Hi all,

Just a quick question - would it be appropriate to find those "X" style anti-tank barriers, such as those typically seen on photos of D-Day, in any other setting (i.e. a roadblock, etc.)? I haven't seen a photo to prove it, so I was curious if they could be used elsewhere. I'm looking to do a small vignette or dio for my recently finished 1/48 AFV Club Tiger I and thought these might work.

- Frank

Hi there

Can't see why not. The barriers were'nt as far as I'm concerned manufactured, but build "on the spot" using old rails and such.

In my opinion: Go ahead.

Or am I wrong?

Cheers

Simon

hello Frank,

Most of the metal used for the defens of the beaches was taken from a gigantic iron wall the Belgian army employed against the German advance in Fall Gelb,(without much effect doh ).
This is why one of the structure's had the name; "Belgian gate".
And for others, the Germans emplyed a lot of types of "obstacles",one of them is simply putting I beams upright into the ground,put in a charge, cement the hole and wait for a) dumb blind tanker, b) brave demolition guy (with a deadwish ).
also the germans developed a system of cutting down woods so that every tree interlocks, entangels into each other,combined with a dash of mines and other nasty surprises ,a splendid "slow downer".
other constructions had miles and miles of theeth, the famous "dragon theeth", gates were made of 2 walls , build like stairs in witch were put steel beams.Welded in case of trouble.
Not difficult u'd think, aha the germans had pilboxes and AT guns in bunkers aimed straight at the gate, and we all know how good those were
and i think a quick look on the google picture search under terms like, beach defens , anti tank barriers, Siegfried line, D-day, Bunkers, ect you'll soon find some pictures to reference ur idea.


Greetz Pit

Thanks for the input, Simon & Peter.

I did read a bit on the Belgian Wall. Impressive looking, that's for sure.

I'll mess around on Google a bit and see what I can find. In a nutshell, I'm literally thinking the Tiger sitting on a road, all buttoned up and looking intimidating, as part of a roadblock.

I'm looking to start out with something simple as this would be first attempt at a dio/vignette.

- Frank

Look up Czech hedgehog on google and you will see some photos. Also try Czechoslovakian hedgehog too.

Thanks Robin. For an object so common when studying WWII, I never ran across the name.

That pic from Moscow is kind of what I had in mind. Wheels are turning...

- Frank

Funny the way the same thing has different names! In Denmark they are called Spanish riders.

regards,
Steen

Wikipedia has a good article on the Czech hedgehog: history etc.

I imagine it was in the german field manual for preparing a defensive position and so they are likely to crop anywhere, as Simon mentions, they were simply manufactured on the spot.
I had this dilema very recently as I wanted to use a couple in a North Africa diorama I am currently building and came to the above conclusion and so stuck them in anyway. I aslo figured that steel girders are probably easier to come by than logs in the desert and so the steel version would be more likely than the wooden one.

If anyone else knows better then please let me know, though it's too late now as the hedgehogs are already on my diorama base!

James

James,

There were some in an old Tamiya set in styrene, but I believe Plus Model make some in photoetch that look quite reasonable when built.

I have looked but cant find my pack to post a snap. Look through their catalogue, they were quite reasonably priced I think. Sorry old age hitting the memory.

John

There's two 1/48 PE sets out there that I've found. Hauler makes one and Eduard makes another. The Eduard set is actually listed as as a Czech Hedgehog set. I've got that one ordered and just waiting for Squadron to deliver my goodies!

Thanks for everyone's help. Amazing how something seen so commonly in WWII photos is so hard to define.

- Frank