The Washington herald., 1918-02-19

snuff, the way they are now. II the
| fuse took a notion to burn too quickly
! they generally buried the bombmaker
next day. So the making of bombs
| could not be called a "cushy'' or safe
job.
/ After making several bombs. the
| professor instructs the platoon in
| throwing them. He takes a jam
tin from the fire step, trembling a
| little, because it is nervous work. es-
! pecially when new at it, lights the
fuse on his striker. The fuse begins
to ''sizz'' and sputter and 4 spiral of
smoke like that from a smouldering
| faE, rises from it. The platoon splits
/ in two and ducks around the traverse
| nearest to them. They don't like the
looks and sound of the burning fuse.
When that fuse begins to smoke and
I 'siZz" you want to say gOod-by to 1t
] as soon as possible, so Tommy with
all his might chucks it over the top
and crouches against the parapet,
waiting for the explosion.
| Lots of times in bombing, the Jam
| tin would be picked up by the Ger
mans before it exploded and thrown
back at Tommy with dire results.
After lot of men went west in this
manner, an order was issued, reading
! something like this:
ITO all ranks in the British army
after igniting the fuse and before
| throwing the Jam tin" bomb, count
| slowly one! two! three"
| This in order TO give. the fuse time
to burn down, so that the bomb would
explode before the Germans could
throw it back.
Ia n
/ them all, but after he ignited the
| fuse and it began to smoke orders
were forgotten, and away she went
in record time and back she came to
the further discomfort of the
thrower.
Then another order was issued TO
count "one hundred! two hundred!
| three hundred" but Tommy didn't
care If the order read to count up to
a thousand by quarters he was 60
| ing to get rid of that Jam tim" be-
cause from experience he had learned
not to trust it.
When the powers that be realized
that they could not change Tommy,
they decided to change the bomb and
did so-substituting the "hair brush"
the Cricket ball." and later the Mills
bomb.
The standard bomb used in the
British army is the Mills" 1t Is
about the shape and size of a large
lemon. Although not actually a lem
on, Fritz insists that it is; perhaps
he judges it by the havoc caused by
its explosion. The Mills bomb is made
of steel, the outside of which Is cor
rugated into forty-eight small squares
which, upon the explosion of the
bomb, scattered in wide area,
wounding or killing any Fritz who is
unfortunate enough to be hit by one
of the flying fragments.
Although a very destructive ond et-
ficient bomb, the Mills" has the con-
/ fidence of the thrower. in that he
knows 1t will not explode until re-
leased from his grip.
1t Is a mechanical device, with a
lever, fitted into a slot at the top,
which extends half way around the
circumference and Is held in place at
the bottom by fixing pin. In this
pin there is a small metal ring. for
the purpose of extracting the pin
when ready to throw.
You do not throw a bomb the way
a baseball Is thrown, because, when
in a narrow trench, your hand is LA
BILE to strike against the parados, ira
verse, or parapet, and then down goes
the bomb, and, in a couple of sec
onds or so. up goes Tommy.
In throwing, the bomb and lever
are grasped in the right hand, the left
foot is advanced, knee stiff, about
once and a half its length to the
front, while the right leg, knee bent,
Is carried slightly to the right. The
left arm is extended at an angle of
IS degrees. pointing in the direction
the bomb is to be thrown This posi-
tion il similar to that of shot-put-
ting. only that the right arm is ex-
tended downward. Then you hurl
the bomb from you with an overland
bowling motion, the same as in
cricket. throwing 1t fairly high in the
air, this in order to give the fuse
chance to burn down so that when
the bomb lands It Immediately ex-
plodes and gives the Germans no time
to scamper out Of its range or to re-
turn 1t.
As the bomb leaves your hand, the
lever, by means Of a spring, Is pro-
jected into the air and falls harmless
ly, to the ground few feet in front
of the bomber.
When the lever flies of II releases a
strong spring. which forces the firing
pin into a percussion cap. This is-