barbed wire

[Guest grantaloch]

Barbed wire.how wide was the belt,say before british front line at newfoundland park.I know they cut lanes in it, because those lanes became deadly killing zones for the german machine gunners.What would have been the height of the wire.Now I expect we have all been into the country side and have come accross even one fence of it, and the care and difficulty we had to take getting over even that, especially if we had the wife and kids with us.Just imagine what it must have been like in battle conditions fully laden as they were. This is a whole great subject in itself when you think about it. (And do we,) I presume quite a few of us have been to the battlefields,and stood on the german trench lines. Do we really think what they must have been likewhen they were being attacked, and the bombardment had not fully destroyed the wire. I know whenIam with my son who is not a enthusiest pointing things out to him, and all most as a afterthought, saying OH and dont forget the barbed wire.I am quite ashamed of myself when i do that seeing what it meant to those men who were attacking it.(Grantaloch.) bob.

[Desmond7]

See 12th Royal Irish Rifles war diary here:-

http://www.freewebs.com/ballymenaww1/home.htm

Go to March 1916 link. Very accurate wire patrol measurements etc in that very area - e.g. Rooney's Sap is a stone's throw from the area you are interested in.

Des