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Summary - not yet available

Monument Types

• TANK TRAP (World War II - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)

Full description

Concrete and iron anti-tank obstacle, on the side of the B556. Another lies in the hedge nearby. There were originally about 10-14 caltrops at the edge of the road which could be moved to block it <1>.
The caltrop, moved to the Imperial War Museum in 1999, is a rare survivor of a road block type that tests in 1940 established to be 'of no value'. Those tested were specially prepared four-pronged caltrops, which imitated the barbs used to wound horses in the First World War but were 'reduced to rubble' when run over by a Canadian Army Mk II-I cruiser tank <2>. Presumably those placed near South Mimms would have been similarly ineffective.
The original NGR is imprecise and incorrect, lying c.50m within the field W of the B556. The caltrops may have been located in the field entrance c.75m ESE at TL 21880 01480, or alternatively some 250m to the SE where current mapping and photographs show a layby (TL 22050 01370). Since the former, closer, NGR is immediately next to the line of the World War II anti-tank ditch line known as the Outer London Stop Line, it seems the most likely location.
See <3> for a photograph of a possible remnant.

<1> DoB Project Newsletter, Cromwell No I, 20 September 1999; (Bibliographic reference). SHT3001.

<2> Cromwell No 2, 3 January 2000; and 3, 27 March 2000 (Bibliographic reference). SHT2779.

<3> John Donovan, Correspondence, E-mail, 13.4.2003 (Unpublished document). SHT2734.

Sources and further reading

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