terry51

Hello again Chris. From the research I've done, one of the sources re wiring comes from a Lance Corporal Vic Cole who was a signaller with the 7th Queen's Own(Royal West Kents) during WW1. He states that the Royal Engineers' Signal Company always used superior, thicker cable than theirs. In one case he describes three wires: "Our thin black D3 cable, a thicker red cable for artillery observation and a thick black cable of the Royal Engineers." So was D3 black or red? I know the originals were shellac black so is that the confusion. As regards "Signalese", like you say there was so many words added to the English language from the soldiers' time in the trenches, apart from their own internal language e.g. Ack-ack (Phonetic letter "a") for anti aircraft fire; Ack emma (a.m.); pip emma (p.m.); emma gee (machine gun); toc emma (trench mortar) amongst many more you probably know, and that's apart from the corruption of French and Hindustani words into our language that the normal Tommy couldn't pronounce properly! Thanks again, Terry

Thanks for coming back again. It was the D3 and D5 that I was most interested in as they seem to be the most common in use during WW1 and appear in the sector maps around Bellewaerde Farm near Ypres. My great uncle was with the signallers (West Yorkshire Regiment) at that time though sadly he didn't make it through the end of the war being killed on the Somme. Thanks for your help again, Terry

Thanks for coming back so quickly. I've attached the communications map (hopefully!!) so you can see the general layout and distances of the runs. I'm guessing these may have some bearing on the nature and capacity of the cables used. Hope you can view the map O.K. and look forward to hearing from you. Terry

I need some clarification on types of communications wiring used during WW1. On a operations map for Bellewaerde Ridge near Ypres (16th June 1915) they show double lines of D5 cables being run. What was D5 used for. I know D3 is the lighter cable for field telephones, but I've also come across references to "thick red cable- artillery observation" and "thick black cable-royal engineers signal company". Is D5 either of these? Thanks for any information.