First World War Wiring Party

A line of men walking across a bare slope, carrying all the gear needed to set up a new barbed-wire line. Many of the men are carrying tall metal posts shaped like corkscrews. These were used in the later part of the war as they could be screwed into the ground more quietly than straight posts could be hammered in. Wiring was a very dangerous job as the new wire was usually being placed in No-Man's Land between the trenches. The men doing the wiring were therefore very vulnerable to enemy fire and needed to work as quietly as possible and usually under cover of darkness.