biddle Irwin
... now, when the great game was being played in real earnest, he found that he had to guess. The Uhlans might have come unsuspecting along the road, in which case the game would be his; or they might come blundering along from somewhere in the rear and enfilade him, in which case the game would most assuredly be theirs. Fortunately, the Uhlans ...
— "Contemptible" • "Casualty"
... yet described our fort. It consisted of strong palisades, surrounding nearly half an acre of ground, with wooden towers at the four corners, projecting so as to enfilade each of the sides. The whole was surrounded by a trench, which would make it difficult for an enemy to approach the walls, if they were well defended with musketry. The interior was occupied by dwelling-houses and stores, and huts and wigwams for ...
— Snow Shoes and Canoes - The Early Days of a Fur-Trader in the Hudson Bay Territory • William H. G. Kingston
... a machine-gun was going, taking them in enfilade. In front, Germans—numbers of Germans—glared snarling at them out of the trench, or whimpered in a corner with arms upraised, as was the nature of the beasts. A non-commissioned officer picked up a bomb and hurled it at the advancing platoon sergeant; ...
— No Man's Land • H. C. McNeile
... the gateway we have delineated, or rather of forcing their way up the slopes of the Cote de Talou and on to the Cote du Poivre. The roads which they must follow are clearly under command of the guns posted on Hill 304, the Mort Homme, and Charny Ridge, which enfilade ...
— With Joffre at Verdun - A Story of the Western Front • F. S. Brereton
... then ordered Captains Isaac Shelby, Arbuckle, Matthews and Stuart to lead their companies up Crooked Creek under cover of the bank until they could secure a position behind the Indians and enfilade their main line. I scouted ahead of this force. We circled the end of the Indian line, ...
— A Virginia Scout • Hugh Pendexter
... I accordingly instructed the men to keep a sharp look-out, and to throw their spears should the lioness charge, as I would provoke an attack by firing a shot at hazard into the long grass. Placing Lieut. Baker, R. N., upon my right, with instructions to enfilade the expected attack, I advanced to within 20 yards of the grass, and fired into the spot she was supposed to occupy. The effect was instantaneous. At the report of the rifle the lioness uttered a loud roar and ...
— Wild Beasts and their Ways • Sir Samuel W. Baker
... the way out of it, and he gave orders accordingly. When the horses were lashed to a gallop to take up the new position, which, if they reached, would give them shelter against this fiendish rain of lead, and also enable them to enfilade the foe at advantage, something suddenly brought confusion to his senses, and the clear thinking stopped. His being seemed to expand suddenly to an enormity of chaos and then as suddenly to shrink, dwindle, and fall back into ...
— The Judgment House • Gilbert Parker
... Second Bull Run, fearfully hammered by the noble Fifth Corps, that had fought like so many tigers at Gaines's Mill and Malvern Hill, even Stonewall Jackson cried to Lee for aid. Aid came, but not in men. Longstreet's cannon, cunningly planted to enfilade the Fifth Corps' front, shattered the Federals' attacking column and placed Stonewall at ...
— Beacon Lights of History, Volume XII • John Lord
... necessary. To facilitate their passage, the admiral had stationed the Centurion ship of war in the channel, to check the fire of the lower battery, by which the ford was commanded: a numerous train of artillery was placed upon the eminence, to batter and enfilade the left of the enemy's intrenchment; and two flat-bottomed armed vessels, prepared for the purpose, were run aground near the redoubt, to favour the descent of the forces. The manifest confusion produced among the French by these previous measures, and by the fire of the Centurion, which was ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. - From William and Mary to George II. • Tobias Smollett
... five heavy guns were stationed at the different points of a triangle, which enclosed the whole town; each angle resting on a point of ground, sufficiently commanding to enfilade two sides of the triangle, and to sweep over a considerable extent beyond the lines. These guns were to be covered by musket-proof triangular stockades, of which two would be sufficient to contain all the settlers in their wings. The brass piece, and two swivels, mounted on travelling carriages, ...
— A Voyage Round the World, Vol. I (of ?) • James Holman
... connect fire trenches with their corresponding cover trenches where natural, covered communication is impracticable. They are generally rectangular in profile, deep, and narrow. They are traversed or zigzagged to escape enfilade. ...
— Infantry Drill Regulations, United States Army, 1911 - Corrected to April 15, 1917 (Changes Nos. 1 to 19) • United States War Department
... From then on until dusk the intensity of a furious all-day bombardment by every known variety of projectile had been broken only at intervals to allow of the nearer approach of the enemy's attacking infantry. The worst was the enfilade fire of two batteries on our right which with six-inch high explosive shells tore our front line to fragments so that we were glad indeed to see the night come. Only once had ours replied, one gun only. That was early in the morning. It barked ...
— The Escape of a Princess Pat • George Pearson
... adjacent to a low range of hills. Meer Baber Beg has placed his fortress in a very respectable state of defence, quite adequate to repel the desultory inroads of his predatory neighbours; but commanded by and exposed to enfilade from the hills about it, on one of these hills he has built a tower as a kind of outwork, but it is very weak and of ...
— A Peep into Toorkisthhan • Rollo Burslem
... least desire to go through the service again. The sexton took his shovel, but on account of the frost, he was only able to detach large lumps of earth, which beat a fine tune down below, a regular bombardment of the coffin, an enfilade of artillery sufficient to make one think the wood was splitting. One may be a cynic; nevertheless that sort of music soon upsets one's stomach. The weeping recommenced. They moved off, they even got outside, but they still heard the detonations. My-Boots, blowing ...
— L'Assommoir • Emile Zola
... quite warlike; I find it easy to be fierce In winter, when the land is more like The Arctic Pole, with winds that pierce; With James for foe and all the meadows mired I feel in concord with the wildest plan, And grudge no effort that may be required To enfilade the man. ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 150, May 10, 1916 • Various
... in a bit of a salient to the right of the rotten trench, and we decided to mount another gun at a certain projection in our lines so as to enfilade the land across which the other ...
— Bullets & Billets • Bruce Bairnsfather |
