During WW2, the Germans only used single conductor wire for field telephones. Both waxed cloth insulated and plastic insulated wire was used. Authentic WW2 German field telephone wire is very hard to come by. If you do find it, it is usually VERY expensive. Anyway, it isn’t a good idea to use it for wiring up displays at home or reenacting events.
To simplify matters, I use new, black plastic insulated, two conductor, 20 gauge, US Military surplus field telephone wire. The wire is sold on 0.5 km spools by various military surplus dealers. It is thin and the stock two conductor wire is approximately the thickness of the WW2 German single conductor wire. I use it as two conductor or single conductor, depending on what I am wiring.
The wire is very tough and difficult to cut and strip unless by a pair of quality wire cutters and strippers. To facilitate wiring of two conductors, I make a cut in between the two conductors and then pull the conductors apart for several inches. I strip about half an inch of insulation off of each conductor, twist the wire strands, and then solder the wire strands together. The wires are then inserted in the holes of the terminals and the thumb nuts are tightened down.
Some terminals require lugs on the wires. I use spade lugs with the red plastic sleeves. Occasionally, I use ring lugs with red plastic sleeves. These are available in hardware stores. Since the red plastic sleeves didn’t exist during WW2, I cut them off of the lugs.
I cut the red plastic off of the ring lugs too. I also turn the ring into a spade by making to cuts in the end of the ring.
I crimp the lugs on to the ends of the wires. The thumb nuts are turned on the terminals to connect the wires to the equipment.
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WW2 German Field Telephone Equipment 