In the army these things are called anti-tank ditches, they would be an excellent addition to the defense of the base, and soldiers at
Fort Irwin should have been masters at emplacing them. Here's a cross-section view of a common design
The design of the anti-tank ditch works exactly like a moat, putting a wide barrier in front of an enemy that is hard for them to cross, stops their forward momentum, and causes them to bunch up, making it easier to kill them. A couple of design refinements include the shear face on the far side of the ditch, usually topped with barbed wire, intended to make it hard for normal humans to climb up. The base of the ditch can be mined, and makes an excellent kill zone for hand grenades dropped from above or mortar fire. And it's SOP to site machineguns so that they can fire down the length of the trench.
When I was at Fort Irwin every training unit would have to construct anti-tank ditches, sometimes miles of them, in support of their operations. There were warehouses full of reinforcing and barrier materials on hand to support this work. When they finished their missions we made them fill them all back in again and turn in the supplies.
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