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On the barbed wire: Primarily meaning killed. Also used familiarly of any absent man; e.g., "Where is Robinson?" "Hanging on the barbed wire." Every attack, of course, left a number of men killed in getting through the enemy's wire entanglement and literally hanging there.[1]
References / notes
- ↑ Edward Fraser and John Gibbons (1925). Soldier and Sailor Words and Phrases. Routledge, London p.17.
The above term is listed in our Compendium of the Great War.
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