WW1 communications wiring query

[terry51]

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.

[Chris Suslowicz]

I'll have a look when I get home, but the "Cable, Electric, D" series was all intended for field telephone/telegraph use.

 

This lot is from memory, so may not be entirely accurate....

 

Initially they used enamelled copper wire (!) and earth return circuits, but this had crosstalk and eavesdropping problems, as well as the continual disappearance of its support posts - bits of wood left in trenches vanished for heating purposes.

 

D1 and D2 were very early insulated telephone cables ("Cab Tyre Insulation" - i.e: vulcanised rubber instead of shellac varnish). D3 was a later version with a woven and varnished jacket, D5 and D8 were heavier cables for longer distances (more copper in the core to reduce electrical losses), etc.

 

D3 and D8 stayed in service until after WW2, D9 was a PVC insulated replacement that was not very successful and was replaced by the D10 that you see today.

 

The linen-coated cables (D3, D5 and D8) were available in a variety of colours to avoid confusion and also as single (e,g: D3) or pairs (e.g: D3 twisted).

 

I'll see if I can find the list of what's what (It's either in Notes on Electricity or Signal Training Volume IV), and post that.

 

Chris.

[terry51]

 

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

[Chris Suslowicz]

Sorry for the delay, been busy with other stuff.

 

Field Telephone/Telegraph Cables:

 

Cable, Electric, D1 - Single, 22.5 lb/mile, (Tinned steel, insulating paper, impregnated ozokerite,cotton tape, braided black cotton, coated ozokerite) External diameter 0.09", 22.5 lb/mile, 140lb breaking strain, 7 strands of 34 SWG, 1064 ohms per mile, supplied in 0.5 mile coils.

 

Cable, Electric, D3 - Single, 40 lb/mile, (Tinned steel, insulating paper, vulcanised rubber, braided red, coated ozokerite), external diameter 0.1" 40 lb/mile, 200 lb breaking strain, 12 strands of 33 SWG, 500 ohms per mile, 1 mile coils.

 

Cable, Electric, D5 - Single, 80 lb/mile (Mk.II, Mk.III and Mk.IV in use, Mk.IV details given here) (5 tinned copper, 14 galvanized steel, vulcanised rubber, braided hemp, coated ozokerite), External diameter 0.145", 84 lb/mile, 390 lb breaking strain, 19 strands of 30 SWG, 63 ohms per mile, supplied on 2 mile drums weighing 200 lb.

 

That lot is from Instruction in Army Telegraphy and Telephony, Volume II (Lines) 1909 (Reprinted with corrections November 1914).

 

Notes on Electricity 1915 additionally has: Wire, Electric, Enamelled, No.25 - a single strand of 25 SWG steel wire, insulated by enamel coating, weight 7 lb/mile, resistance 1730 ohms per mile.

 

Notes on Electricity 1938 expands the list, adding Cable, Electric, D2 ((various marks) "for temporary lines only, must not be buried or laid in mud or water" and notes that it is obsolescent)), D3 twisted, and D8 (single and twisted).

 

Since there was little development between the wars, it is possible that D8 cable was introduced during WW1.

 

If you want to have hours of reading fun, I'd suggest joining the WS19 Yahoo! group (with a non-free email address) and requesting documents from the archive - there is a lot on WW1 communications in there, despite the group name, and we're adding more stuff as we get our hands on it for scanning. For WW1, I'd suggest: Instruction in Army Telegraphy and Telephony, Volume I (Instruments) and Volume II (Lines), Notes on Electricity 1915 (or later), and various parts of Signal Training (particularly Part II - Methods of communication (excluding visual) employed in forward areas (1920) and Part IV Line Telegraphy and Telephony (Lines) 1922 - these were written after WW1 to gather all the knowledge together that they'd gained during the war).

 

Best,

Chris.

(I'm sure I've seen D4, D6 and D7 explained somewhere - so it must be in one of the books - I just can't remember where!)

[terry51]

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

[Tony B]

Your great uncle was in good company. JRR Tolkien was Signals Officer in the Lancashire Fusilers. Many of the terms he would used have since passed into the English Language, Toc H , Wilco and even Roger are all Telegrapheses.

 

Signallers were trained in Morse, Flags, Telephone techniques, pigions and flares. They were also responsible for keeping lines intact, when every shell or boot could cut them. He must have been one hell of a man.

[Chris Suslowicz]

Your great uncle was in good company. JRR Tolkien was Signals Officer in the Lancashire Fusilers. Many of the terms he would used have since passed into the English Language, Toc H , Wilco and even Roger are all Telegrapheses.

 

Signallers were trained in Morse, Flags, Telephone techniques, pigions and flares. They were also responsible for keeping lines intact, when every shell or boot could cut them. He must have been one hell of a man.

 

A lot of that is WW2 era though: Toc is the phonetic alphabet for "T" which was introduced in 1904 (the phonetic alphabet had only seven letters up until that point: A, B, M, P, S, T and V). Wilco and Roger date from 1943, since that was when the phonetic alphabet changed R from Robert to Roger (up until that point acknowledgement of a voice message would have been "OK", but they introduced "Roger" as the telephony version if the telegraphist's "R" for "Received").

 

Signal procedure changed several times during WW2, initially to reduce security exposures, the phonetic alphabet was changed to improve comprehension, then again to have a common version with the Americans, and finally to use the German system of voice procedure (!) to make direction finding a lot harder - this was the start of the "single call-sign procedure" that is still in use today.

 

Getting back to WW1, message carrying rockets were also used: they had a smoke "tracer" on the end of the stick, and a whistle on the head, to aid in tracking and recovery of the rocket and message. (They were also rather large, wearing helmets was a very good idea...)

 

D3 cable had a red outer jacket, D5 cable was black. D5 was also much heavier and lower resistance, so would be used for longer lines, D3 being used for shorter runs.

 

Chris.

[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

[ScottGTD]

Hi, 

Spike Milligan mentions D5 cable in his WW2 memoirs and I recall as a cadet using it (signals) in the early 1970’s. 

Wouldn’t be surprised if there’s quite a lot of it trailing over the English countryside still

Scott