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Morning all,
I came across this elsewhere on the interweb whatsit and wondered if anyone else has come across this P1907 adaptation before?
Looks like a specialised device for depressing barbed wire? Raising a buried telephone wire to cut it? or some sort of mine defusing/ laying adaption??
It looks like a wire breaker to me. The strand of barbed wire is 'trapped' in the two 'horns' that hold it directly in front of the muzzle. A live round is then fired, thus shearing the wire. It worked..........the only problem was that some belts of barbed wire were many meters deep! I have an example that is not identical, but which is very similar, & which is dated dated 1917. My example relied on fitting the bayonet to keep it attached, rather than being a modification to a bayonet itself. Very unusual......never seen one exactly like that before. Perhaps an experiment, maybe even a home spun effort??? Most off-beat. The bayonet would be rather less use for normal bayonetty functions with that extra bit added on......
Yes, a wire breaker. Imagine how much ammo would be used to just make some forward movement?
I have a photo of a French Lebel rifle with a similar device, it is a simple stamped metal piece that has the two front hooks
to hold the wire about four inches in front of the muzzle, bottom goes around the bayonet and two levers behind the bayonet
If genuine, it looks like a very expensive and over-elaborate solution.
Attachment permanently fitted to bayonet in place of regular cross piece?
There were various wire breakers (that required a round to break the barbed wire) the picture shown is the Wilkinson Sword version, but other types were more successful.
A couple of other manufacturers were "CH Pugh" and "Rudge Whitworth"
I have dozens of pictures of the variations - one or two attached.
An interesting development history here :
Edit : Unfortunately it is a Word Document and will not 'attach'.
There are several pictures which will not 'come across' but the main text is below.
Featured Bayonet - Wire-breakers
This is an updated version of the article originally published in the Journal of the Society of American Bayonet Collectors
Ever since the bayonet was ‘invented’, numerous innovations have been attempted over the years to render them more useful by combining functions. Thus 'sword bayonets', 'sawback bayonets', 'flint knappers' and so on.
Perhaps the most exotic and impractical innovation developed during the Great War : the ‘Wire-Breaker’.
During the course of WWI, thousands of barbed wire obstacles were installed by opposing sides to protect against advancing infantry. Penetrating these ideal defensive barricades became a major pre-occupation on the Western Front.
Artillery barrages were used to clear barbed wire entanglements prior to massed infantry assault, but by pock-marking the ground with shell holes, it only compounded the difficulties of advance. Ultimately, the newly developed ‘tank’ proved the ideal solution, able to flatten wire and provide effective cover for troops as they advanced behind them.
The concept of a bayonet mounted wire-breaker was simple enough. As the soldier advanced through fields of barbed wire and machinegun fire towards the enemy trenches, it was supposed he would possess a sufficiently level head, and have enough time to ‘break’ through stands of wire individually. To accomplish this he simply had to slide a strand of wire along the bayonet blade until it came to rest in the notch of his Wire-Breaker. In doing so, it was automatically aligned with the muzzle of the rifle. Theoretically, firing a round would be sufficient to break the strand, allowing him to proceed with his advance.
The illustrated Wire Breaker No 1 was approved on 9th May 1912 the British War Department in anticipation of the needs to come.
Manufactured from sheet steel, the wire-breaker was designed to slide along the bayonet blade until it rested against the crossguard. A built-in spring clip held it in place.
British Imperial forces were likely to find they could either be fixing Pattern 1903 or 1907 bayonets to their SMLE Rifles. The blade width of a P1903 bayonet is 30mm, a P1907 bayonet only 23mm.
To render the Wire Breaker universal to both bayonets, a swiveling wedge was built into the bottom, providing a snug fit against either blade when moved to the appropriate position.
To help the soldier determine the correct position of the wedge during the heat of battle, the numbers ‘3’ and ‘7’ were stamped into the opposite sides of the body and swivel of the Breaker, corresponding to the pattern of bayonet in use. Matching the two numbers meant the Breaker was in the correct position to fit either the P1903 or P1907 bayonet.
Five further patterns were approved, including one to fit the P1913 bayonet, and all were finally declared obsolete in February of 1921.
Lost, destroyed or recycled over the years, these mass produced ‘penny’ items are now extraordinarily hard to find, and highly desirable to the bayonet collector.
The innovation was further developed by the Wilkinson Sword company, incorporating the wire-breaker into the crossguard itself.
The ‘catcher’ resting on the back of the blade swivels upwards to provide sufficient clearance for the bayonet to fit into the scabbard.
The crossguard must have been an extraordinarily difficult casting to make, and prone to catching in clothing and equipment when sheathed. Never adopted by the War Department, it is probable that only a handful were made. I know of only one other outside of my own collection.
Like so many bright ideas borne of the times, it is probable that the inventor of the wire-breaker never actually had to apply his idea in practice. One can only imagine the futility of attempting to break through barbed entanglements using this method whilst under enemy fire.
Mine is exactly as per Alan's figure 1, & is of Rudge-Whitworth manufacture. (R-W, a cycle & motorcycle manufacturer, also made substantial quantities of .303 SAA during WW1).
It does seem like a lot of "faffing about" trying to attach the attachment at the end of your SMLE to the "mounds of barbed wire", one strand at a time, while the opposition is probably going to be doing something about it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flying10uk
Indeed - the rifle mounted 'wire cutter' was a far better idea than the' wire breaker', the problem was that **** Poor Preparation gives Poor Performance.
Whilst the wire-cutter worked fine on the British Barbed wire, no one had thought to check if the German barbed-wire was the same ............... It wasn't, it was much thicker and harder and could not be cut with the wire-cutters.
Rifle SMLE Mark.III, Cutters, Wire: 5,500 ordered under contract 94/C/1667 dated 11 May 1916 - Completed
Rifle SMLE Mark.III, Cutters, Wire: 39,300 ordered under contract 94/C/1667 dated 11 May 1916 - Completed
Cutters, Wire, S.A.No.1 Mark I: 60,000 ordered under contract 94/C/2849 dated 28 August 1916 - Completed
Cutters, Wire, S.A.No.1 Mark II: 50,000 ordered under contract 94/C/4625 dated 7 March 1917 - ongoing
Breakers, Wire, S.A.No.1 Mark I: 15,000 ordered under contract 94/B/2997 dated 21 October 1917 - Completed
Breakers, Wire, S.A.No.1 Mark I: Continuation ordered under contract 94/B/3486 dated 4 December 1916 - 2,000 per week.
Wire breakers were attached to the bayonet and trapped the wire at the muzzle which was then broken by firing the rifle, the bullet cutting the wire.
Wire cutters broke the wire by mechanical means after it was trapped in the jaws of the cutter.
Cutters, Wire, S.A., No.1 Mark I fitted the SMLE and P.'14 rifles,
Cutters, Wire, S.A., No.2 Mark I fitted the Ross Mark III
Cutters, Wire, S.A., No.3 Mark I fitted the Ross Mark IIIB (the British contract model)
All were introduced by List of Changes Paragraph 17,751 dated february 1916. These all pointed up and back when fitted to the rifle. The wire was hooked in the jaws and the rifle pulled sharply backwards to operated the spring mechanism and cut the wire.
Cutters, Wire, S.A., No.1 Mark II fitted the SMLE,
Cutters, Wire, S.A., No.4 Mark I fitted the Pattern '14,
These were introduced in LoC Para. 18,516 dated January 1917 and differed from the previous patterns in that they pointed forward, had longer horns and were operated by pushing forward against the wire. There was no corresponding pattern for the Ross as it had been withdrawn from front line service by then.
It was designed such that the wire ran along the top of the sword bayonet and entered the jaws of the cutter, rotated it and cut the wire
My wire cutters .....
Manufactured by C.H.Pugh Ltd, Whitworth Works, Tilton Road, Birmingham
Teleg: Accuracy, Birmingham.
Tel: Victoria 161