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Sap Roller |
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Sap rollers were maneuvered by all four sappers of the brigade working the head of the sap using long sap hooks and sap forks that allowed them to remain under cover of the completed portion of the sap while pushing the roller forward just far enough for another common gabion to be put in place.
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January, 2003 |
A
sap roller was an oversized bullet-proof gabion rolled on its side at the
head of a sap to protect the brigade of sapper advancing the trench from
enemy small arms fire. Sap rollers were constructed in the same fashion as
smaller common gabions by whaling rods around 14 to 15 pickets arranged around
the circumference of a circle 4 to 4 1/2 feet in diameter. The overall length
of sap rollers could be between 6 and 7 1/2 feet. A second gabion of the
same length with a diameter of about 2 1/2 feet was inserted into the larger
exterior gabion and the space between them filled with fascines 8 about inches
in diameter. A circular shape was maintained by driving pickets through the
body of the sap roller at right angles to each other and cutting the ends
of the picket flush with the whaling rods of the exterior gabion. A stuffed
gabion (gabion farci) was used in the same manner as a sap roller,
but constructed slightly differently by using one large exterior gabion which
was stuffed with fascines.
