AT obstacles

[Sturm78]

Hi all,

Does somebody have any information and/or images about the different AT obstacles used by the various countries in WW2 ?

Here, three images from EBay. I don`t know if German, French, Czech or another country obstacles.

Sturm78

[Ondrej Filip]

First and third photo shows "Czech Hedgehog", standard Czechoslovak AT obstacle. Hard to say, if the photos shows Czechoslovak or German defence line. If Czechoslovak, it is not a heavy fortification line, but any light fortification postion or a kind of ad hoc obstacle.

[jopaerya]

Hello

All captured and moveble anti-tank obstacles were reused in the Atlantikwall ,
according to the Ebay photocaption the one in the midddle should be Metaxax -line .

Regards Jos

[jopaerya]

Here some links with A-T obstacles
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=90255
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... w=previous
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... &p=1416675
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 0&t=128860

Regards Jos

[Sturm78]

Hi all,

An image from EBay: Czech hedgehogs

Sturm78

[Ondrej Filip]

Hi all,

An image from EBay: Czech hedgehogs

Sturm78

This picture shows original Czechoslovak location. There is a light pill-box Mod. 37 at the right corner. See also an infantry obstacles, called "pigtails" (barbed wire is missing).

[Sturm78]

Hi all,

An image from EBay. According to photocaption Polish AT obstacles

Sturm78

[TH]

Seeing as those are "Czech hedgehogs" I'd say it's a Czech obstacle.
Unless Poland used them too...?
Or it's a German obstacle in Poland, that is also possible.

[sebas379]

Czech Hedgehog is not, as far as I know, a specifically Czech object. Maybe it originated there, but many nations used them.

regarding OP, here's an image of the Mannerheim Line, the Finnish defensive line on the Karelian Ithmus which saw heavy fighting during the Winter War. The large rocks and boulders are meant as ad-hoc AT obstacles. note the thin barbed wire as well.


source of image: wiki

[sebas379]

While I was at it I also checked http://www.grebbelinie.nl, a Dutch website about the Grebbe Line, the main defensive line used against the Germans in May 1940.
What you see there is the "asparagus" anti-tank obstacle, metal bars that can be placed in a road in case of war in order to block it. They cannot be removed again because a pair of hooks will expand underground upon placement, if you understand what I mean. The only way to get rid of them would be cutting them off, IIRC. This specific image is from the Grebbe Line, a defensive line in the centre of our country, but this type of obstacle was used all over the Netherlands, for example in the Peel-Raamstelling in the south and near Kornwerderzand on the Afsluitdijk as well.


source: http://www.grebbelinie.nl

[Ondrej Filip]

Czech Hedgehog is not, as far as I know, a specifically Czech object. Maybe it originated there, but many nations used them.

Hedgehogs built of three beams were used all over the world. But it is easy to identify the original Czechoslovak hedgehogs (see the photo).

About the picture from Sturm78 - there was a German defence line at Küstrin at the end of the war. Küstrin city is today Polish Kostrzyn, but it was at the German territory till 1945. I have never seen the Czechoslovak hedgehogs at the eastern battlefields. If the location is right, it would be an interesting discovery.

[sebas379]

Railway-barricade.
The name of this Dutch anti-vehicle obstacle is obvious, it consists of railway bars fixed in a concrete footing. The hole in the back of the concrete you see here can be filled with earth. these objects were placed in areas that could not be shut off using the Asperge type. they were placed on the sides of roads and dikes to stop tanks and AFV.

[sebas379]

And to top it all off, I don't know if this was done in other countries as well.
These objects form the base of a steel-cable barricade. That is indeed exactly what you think. There's another of these poles on the other side of the road and they spun steel cables between them to stop vehicles. this type was used to barricade the floodgates at the Grebbeberg and to shut down the main road leading into the ancient Hornwerk fortification at the heart of the Grebbe Line. Barbed wire was placed in the vicinity to stop infantry, and a pillbox with, I believe, light AT equipment was placed such that it could cover the approach

[sebas379]

Czech Hedgehog is not, as far as I know, a specifically Czech object. Maybe it originated there, but many nations used them.

Hedgehogs built of three beams were used all over the world. But it is easy to identify the original Czechoslovak hedgehogs (see the photo).

Is it the, what looks to be metal plate in the centre of the hedgehog, where the beams are connected? I'm not that well informed of the construction of these things, and I wonder about the local differences.

edit: derp, I just noticed the 90 degree angle in the beams, that could very well be it. Or am I imagining things now, it's been a long day.......

[sebas379]

I'm not done searching through said website I see.

I present you a unique object, as far as I know this is the only example of Dutch Dragonteeth.