Enfilade and defilade

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Enfilade and defilade are concepts in military tactics used to describe a military formation's exposure to enemy fire. A formation or position is "in enfilade" if weapon fire can be directed along its longest axis. A unit or position is "in defilade" if it uses natural or artificial obstacles to shield or conceal itself from enfilade and hostile fire.^[1] The strategies, named by the English during the Hundred Years' War, use the French enfiler ("to put on a string or sling") and défiler ("to slip away or off") spoken by English nobility of the time.^[2]

Enfilade fire—gunfire directed against an enfiladed formation or position—is also commonly known as "flanking fire".^[1] Raking fire is the equivalent term in naval warfare. Strafing, firing on targets from a flying platform, is often done with enfilade fire. It is a very advantageous, and much sought for, position for the attacking force.