SOE Type 6 Overhead Wire Cutter - Not strictly Ordnance, but definitively Sabotage related.
I was lucky the other month to add this interesting item to my collection thanks to the generosity of one of the members here. Thanks again - you know who you are.
This device was developed at ES6 to meet a requirement for the silent cutting of overhead wires in the field. It consists of a crook shaped, pressed metal body, containing a trigger linkage assembly and a spring loaded hardened chisel.
The device was cocked, by pulling on the lower ring, then hauled using light cord over the overhead wire. When the overhead wire made contact with the trigger levers orientated in the "beak" of the device, the sear was tripped, allowing the spring loaded chisel to function, thus severing the wire.
I have only been able to find two published references to this device, that presumably came from the same source. First picture is from the excellent French book "Tombe du Ciel" - Le materiel de sabotage de la Resistance by Eric Pierret, and the second picture is from the equally good book SOE - The scientific secrets by F. Boyce and D. Everett. Boyce & Everett note a PRO Reference HS7/47 which I have been unable to access at the current time. If anyone has a digital copy of this file, it would be greatfully received.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that there were not many of these devices produced, and that there may also be some different variants. I would be delighted if anyone can add any more information or pictures to what I have found so far. Hopefully, more than one of these has survived.
Cheers
Switch
I was lucky the other month to add this interesting item to my collection thanks to the generosity of one of the members here. Thanks again - you know who you are.
This device was developed at ES6 to meet a requirement for the silent cutting of overhead wires in the field. It consists of a crook shaped, pressed metal body, containing a trigger linkage assembly and a spring loaded hardened chisel.
The device was cocked, by pulling on the lower ring, then hauled using light cord over the overhead wire. When the overhead wire made contact with the trigger levers orientated in the "beak" of the device, the sear was tripped, allowing the spring loaded chisel to function, thus severing the wire.
I have only been able to find two published references to this device, that presumably came from the same source. First picture is from the excellent French book "Tombe du Ciel" - Le materiel de sabotage de la Resistance by Eric Pierret, and the second picture is from the equally good book SOE - The scientific secrets by F. Boyce and D. Everett. Boyce & Everett note a PRO Reference HS7/47 which I have been unable to access at the current time. If anyone has a digital copy of this file, it would be greatfully received.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that there were not many of these devices produced, and that there may also be some different variants. I would be delighted if anyone can add any more information or pictures to what I have found so far. Hopefully, more than one of these has survived.
Cheers
Switch
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