The tank traps used in World War II came in many shapes and sizes, and the 'Czech hedgehog' – an obstacle defence made of metal angle beams or I-beams – was simple but effective. Originally designed in what was then Czechoslovakia, they were soon adopted by the Germans.

Those pictured here on Utah Beach in Normandy, one of the sites of the D-Day landings, were part of the Atlantic Wall – a series of coastal defences intended to keep the Allies at bay. Fortunately, these supposedly impregnable defences proved to be anything but.

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