A wire catcher (also known as Wire Cutter or Wire Anti-Decapitation Device) is a device used to protect military personnel in open vehicles against taut-wire traps.
Design
editA wire catcher consists of a strip of angle iron bolted upright to the forward bumper of a jeep.[1][2][3] "It extends above the heads of those riding in the jeep, and is notched a few inches from the top so that any wire extending across the road will be caught and snipped."[1]
History
editThe first land vehicle wire cutter to be demonstrated was attached to a Killen-Strait tractor for the British in 1915. Two scissor-like Royal Navy torpedo net cutters were fitted to the front of the tractor at the end of two protruding shaped metal rods. The tractor was driven into a field of tensioned barbed wire that had been strung up at precisely the cutter's height. It was not effective with wire at different heights and was not put into service.[4] Heavy tanks were used simply to crush barbed wire obstacles instead.
During World War II, the Germans employed taut-wire traps strung across roadways designed to harm enemy soldiers riding in open vehicles such as jeeps and motorcycles.[5] Wire catchers were installed on jeeps as field modifications.[2][5]
Wire catchers were used up through the Vietnam War.[6]
Gallery
edit-
1942 Ford GPW with wire catcher -
1944 Ford GPW with wire catcher -
Willys Jeep with wire catcher -
1945 Willys MB Jeep with wire catcher -
Willys MB Jeep from the Samson's Foxes unit in the independence war (1948) with wire catcher
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See also
edit- Rhino tank (with Culin hedgerow cutter)
- Wire strike protection system
References
edit- ^ a b "New Jobs for the Army Jeep". Popular Science. 145 (6): 105. December 1944.
- ^ a b Kappelman, Glenn L. (2003). Through My Sights: A Gunner's View of WWII. Sunflower Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9704764-1-8.
- ^ Wong, John B. (2004). Battle Bridges. Trafford Publishing. p. 470.
- ^ Moore, Craig (March 25, 2017). "Killen-Strait Armoured Tractor". Tank Encyclopedia.
- ^ a b Helms, Glenda Geeslin (2015). From the Eagle's Nest: Growing Up in Goldthwaite.
- ^ Smith, Chuck (2018). Vietnam: Stories from a War. Lulu Press.
Further reading
edit- Mick Bowley, THE JEEP WIRE CUTTER The Newsletter of World War 2 Jeeps, NSW, October 2006 – Volume No.93, page 18 online-pdf[dead link]
External links
edit
- 'Wire Anti-Decapitation Device from 42fordgpw.com