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Dragon's Teeth

Dragon's teeth – sometimes also referred to as "devil's teeth" in the Western press – are anti-tank pyramid-shaped concrete defense obstacles. The height of one "tooth" is from 90 to 120 cm (around 4 feet). Dragon's teeth have repeatedly proven to be highly effective against tanks. Still, one should bear in mind that, first, these defensive obstacles are used as part of a larger sophisticated structure; second, they should be installed the right way and in the right place.

Dragon's teeth are not a fence, they are a special anti-tank trap: they don't just hinder the enemy tanks' raid, but create the illusion that this obstacle is easy to overcome. If the dragon's teeth are made and installed correctly, the enemy tanks, having overcome the first line of concrete defenses, will not be able to move either forward or backward. They will get stuck and become an easy target for artillery and other anti-tank weapons.

Russian military observers list five conditions for the successful use of dragon's teeth:

1. First, the obstacles should be made of special reinforced concrete.
2. Second, it is necessary to carefully choose the place of their installation: it must be a true trap, i.e. a place that tanks cannot simply bypass from the flanks.
3. Third, installing one row of dragon's teeth wouldn't make any sense. The shards should be placed in several rows and in a special order to make it difficult to overcome. Moreover, the "teeth" could be of different shapes depending on the place of their installation.
4. Fourth, these anti-tank obstacles are typically hidden from the enemy and carefully camouflaged. It would be good if the enemy tanks suddenly stumble upon this obstacle in front of them and have no choice but to try to overcome them.
5. Fifth, installing dragon's teeth is just half the story: the gaps between the obstacles must be mined. The exact coordinates of the installation should be transferred to anti-tank units in advance, so that they could immediately unleash hell upon the enemy tanks once they slow down while trying to overcome the defenses.

Dragon's teeth fortifications were widely used during the Second World War to impede the mobility of main battle tanks and mechanized infantry. The main task of this defensive structure was to slow down the advance of the enemy's armored vehicles, channel them into a killing zone, and then destroy them with anti-tank weapons. Dragon's teeth were used by several European armies. The Germans extensively employed them on the Siegfried Line – a line of defenses built during the 1930s. The German defensive system stretched for more than 630 km (390 mi) with more than 18,000 bunkers, tunnels and tank traps.

France also used large numbers of dragon’s teeth in the construction of the Maginot Line, located opposite Germany's Siegfried Line. The Brits installed dragon's teeth in 1940–1941 in order to strengthen the country's coastal defenses against a possible German invasion. Some can still be found in the UK – for instance, above Studland Beach in Dorset.

According to Russian regulations, the installation of “dragon's teeth” required them to be arranged in a minimum of six rows, connected by wires or preferably placed on a concrete base.

Modern tanks have broadly similar weight and engine power to their WWII counterparts, so they still cannot traverse properly emplaced “dragon’s teeth” on their own without an engineering vehicle or something to clear the way. However, most armored regiments do have an embedded combat engineering platoon or a similar supporting element, so the “teeth” do not pose a significant obstacle to tank movement, they’re just an annoyance. Prior to the failing counteroffensive in late May 2023, the Ukrainian media shared footage of the UK-made Challenger-2 tank easily wiping chaotically scattered dragon's teeth away. An audio track attached to the video goes: "I'm on the highway to hell".

“The first line of defense is the so-called supply lane, which is really the most fortified from an engineering point of view. And we see that the Ukrainian troops passed through a thundering mixture of engineering barriers of various types and which were very densely mined both directly by laying minefields and by remote mining. They found areas where mines were located with a density of 8 to 5 mines per square meter. In addition, this is combined mining, when the area is mined with both anti-tank and anti-personnel mines, which makes it difficult both to pass through such minefields and to clear them,” Military expert Valery Ryabikh expressed this opinion on 23 August 2023, on the air of FREEDOM TV channel.

The second line of defense, according to Ryabikh, had various engineering barriers, including the same pyramids. And on the second line, due to objective reasons, mining is not so dense, because the enemy himself needs to move through these lines to secure the first line. “And that’s why it won’t be easy. But, as the military themselves note, the main, most difficult section can now be passed. And it should be noted that the enemy also did not achieve results by introducing additional forces into the battle in the east of Ukraine in order to divert the attention and reserves of the Armed Forces. But now, having stretched the line of operations on a wide front, the enemy himself suffers from a lack of reserves. Therefore, now the next two weeks can be decisive. We may see a significant change in the line of contact in the near future,” Valery Ryabikh believes.

One element of Russia's defense in Ukraine is the "dragon's teeth," concrete pyramids designed to block tanks and other armored vehicles. The Ukrainian army argues that there is no problem with defeating them. Former Aidar company commander Yevhen Dykyi told the Voice of Ukraine how the Ukrainian armed forces managed to break through the first line of Russian defense during a recent advance near the town of Tokmak in the southern Zaporizhia region. He said that the "dragon's teeth" in particular were easy to cross. "We've now reached the second line. It includes these elements", he said. "I think everyone has already seen the photos or videos. These are white concrete pyramids, which in the Russian imagination were supposed to somehow stop our tanks - said Dykyj.

"Why these pyramids were built is, frankly, a mystery to me," Dykyi said. “The only rational explanation is that someone just used the budget. There is absolutely no use for them because they don't stop tanks," he added. "A few years ago, it was fashionable to put so-called energy pyramids on the tables, which were supposed to protect against negative energies. The use of these concrete pyramids is exactly the same", he continued.

The Western media cite satellite imagery showing multiple layers of Russian fortifications, which are sometimes 20 kilometers deep and roughly 2,000 kilometers long, running from Russia’s border with Belarus to the Dnepr Delta. Western think tanks name these fortifications as the most extensive defensive works in Europe since the Second World War. The Russian defenses consist of a network of trenches, minefields, razor wire, metal anti-tank barricades known as "hedgehogs", the now-famous dragon’s teeth, and artillery positions.

As per Western observers, the most fortified is the Zaporozhye region, followed by Kherson, Donetsk, and Lugansk republics. Crimea has also been fortified. The Zaporozhye defensive system consists of around three subsystems; the Kherson defensive system also protects approaches to Crimea. The Donetsk front combines both new and old defensive fortifications, while "the construction of Luhansk’s defensive system is less clear from satellite imagery."