Place de guerre, Fr. any town or place that is regularly, or irregularly fortified.
Place basse, Fr. In fortification the lower flanks according to certain systems are so called.
Place forte, Fr. a strong hold or place which presents at all points so many difficult obstacles against a besieging army, that it cannot be carried (except by surprize) unless the regular means of reducing it be resorted to.
Places contreminées, Fr. all fortresses, &c. are called places contreminées, or countermined, which, independent of their open and visible means of defence, &c. have subterraneous fortifications that are alongside the revetements of the works, under the glacis, or beneath the neighboring ground, to interrupt the approaches, and destroy the works of a besieging enemy.
Place haute, Fr. According to the systems of some engineers (which have not been followed of late years) the place haute, or high place, is that which stands the highest of three platforms that were constructed in the shape of an amphitheatre along the flanks of the bastions. Pagan, Blondel, and others, who have copied from these systems, did so from an idea, that considerable advantages might be derived from a powerful and concentrated discharge of artillery and musquetry. Not conceiving that it was possible to construct casemated flanks free of smoke, they built three or four open flanks one above the other. But they were soon rendered useless and untenable by the shells that fell, and the fragments that flew about in consequence of the demolition of the mason-work. Casemated ramparts, on the contrary, have been known to stand proof against the heaviest discharge of bombs, &c. to take up little room, and to afford ample space for a wide range of artillery, that is kept under cover.
Places non revêtues, Fr. all fortified towns or places are so called, when the ramparts that surround them are only lined with placage or simple turf. In this case the ramparts, so lined or covered, ought to be fraised and palisadoed above the berme or foot-path, to prevent surprizes. Hedges made of good quickset, well interwoven with other wood, and carefully attended to, will save the expence of palisadoes, which in marshy soils soon rot, and require to be replaced.
Places revêtues, Fr. All fortified towns or places are so called, whose ramparts are lined or covered with brick or stone. It frequently happens, that the revetement does not reach the terre-pleine of the rampart, especially when the parapets are thick and solid; in which case the revetement is more easily covered by the glacis. Parapets are no longer lined.
Place, Fr. This word is frequently used by the French, in a military sense, to signify ration, viz.
Une PLACE de bouche, Fr. one ration of provisions.
Deux PLACES de fourrage, Fr. Two rations of forage.