Remained Tetrahedron Saint-Pierre-en-Port

At low tide on the beach at Sainte-en-Porte, you can see a Tetrahedron (concrete four-sided structure) left over from the Second World War.

During the Second World War, thousands of these Tetrahedrons were placed as barriers on the beaches along the entire Atlantic Wall. Tetrahedron means four-sided. They were developed by the Germans during the Second World War with the intention of stopping landing craft and armoured vehicles of the expected Allies on the beach. It was a strong pyramid-shaped construction composed of six concrete beams, each weighing 120 kilograms. Sometimes a mine was placed on top.

These tetrahedrons were placed on the beach at low tide and disappeared completely under water at high tide, making them invisible to the approaching enemy. During the Second World War, the Germans assumed that an Allied invasion would take place at high tide because the distance from the sea to the dunes was then as short as possible.
This assumption did not come true. The landings on D-Day, 6 June 1944, took place at low tide. The Allies had taken the presence of these barriers into account and knew that they would make the landings more difficult.

After the war, the tetrahedrons were unscrewed and reused as separate parts for a fence. They can still be found here and there on land.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Chris Dijkshoorn