Wiring party

Wiring parties, (or wiring sappers, cutters), were used during World War I on the Western Front as an offensive countermeasure against the enemy’s barbed wire obstacles. Though hazardous and stressful duty, work was done at night to repair, improve, and rebuild their own wire defences, while also sabotaging and cutting the enemy's. In battles all across the Western Front, cutting parties were successful in creating breaches in the wire lines, offering their comrades a better chance to cross no man's land.

Barbed wire was one of the attacker's great problems. There were cutters, but not enough, and men were often killed before they could cut a way.

The outbreak of World War I led to a revolution in modern warfare, and the use of barbed wire on the battlefield was one of the many technologies relied upon to hamper the enemy's attack. Used by American cattle ranchers since the 1870s, barbed wire was adapted on the Western Front to serve a more gruesome purpose than containing livestock. Transformed into a weapon of war, it was shaped to create deadly obstacles in the path of assaulting enemy troops. Meant to trap, maim, and make easy targets of the opponent, they ranged from a single strand of wire arranged to trip men in the dark, to a 150-metre-long construction 30 ft wide (9.1 m) and 5 or 6 ft (1.5 or 1.8 m) tall By spring of 1915, barbed wire entanglements were an unavoidable element in trench warfare, and posed a serious threat to all men going 'over the top'.

The integration of barbed wire as an instrument of war required the formation of tactical teams, or wiring parties. Barbed wire defences needed to be maintained frequently, as shrapnel often cut the wire, or the enemy had sabotaged it during battle or the night before. Workers did not just deal with the actual wire; they also had to clear the entanglements of any bodies or body parts. Under the cover of darkness, often one-third of units stealthily climbed out of the trenches to perform maintenance on their wires, as well as investigating the status of the enemy's. They were charged with the task of repairing damaged wire and reconstructing the line if necessary. In addition, these working parties attempted to cut and destroy the enemy’s wire in the hopes of preventing their troops from being stopped in the middle of no man's land during the next attack. From as early as 9pm and as late as 3am, they were like "so many animals, working during the night and sleeping by day". As the war progressed, it seemed to become 'regular routine', but often one of the most deadly and difficult duties to perform.

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