Friedrich Engels

Verhau

Written around August 10, 1857.

From the English.

["The New American Cyclopædia", Volume I]

Verhau
or abatis—in the military-strategic sense an obstacle formed of felled trees, frequently used under the difficult conditions peculiar to mountain warfare. When necessary, the trees are laid side by side with the branches outward, to repel the attackers, the trunks serving as a breastwork for the defenders. Should an abatis, for example, serve for the defence of a mountain pass, the branches of the tree are stripped of leaves and sharpened, the trunks dug into the ground and the branches intertwined, to form a kind of chevaux de frise <Spanish rider>.