Stone, brick, earth, wood

The breastwork of an artillery embankment or infantry stands, just like the casemate walls, were the so-called fortification shield which was to protect the defenders from the effect of enemy fire. With the invention of fire artillery, fortification shields developed in two ways. The first one seems pretty obvious – they were made thicker and stronger. However, this obvious solution caused many inconveniences. For one thing, the buildings became more and more narrow and expensive. Laying the foundations, particularly if the ground was marshy, posed many problems (as shown by construction disasters of Bastions III and IV in Zamość Fortress). That is why another solution was developed, taking into account such factors as the weaponry of a potential enemy, the lie and cover of the fortress foreground, the anticipated directions of firing and the actual defensive properties of construction materials. In some bastioned castles in Małopolska region of Poland, the breastwork of firing embankment was relatively thin and clay-faced but its inclination angle was about 80 degrees, which provided sufficient defence from musket and light artillery fire. Thanks to this solution the defenders had a possibility of watching the foreground and reacting with fire quickly. It would not be effective for heavy artillery but this threat was not very real there at that time. Progress in forming the stands in Bastion III is shown in illustrations of the particular phases. Such phenomena as thickening of breastwork* on lowered flanks* of the bastion proves progress in the development of munitions. During the final remodelling in the 1840s, covered, elevated embrasures were introduced, which, in fact, a step backwards as compared to the condition was dating to the time of the Duchy of Warsaw. It weakened the strength of the scarp wall and an artillery embankment located on it. The idealistic solution in which the whole fortress was surrounded with embrasures turned out to be its “final nail to the coffin” when modern artillery was invented. A picturesque, well-designed but small fortress could be literally shot dead by new cannons. Today you can see the bastion reconstructed in its earlier but more effective form as designed by Jan Michał Link in the 17th century.

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  The mighty shaft of the cavalier, the reduced slope wall of the front created a structure that was very resistant to the then artillery.

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  Very high slope walls were erected, high shooting gallery was introduced and there was a quiet, thin shaft which was a step back, because of the revolution in artillery.