'Wiring' - what was it?

[aelfwine]

I am currently reading and transcribing the War Diary of the 5th Pioneers Battalion, Northants regiment, and it reads on the 10th of August 1918:

"All companies commenced wiring in front of the front line..."

and on the 12th:

"C and D companies continued line of wire put out by all companies on the 10th and 11th instant."

What would they have been doing? Laying barbed wire? I am aware of wiring parties, but I'd just like to be sure. If they were indeed laying barbed wire, would they have cut the enemy's while they were at it? It would be great if someone could shed some light on this.

Thanks

[ss002d6252]

It would be barbed wire - laying and repairing. No doubt at the same time they laid out any other things such as trip wires, knife rests etc.

Craig

[Loader]

Wiring parties usually did not go past their own wire. They concentrated on as above fixing & adding wire to their positions & dangerous enough without going to enemy wire. It may have happened sometimes but never read of it. Rough duty.

[aelfwine]

Thanks for your replies. Am I right in saying it would have been at night time?

[RodB]

Thanks for your replies. Am I right in saying it would have been at night time?

Yes - there were mortars, snipers, machine-guns covering the area. And if you made any noise in the dark, the enemy would light up nomansland like daylight with flares. Ultra-professional night-time silent work skills were needed to just survive.

[Loader]

For an example of a wiring party watch ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, the original version. Even though Germans the procedure is the same &they got caught in the open by a barrage & mg fire with predictable results.

[HERITAGE PLUS]

Film clip here:

http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/378158/All-Quiet-On-The-Western-Front-Movie-Clip-No-Matter-Who-It-Is-.html

Dave

[Stebie9173]

The British would generally be using the screw picket that would be screwed into the ground where possible and the wire fed through the loops. There is a knack to doing it efficiently and it didn't require you having to "thread a needle" . The German soldiers in the clip appear to be doing it in a slightly different manner to what I have been shown in the past - though the demonstration was with plastic "safety barbed wire". The screw picket prevented both the noisy use of hammers to knock in the pole and also stapling the wire to a wooden pole - also noisy). There are still a fair share of WW1 screw pickets in the barbed wire fences of French farmers fields.

By August 1918 the 5th Northamptons had become more of an infantry battalion than it had ever been in the previous three years, along with the usual casualties associated with that role. Before that time they would also have generally left the wiring party role to the infantry battalion occupying the trench.

Steve.

[Fattyowls]

Taken at St Eloi near the June 1917 mine crater last month.

Pete.

[303man]

Known as Silent Pickets used by both sides and apparently purchased by both the British and Germans from Netural Sweden, unlike the 6ft pickets used nowadays which are driven in using a thumper, the trick nowadays is to stuff a sandbag inside the thumper to deaden the noise. Yes and wiring is still regarded as a S*** Job

[PhilB]

Did the infantry have specific gloves for this duty? I can`t imagine doing it with bare hands or the woollen gloves I was issued.

[RodB]

In "GERMAN DESERTER'S WAR EXPERIENCE" which appears to be accurate and genuine in other areas, he states of wiring in September or October 1914 after withdrawing to the Aisne : "Every night we had to visit the position to construct wire entanglements. The noise caused by the ramming in of the posts mostly drew the attention of the French upon us, and thus we suffered losses almost every night". Would this imply that silent wiring techniques followed from early experience such as this ?

[16thBNCanScotJim]

On 06/05/2015 at 08:40, 303man said:

Known as Silent Pickets used by both sides and apparently purchased by both the British and Germans from Netural Sweden, unlike the 6ft pickets used nowadays which are driven in using a thumper, the trick nowadays is to stuff a sandbag inside the thumper to deaden the noise. Yes and wiring is still regarded as a S*** Job

I agree 100%, the Canadian Army (infantry) still train the same way, 3’ and 6’ pickets, low and high wire entanglements.  And to touch on the other question which follows; current the army has heavy leather, steel studded gauntlets for wiring parties.  JM

[16thBNCanScotJim]

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[16thBNCanScotJim]

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[Matlock1418]

On 06/05/2015 at 17:37, PhilB said:

Did the infantry have specific gloves for this duty?

Yes, but undoubtedly not enough and iirc less commonly/rarely seen in photos of the period!

IWM has these items:

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30015967

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/25439

12 hours ago, 16thBNCanScotJim said:

current the army has heavy leather, steel studded gauntlets for wiring parties

Those seem familiar! Fitted with more like steel staples than studs I recall. Examples of such can be readily found amongst 'net images.

A horrid job at any time of day or night - those barbs can get everywhere [and savage not just the hands!] and which would certainly have been much worse at night and when potentially under/under fire.

M

Edit: a previous GWF thread 

 

Edited 3 June by Matlock1418
edit

[PhilB]

Thanks. An unexpected answer to a question asked eight years ago! I wonder if they were actually Barb proof or, like my puncture proof bike tyres, susceptible to the occasional thorn!

[Matlock1418]

20 minutes ago, PhilB said:

I wonder if they were actually Barb proof or, like my puncture proof bike tyres, susceptible to the occasional thorn

From experience it rather depends on how you handle the wire!  More pertinently the wire usually gets you in an unprotected part of the anatomy!!

I would think more likely to have been RE/Pioneer kit than for regular infantry [though those poor fellows did more than a bit of wiring - handy though it was] - but I suppose possibly as part of trench stores??

M

[16thBNCanScotJim]

On 03/06/2023 at 02:43, Matlock1418 said:

Yes, but undoubtedly not enough and iirc less commonly/rarely seen in photos of the period!

IWM has these items:

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30015967

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/25439

Those seem familiar! Fitted with more like steel staples than studs I recall. Examples of such can be readily found amongst 'net images.

A horrid job at any time of day or night - those barbs can get everywhere [and savage not just the hands!] and which would certainly have been much worse at night and when potentially under/under fire.

M

Edit: a previous GWF thread 

 

Hey Matlock,

Yes, you are correct in that they are better described as steel staples.  You must have experience on a wiring party… not much of a party ***. 
I find the old screw in pickets to be far more intelligent means of doing so as most  likely wiring was done under fire or observation.  The current mallets and thumpers would be a bullet magnet in 1917. And the screw in versions could be installed from a crouched or prone position if needed, thumpers not so much.

Jim