|
Barbed Wire
As the trench system finally stabilized, they
stretched from the coast of France all the way to Switzerland.
The trenches reached a length of over 645 kilometers. Methods
to protect the trenches from the enemy were always sought. Thus
both sides looked at using barbed wire to slow enemy soldiers
from getting into the trench.
As the world became more industrialized before
World War One, mass production of barbwire for cattle farms was
underway. The military use of barbwire was quickly adapted, by
making the barbs longer and sharper. Millions of kilometers of
barbed wire were laid by both sides. In some cases, the barbed
wire in front of a trench could be 30 or 40 meters wide.
The only time it was safe to lay the wire was
at night. Work parties of soldiers would be organized to construct
or repair barbed wire in front of the trench. This was a very
scary job for the soldiers. They had to be very quiet so that
the enemy would not think that they were launching an attack and
begin shooting at them. Special construction equipment was developed
by the men to limit the noise that occurred during construction.
"Care to see the
wire?" said my guide. I followed him gingerly over the edge
of the wall, and slid clumsily down a ramp of greasy sandbags.
A small party was working swiftly over a tangle of some dark stuff.
Two of my own soldiers were being inducted into the ceremony of
wiring. "Hold it tight, chum," growled one figure. He
proceeded to smite a heavy bulk of timber with a gigantic maul
(hammer), the head of which had been cunningly muffled in sandbags.
Autobiography
Guy Chapman
The next morning we gunners surveyed the dreadful scene in front
of our trench. There was a pair of binoculars in the kit, and,
under the brazen light of a hot mid-summer's day, everything revealed
itself stark and clear. The terrain was rather like the Sussex
downland, with gentle swelling hills, folds and valleys, making
it difficult at first to pinpoint all the enemy trenches as they
curled and twisted on the slopes.
It eventually became clear
that the German line followed points of eminence, always giving
a commanding view of No Man's Land. Immediately in front, and
spreading left and right until hidden from view, was clear evidence
that the attack had been brutally repulsed. Hundreds of dead,
many of the 37th Brigade, were strung out like wreckage washed
up to a high-water mark. Quite as many died on the enemy wire
as on the ground, like fish caught in the net. They hung there
in grotesque postures. Some looked as though they were praying;
they had died on their knees and the wire had prevented their
fall. From the way the dead were equally spread out, whether on
the wire or lying in front of it, it was clear that there were
no gaps in the wire at the time of the attack.
Concentrated machine gun fire
from sufficient guns to command every inch of the wire, had done
its terrible work. The Germans must have been reinforcing the
wire for months. It was so dense that daylight could barely be
seen through it. Through the glasses it looked a black mass. The
German faith in massed wire had paid off.
How did our planners imagine
that Tommies, having survived all other hazards - and there were
plenty in crossing No Man's Land - would get through the German
wire? Had they studied the black density of it through their powerful
binoculars? Who told them that artillery fire would pound such
wire to pieces, making it possible to get through? Any Tommy could
have told them that shell fire lifts wire up and drops it down,
often in a worse tangle than before.
Machine Gunner - Battle of Somme
George Coppard
It is simply murder at this
part of the line. There is one of our officers hanging on the
German barbed wire and a lot of attempts have been made to get
him and a lot of brave men have lost their lives in the attempt.
The Germans know that we are sure to try and get him in so all
they have to do is to put two or three fixed rifles on to him
and fire every few seconds - he must be riddled with bullets by
now: he was leading a bombing party one night and got fixed in
the wire - the raid was a failure.
Letter to Girlfriend
Private Jack Sweeney
|
