Post Obstacles

Post Obstacles

 

antitank and antitransport barriers made of logs (at least 25 cm in diameter), metal or reinforced-concrete beams, or stones, which are dug into the ground and firmly fixed at an incline of 75° toward the enemy; the aboveground part of a post obstacle is from 0.5 to 1.1 m high.

Post obstacles were used in the 13th through 19th centuries in front of fortress ramparts to reinforce other barriers. Before World II (1939–45) post obstacles were set up in fortified regions (for instance, on the Mannerheim Line). In World War II and in the Great Patriotic War (1941–45) they were used mainly in the defense of big cities, for example, Moscow and Leningrad.