Tankhindernis, Batterij a/d Overeindseweg met inundatiekanaal/annexe werken Nieuwegein

English translation

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Description

Cluster 52. Remains of tank barrier.

NEW HOLLANDSE WATERLINIE

Introduction

REMAINS OF TANK BARRIER as remnant of an obstacle against (armoured) vehicles installed shortly before the Second World War on and in the Overeindseweg, which adjoined inundation fields and ditch systems. The construction of obstacles to hinder or delay the advance of enemy troops has a long history. Important artificial obstacles were traditionally, among others, moats, waterlines, felled trees and disabled bridges. With the rise of mechanical (such as the steam train) and motorised (armoured vehicles and tanks) means of transport, even heavier materials were employed, including steel and (reinforced) concrete barriers. One of the systems applied from the mid-1930s onwards consisted of diagonally placed and pointed steel H-profile beams, which not only greatly hindered the passage of such vehicles but could also cause them severe damage. Such obstacles were composed of one (Type I) or two rows (Type II) of beams. Tank obstacles were usually built up from interconnected systems of barriers, in which besides water (for example anti-tank ditches or inundations) concrete and steel structures (the tank barriers) also delayed progress. The Dutch army made use of anti-tank ditches and concrete blocks with steel profile beams at the eve of the Second World War in the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie. The number of tank barriers constructed in the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie is unknown; around the year 2000 there were still approximately 10 recognisably present, of which 1 complete. The barrier in the Overeindseweg is only partly visible because the work is partly beneath the paving, but the concrete block in which the beams were installed is clearly visible in the verges on either side of the road.

Description

REMAINS OF TANK BARRIER, built according to a broadly standardised design of Type II. The more than half a metre thick, heavy concrete block that forms the base of the tank barrier has a passage width of approximately 4.50 m and blocked the Overeindseweg across the full width of the road profile (approximately 6.00 m). In the barrier block there were originally two rows of sleeves in which pointed steel H-profiles could be placed, which in operational condition could be anchored and then pointed diagonally in an easterly direction. In peacetime the sleeves were closed by means of rectangular covers. The barrier is nowadays largely worked under the asphalt.

The REMAINS OF TANK BARRIER in the Overeindseweg are of general importance because of:

* Cultural-historical values as part of the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie as designed by C.R.T. Kraijenhoff and initially realised from 1815 by him, Jan Blanken and Major-Engineer Willem Offerhaus and subsequently strengthened and improved by others for approximately 125 years.

* Architectural-historical values, in particular as an expression of military-strategic building science, which is based on: a. the system of inundation and access defence (19th and 20th centuries), b. the race with increasingly powerful offensive means (19th and 20th centuries), c. the system of 'living' field fortification in depth (20th century).

This concerns here a component from the period 1935-1940 which is an example of a remnant of a reinforced concrete, cast iron and steel barrier specially constructed for defence against assault vehicles and / or tanks, which formed part of a linear obstacle consisting further of an adjoining inundation zone and ditches.

* Ensemble value and situational values as part of the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie. Also because of the functional and physical coherence with the other components of the complex.

* The component has become rare and is representative because the barrier has remained recognisable in its physical context.

* The component is reasonably well preserved because both the concrete mass and part of the construction and the application possibilities remain observable and recognisable in situ.