This 1941 War Department training film (TF 11-297) shows the basics of laying field wire line. The film opens with field wire line being loosened by a truck reel unit. A wire-laying team meets with an officer to see the route for laying wire. 01:55 The unit leaves in a truck with spools of wire (01:55). An officer connects the wire to a switchboard (02:30); a member of the unit climbs a tree to hoist the wire above the road. The truck stops so the men can pull in the slack wire (03:50), and then they tie it to a tree. A unit member tags the wire. The film shows other tagged wire indicating different wires running parallel to each other. The wire is laid down on the side of the road by the unit (05:18). A reel of wire is exhausted, so the men splice the wire and replace the reel with a new one, splicing the new line to the old one. One member connects a test telephone to the splice to test the far side of the line (06:30). He then makes a call back to the switchboard. An illustration is used to show how loading coils are used to increase the transmission range of wire (07:16). The film shows a C-114 coil in a watertight case as a man connects the wires to the posts in the coil. At a bridge (09:08), the truck pulls up and the unit prepare to pass the wire under the bridge through a culvert. They splice the lines and then climb aboard the truck to continue to lay wire. At a railroad crossing, the unit tags the line and passes it under the rails; one man also digs a small trench on both sides of the track (10:58). The film then shows how to proceed at a road intersection (12:12), as the men tie the wire line and excess line to a tree so the follow-up construction team can tie the wire above the road. The unit digs a trench across a dirt road at a smaller intersection to bury the wire (13:28). At a stream crossing, the men tie excess wire for another elevated operation (to be completed by the ensuing construction team). The film then shows the construction team of two as the follow the wire on foot finish laying the line and check for damage. One of them wraps wire with friction tape at the culvert (14:54). They bury the wire at the railroad track (15:33), and then they complete the overhead tie above the intersection by putting on their tree-climbing boots and harnesses. They climb the trees and tie the line overhead. The film then shows the linemen burying the wire in the trench. Viewers see the wire tied over the stream. The unit truck arrives at its destination (18:00), and the unit team pulls off additional wire for completing the line. One man makes a call back to the switchboard to test that the line works. They connect the wire to the destination switchboard and make a final test, concluding the film.

We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: “01:00:12:00 — President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.”

This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com