Wire cutters - Battle of Loos

[Terry Carter]

I am doing a bit of research on Arthur Vickers who was awarded the Victoria Cross for cutting German barbed wire in the 2nd Royal Warwickshire attack on 25 September 1915.

I always imagined that he would have had a pair of long handled wire cutters like the ones made by Pugh's in Birmingham.

However accounts provided by Vickers and published in the local press he says the barbed wire was around a quarter of an inch thick and he could not cut it with one hand and that he needed both hands.

Thus what I'm trying to get at is were the wire cutters he was using similar to the size of a pair of pliers?

Cheers

Terry

[calibre792x57.y]

I would think he was using Wirecutters Mark V which were about ten inches long, bull nosed with three cutting slots. Sorry, I haven't got a picture, but they are quite common so someone will produce a pair. - SW

[Andrew Upton]

Quite a good picture below illustrating the relative sizes:

http://s464.photobucket.com/user/AGustafB/media/brs031.jpg.html#/user/AGustafB/media/brs031.jpg.html?&_suid=1430062877691015521589968123656

[Khaki]

Beaten to it, never mind, this is my one.

khaki

[Terry Carter]

Many thanks for your replies

Terry

[calibre792x57.y]

Further to my post - I haven't got my notes but I believe that the Mark V cutters (as shown in the other posts as Bradbury cutters) were introduced in 1908 so they would be widely issued by 1915. - SW

[Terry Carter]

And they look like they could be used with one hand.

Thanks again

Terry

[Khaki]

Although I haven't used them, compared with some heavy gauge German wire that I have I doubt that they would have been effective and certainly not with one hand. Bolt cutters would do the job but the size and mechanism would still require two hands. IMHO.

khaki

ps, I have to admit that I have no idea of the gauge of the German wire at Loos, or whether German wire evolved into heavier patterns as the war progressed.