Bomvrij militair object, Betonnen werken rond Fort Everdingen Culemborg

English translation

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Description

Cluster 502.

NEW HOLLANDSE WATERLINIE

Introduction

CONCRETE BLOCK OF TANK BARRIER as part of an access defence on the Zuidelijke Lekdijk / Goilberdingerdijk. The erection of obstacles to impede or delay the advance of enemy troops has a long history. Important artificial obstacles have traditionally included among others ditches, waterlines, felled trees and disabled bridges. With the advent of mechanical (such as steam trains) and motorised (armoured vehicles and tanks) transport, even heavier materials were deployed, including steel and (reinforced) concrete barriers. One of the systems applied from the mid-1930s onwards consisted of diagonally upright and pointed steel (H-section) girders, which not only greatly hindered the passage of such vehicles but could also cause severe damage to them. Such obstacles could be composed of one row (Type I) or two rows (Type II) of section girders. After removing the covers and installing diagonally anchored steel H-section girders (so-called 'asparagus') in grooves in the concrete block, the progress of vehicles, including tanks and armoured vehicles, could be impeded. Tank obstacles were usually constructed from interconnected systems of barriers, in which water (particularly anti-tank ditches) as well as concrete and steel structures (the actual tank barriers) slowed progress. Another well-known obstacle was the tetrahedron - a moveable triangular concrete block (or steel structure), which could be deployed in groups at control posts and bridges. On the eve of the Second World War, the Dutch army made use of anti-tank ditches and concrete blocks with steel section girders in the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie. The number of tank barriers installed in the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie is not known; around the year 2000, approximately 10 recognisable examples remained, of which 1 was complete. In subsequent years, a number have been found again, some of which can be added to this total. Within the complex of Concrete Works around Fort Everdingen, a clearly recognisable example was preserved next to the current dike with roadway during a dike reinforcement carried out around 2000. In 2011, section girders were reinstalled, which increased the recognisability and former function of the work.

Description

CONCRETE BLOCK OF TANK BARRIER which was positioned in the roadway on the Lekdijk between the inundation zone of the adjoining polders and the southern floodplain of the Lek, which is scarcely or not accessible to heavy traffic. The barrier dates from shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War. The barrier consists of a (sloping with the slope) reinforced cast concrete block in which two rows of rectangular cast iron covers occur across the full width of the road. Due to later asphalting of the roadway, part of it is now not visible. The example within the complex of Concrete Works around Fort Everdingen is recognisable at approximately 500 m east of Fort Everdingen, near Goilberdingerdijk 45.

Valuation

The CONCRETE BLOCK OF TANK BARRIER is 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 over approximately 125 years.

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

This is a component from the period 1935-1940 that 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 further consisting of an inundation zone.

* 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 and has gained significance through reconstruction.

* The component is reasonably well preserved because both the concrete mass and an (important) part of the construction and of the possibilities for use are observable and recognisable in situ.