BOMBARDMENT is an attack upon a fortress or fortitied-town by means of shells, red hot shot, carcasses, rockets, etc., to burn and destroy the buildings, and kill the people. A bombardment is most likely to be successful when the place is destitute of bombproof cover; or when the governor is too humane to expose the unoffentling inhabitants to this dreadful ordeal; or when the population is strong enough to compel him to Yield. A bombardment requires little engineering science; whereas to reduce a place by regu lar siege requires the aid of engineers to direct the attack against fortifications, guns, and soldiery, leaving the inhabitants and buildings untouched. :Military engineers gen erally regard a B. as a cruel operation; it is especially directed against the civilians and their buildings. as a means of inducing or compelling the governor to surrender the placa, and terminate their miseries. In a well-defended place, the soldiers, the ammu nition. and Cie defense-works suffer comparatively little, seeing that the bombardiers
aim at pitching their terrible missiles into the heart of the place. In modern times, a B. is mostly adopted as an adjunct to a siege, distracting the governor by an incessant fire of mortars day and night. At Sebastopol, for instance, the mortars fired shells into the center of the city, to weaken the defense of the forts which were cannounded by the siege-guns. B. is more frequently a naval than a military operation. The stores required for a vigorous B. are immense. 'thus, in 1759, Rodney threw 20,000 shells and carcasses into Havre; in 1792, the duke of Saxe-Teschen threw 06,000 shot and shell into Lille in 140 hours; in 1795, Pieliegru threw 8000 shells into Mannheim in 16 hours; and in 1807, the English threw 11,000 shot and shell into Copenhagen in 3 days.