Defile (geography)

The Defile of l'Ecluse viewed from Fort l'Écluse

Narrow pass or gorge between mountains or hills.

- Defile (geography)

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Choke point

The Strait of Gibraltar is an important naval choke point, as entry to the Mediterranean Sea can be blocked there by a small number of vessels.
The English Channel, a choke point south of England and north of France

In military strategy, a choke point (or chokepoint) is a geographical feature on land such as a valley, defile or bridge, or maritime passage through a critical waterway such as a strait, which an armed force is forced to pass through in order to reach its objective, sometimes on a substantially narrowed front and therefore greatly decreasing its combat effectiveness by making it harder to bring superior numbers to bear.

Canyon

Deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales.

The Grand Canyon, Arizona, at the confluence of the Colorado River and Little Colorado River
Sumidero Canyon, Mexico
Kevo Canyon in Utsjoki, Finland
Snake River Canyon, Idaho
Fish River Canyon, Namibia
Oribi Gorge, South Africa
Itaimbezinho Canyon, Brazil
Ouimet Canyon, Ontario, Canada
Green River overlook, Canyonlands National Park, Utah, U.S.
One of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze river, China
The gorge of the Kabul River in Afghanistan
Cheddar Gorge, England
Le cirque de la Madeleine, Gorges de l'Ardèche, France
A Douro gorge on the Portugal–Spain border
Sulak Canyon in Dagestan
Buky Canyon, Ukraine
Jamison Valley, Blue Mountains National Park, Australia
Shoalhaven River Gorge, New South Wales

The military-derived word defile is occasionally used in the United Kingdom.

Debouch

Place where runoff from a small, confined space discharges into a larger, broader body of water.

The port and city are the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, which flows through Egypt and debouches into the Gulf of Suez near Port Tawfiq (ميناء بورتوفيق).

Some examples are: where a river or stream emerges from a narrow constraining landform, such as a defile, into open country or a wider space; a creek joins a river; or a stream flows into a lake.

Battle of Agincourt

English victory in the Hundred Years' War.

The Battle of Agincourt, 15th-century miniature, Enguerrand de Monstrelet
Monumental brass of an English knight wearing armour at the time of Agincourt (Sir Maurice Russell (d. 1416), Dyrham Church, Gloucestershire)
1833 reconstruction of the banners flown by the armies at Agincourt
The battle of Agincourt
John Gilbert – The Morning of the Battle of Agincourt (1884), Guildhall Art Gallery
King Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt, 1415, by Sir John Gilbert in the 19th century.
Miniature from Vigiles du roi Charles VII. The battle of Azincourt 1415.
1915 depiction of Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt : The King wears on this surcoat the Royal Arms of England, quartered with the Fleur de Lys of France as a symbol of his claim to the throne of France.
The 15th century Agincourt Carol
Agincourt Memorial
A list of English archers killed at Agincourt, as recorded in the village's museum

Early on the 25th, Henry deployed his army (approximately 1,500 men-at-arms and 7,000 longbowmen) across a 750 yd part of the defile.

Battle of Tubberneering

Battle of the Wexford Rebellion fought on 4 June 1798 between Crown forces and United Irish insurgents, at Tubberneering (modern townlands of Toberanierin North and Toberanierin South) south of Gorey in the north of County Wexford.

Society of United Irishmen

They were ambushed in a narrow defile by United Irish rebels.

M1 Abrams

Third-generation American main battle tank designed by Chrysler Defense and named for General Creighton Abrams.

U.S. Army M1A2 Abrams with production TUSK explosive reactive armor package installed
The Ballistic Research Laboratory (BRL) used computerized tools during the development of the M1, which led to the development of BRL-CAD. Here, a Vector General 3D graphics terminal displays a model of the M1.
The Chrysler XM1 prototype
The General Motors XM1 prototype
The finalized M1 prototype
105 mm M1 Abrams tank of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment at Grafenwöhr Training Area in Germany, 1986
Abrams tanks move out on a mission during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. A Bradley IFV and a logistics convoy can be seen in the background.
A destroyed M1A1, hit in the rear grill by a Hellfire missile and penetrated by a sabot tank round from the left side to right (see exit hole).
An Abrams crossing the Euphrates River at Objective Peach on ribbon assault float bridge deployed by the 299th Engineer Company in 2003
A M1A1 conducts reconnaissance in Iraq, September 2004.
A M1A2 Abrams with prototype Tank Urban Survival Kit armor upgrade equipment and Common Remotely Operated Weapons Station (CROWS), with a .50 caliber machine gun at the commander's station
U.S. M1A1s during the Foal Eagle 1998 training exercises in South Korea, with their factory single green paint scheme
M1A1 in the Australian Army's Disruptive Pattern Camouflage, used for vehicles and materiel
Tankers drive an M1A1 Abrams through the Taunus Mountains north of Frankfurt during Exercise Ready Crucible in February 2005.
U.S. Marines with the 2nd Tank Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, advance on their eastern objective defended by opposing Spanish forces during Exercise Trident Juncture 18 near Dalholen, Norway, Nov. 3, 2018.
A M1A2 with TUSK
A M1A1 Abrams with an Abrams Integrated Management System (AIM) and the Tank Urban Survivability Kit (TUSK) conducting a patrol in Baghdad, 2007
The Trophy Active Protection System (APS) was installed and tested on a USMC M1A1 Abrams in 2017.
An M1A1 fires its main gun in 2019.
A M1A1 firing its main gun as seen from the loader's hatch. The M240 is visible left while the M2 is visible right.
A view of the gunner's station (bottom left) and commander's station (top right)
A 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment soldier, assisting in the critical job of "boresighting" the alignment of all the tank's sights to the center of the axis of the bore of the main gun on an M1A1 Abrams in Mosul, Iraq in January 2005. Hand signals enable the gunner (inside the tank) to train the main gun onto a boresighting target.
Marines from 1st Tank Battalion load a Honeywell AGT1500 multi-fuel turbine back into the tank at Camp Coyote, Kuwait, February 2003.
M1 driving controls
A Marine M1A1 offloading from Landing Craft Air Cushioned vehicle
A Marine M1A1 fitted with snorkel attachment and bustle rack extension
82nd Airborne paratroopers ride an M1 Abrams tank
A U.S. Army M1A1 after being offloaded from a U.S. Air Force C-17 at Balad Air Base, Iraq in 2004
A Grizzly Combat Mobility Vehicle (CMV)
A U.S. Army M104 Wolverine Heavy Assault Bridge
An Assault Breacher Vehicle launching a line charge
M1 Abrams operators
An Australian Abrams tank in 2021
Egyptian Abrams tank deployed during the 2011 Egyptian Revolution
M1A1M Abrams tanks in Iraqi service, January 2011

It contains 1,098 3/8 in tungsten balls that spread from the muzzle to produce a shotgun effect lethal out to 600 m. The tungsten balls can be used to clear enemy dismounts, break up hasty ambush sites in urban areas, clear defiles, stop infantry attacks and counter-attacks and support friendly infantry assaults by providing covering fire.

Barbed wire

Type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strands.

A close-up view of a barbed wire
Roll of modern agricultural barbed wire
A view of barbed wire installed on the side of a road
An early handmade specimen of Glidden's "The Winner" on display at the Barbed Wire History Museum in DeKalb, Illinois
Patent drawing for Joseph F. Glidden's Improvement to barbed wire
A rangeland fence which has caught a tumbleweed
Rusted barbed wire in a roll
Barbed wire fence in line brace
Wire or "Hampshire" gate
Modern barbed wire
A wiring party deploying entanglements during World War I
Barbed wire and containment: Japanese prisoner of war 1945
Auschwitz fence in Poland
Chain link fence with barbed wire on top
Razor wire is a curved variation of barbed wire.

Barbed wire began to be widely used as an implement of war during World War I. Wire was placed either to impede or halt the passage of soldiers, or to channel them into narrow defiles in which small arms, particularly machine guns, and indirect fire could be used with greater effect as they attempted to pass.

Reading, Berkshire

Town and borough in Berkshire, South-East England.

The earliest map of Reading, published in 1611 by John Speed
View of Reading from Caversham by Joseph Farington in 1793
Reading Town Hall
Current boundaries of the Borough of Reading
The gateway as restored in 2018
River Kennet during the 2007 floods at the riverside level of The Oracle
Borough of Reading population growth rate from 1801 to 2011
Reading International Business Park. This crescent of offices beside the A33 are home to Verizon, a telecommunications company. They were formerly the European headquarters of WorldCom before its demise
The front of the store on Broad Street
The central lake makes a virtue of the necessity of flood alleviation measures
Green Park wind turbine viewed from Lime Square
Aerial view of Reading Festival 2007
The Abbey Gateway, where Jane Austen went to school
The Maiwand Lion in Forbury Gardens
The Royal Berkshire Hospital original frontage, built in 1839 with bath stone
The former hospitium
The River Thames from Caversham Bridge looking eastwards
Aerial view of Reading station in August 2014
A Great Western Railway with a service to London
Reading station platforms showing new footbridge
Part of the University of Reading's main Whiteknights Campus
Entrance to the Museum
The rear garden, with the original East Thorpe House in the centre
St Mary's Church tower, chequered with flint and ashlar
The interior of the ruined chapter house
The Madejski Stadium, home of Reading Football Club
The Madejski Stadium as viewed from the stadium's north stand.
The Voco Reading Hotel, pictured when still known as the Millennium Madejski
The Reading Half Marathon 2004 climbing Russell Street in West Reading

The absence of a flood plain on the Kennet in this defile enabled the development of wharves.

Six Days' Campaign

Final series of victories by the forces of Napoleon I of France as the Sixth Coalition closed in on Paris.

Lithograph of the Battle of Montmirail

Having learnt that Napoleon was at hand Blücher fell back a few miles to the east the next morning to a strong position covering the exits from the Bar-sur-Aube defile.

Suez Crisis

The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression (العدوان الثلاثي) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,

Damaged Egyptian vehicles
The location of the Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean via the Red Sea.
Port Said, at the entrance to the Suez Canal from the Mediterranean.
Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies led an international committee in negotiations with Nasser in September 1956, which sought to achieve international management of the Suez Canal. The mission was a failure.
Israeli AMX-13, shown here from the rear and side
Anglo-French para drops on the Suez Canal and Israeli conquest of Sinai
Israeli M4A4 Shermans were also used in the Sinai campaign.
An Israeli Air Force Meteor in flight
Israeli paratrooper near the Mitla Pass
Israeli soldiers in the Sinai wave at a passing French plane
Israeli paratroopers dig in near the Parker Memorial
Israeli AMX-13 Light tank
Ibrahim el Awal after its capture by the Israeli Navy
A battle-damaged de Havilland Sea Venom on
A Hawker Sea Hawk of 899 Naval Air Squadron, armed with rockets, about to be launched from the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle for a strike on an Egyptian airfield
Smoke rises from oil tanks beside the Suez Canal hit during the initial Anglo-French assault on Port Said, 5 November 1956.
Troops of the Parachute Regiment escort a captured Egyptian soldier at Port Said
2ème RPC paratroopers patrol in Port Said, October 1956
A British link up between the 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, and the Commandos at the Coast Guard barracks in Port Said. The paratroopers have with them a captured SU-100 tank destroyer, and the Commandos a Buffalo amphibious assault vehicle.
Presidents Eisenhower and Nasser meeting in New York, 1960
Statue of Ferdinand de Lesseps (a Frenchman who built the Suez Canal) was removed following the nationalisation of the Suez Canal in 1956.
An Israeli soldier stands next to an Egyptian gun that had blocked the Tiran Straits.

Dayan planned for the Battalion 890 of the Paratroop Brigade, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Rafael Eitan, a veteran of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and future head of the IDF, to drop at Parker's Memorial, near one of the defiles of the pass, Jebel Heitan.