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.

1945 Willys Jeep with wire catcher

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]

  • 1942 Ford GPW with wire catcher
    1942 Ford GPW with wire catcher
  • 1944 Ford GPW with wire catcher
    1944 Ford GPW with wire catcher
  • Willys Jeep with wire catcher
    Willys Jeep with wire catcher
  • 1945 Willys MB 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
    Willys MB Jeep from the Samson's Foxes unit in the independence war (1948) with wire catcher

See also

References
  1. "New Jobs for the Army Jeep". Popular Science. 145 (6): 105. December 1944.
  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. 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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