Killing field
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For other uses, see Killing field (disambiguation).
In military science, a killing field is a field of fire, usually covered by machine guns in modern warfare. It may also be a region in which artillery, cannon, or mortars have been registered or deployed. Such a term may be used to describe the approaches to an "ideal" defensive fortification.
The term originated in medieval warfare to describe areas within castles specially designed to bunch attackers, who had breached the outer defences, into an area where the defenders could kill them easily through arrow loops and murder holes. Often these were small courtyards surrounded by high walls.
