enfilading

Enfilading fire is fire directed along the length of a target, so the projectiles travel parallel to its longest axis. In military usage, enfilade fire can sweep across a line of infantry, along a trench, or through a corridor or series of rooms in a building. Because the shot travels along the target’s length, enfilade fire tends to expose many elements of the formation or space and is generally more lethal than fire aimed at a target’s front.

Enfilade is often contrasted with frontal fire, which is directed at the target's front width, and with raking fire, which passes along the target at an oblique angle. Enfilade fire can be produced by positioning troops to the flank, elevating weapons to fire along a corridor from end to end, or controlling fire from a breach in fortifications or urban terrain.

The term derives from the French enfilade, from en- 'in' + fil 'thread', conveying the sense of firing along a line or along the length of a formation. In architecture, enfilade describes a sequence of rooms aligned to permit a view or movement through doorways in a straight line, a usage derived from the same idea of a line along which one can pass or project fire.

See also: enfilade (architecture), trench warfare, flanking fire, frontal fire, raking fire.

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