Front Forum: discussing The Great War 1914-18

A few queries about the use of artillery for wire cutting purposes. It seems to me to be a very odd way to go about cutting barbed wire. From what I have read, it seems fraught with difficulties e.g. the guns could hit an area or zone rather than a precise predictable target (thus making it a long tedious inefficient exercise, and no doubt made the artillery batteries sitting targets for the enemy's artillery); there appear to have been problems with fuses so that shells exploded at the wrong height, and the number of shells required to punch a significant hole in the wire seems to be extremely high. Also a hole in the wire would obviously be the target for any infantry to pass through, and therefore a perfect target for German machine guns.
1) Did the artillery command consider this the best use of finite resources?
2) Was there any significant discussion of this at any level?
3) Were any other methods for dealing with wire, apart from tanks, considered, discussed or researched?

Thanks for any information - I'm trying to fill in the gaps - there don't seem to be many books written on the subject of the artillery.

Wire-cutting was extremely important, for obvious reasons. Considerable thought and experimentation took place to maximise the effectiveness. Early on, trials were carried out with 18 pounder guns using direct fire. Field and mountain guns were placed in the front line just before an attack. The guns fired over open sights. The method was very effective for the early forms of barbed wire defences, but the Germans quickly upgraded the use of barbed wire. While a field or mountain gun could get away with a quick burst of fire just before an assault, this option could not be used against much thicker and wider barbed wire defences. Also the guns were extremely vulnerable in the very front line. The muzzle blasts were easily seen, and therefore enabled targeting of the guns by German artillery.

It took a while for trench mortars to become widely available in the British army. The 2" spigott mortar came to be used externsively for wire-cutting. The toffee apple projectiles were ideally suited, but the range was a limiting factor.

From an artillery perspective, it quickly became clear that HE shells with delayed fuses were not ideal. The shells buried into the ground, then exploded. Wire was blown into the air, only to fall back into the crater in a more tangled heap. Until the development of the instanteous fuse, shrapnel was much more effective. Given that shrapnel could not be used to destroy infantry trenches or strong points, it was not a waste to use shrapnel for the equally important task of wire cutting. Effective wire cutting was dependent on good observation. If this was possible then whole swathes of wire would be destroyed, not just small gaps. Despite the interpretations of many commentators, the wire cutting before the Battle of the Somme was very effective in most areas.

The introduction of the instanteous fuse was a useful advance. HE shells exploded on contact with wire.

Tanks made a huge difference. They reduced significantly the need for artillery wire cutting. The Germans did not use tanks as extensively. They relied heavily on trench mortars and artillery for wire cutting in the Spring offensives.

Robert

As an example of the learning approach used, Major General John Headlam produced a report entitled 'Notes on Artillery Material in the Battle of the Somme', reproduced in 'Battlefront: Somme', introduced and selected by K Bartlett (ISBN 1 903365 25 2). The report was dated 6 July and covered his analysis of the effects of the preliminary artillery bombardment before July 1. I quote:

'7. Wire cutting

The German defences on this front were known to be very carefully wired and the specimens attached will show the formidable character of the wire itself. In most cases, it was on iron uprights though in some cases wooden stakes were used.

Wherever it had been possible to obtain direct observation it had been destroyed as an obstacle by artillery fire, and many infantry officers and men told me that they had never been in any way retarded by the wire or ever had to use the cutters on their rifles. The difference in the effect of the different natures of shell was, however, very marked. There is no doubt whatever in my mind that 18-pdr shrapnel is far the most generally effective projectile for this purpose. It sweeps the wire away completely with damaging the surface of the ground and so substituting another obstacle. This was very marked in front of the second line where 18-pdr fire had been used exclusively.

Next to the 18-pdr comes the 2" trench mortar with the Newton fuse. This is also very effective, but not so much as the 18-pdr for the wire is heaped up. In some cases 18-pdr had been employed to sweep away the wire which had been so heaped up by the 2", and this combination is extremely effective.

But the 18-pdr is not effective against wire on a forward slope (there was a very marked case of this near Fricourt where the fire had been very accurate, but little or no damage had been done to the wire), and there will also be those places where it cannot be reached by a flat trajectory gun and which are beyond the range of a trench mortar. Against such howitzers must be employed, and I was able to examine the effect of this in several places. The 6" howitzer is quite effective in removing the wire, but the craters left are a considerable obstacle to movement. The 4.5" does not appear to have a sufficiently violent explosion for the purpose, the wire being only blown away for a very small radius around the crater, so that there is considerable danger of the result being to increase the obstacle rather than the opposite. But this appears to be due to the effect of the explosion being confined to the crater. With the new instantaneous fuse (No. 106) I imagine that the effect will resemble that of the 2" trench mortar with the Newton fuse, and if so the power of the artillery to deal with wire will be materially increased.

As regards the nature of wire, it had been anticipated that iron uprights would render the task of the artillery more difficult. I am inclined to think that this is not so. Certainly in several cases the wire was cut away more cleanly and completely from the iron than from wooden stakes - possibly on account of the greater rigidity of the former. I am inclined to think that the most difficult wire to deal with is that on the iron knife rests as these are simply blown aside by the explosion without being broken up. Gaps can of course be made, but that is all.'

Robert

Dear Robert,
Thank you very much for this most useful information. This clears up the issue of the effectiveness of using shells/mortars for wire cutting purposes; most general WW1 books imply that it was a largely ineffective exercise - obviously this was not true.

One (+) more question!!!! When was the instantaneous fuse introduced - was it ready for Messines?

Thanks once again for pointing me in the right direction.
Bernadette

My pleasure, Bernadette. The 106 fuse was introduced in late 1916, and was definitely in use by Messines.

Robert

When discussing wire-cutting, it's worth mentioning that German barbed wire was considerably more fearsome than the agricultural barbed wire most people are familiar with today. Made of a heavier gauge of stronger wire, it had more and longer barbs, spaced more closely.

Can anyone tell me how to tell the difference between Brit/Ger/French shrapnel balls? were they different sizes,
shapes and what were they made of??
I have shrapnel ball damaged and with a piece (half inch) of barbed wire imbedded in it.
Thanks
oldbill

Hi Bernadette,

I believe that the destruction of wire - strung along pickets - was quite efficient with shrapnel; against knife rests, it was not. To destroy barbed wire attached to larger and rigidly-strong supports (such as knife rests), High Explosive from either 4.5" guns, mortars, and Bangalore Torpedoes was used. The 106 fuze was designed to be point-detonated (as can be seen from the diagram).

Bewsher’s History of the 51st (Highland) Division, page 86, expresses the efficacy of the 106E instantaneous fuze gave to the British High Explosive (HE) shell in comparison to the German HE shell:

Had the Germans in those days been in possession of the instantaneous fuze which bursts its shell before it has had time to bury itself in the earth and thus lose much of its missile effect, this road could have been made almost impassable. Happy Valley, with its dust and its flies and its stench of half-buried animals and men, will remain to all who knew it an ineffaceable memory.

I believe the 106E Instantaneous fuze was not used universally, until the Battle of Arras in April 1917. Anyway, here’s another bit describing the size of the crater that a shell topped with this fuze would create, from Bewsher’ History of the 51st (Highland) Division, The Battle of Arras, page 141:

At this period the policy of the Higher Command was to wait till a new type of aeroplane was completed, and then definitely and suddenly to take command of the air. This superiority, of which the Germans were successfully deprived, as planned, on the opening of the offensive, was due to the arrival in this part of the line of the "circus"—that is, the squadron commanded by Baron von Richthofen—which included the picked fighting pilots of the German air service. The aeroplanes used by this squadron were painted red, with yellow or pink bellies, and gave to laymen, at any rate, an impression of amazing efficiency.

In consequence of this temporary superiority in the air, the wire-cutting on the reverse slopes of the ridge could seldom be successfully carried out. It was, however, at this period that the now famous 106 or instantaneous fuze arrived in the country. This fuze burst its shell instantaneously when the fuze-cap touched the ground. As a result, the explosion occurred before the shell had time to bury itself in the earth, and its full force was therefore felt above ground. The effect of this shell on wire was devastating, and an accurate shot would blow a gap clean through an ordinary entanglement. So much was the energy of this shell spent on the surface of the earth, that even heavy howitzer shells left craters little bigger than wash-hand basins.

The plan was that no action should be taken which was likely to warn the enemy of an impending attack until as late as possible. Therefore in February and the early part of March wire-cutting was only carried out in conjunction with raids.

Hope this is of use

Aye

Tom McC