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Concertina wire or Dannert wire is a type of barbed wire or razor wire that is formed in large Helix which can be expanded like a concertina. In conjunction with plain barbed wire (and/or Barbed tape) and steel Screw picket, it is most often used to form military-style . It is also used in non-military settings, such as when used in Prison, Internment, riot control, or at international borders. During World War I, soldiers manufactured concertina wire themselves, using ordinary barbed wire. Today, it is factory made.
More elaborate and formidable obstructions could be formed with multiple lines of stakes connected with wire running from side-to-side, back-to-front, and diagonally in many directions. Effective as these obstacles were, their construction took considerable time.
Barbed wire obstacles were vulnerable to being pushed about by artillery shells; in World War I, this frequently resulted in a mass of randomly entangled wires that could be even more daunting than a carefully constructed obstacle. Learning this lesson, World War I soldiers would deploy barbed wire in so-called concertinas that were relatively loose. Barbed wire concertinas could be prepared in the Trench warfare and then deployed in no-man's-land relatively quickly under cover of darkness.
Concertina wire packs flat for ease of transport and can then be deployed as an obstacle much more quickly than ordinary barbed wire, since the flattened coil of wire can easily be stretched out, forming an instant obstacle that will at least slow enemy passage. Several such coils with a few stakes to secure them in place are just as effective as an ordinary barbed wire fence, which must be built by driving stakes and running multiple wires between them.
A platoon of soldiers can deploy a single concertina fence at a rate of about a kilometre ( mile) per hour. Such an obstacle is not very effective by itself (although it will still hinder an enemy advance under the guns of the defenders), and concertinas are normally built up into more elaborate patterns as time permits.
Today, concertina wire is factory made and is available in forms that can be deployed very rapidly from the back of a vehicle or trailer.
Dannert wire was imported into Britain from Germany before World War II. During the invasion crisis of 1940–1941, the demand for Dannert wire was so great that some was produced with low manganese steel wire which was easier to cut. This material was known as "Yellow Dannert" after the identifying yellow paint on the concertina handles. To compensate for the reduced effectiveness of Yellow Dannert, an extra supply of pickets were issued in lieu of .
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