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Anti-tank trenches, also calledanti-tank ditches, are ditches dug into and around fortified positions to hold up the advance of enemy tanks.[1][2] Anti-tank ditches were first used inWorld War I by Germany in an effort to protect theirtrenches against the newly developed British and French tanks. An anti-tank ditch has to be wide enough and deep enough to prevent a tank from crossing. Armies have been known todisguise anti-tank ditches[3] to enable the ditch to disable an enemy tank. Anti-tank trenches can be defeated by use of afascine. Anti-tank ditches can also be crossed by use of bridges either laid by armoured vehicles or built over them, they can also be defeated by demolition of each side, using explosives, to make inclines that can be crossed or can be filled in by earth moving equipment.
According to theUnited States Army, there are several methods by whichcombat engineers can dig an anti-tank ditch on the battlefield. Using only hand tools, aplatoon of soldiers can dig a triangular-shaped ditch 100 feet (30 m) long, 12 feet (3.7 m) wide and 6 feet (1.8 m) deep in seven and a half hours; a trapezoidal-shaped ditch of similar dimensions would take fourteen hours. Equipping the platoon with a3⁄4-cubic-yard (0.57 m3)power shovel cuts these digging times to four and a half hours and nine hours respectively. Alternatively, asquad of soldiers with apower auger and sufficientdemolition charges can blast a ditch 100 yards (90 m) long, 30 feet (9 m) wide and 12 feet (3.7 m) deep in twelve hours.[4]
