1945 Willys Jeep with wire catcher

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

A 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

The 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]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "New Jobs for the Army Jeep". Popular Science. 145 (6): 105. December 1944.
  2. 1 2 Kappelman, Glenn L. (2003). Through My Sights: A Gunner's View of WWII. Sunflower Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9704764-1-8.
  3. ↑ Wong, John B. (2004). Battle Bridges. Trafford Publishing. p. 470.
  4. ↑ Moore, Craig (March 25, 2017). "Killen-Strait Armoured Tractor". Tank Encyclopedia.
  5. 1 2 Helms, Glenda Geeslin (2015). From the Eagle's Nest: Growing Up in Goldthwaite.
  6. ↑ Smith, Chuck (2018). Vietnam: Stories from a War. Lulu Press.

Further reading

  • Mick Bowley, THE JEEP WIRE CUTTER The Newsletter of World War 2 Jeeps, NSW, October 2006 – Volume No.93, page 18 online-pdf
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