Eye Spy: Signals in Action

Posted on Monday, 30th October 2023 by Janine Rizzetti

The featured object this week is this print of a painting by Ivor Hele ‘Signals in Action’ depicting the work of signalmen during WW1.It is based on a recorded incident in France in 1917, when Signallers on a six-horse cable wagon laid cable while being harried by German artillery.

During WWI, cables were laid from horseback, using a hook on a stick to loop the cable onto hedges and trees. If the cable snagged on a branch, the Signalman would be inevitably pulled from his horse.