The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1918-05-04
CAPTURED GERMAN WEAPONS.
american Divisional Intelligence or.
flee Is u Regular Museum of Hun
War Tools.

| With American Army in France
April 26 Correspondence of The AS
sociated Press) An American divis
ional intelligence Office in the rear o.
our Toul front, one day recently, re.
sembled a museum in an American
police headquarters. The only diff.
ference was that in the intelligence
office there were a wider variety OF
more deadly weapons than any police
department ever gathered. In one
corner there was a captured German
machine gun on its tripod. A rolled
belt of cartridges was near it. In an
other corner there were number OF
flame projectors-the German fam
enwerfers-which had been brought
In from No Mans Land. On one
table there was a small automatic
pistol taken from German killed in
our trenches during q raid. On an
other table laid out in an orderly row
was a collection Of other automatic
pistols. large and small. One had a
stock that could be fitted to the pistol
handle. forming a weapon that might
be fired from the shoulder like a rife.
Another was packed away In q
leather holster so constructed that
three spare loaded magazines could
be carried in it. Both were of makes
we'll known throughout the world and
both were, from the German point Of
view, the last words in the pistol
makers art. There were still other
pistols. club. a wicked-looking
trench knife equally good for chop
ping fire wood or slashing a throat.
There was a short bayonet with a
blade as sharp as a razor and a point
as sharp as a needle. The blade was
hardly more than six inches long and
the weapon. fitted on the end of a
rifle was designed for close work.
Bunches Of grenades were sprinkl-
ed here and there. By table leg
stood German "ud" shell. Nearby
part of an aerial torpedo rested. Clips
Of enemy cartridges both for rifles and
pistols were everywhere. "A German
sniper's rifle was standing in a corn
er. There was a telescope sight foi
sniping. one tool used for eliminat-
ing the flash on the end Of splitting
machine gun, another for silencing
the report from 6. rife.
Added to all this there were hang
ing around the wall on various nails
big American automatic pistols on
belts--the property OF officers and
men in the Office. hung up in a place
within easy reach.
All the weapons except these last
had been the property of the German
government until American soldiers
on line captured them. Some of the
articles had tied to them little tags
upon which was written the name
and organization of the American who
secured them. Each tag signified that
some "doughboy" wanted his trophy
returned to him. provided 1t was of
no use to the army. But as a soldier
In the line has no place to keep such
things. which would simply add to
his already heavy load. all that in
telligence officers did not desire for
their own official purposes were put
away for the men who wanted them.
If American troops yet to take
their places in the line, obtain as
many trophies as their predecessors,
many home in the United States will
have In II after the war q weapon
made in Germany" And every
weapon will have attached to it q per-
sonal story of how 1t was captured on
our front in France.