Hello Everybody,
I am currently reading Anthony Beevor's book on the Ardennes. It says that the Fallschirmjäger troops used to hang barbed wire across roads at head hight to behead any GIs in Jeeps, now I know after a short while the Americans began to fit a DIY wire cutter to the windshield of jeeps, but I've been looking on the web and it seems there is no info on deaths caused by these FJ acts. Please may some more knowledgeable people shed some light.
Kind Regards,
Hetz
Von der Heydte's Fallschirmjäger in the Battle of the Bulge
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- K.Kocjancic
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Re: Von der Heydte's Fallschirmjäger in the Battle of the Bulge
Well, wire cutters were installed on the Jeeps even before the Ardennes.
Here's a video on this: http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675 ... coning-saw
Here's a video on this: http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675 ... coning-saw
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Re: Von der Heydte's Fallschirmjäger in the Battle of the Bulge
Speaking from the prospective of 33 years military service I have never seen this tactic employed. Admittedly my service in war was in Viet Nam and Afghanistan,and not more distant wars. The tactic is still seen in insurgency training. However the biggest danger is from friendly field telephone wire. The signal and infantry troops hang it elsewhere in the various training areas. Because of this it is very possible that while the danger of enemy use of this tactic was certainly known and taught, a possible bigger danger their own field wire and. It should be noted that the wire was generally only a threat to Motorcycles and jeeps as larger vehicles such as trucks and tanks generally traveled with both windshields, and other obstacles to break the wire prior to crew impact. Additionally they were much higher off the ground and a wire designed to catch the operator of a jeep or motorcycle would be broken by the bumper of a truck or the front slope of a tank.
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Re: Von der Heydte's Fallschirmjäger in the Battle of the Bulge
Thanks for the info guys,