Breastplate - Kyousho

…In the Franco-Prussian War (1870), the French army, equipped with superior rifles, had the advantage in local infantry battles, but the Prussians, who had adopted new rifled guns, used their artillery to destroy the French infantry outside the range of their rifles, which was one of the major factors in the French defeat. Defenders began to build parapets (embankments of earth piled up to chest height) and later trenches in the field as a form of protection in place of armor. In the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05), the Japanese attacked trenches surrounded by barbed wire and equipped with machine guns, but were unable to destroy them with their field and mountain guns, and even bayonet charges, which caused many casualties, were difficult to capture. …

*Some of the terminology explanations that mention "breast wall" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…普仏戦争(1870)では優秀な小銃を装備したフランス軍が局地の歩兵戦闘では有利だったが，新式の施条砲を採用したプロイセン軍がその砲兵をもって，小銃の射程外でフランス軍歩兵を撃破したのがフランス軍敗北の有力な一因となった。　防者は甲冑に代わる防護力として野戦でも胸墻（きようしよう）(胸の高さに積んだ土堤)，後には塹壕（ざんごう）陣地を構築するようになった。日露戦争(1904‐05)では，鉄条網をめぐらし掩蓋（えんがい）機関銃を配置した塹壕陣地を攻撃した日本軍は，その野･山砲では陣地を破壊できず，多くの死傷者を出した銃剣突撃でも攻略は困難だった。…

※「胸墻」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報