Source: File: The
Wire of Death. See an original image at:
<http://www.dodendraad.org/index.php/wire-of-death> [Accessed 8
October 2016]
With dummy guards
making up numbers,
Across the Dutch
German border, more
Seriously the
Dutch Belgian frontier was
Given another
method; the 'Wire of Death.'
In August 1914,
waves of Belgium refuges
Had begun to
cross into Holland, to avoid
The occupation - joining
family or seeking
To fight by
taking that route to join allies.
After six months the German occupiers
Sought to prevent
this, commencing by
Building a fence
- not just any fence - that
From
Aix-la-Chapelle over to Scheldt River.
German fears that
among 30,000 fleeing
Could be
smugglers, or worse spies taking
Vital information
- wires built at 3 metres
High to stop
them, carried 20,000 volts.
Therefore an electrified
fence had
Ability to contain
occupied population -
In addition were desertions of German
Soldiers,
crossing over Holland’s border.
From the coast of Knokke was begun
This fence - the builders
being Belgian
Labourers - German
Military engineers
Led poorly provided
'volunteer' groups.
They wore
ordinary shoes and civilians
Clothes - to note
that by closure of first
Day half the
volunteers had fled, to make
Escape across
into Dutch countryside.
The construction involved
more one wire;
A central wired
fence carrying a charge;
On each side a non-electric
wire. Laying
Out the route
trees many were cut down.
East to west
construction commenced
April 1915 raised
in stages - by summer
Areas of
Boekhoute, Maldegem, Neerpelt
And between
Mindeerhout and Aredonk.
The start of
electrification then began
24 July 1915 -
though total completion
Continued until
mid 1916 - without power
Stations sources of
electrification varied.
Electric power to feed the wire came from
Local generators
and factories; Zelzate
Lommel, Kaulille
Merksem and Kapellen;
The fence was
then guarded 24 hours.
The wire of death followed the wavering
Border, constructed
on the Belgian side,
Leaving a No Mans
Land between frontier
And border, often
to include whole villages.
As other villages
found the wire through
Their centre, as
at Overslag - in addition
Huts and
confiscated houses in intervals
For connecting
and controlling power.
Border to border
fences were impractical
So gates had to
be constructed to allow
Passage;
Militärdurchlässe had military
Purposes, with
Zivildurchlässe for civilians.
Only with few
exceptions were civil people
Allowed passage,
for life and death reasons.
Meanwhile agents
sought to bribe guards
While others took
chances to get through.
Where a river interrupted the wire was made
A chance to swim - other elaborate ways set
To build scaffolding, from each side in wood
Ladders, or open
the wire by wooden widows.
With the death wire in place the German
Occupiers of
Belgium created divisions
Of families -
while many made it across
Others lost their
lives; shot or electrocuted.
by Jamie Mann.
Source: File: Twenty
questions about the wire of death. Available at: http://www.dodendraad.org/index.php/wire-of-death>
[Accessed 8 October 2016]
Source: File: High
Voltage Fence (The Netherlands and Belgium). Available at: <http://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/high_voltage_fence_the_netherlands_and_belgium>
[Accessed 8 October 2016]
Source: File: A
Deadly Fence. Available at: <http://www.greatwar.nl/frames/default-fence.html>
[Accessed 8 October 2016]
Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 8 October 2016).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Holland
