Reduit
Encyclopedia
A reduit is a fortified structure such as a citadel
or a keep
into which the defending troops can retreat when the outer defences are breached. The term is also used to describe an area of a country, which either through a ring of heavy fortifications or through enhancing through fortification the defences offered by natural features such a mountains which will be defended even when the rest of the county is occupied by a hostile power.
is fairly commonly used. A redoubt
is
an outlying fortification, so its use to describe the Nazi's National Redoubt in the German and Austrian Alps is an accurate description. However another term that is sometimes used in English and more frequently used in French is national reduit (Réduit national) to describe the holding of the centre of a country while abandoning outlying territory.
Examples of this usage are:
Citadel
A citadel is a fortress for protecting a town, sometimes incorporating a castle. The term derives from the same Latin root as the word "city", civis, meaning citizen....
or a keep
Keep
A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word keep, but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the...
into which the defending troops can retreat when the outer defences are breached. The term is also used to describe an area of a country, which either through a ring of heavy fortifications or through enhancing through fortification the defences offered by natural features such a mountains which will be defended even when the rest of the county is occupied by a hostile power.
National reduit
In English the term National RedoubtNational Redoubt
A national redoubt is a general term for an area to which the forces of a nation can be withdrawn if the main battle has been lost—or even beforehand if defeat is considered inevitable...
is fairly commonly used. A redoubt
Redoubt
A redoubt is a fort or fort system usually consisting of an enclosed defensive emplacement outside a larger fort, usually relying on earthworks, though others are constructed of stone or brick. It is meant to protect soldiers outside the main defensive line and can be a permanent structure or a...
is
an outlying fortification, so its use to describe the Nazi's National Redoubt in the German and Austrian Alps is an accurate description. However another term that is sometimes used in English and more frequently used in French is national reduit (Réduit national) to describe the holding of the centre of a country while abandoning outlying territory.
Examples of this usage are:
- Réduit national, a ring of forts built around Antwerp built between 1859–1914, was to be Belgium's national redoubt.
- Réduit suisseNational Redoubt (Switzerland)The Swiss National Redoubt was a defensive plan developed by the Swiss government beginning in the 1880s to respond to foreign invasion. In the opening years of World War II the plan was expanded and refined to deal with a potential German invasion. The German plan, Operation Tannenbaum, was real,...
was a strategy by which the Swiss would first seek to hold an invading army on the border; if that failed to launch a delaying war that would allow the bulk of Swiss forces to withdraw to a defensible perimeter in the Swiss AlpsSwiss AlpsThe Swiss Alps are the portion of the Alps mountain range that lies within Switzerland. Because of their central position within the entire Alpine range, they are also known as the Central Alps....
, and there to defend that mountain stronghold.