This paper describes work being carried out to determine the length and depth of a cutting blade
required to support a rescue vehicle fitted with a winch. Analytical work described relates mostly to the
suitability of blade used. The design was confined to the case of the wide cutting blade moving in a
direction perpendicular to the breadth of the blade because of its two dimensional simplicity. The approach
adopted was based on a method already presented for the rapid calculation of passive soil resistance on a
plane wide structure extending to the soil surface and having any rake angle as well as a wide range of
directions of interface motion