Versperring, Lunet IV Utrecht

English translation

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Description

Cluster 47. Concrete block of tank barrier.

NEW HOLLANDSE WATERLINIE

Introduction

CONCRETE BLOCK OF TANK BARRIER at Lunet IV, as a remnant of an obstacle for (armoured) vehicles installed shortly before the Second World War on and in the Houtensepad. 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 rise of mechanical (such as the steam train) and motorised (armoured vehicles and tank) means of transport, even heavier material has been deployed, including steel and (reinforced) concrete barriers. One of the systems employed from the mid-1930s onwards consisted of slanted upright and pointed steel (H-) profile beams, which not only prevented passage for such vehicles, but could also inflict severe damage on them. Such obstacles were composed of one (Type I) or two rows (Type II) of beams. Tank obstacles were usually constructed from interconnected systems of barriers, in which, in addition to water (for example anti-tank ditches or inundations), concrete and steel constructions (the tank barriers) also slowed progress. When delayed, attackers could more easily come under fire. The Dutch army made use of anti-tank ditches and concrete blocks with steel profile beams in the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie on the eve of the Second World War, among other things. The number of tank barriers installed in the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie is not known; around the year 2000 there were still approximately 10 recognisable ones, of which 1 was complete. In the meantime, several others have become recognisable again (been made recognisable). The barrier in the Houtensepad is partly visible in the verge, but also partly invisible beneath the paving. The road now runs as a cycle path at the edge of a residential neighbourhood.

Description

CONCRETE BLOCK OF TANK BARRIER, type II, located at Lunet IV and built according to a design that was in outline standardised. The heavy concrete block, more than half a metre thick, which forms the base, has a passage width of 7.00 m and closed off the Houtensepad, which then bordered watercourses, over its entire width. In the barrier block there were originally two rows of pipes in which pointed steel beams with I-profiles could be placed, which in operational state could be anchored and then pointed obliquely in the direction of attack. In peacetime the pipes were closed off by means of rectangular cast iron covers. The barrier has largely been worked out beneath the asphalt of the present cycle path.

Valuation

The CONCRETE BLOCK OF TANK BARRIER is of general interest by reason of:

* Cultural-historical values as part of the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie as designed by C.R.T. Kraijenhoff and realised from 1815 onwards 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, which is based on: a. the system of inundation and access defence (19th and 20th century), b. the race with increasingly strengthening offensive means (19th and 20th century), c. the system of 'living' field fortification in depth (20th century).

This concerns 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.

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

* The component has been preserved with little recognisability - and thereby unknown as to completeness - because it lies largely invisible beneath the road surface.