On first arriving at the fort, he had found its defences decayed and ruinous, the Canadian inhabitants unfriendly, and many of the Indians disposed to hostility.
The area which these defences enclosed was often several acres in extent, and the dwellings, ranged in order within, were sometimes more than a hundred feet in length.
The defences of the place were feeble and extensive, and the garrison by far too weak to repel a general assault.
But a knowledge of the composition of water enabled him to storm the last defences of the phlogistonists.
Thereafter, by successive steps, each gained by distinguished conduct on the field of battle, he rose to the rank of brigadier-general in November 1862, being ordered to take command of defences at Vicksburg.
Every day the defences are strengthened; and as for that sour bread, thank God, we have done with it," and he picked up the few remaining loaves and hurled them over the fortress wall.
As the travellers approached more nearly, they discovered marks of recent additions to the defences of the place, which had been suggested, doubtless, by the insecurity of those troublesome times.
Within a stockade or palisade, which seemed lately to have been added to the defences of the gate, and which was protected by two pieces of light artillery, was a small enclosure, where stood a huge block, on which lay an axe.
Sir Duncan, without replying, conducted the soldier into the tower; the defences of which were a portcullis and ironclenched oaken door, the thickness of the wall being the space between them.
They kept us pretty busy on our side of the defences as well, but never developed any serious attack.
The perimeter of these defences was very large, not far short of twelve miles, but the positions themselves were well selected from a tactical point of view.
Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers, under Majors Shadforth and Gordon, Captains Swift and Maclear, and Lieutenant Le Mesurier, with some other officers, arrived to take over the defencesfrom the 2nd Battalion.
Fairfax stormed the outer defences of Bristol, and Rupert, who commanded the garrison, at once capitulated.
Cautiously picking their path between numerous rifle-pits and concealed machine-guns, the two fugitives made for a part of the defences where a gap appeared to exist between the trenches.
Being night the peasantry took good care not to be about, for the civilian population, consisting almost entirely of old men, women, and children, had been warned of the danger of being in the vicinity of the defences after sunset.
Apparently its mission had been to chase the inquisitive Turkish monoplane, and to observe the nature of the defences of Fort Medjidieh.
Shells from the Turkish defences were ricochetting all around the British warships or expending themselves harmlessly against the armoured plating.
It was as though a garrison, forgetting the main defences of a place, had concentrated all its efforts upon the security of one work which contained its supplies of food.
This work was carried on to the end of the siege, and the batteries thus erected are now among the strongest of the defences of Gibraltar.
The ground here rose sharply, and a hundred yards further back stood another battery; completely commanding the Mole, and the defencesthrough which they had passed.
Of the defences of the Rock a massive guard-tower and portions of the wall remain.
In 1832 he began his career as a Parisian journalist, contributing ardent defences of Romanticism and Conservatism to the Revue de Paris, the Journal des Debats, and to La Presse.
Twice mines were exploded within the defences and tore away large portions of the protecting wall, besides killing or wounding hundreds.
When we looked at the extent of the defences and compared it with the paucity of the garrison, we could scarcely understand how the place resisted attack for an hour.
For, although the harbour defences are declared by military authorities to be practically impregnable against attack by sea, they would not be effective against an attack from the air.
It appears that Mr. Pitney was on a small vessel put at his disposal by the French Ministry of Marine to view the defences of a French naval base.
What might be called the outer, or flying, defences consisted of fast armed fighting seaplanes and dirigibles.
The Germans had no idea of allowing their defences and the works of their submarine bases to be pictured for the guidance of their foes.
Beside the flying defencesthere were the floating defences.
The administration of Sancho Pardo Osorio was marked with much energy in advancing the defences of Havana and in caring for the commerce which frequented or touched at Cuban ports.
At any rate he made it his first care to improve thedefences of the island.
The town had no defences whatever, and the citizens were unarmed.
This incident caused De Soto, who arrived at Havana a little later, to hasten work on the defences of the place.
From Manzanillo he went straight to Santiago, refurbished the governor's house and the public buildings, and began planning an elaborate system of harbor defences worthy of the capital of the island.
I have your valuable memoranda on the defences and dockyard of Bermuda," he said, "and I am greatly obliged to you for them, as will be Lord Grey.
Bermuda; its Defencesand its Geological Formation.
I only hang back in regard to them, as the Naval Department could not bear the expense of such defences for the many colonies that would require them, and they must be provided by the Colonial Governments.
Thanks to you for your letter from Halifax," Lord Auckland wrote again, on the 21st of July, "and for your last sheets on the defences of Bermuda.
Flattery and servile compliments will break down its defences and self-interest too, the bane of all sincerity.
Having strengthened the defences of Vetera, he was now going back to Gelduba.
He assaulted the defences of the city, and fighting was kept up for several days.
When the advance guard was within a few miles of Savannah there was some fighting with infantry, and a pause before the defences of the city.
Kilpatrick had passed the outer defencesof Richmond by one o'clock of the 1st, but on approaching the inner line he was met by infantry and artillery.
Pemberton marched straight into Vicksburg, which had a long line of defences on the land side as well as on the water front, and shut himself up there.
Moreover, at this time it was heavily {365} reinforced by troops that were drawn from the defences east of Richmond.
McClellan, supposing that Johnston's entire army was in the defences of Yorktown, sat down before the place and constructed siege works, approaching the enemy by regular parallels.
The Confederates now abandoned the line of works along Peach Tree Creek, and fell back to the immediatedefences of the city.
By rushes with lance and sword and rifle they were able, at last, to drive David's men back upon their old defences with loss.
All round the field the movement was forward, till the circle had widened to the enemy's lines; while at the old defences were only handfuls of men.
Besides, starvation weakened the victims and destroyed their natural defences against the plagues.
By means of cable messages and the co-operation of the European secret services, he traced Gluck's course along the Mediterranean and found that in every instance it coincided with the blowing up of coast defences and ships.
Fort Silsileh was an old work at the extreme east of the defences of Alexandria, and its guns do not bear on the harbour.
Hard as they may work, it will take a month to get the defences into proper order, and any rising will be merely a spasmodic outbreak of fanaticism.
In point of fact, his escape was a remarkable one, for he was tied to a tree in the first line of the Dervish defences at Atbara, and was only saved by what was almost a miracle.
The round towers, however, were not the sole defences of the gates.
When the barrage lifted and the Infantry advance commenced, the platoon of which he is a member was able to reach the first enemy defences through gaps which had been cut in the wires.
Advantage was taken of this pause to advance the Artillery, so that the enemy's defencescould be thoroughly bombarded before the final assault.
It is to be remembered that the very basis which justified the expenditure of such enormous labour on the creation of these defences was the saving in man-power.
It is quite necessary, for a due appreciation of the magnitude of the effort which was actually made, and of the wonderful success with which it was rewarded, that the nature of the defences of the Hindenburg Line should be clearly understood.
It was clearly desirable both to deprive a besieger of such vantage ground, and also to provide the canal defences with a stout outpost defence.
The military resources required to defend that front were to be reduced to a minimum, by the provision of a line of defences protected by powerful field works, believed to be impregnable.
It followed so closely upon the breaching of the Hindenburg defences on September 29th to October 4th, that it cannot be dissociated from that event as a final determining cause.
However, nothing more than small local counter-attacks was attempted, and the hold which I had gained upon the main defences was not slackened.
Engineer stores in sufficient quantities to provide for the complete organization of the new defences will require to be dumped beforehand as far forward as practicable.
Still moving fearlessly at the head of his leading Companies, and at most times far out in advance, attended only by a runner, he cheered his men on, and they swept through the Hindenburg defences towards Nauroy.
The 5th and 4th Australian Divisions will exploit their success and seize the old British line of Defences marked BLUE on the map, and establish themselves defensively on this line.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "defences" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
