The Cointet-element, also known as the Belgian Gate, is a heavy steel anti-tank obstacle roughly three meters wide and two meters high, built as a mobile fence-like frame mounted on rollers so that it could even be towed by horses. It was designed in 1933 by the French officer Leon-Edmond de Cointet de Fillain for the Maginot Line, and Belgium adopted a modified version in 1936, ordering 77,000 of them to form the K-W Line defending against a German invasion. After the German victory of 1940 the obstacles were captured and renamed C-elements, and roughly 23,408 of them were deployed along more than 4,340 kilometers of the Atlantic Wall coastline by 1944 to obstruct the Allied landings in Normandy.
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Source Cointet-element, Wikipedia
Sources
1. Cointet-element, Wikipedia
Lead paragraph, first sentence
typically mounted on concrete rollers, used as a mobile anti-tank obstacle during World War II.
History section, paragraph 1
Its invention is attributed to a French colonel (later general), Leon-Edmond de Cointet de Fillain who came up with the idea in 1933 to be used in the Maginot Line.
service status
The Cointet-element, also known as a Belgian Gate or C-element, was a heavy steel fence about three metres (9 ft 10 in) wide and two metres (6 ft 7 in) high, typically mounted on concrete rollers, used as a mobile anti-tank obstacle during World War II
Used In: World War II, Wikipedia article text
The Cointet-element, also known as a Belgian Gate or C-element, was a heavy steel fence about wide and high, typically mounted on concrete rollers, used as a mobile anti-tank obstacle during World War II.
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