Barbed wire after testing, Armentieres, 30 December 1914. While there is no other evidence of this particular wire-cutting test, these before-and-after photos show how little effect machine-gun fire had on barbed wire. They also show how slight a typical barbed wire entanglement was in the winter of 1914-15, and how thorough the BEF was in rigorously testing what was needed to solve the problems of barbed wire.

Source: IWM photo Q51565.