Today on Gus’ Gear, I will cover a few of the different types of wire cutters used during WWI.
Barbed wire was the most important defensive weapon of the war, and much of the artillery was fired to cut the wire barricades of the enemy, usually unsuccessfully. Barbed wire was first developed in the Western United States to contain livestock, primarily cattle. It is ironic that much of the barbed wire fencing currently on public lands in the west were built with war surplus wire. It is very easy to tell commercial wire from war wire. The commercial wire usually has fewer barbs per foot and the barbs usually only have two sharp points, war wire invariably has more barbs per foot with four points that are usually longer than the wire designed for livestock. Much of the European wire I have observed has a single strand of heavy, usually square wire, while wire in the US is normally two strands twisted together, with the barbs wrapped only on one strand.
The first example is a pair of large German wire cutters, these have extensions on the jaws to facilitate gathering the wire into the cutting surfaces. There is an eyelet on one of the handles to tie a lanyard to so they would not get lost in the heat of battle.
The next example is a pair of French wire cutters made by Peugeot in 1915, they do not have the extensions on the jaws. Wooden or rubber handles were often used as sometimes the wire barricades could be electrified.
A pair of French wire cutters made by G. Cochard in Paris in 1915.
The French designed a simple wire cutter to attach to either a Berthier or Lebel rifle, held in place with the bayonet. The wire could be gathered on the top of the bayonet and it would funnel the wire in front of the mussel of the rifle, at this point the soldier would fire the rifle and the bullet, in theory, would cut the wire. The sharp point of the bullet would have a tendency to push the wire aside, according to a friend who has attempted to use one. There are many anecdotal stories of Dum-Dum ammo found in the trenches where the bullets have been reversed, supposedly to cause terrible wounds. I suspect that in most cases, it was done to facilitate cutting wire with the blunt end of the bullet with this type of wire cutter. The British and Russians also developed this type of wire breaker. Shown in the photo is a 3 round Berthier clip with the bullets reversed to break wire.
Here is one of two different styles of British wire cutters, the first is a non-folding type with 3 cutting edges. Only one strand of wire could be cut at a time with these
The second kind could be folded so they were smaller for carrying and when extended they could cut more than one strand as the jaws had a greater cutting surface and the handles were longer. The Mills P 1908 frog for carrying both styles of wire cutters could be attached to any belt.
The British also designed an interesting wire cutter that fit on the SMLE #1 MK III rifle, shown here mounted with the bayonet. The wire could be gathered on the top of the bayonet and it would feed into the wide jaws of the cutter, then the soldier would apply forward pressure to the wire and the cutter would rotate up and back, closing the cutting jaws. If more wire was in the jaws than could be cut, the rifle would be moved to the rear and the jaws would open again and the process could be repeated.
Here is an example of a U.S. Army M1910 pair of wire pliers and the M1910 Mills carrier for them. These have the advantage of being more compact, but the disadvantage of very little leverage to cut more than one strand of wire.
This is a roll of U.S. Army surplus wire that was manufactured post war (dated 1931) but is the same type used by American forces in France.
Two examples of relic wire recovered from the battlefields. The top wire is German and has a single strand with a square cross section. The bottom wire is French, recovered from the area of Verdun and has two strands twisted, similar to the American made wire.
Here is an example of a wire post used in France, the early wiring parties used wooden posts and hammered them into the soil, this would alert the enemy to a work party and invite unwanted gun fire. These were designed to screw into the soil quietly and it was possible to place wire into the loops (going one direction only) without having to thread the wire through. This made wiring parties quieter.
This is an example of a very different type of wire cutter, this is an original message found in a British pigeon capsule ordering 75 rounds of artillery to be fired to cut wire. Artillery was use to cut wire before attacks, although the results were usually very disappointing.