HBL-4

The Hornbeam line was constructed of stakes driven into the ground with concertina wire attached to them. Two rolls of concertina wire with two rolls above them and then a third on the top. The barrier was higher than a man. The line was some 53kms long so the quantities of materiel involved in its construction were prodigious.

It consumed 15,000 coils of wire 12,000 pickets and 4,000 mines. These were sourced from Europe, India and Pakistan and were lifted onto the jebel by Wessex and AB 205 helicopters.

Five main patrol bases were established along the line with support from artillery batteries.

Once established no camel trains could pass the line but on occasion the dissidents could lift the lower strands of the wire and slip underneath. Evidence of this was often visible from the air and their ingress routes could then be mined.