The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1918-03-21
CHAPTER XII.
Bombing.

faces. Several of our men had gone
West in that charge. and were lying
somewhere In France" with a little
wooden cross at their heads We were
In rest biIiets. The next day our cap
tain asked for volunteers for bombers'
school i gave my name and was &C.
cepted- I had Joined the Suicide club.
and my troubles commenced. Thirty
two men of the battalion. including my
self. we're sent to L.. where we
went through a course IN bombing.
Here VIC were instructed In the uses.
methods OF throwing and manufacture
of various kinds OF hand grenares.
from the old '.jam tin now obsolete.
to the present Mills bomb, the standard
of the British army.
II all depends where you are as to
what you are called In France they
call you ''bomber" and give you med
ais. while In neutral countries they
call you an anarchist and give you
.IIfe.-
From the very start the Germans
were well equipped with effective
bombs and trained bomb throwers. but
the English army was as little pre-
pared IN this important department OF
fighting rs In many others At bomb
INK school an old sergeant of the Gren-
adier guards. whom had the good
fortune to meet, told me Of the discour-
aSements this branch OF the service
suffered before they could meet the
Germans on an equal footing. paci-
fists and small army people In the
U. s. please read with cnre.) The frst
English expeditlonsry forces had no
bombs at all. but bad clicked a lot OF
casualties from those thrown by the
Boches- One bright morning someoue
higher up had an idea and issued an
order detailing two men from each
platoon to 20 to bombing school TO
learn the duties OF bomber and how
to manufacture bombs Ncncotnmis-
stoned officers were generally selected
for t,ris cvrrrsc. After about tws
weeks ut school they returned to their
units In rest billefs or In the fire
trench, ns the case might be. and got
busy teaching their p,atoons how TO
make ~jam tins.-
Previously an order had been issued
for all ranks TO save empty jam tins
for the manufacture Of bombs A pro-
fcs<or OF bombing would alt on the
IRE step In the front trench with the
remainder of his section crowtiing
around 10 see him work.
On his left would be pile Of empty
and rusty jam tins, while beside him
on the fire step would be a misceils-
neous assortment OF material ssed In
the manufacture of the -iam tins"
Aufnmy would stoop down. get an
empty ..jam tin." tnke a handful of
ciayey mud from the pararct. and line
the inside OF the tin with this sub
stance. Then he would reach over.
pick up his detonntcr and explosive.
and insert them In the tin. fuse pro-
truding. On the IRE step, would be a
pile of fragments OF shell. shrapnei
halls. bits OF iron. nails. etc.---anything
TINT was hard enough TO send over to
Fritz: he would scoop up handful Of
this junk aud put II In the bomb. Per-
haps one of the platoon would ask him
what he did this hr. and he would
explain that when the bomb exploded
these bits would ay about and XIII or
wound any German hit by same: the
Questioner would Immediately pull a
button OF his tunic and hand Il to
the bomb maker with. swell, blame
me. send this over ~ a SOUVENIR" or
another Tommy would volunteer IN
old rusty and broken jackknife; both
would be accepted and inserted.
Then the professor would take an
other handful Of mud and an the tin,
after which he would punch . hole In
the lid Of the tin and put Il over the
top Of the bomb. the fuse sticking ont.
Then perhaps he would tightly wrap
wire around the outside Of the tin. and
the bomb was ready to send over to
Fritz with Tommy's compliments.
A piece OF wood about four inches
wide had been issued. This was to be
strapped on the left forearm by means
OF two leather straps and was like the
dde Of q match bog; It was called
striker There vas q tip like the
head Of match on the fuse of the
bomb. To Ignite the fuse. ycu had to
rub lt on the striker" Just the same
A. striking q match. The fuse was
timed to ave seconds or longer. Some
Of the fuses issued In those days would
burn down In q second or two. while
others would ssixs" for week before
exploding. Back In Riighty the muni-
tion workers weren't quite up to snuff.
the way they arc now. n the fuse took
a notion to burn too quickly they gen.
orally buried the bomb maker next
day. So making bombs cculd not be
called ''cushy" or safe Job.
After making several bombs the pro-
fcssor instructs the platoon Ia throw
ls,sx char. Iyn turo< s<eovxS Alv.N ier<xrx