The ‘Death wire’

in WWI

The Death wire: what was it?

• a 450 km long

electric obstacle

• a German weapon,

constructed in 1915

• on Belgian

territory, near the

border with the

Netherlands, all over, from west to east

Knokke-Zoute in the north-west of Belgium, at the seaside

The Death wire: how is it constructed?

• pine poles with

porcelain insulators

• 5 to 6 wires of 5 mm,

with 20 to 30 cm of

distance in between

• at 50 m high, 2 wires

for the electricity

supply

The Death wire: why?

• to prevent people from crossing the border:o volunteers for the Belgian army, via England

o spies

o clandestine post deliverers

o smugglers

o refugees

o resistance fighters

• less German soldiers needed to

guard the Belgian-Dutch border

The Death wire: consequences

• for the Dutch state: guarding the frontier is

not necessary anymore

• for the borderers: visiting each

other is strictly controlled and

registrated

• for the farmers: making kilometers of

detours for going to their fields (at 100 m)

on the other side of the obstacle

The Death wire: consequences

despite of the warning sign: deadly victimso how many?

in total: 850 (?) people

in our province Limburg: 300 (?)

o how?

electrified

shot by German or Dutch guards

o which nationalities?

Belgian (50%), German (25%),

Dutch (10%), French (4%), Russian (10%)

The Death wire: consequences

Details about some victims

• youngest victim o = Peter, 4 years old

o while playing

o killed by a 2000 Volt shock

• most dreadful incidento gunbattle between German guards and Belgian refugees

o 3 Belgian refugees and 1 German guard were shot

The Death wire: how is it surveilled?

• at night, number of guards is doubled

• during the day, surveillance balloons

The Death wire: how is it surveilled?

• every 1,5 to 2,5 km:

‘switch houses’ with

technical equipment

• every 50 to 150 m:

patrolling guards

Detail of a German map about the electric wire

in the province of Limburg in 1916

Saint-Benedictus Abbey in

Achel divided in 2 by the

Death wire: a Dutch (left)

and a Belgian part

Belgian-Dutch border and

Death wire in our province

of Limburg

Kaulille (Caulille)

= near BREE where our school is situated

= where the gunpowder factory was with electricity

supply for the Death wire

The Death wire: legally passing how?

• via 75 legal corridors,

near important roads

and railwayso 50 for soldiers

o 9 for citizens

o 16 for soldiers and citizens

• with an official licence to pass

The Death wire: illegally passing how?

• giving money to the German guards for

switching off the electricity

• passing via a drain or a small canal under

the ground

• using sticks covered with

rubber inner tubes of bicycle

wheels for extending the

distance between the wires

The Death wire: illegally passing how?

• using all sorts of materials:o a jumping-pole

o a barrel without

a bottom and an upper side

o woolen blankets, wrapped

around the wires

The Death wire: illegally passing how?

• using all sorts of materials:o a rubber doormat of

1,5 m, shoved under

the wire

o a wooden ‘windowframe’,

with isolated upper

and lower side

The Death wire: demolished when?

• the Death wire = considered as battle catch

by the Belgian government at Armistice

• some farmers used it for

refencing their grass-lands

• tragic death:

on Nov 12 in 1918 - a farmer tried to pass

via the wire - the Germans hadn’t switched

off the electricity yet

The Death wire: reconstruction

in Kinrooi at 10 km from Bree: 50 m

reconstructed electric wire with a fence ...

The Death wire: reconstruction

a switch house and a guardhouse

Memorial for the victims near Liège