breastworks
Chest-high battle barriers
Breastworks are temporary defensive barriers, typically about chest height, constructed hastily during battle to protect soldiers from enemy fire.
The term comes from military fortification, where troops would pile earth, logs, sandbags, or whatever materials were available to create cover.
The regiment spent the night building breastworks along the ridge.
Though the word sounds suggestive to modern ears, it has no anatomical connection—the "breast" refers to the front-facing position of the barrier.
Low wall at edge
- rampartFortified defensive wall
- earthworksConstructed soil fortifications
- entrenchmentFortified or fixed position
- redoubtEnclosed temporary fortification
barricade · palisade · stockade · bulwark · bastion · revetment · gabion · sandbags
Elongated ground excavations
- emplacementPrepared weapon position
- gun emplacementFixed military firing position
- siegeEncirclement forcing surrender
- bunkerReinforced subterranean stronghold
blockhouse · outpost · garrison · stronghold · musket · defensive line · firing position · cover
parapet
Low wall at edge
- rampartFortified defensive wall
- earthworksConstructed soil fortifications
- entrenchmentFortified or fixed position
redoubt · barricade · palisade · stockade · bulwark · bastion · revetment · gabion · sandbags · embankment
trenches
Elongated ground excavations
- emplacementPrepared weapon position
- gun emplacementFixed military firing position
- siegeEncirclement forcing surrender
bunker · blockhouse · outpost · garrison · stronghold · musket · defensive line · firing position · cover · skirmish
earthwork
Constructed soil structure
soil · excavation · digging · shovels · stakes · revetment · reinforcement · labor · sappers · engineers
- fortificationsfort, fortress, fortresses, citadel, citadels
- Civil War FortsFort Sumter, Fort McHenry, Vicksburg, Petersburg, coastal forts
- Revolutionary FortsWest Point, Saratoga, Fort Lee, redoubts, earthworks
- siege warfaresiege, siege tower, siege engine, siege guns, siege warfare
- Civil War battlesBattle of Gettysburg, Antietam, Appomattox, Gettysburg, Chancellorsville
- military campsarmy camps, bivouac, bivouacs, cantonment, encampment
breastworkscitadels
Fortified urban defensive structures
castles · fortresses · strongholds · bastions · forts