Piquet or Sangar

A Piquet is a rifle pit holding three or more men and spaced every ten to twenty metres. It is constructed by excavating a narrow trench and piling the earth or stones up in front. The southern edges of Platrand were one continuous piquet line after the battle of Platrand.

The soldiers lie in the trench using the built up front as protection. Soldiers detailed to a “piquet duty” operated as sentries and in the case of Platrand duty changes occurred during the hours of darkness to avoid being seen by the enemy.

 A sangar was built in much the same way as a Piquet but was much larger and often had sandbags on top of the wall or breastwork. The walls were high enough to protect the soldier and could be up to four metres thick with the trench behind two metres deep. Soldiers detailed to a sangar were often there for long periods of time. Manchester Fort was a good example of a large emplacement.