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The hedgehog defence is a military tactic in which a defending force creates multiple mutually supporting strongpoints ("hedgehogs") in a defence in depth, designed to sap the strength and break the momentum of an attack. The hedgehogs are designed to be both strong in defence, and thus expensive for an attacker to assault, and capable of mounting counterattacks. The intention is that the attacker will instead bypass them. This will divide his front, expose his forward units to enfilading fire as they pass between hedgehogs followed by attack from the rear when they have passed them, and leave his rear echelons and lines of communication open to counterattack.