The origins of concertina razor wire

The origins of concertina razor wire

High Rigidity Concertina Razor Wire is a type of barbed wire or barbed wire formed into large coils that can be unrolled like an accordion. Used with regular barbed wire (and/or barbed wire/tape) and steel stakes, it is most commonly used to form military style barbed wire barriers. It is also used in non-military settings, such as for prison barriers, internment camps, when riot control, or at international borders. During World War I, soldiers made their own accordion wire using ordinary barbed wire.

In World War I, High Rigidity Concertina Razor Wire barriers were made by stretching lengths of barbed wire between wooden or iron stakes. At its simplest, this barrier resembles a fence that might be used for agricultural purposes.A double apron fence consists of a row of pickets with wires running diagonally down to points on the ground on either side of the fence. Horizontal lines connect to these diagonals.Rows of stakes can be connected by wires running side to side, back to front, and diagonally in multiple directions to create more complex and powerful obstacles. As effective as these barriers were, they took a considerable amount of time to build.

High Rigidity Concertina Razor Wire barriers are easily pushed away by shells; in World War I this often resulted in masses of randomly tangled wires, which can be more intimidating than carefully constructed barriers. With this lesson learned, World War I soldiers would deploy barbed wire in relatively loose so-called accordions. Barbed wire accordions could be prepared in the trenches and then deployed relatively quickly to no man's land under cover of darkness.
There is a craze that might be called a concertina: countless barbed wires become concertinas by a simple process of winding them around seven upright stakes in the ground; On the wire on the other stake. The result, when you get to the end of a coil and take the whole coil off the stake, is a ring of heavy barbed wire, pulled concertina-style ten yards long.
High Tensile Strengthsteel Concertina Razor Wire packs flat for easy transport and can then be deployed as a barrier much faster than regular barbed wire because the flat coils of wire stretch out easily to create an instant barrier that at least slows down enemy passage. A couple of these coils and some stakes to hold them in place are just as effective as a normal wire fence, which has to be built by driving stakes and running multiple wires between them.
A platoon of soldiers can deploy an accordion-style fence at a speed of about one kilometer (5 ⁄ 8 miles) per hour. Such a barrier isn't very effective on its own (although it will still prevent enemies from advancing under the defender's guns), and High Tensile Strengthsteel Concertina Razor Wires are often built into more complex patterns as time permits.Today, accordion wire is factory-made and available in a quick-deploy form from the rear of a vehicle or trailer.