A military dictionary

by William Duane

RICOCHER, Fr. To ricochet, to batter or fire at a place with ricochet shots. The author of a very valuable work entitled, Essai Général de Fortification, et d’Attaque et Defense des places, observes in a note to page 89, vol. I, that in strict analogy, we should say ricocheter; but use, which is above all rules, has made ricocher a technical term, whenever we speak of the ricochets of cannon shot.

Une face RICOCHEE, Fr. The face of a fortification, which is fired at with ricochet shots.

RICOCHET, literally means a bound, a leap, such as a flat piece of stone or slate makes when it is thrown obliquely along the surface of a pool.

Ricochet, (ricochet, Fr.) in gunnery, is when guns, howitzers, or mortars, are loaded with small charges, and elevated from five to twelve degrees, so that when fired over the parapet, the shot or shell rolls along the opposite rampart. It is called ricochet-firing, and the batteries are likewise called ricochet-batteries. This method of firing out of mortars, was first tried in 1723, at the military school of Strasburgh, and with success. At the battle of Rosbach in 1757, the king of Prussia had several 6-inch mortars made with trunnions, and mounted on travelling carriages, which fired obliquely on the enemy’s lines, and amongst their horse, loaded with eight ounces of powder, and at an elevation of one degree fifteen minutes, which did great execution; for the shells rolling along the lines, with burning fuzes, made the stoutest of the enemy not wait for their bursting. See [Battery].

Ricochet firing is not confined to any particular charge or elevation; each must vary according to the distance and difference of level of the object to be fired at; and particularly of the spot on which it is intended the shot shall make the first bound. The smaller the angle is under which a shot is made to ricochet, the longer it will preserve its force and have effect, as it will sink so much the less in the ground on which it bounds; and whose tenacity will of course present so much less resistance to its progress. In the ricochet of a fortification of any kind, the angle of elevation should seldom be less than 10°, to throw the shot over a parapet a little higher than the level of the battery. If the works should be of an extraordinary height, the piece must be removed to such situation, and have such charge, that it can attain its object at this elevation, or at least under that of 13° or 14°, otherwise the shot will not ricochet, and the carriages will suffer very much. The first gun in a ricochet battery should be so placed as to sweep the whole length of the rampart of the enemy’s work, at 3 or 4 feet from the parapet, and the rest should form as small an angle with the parapet as possible. For this purpose the guns should be pointed about 4 fathoms from the face of the work towards the interior. In the ricochet of ordnance in the field, the objects to be fired at being principally infantry and cavalry, the guns should seldom be elevated above 3 degrees; as with greater angles the ball would be apt to bound too high, and defeat the object intended. For ricochet practice, see the different pieces of ordnance, as [Gun], [Mortar], and [Howitzer].

Battre en Ricochet, Fr. To put a sufficient quantity of gunpowder in a piece of ordnance to carry the ball, with effect, into the works that are enfiladed. This sort of firing is generally practised along the whole extent of a face or flank. The celebrated marshal Vauban first invented the mode of firing ricochet-shots. He tried the experiment at the siege of Ath, in 1679.

Battre un rempart à RICOCHET, Fr. To batter a rampart with ricochet shots.

RIDEAU is a rising ground, or eminence, commanding a plain, sometimes almost parallel to the works of a place: it is a great disadvantage to have rideaus near a fortification, which terminate on the counterscarp, especially when the enemy fire from afar: they not only command the place, but facilitate the enemy’s approaches.

RIDER, in artillery carriages, a piece of wood somewhat higher than broad, the length equal to that of the body of the axle-tree, upon which the side pieces rest, in a four-wheel carriage, such as the ammunition waggon, block carriage, and sling waggon.

Rough Rider. See [Rough].