 Caltrop used by the Office of Strategic Services. The hollow spikes puncture self-sealing rubber tires. The hole in the center allows air to escape if the other end of the tube is sealed by soft ground. A caltrop (jack rock, star nail) is a weapon made up of four (or more) sharp nails or spines arranged in such a manner that one of them always points upward from a stable base (for example, a tetrahedron or tetrapod). Caltrops serve to slow down the advance of horses, war elephants, and human troops. It was said to be particularly effective against the soft feet of camels[1]. In more modern times, caltrops could be effective against wheeled vehicles. In Japan such devices were known as Makibishi. Caltrop (aka tyre spike) from http://www. ...
Caltrop (aka tyre spike) from http://www. ...
The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime (but not direct) precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency. ...
For academic journal, see Tetrahedron A tetrahedron (plural: tetrahedra) is a polyhedron composed of four triangular faces, three of which meet at each vertex. ...
Groups See text Tetrapods (Greek tetrapoda, four-legged) are vertebrate animals having four feet, legs or leglike appendages. ...
Binomial name Equus caballus Linnaeus, 1758 The horse (Equus caballus) is a sizeable ungulate mammal, one of ten modern species of the genus Equus. ...
Indian war elephant, relief at Mathura, 2nd century BC War elephants were important, although not widespread, weapons in ancient military history. ...
The term Makibishi refers to small, spined objects used by ninja to deter pursuit. ...
The device shares its name with the caltrop, Tribulus terrestris (Zygophyllaceae), whose spiked seed case can also injure feet and puncture tires. Compare also the Star thistle, Centaurea calcitrapa, whose Latin name calcitrapa means "foot trap". Binomial name Tribulus terrestris Linnaeus Goathead fruit Puncture Vine (Tribulus terrestris), also known as Caltrop, Yellow Vine, and Goathead, is an herb used for its virilizing effects. ...
Family: Zygophyllaceae Genera: Augea Bulnesia Fagonia Guaiacum Halimiphyllum Izozogia Kallstroemia Kelleronia Larrea Metharme Miltianthus Morkillia Neoluederitzia Peganum Pintoa Plectrocarpa Porlieria Roepera Sarcozygium Seetzenia Sericodes Sisyndite Tetradiclis Tetraena Tribulopis Tribulus Viscainoa Zygophyllum The Zygophyllaceae are a family of about 250 species of dicotyledonous plants also known as the bean-caper family...
Categories: Plant stubs | Asteraceae ...
Binomial name Centaurea calcitrapa L. The Purple star thistle or Caltrop is a plant native of Europe. ...
History The caltrop has been known since ancient times and was known to the Romans as tribulus or sometimes as Murex ferreus, the latter meaning 'jagged rock'.
The late Roman writer Vegetius, in his work De Re Militari, wrote: The Roman Forum was the central area around which ancient Rome developed. ...
Vegetius (Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus) was a celebrated military writer of the 4th century. ...
De Re Militari (Latin On military matters) was a treatise of late Roman warfare that became a military guide in the middle ages. ...
- The armed chariots used in war by Antiochus and Mithridates at first terrified the Romans, but they afterwards made a jest of them. As a chariot of this sort does not always meet with plain and level ground, the least obstruction stops it. And if one of the horses be either killed or wounded, it falls into the enemy's hands. The Roman soldiers rendered them useless chiefly by the following contrivance: at the instant the engagement began, they strewed the field of battle with caltrops, and the horses that drew the chariots, running full speed on them, were infallibly destroyed. A caltrop is a machine composed of four spikes or points arranged so that in whatever manner it is thrown on the ground, it rests on three and presents the fourth upright.[2]
The caltrop continued in use into the 17th century, a single example was found in Jamestown, Virginia in the USA. Chariot was the name of a WW2 naval weapon, the British manned torpedo. ...
This entry incorporates text from Eastons Bible Dictionary, 1897, with some modernisation. ...
The name Mithridates (more accurately, Mithradates) is derived from the Persian sun-god Mithra and the Indo-European root da, to give — i. ...
The Roman legion (from the Latin legio, meaning levy) was the basic military unit of ancient Rome. ...
Jamestown was established in 1607, on the James River in Virginia, about 45 miles (70 kilometers) southeast of where Richmond, Virginia, is now located. ...
- Undoubtedly the most unusual weapon or military device surviving from seventeenth-century Virginia is known as a caltrop, a single example of which has been found at Jamestown. It amounts to a widely spread iron tripod about three inches long with another leg sticking vertically upward, so that however you throw it down, one spike always sticks up. ... There is no doubt that the most inscrutable Indian treading on a caltrop would be shocked into noisy comment. ... The fact that only one has been found would seem to suggest that they were used little, if at all. As with all military equipment designed for European wars, the caltrop’s presence in Virginia must be considered in the light of possible attacks by the Spaniards as well as assaults from the Indians.[3]
Caltrop-like devices Punji sticks perform a similar role to caltrops. These are sharpened sticks placed vertically in the ground. Their use in modern times target the body and limbs of a falling victim rather than well shod feet. An American marine walks through a gully of punji sticks during the Vietnam War The Punji stick or Punji stake is a type of a non-explosive booby trap. ...
In Britain, during the Second World War, large caltrop shaped objects made from reinforced concrete were used as anti-tank devices; although it seems that these were rare Anti-tank caltrop. Very much more common, were concrete devices called dragon's teeth that designed to wedge into tank treads. However, dragon's teeth are immobile, so the analogy with the caltrop is inexact. Another caltrop-like WWII defence is the massive, steel, freestanding Czech hedgehogs that were designed to damage ships and landing craft. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ...
Anti-tank, or simply AT, refers to any method of combating military armored fighting vehicles, notably tanks. ...
Dragons teeth (German: Höcker, humps) were square-pyramidal fortifications of concrete used during the Second World War to impede the movement of tanks. ...
Hedgehogs deployed at beach The Czech hedgehog (rozsochÃ¡Ä or ježek in Czech language) was a static defense made of angle iron (i. ...
The caltrop is the symbol of the US Army's III Corps, which is based at Fort Hood, Texas. III Corps traces its lineage to the days of horse cavalry, which used the caltrop as an area-denial weapon. Fort Hood is the only installation in the US Army that has declared the caltrop to be a weapon prohibited in the barracks.
Modern Uses
Labor activists Caltrops have been used at times during labor strikes and other disputes. Such devices were used by some to destroy the tires of management and replacement workers.
Because of the prevelance of caltrops during the Caterpillar strike of the mid-1990s, the state of Illinois passed a law making the possesion of such devices a misdemeanor. Caterpillar Inc. ...
Environmental activists In the 1970s, activists in the United States deployed caltrops against the tires of logging trucks. Earth First! quickly condemned the practice, seeing it as a hazard to humans and animals. Monkey wrench and tomahawk, group symbol Earth First! is a radical environmentalist group, pioneered in the early 1980s by Arizona desert activists Dave Foreman, Mike Roselle, Howie Wolke, Bart Koehler, and others. ...
Other usages
 Contemporary caltrop improvised from large nails welded together. In role-playing games, some players refer to tetrahedral 4-sided dice as "caltrops" because the corners are arranged in a similar manner to a caltrop's spikes. When stepped on with bare feet, plenty of pain will result. A hazing event used by some gaming clubs is known as the "walk of a thousand caltrops": The experienced players scatter their dice (sometimes all the dice if the club combined lacks a sufficient number of 4-sided dice) across the floor in a walking path and require the new player to walk across them. Use of sharp cornered dice is considered bad form as the intention is to humiliate, rather than actually injure, the new player. Improvised caltrop from large welded nails. ...
This article is about traditional role-playing games. ...
For academic journal, see Tetrahedron A tetrahedron (plural: tetrahedra) is a polyhedron composed of four triangular faces, three of which meet at each vertex. ...
A 4_sided die resting on its 1 face Four_sided dice are often used in role-playing games, such as Dungeons and Dragons, to get small numbers for things such as damage or character statistic increases. ...
Students sometimes play practical jokes by twisting staples together to form a mini-caltrop, then placing it on a hard seat where the victim will sit on it. Such devices are often referred to as "ass scorpions" or "seat tacks". A packet of staples commonly used in the home or office A staple is a type of two-pronged, usually metal fastener for joining or binding materials together. ...
See also This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. ...
The cheval de frise (plural: chevaux de frise) was a Mediaeval defensive obstacle consisting of a portable frame (sometimes just a simple log) covered with many long iron or wooden spikes or even actual spears. ...
Medieval fortification is the military aspect of Medieval technology that covers the development of fortification construction and use in Europe roughly from the fall of the Roman Empire to the Renaissance. ...
Trous de loup In mediaeval fortification, a trou de loup (plural trous de loup) was a type of booby trap or defensive obstacle. ...
References - New Discoveries at Jamestown, Site of the First Successful English Settlement in America By John L. Cotter and J. Paul Hudson 1957 Project Gutenberg.
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