The artillery emplacement was where the eighteenth-century siege actually got won. Field guns needed protection from counter-battery fire and infantry assault both, and the standard solution was a small redoubt with embrasures cut through the parapet for the gun to fire through, gabion reinforcement at the angles where the wall met the platform, and a raised wooden firing platform inside to bring the trunnions level with the embrasure. At Yorktown in early October 1781 the Franco-American army built such emplacements in the first parallel of trenches and lined them with the heaviest pieces in the train — French siege guns from de Grasse's fleet and Continental 18-pounders that Knox's artillerymen had hauled the length of the war. On October 9, Washington himself fired the first round of what became a ten-day bombardment that flattened the British works, dismounted Cornwallis's guns, and made the night assault on the redoubts possible. This W. Britain emplacement section — gabion walls, palisaded approach, raised gun platform, and embrasure — pairs naturally with the Regal Enterprises Knox's Artillery Regiment and its 6-pounder gun for the crew that occupies the position, the Continental Line standing defending infantry supporting the battery, and the Tradition of London American Generals set with Washington at the headquarters that directed the bombardment. Set Number: 51011 / W. Britain Scenic / 1/30 (60mm) scale / matte finish / 1-piece set / 8"L x 14"D x 4"H
