With the introduction of tankwarfare the Germans had to counteract and one of their reactions was to create a so called Tanksperre, tank obstacle. There are just a few left and one stands along the Damvillers- Romange sur Les Cotes road ,to the north east of Verdun . Build as concrete structures with steel wires and or chains in between. On this location it closes the gap between two heights and as such it becomes very difficult terrain for tanks.
Cotes de Romange as seen from Moirey, to the right
Morimont hill
The gap in the natural barrier.
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The tanksperre, probably were the hooks used to attach the chains/ steel wire, on the opposite structure remnants of steelwire can be seen..
 Inspired me to make a model of RPM's R17 tank, with Scale Link loose parts and barbed wire.1/35 scale
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Hope you like it.
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Harry van Baal
-- Edited by Haverba on Tuesday 16th of February 2016 02:29:18 PM
-- Edited by Haverba on Wednesday 17th of February 2016 08:18:04 AM
Brilliant Harry. Is there any sign of how thick the chain links were or the size of the wire used ? I too, have never heard of these obstacles before, so any information would be great.
Paul
p.s maybe a bit of dust around the tanks tracks etc would look better
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The finest stories of the Great War are those that will never be told.
Thank you for the constructive comments regarding the application of a dust layer . Although I do realise that the end result will be far more realistic I still have some reservations about weathering. I like to build a model as good as possible with all the details clear to see, weathering in my opinion, tends to camouflage or even hide details. For me, even a subtle paint mist or limited use of pigments distracts and I hardly used them. Washes and very little high lighting, that's all. The model with all it's details is for me the most important, the presentation less.
Attached a few additional detail pictures of the Tanksperre, the cables were a few cm thick.
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Harry
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Hook Tanksperre
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What is left of the cable (iron/waste collectors? )
-- Edited by Haverba on Saturday 20th of February 2016 05:37:45 PM
Great model....finished in a more pristine look than I would go for......but this is always subjective. Thanks for the information on the anti tank obstacles, like everyone else this is the first-ever information I have seen. Beautiful countryside, la belle France indeed.
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