NATO wire
Razor wire ( S-wire , Z-wire , razor wire or band barbed wire , in the German Federal Armed Forces officially barb locking wire , in the Austrian Bundesheer officially barbed tape roll or SB-roll ) is a variant of the barbed wire , which is rotated as wire rolls and whose task it is, a To make unauthorized passage of people and to a certain extent also vehicles more difficult or to prevent. Compared to common barbed wire, the time required to overcome NATO wire is higher. It is therefore used in systems and in situations with increased security requirements. Furthermore, NATO wire is more dangerous than barbed wire because the razor-like blades cause more injuries than the barbed wire spikes. It saves time when attaching, as there is no need for staples or nails. The ends of the barbed wire can be joined together as a connecting eyelet is punched at the beginning and end. Its shape makes it packable and transportable to save transport space. Private use on land is not prohibited in principle, but with reference to an increased risk to children and young people, the case law has required the dismantling of NATO wire fences around private land. In Germany, this type of barbed wire is called NATO wire, because it was imported into Germany by the NATO ally USA and has been used exclusively in the military sector for many years.
history
The first versions of this type of barbed wire were made by Germany during the First World War . The reason for this was a war-related shortage of wire to produce conventional barbed wire. Therefore, flat wire with triangular cutting edges began to be punched out of steel strips. A welcome side effect was that a comparable length of barbed wire of this new type could be produced in a shorter time. These precursors of the NATO wire did not yet have an inner wire for stabilization, so they were easy to cut with tin snips and were not as robust as normal barbed wire. However, they resisted the wire cutters of that time for cutting normal barbed wire, as they were in use at the front at that time.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, unreinforced NATO wire found commercial use. It was first used as an outer border fortification in US prisons. Around 1981, after the NATO wire had been reinforced with an inner wire, various companies began to market it successfully. However, there were also patent disputes.
After NATO wire had been sufficiently further developed, it was used militarily in many countries because it is lighter than barbed wire and thus achieves the same level of protection with less weight.
Nowadays, NATO wire is usually supplied as a roll with a one meter diameter. When pulled apart, lengths of up to about 15 meters can be achieved. It is used, among other things, as a crown on security fences and for mobile quick locks, for side gates or entrances and security barriers, usually secured against "resumption" by guards.
S-wire rolls are used particularly in local and house warfare, barbed wire in forest warfare.
In the course of the European refugee crisis after 2015, the wire was also increasingly used to prevent migrants from gaining access to certain states. Activists tried to prevent these border fortifications by putting pressure on politicians and manufacturers. Some are of the opinion that everyone has the right to cross any border to apply for asylum, others refuse to wire for nature conservation reasons.
Manufacturing
The blades of the NATO wire are made with special punching machines from normal or galvanized, mostly approximately 19 × 1 millimeter wide flat wire made of steel, from which elongated pieces are punched out. The resulting ridges are very sharp. Whereas in the past the blades isolated at first, at regular intervals on a wire - soul of spring steel attached and Widerstandspressschweißungen were connected with this, the punched flat wire is nowadays mostly processed and cut in pieces of such welded to the soul. The finished NATO wire is then hot-dip galvanized . Like ordinary barbed wire, NATO wire is manufactured in a smooth or rolled version.
In addition, for reasons of corrosion protection, NATO wire is produced in a version made of stainless steel . The so-called core wire is galvanized and only the outer cutting edges are made of stainless steel. Manufacture from stainless steel is expensive and is only used for long-term fastenings or special conditions of use, such as underwater.
With so-called ribbon barbed wire, there is no need to incorporate a wire core. To ensure corrosion protection, the barbed wire is burnished . Finally, the tape is rolled up flat on a roll (common length used by the German Armed Forces: 50 meters). A laying device is often used, especially in connection with tree cover.
The different types of NATO wire are differentiated according to the length of their blades:
- short, 10 to 15 millimeters cutting length
- medium, 20 to 25 millimeters cutting length
- long, 60 to 66 millimeters cutting length
There are no reliable studies as to whether longer cutting edges are more effective against overcoming. What is undisputed, however, is a greater quenching effect with a greater cutting length.
Principles of use for the creation of wire barriers
Wire barriers are used to prevent enemy forces from moving in front of their own positions and on their own flanks. When creating wire barriers, width comes before depth, but depth comes before height. Wire barriers are to be set up within one's own visual range, but outside of the enemy's hand grenade throwing range, so that the enemy cannot throw hand grenades into one's own positions.
Therefore, with a 50 m roll of barbed wire, around 10 m in width can be blocked, with a roll of S-wire, of which three rolls are required for the necessary height, around 12 m. Weapons of war against wire barriers are detonators and wire cutters .
Wire barriers are supposed to hinder the enemy and create time for one's own troops to fight fire; at crawl and knee height they hinder the enemy in advance and create time to fight him. High wire barriers are quickly broken by artillery fire, low depth barriers even with gaps hinder after artillery fire. The wire should not be stretched too tight, as it could break in the cold or when bombarded.
In addition, as with barriers in general, there is the principle that wire barriers must always be monitored by your own forces or their fire, otherwise they can be evacuated by the enemy and thus lose their purpose.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Federal Ministry of Defense (ed.): HDv 285/4 Pionierkampfmittel and associated equipment . April 1965.
- ^ VG Minden decision of July 10, 2003, Az. 11 L 603/03
- ↑ [ https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/may/13/a-bloody-method-of-control-the-struggle-to-take-down-europes-razor-wire-walls Maxim Edwards: "'A bloody method of control': the struggle to take down Europe's razor wire walls"] The Guardian of 13 May 2020
- ↑ Federal Ministry of Defense (ed.): HDv 285/1 locks . 1960.