Gabion Field Fortifications

Timeline

1. 1641–1648Netherlands theater · Low CountriesThe besieging army stacked gabions into parapets along the front of the parallel trenches, protecting loaders and engineers from enemy musket and light gun fire; they could be quickly dismantled and moved forward, working with the zigzag trenches to approach the walls.
2. 1644–1650Leicester · LeicestershireParliamentarian and Royalist forces used gabions to reinforce artillery positions and trench walls at sieges and in field works at Leicester, Bristol, and elsewhere, compensating for lack of earthworks and absorbing artillery shock, becoming a common engineering method on British battlefields.