Death Wire - Wuustwezel

During World War I, the German occupiers built a Death Wire in Belgium. The Germans did not follow the actual border, but kept a more straight line. Because the neutral Netherlands maintained the original border, some Belgian border villages (such as Essen) ended up in no man's land. The inhabitants of these areas had to connect to the Netherlands for their necessities of life. Smugglers who knew the area well, such as the Klaveren Vrouwke, did golden business in these stretches of no-man's land.

The 332-kilometre-long wire fence was 1.40 metres high and consisted of three fences, each of which had between five and seven wires. The fences were about a metre apart. Only the middle fence had power. The outer fences were installed to prevent accidents. Power was a new phenomenon in 1915 so people did not fully understand what high voltage meant.

The Wire is estimated to have cost the lives of many hundreds of people, but could not prevent about 25,000 people from crossing the border.