The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1915-08-19
BARBED WIRE IN WARFARE.
Different Methods in Dealing With
Worst of Death Traps.

ing else stops our men IN the chaESe
no howitzer shell or rows of ma
chine guns splitting death at 500
shots a minute. no rain of grenades
and bombs, no walls of men in the
now hated field-gray. But our storm
ing parties do get strapped in that
accursed wire. which of all wars
dread devices is the one that Tommy
fears.
Look at Neuve Chappelle-that
awesome artillery battle in which we
made living tombs of the enemys S
trenches, blowing in his parapets,
irving and rending the earth with
truly volcanic shock. Well. through
roll in the ground our guns over
looked 200 yards of wire, and in the
trench it screened was a desperate
foe.
On swept the glorious Cameron
ians, heroes of Lucknow and Spion
Kop. Col. Bliss was aghast to come
up against a perfect jungle of gal
vanized iron filaments: endless rows
and strands, criss-crossed and saw
agely barbed; horizontal lines, per-
pendicular and oblique-the entire
trap stiffened and stayed with side
supports. There followed a tragedy
- xu.o d-ood ode,,1 octc
There was no rushing this stuff,
fence after fence of it, with men S
bodies already asway like giant in
sects in fabulous spiders web. The
Cameronians stopped. Colonel and
adjutant dropped dead. Lads behind
them tore madly at wire, snapped at
it with their pliers, struck at it blind
ly with the butt, stamp on 1t until
boots were slashed to ribbons, and
feet and legs wet with blood.
Meanwhile, they were slaughtered.
To tackle these horrible swinging
wires they had to expose themselves
completely. They went down in 81
lent swathes. Only $50 of the Scots
survived
The second act of the tragedy was
the advance of the Middlesex-the
famous "Die-Hards," who were now
to die indeed as the dour Cameron
ians had done. They, too, were held
up. They also hacked at the wire.
and hacked in vain.
They lay down at last with a deep
lane of their own dead and dying be-
hind them. "A sight so poignant"
says one who was there, that regi-
ments following on broke down and
cried before that bloody trail" But
the c. O. of the MiddleseX managed
to send back word to the guns. And,
lo.> The earth shook with high-eX-
plosive salvos; the horrible man trap
vanished like fog before gale. You
see what shells mean?
Barbed wire was first used on the
big cattle ranches of Western Ameri-
ca. Some of it was wolf-proof, and
so protected the stock. From the
United States it passed to South Afri-
ca, and enabled the Beers to fence
vast grazing areas in way never
possible before. And when the war
broke out those slim guerrillas show
ed US a new trick in military obsta-
cles.
They laid trip wires in the long
grass. These brought down our un-
suspecting cavalry, and the cruel
barbs tore the foundering horses,
driving them to madness with pitt
less laceration. The poor brutes
lashed out in frenzy. throwing other
squadrons into hopeless confusion,
and amid the welter Boer marksmen
picked off our lads with murderous
ease
In the Russo-Japanese and Balkan
wars barbed wire played a big part.
although it was heavy to carry about.
But the stuff has attained its full and
frightful significance in the present
upheaval. 1t is often electrified, as
at Liege. where the heroic Gen Le-
man passed a current of 1900 volts
through his maze OF strands-a per-
feet net of shock and electrocutionS
which distant gunners sprayed with
shrapnel till the. trap was shambles
from which the stoutest heated turn
ed away.
All manner of devices are now en-
ployed to deal with barbed wire. PHI
ers and cutters are not of much use;
so per cent of the volunteers for this
work never come pack. Hooked
javelins are thrown, with cables at
the end, enabling the assailants to
drag the wire away-a real tug of
war" Rockets. too, are used, with
lines attached for hauling.
But high-explosive she'll is. after
all. the best means of tearing wire