Redan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other uses, see Redan (disambiguation).
Redan (a French word for "projection", "salient") is a term related to fortifications. It is a work in a V-shaped salient angle toward an expected attack. It can be made from earthworks or other material.
Quoted from [1]: "The name 'Redan' comes from the Crimean War, when the British captured a Russian-held fort, or in the local dialect, a redan. A serving officer - John White-Melville - is credited on his return as describing the 6th (now the 15th - Ed.) like the formidable fortress, or redan, he had encountered at Sebastopol. Conquered only after nearly a year of attrition, which left over 20,000 British soldiers dead and four times as many French. The word 'Redan' is now part of the English language, and the definition given by the Oxford Dictionary is 'Fort - A work having two faces forming a salient towards the enemy.'"
The numbers "6th" and "15th" in the above quote refer to the hole named "Redan" on the North Berwick West Links golf course (see below). At the time several public houses in Britain adopted the name. There is a Redan Inn in Chilcompton, Somerset and the Redan Inn (now The Quarterdeck) in North Berwick shared its name with the famous hole on the golf course. There is a street in London called Redan Street.
The Russians used redans on their left at the Battle of Borodino against Napoleon. The Bagration fleches were three redans backwards in echelon. The Shevardino Redoubt (another redan) was erected as an early warning post a mile in front of the Bagration flèches. (Flèche, from the French for arrow, is another term for redan).
The census-designated place of Redan, Georgia was most likely named for the redans built in the area during the Atlanta Campaign of the American Civil War.
[edit] The "redan hole" in golf
A redan hole or redan is an aspect of golf course architecture commonly associated with golf architect Charles Macdonald. The term alludes to the "redan" type of fortification. Specifically, a redan hole should have a green where the front angle is a "v" shape and which slopes downward and away from the point of the "v", and consequently from the golfer playing to the green from the tee or fairway.
Most if not all redan holes are flanked by a pair of deep bunkers, deep enough to be obscured from the green, and slope either to the left or the right. The original "redan" is the 15th hole on the West Links in North Berwick, a fearsome 192-yard par 3 which requires an accurate tee shot to an elevated, sloping green invisible from the tee. Golf architects around the world have created holes based on this signature challenge of the famous Scottish course.
