The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1918-06-04

ing them. He takes liam tin" from
the fire step, trembling a little, be
cause It is nervous work, especially
when new at 1t. lights the fuse on his
striker. ESke fuse begins to 'sizz" and
sputter and a spiral OF smoke, like
that from a smoldering flag, 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 "sizz" you
want to say good-by to 1t as soon as
possible, so Tommy with all his might
chucks 1t over the top and crouches
against the parapet, waiting for the
explosion.
Lots OF times IN bombing the sjam
TIM would be picked up by the Ger
mans, before 1t 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 onei twoi three!"
This in order to give the fuse time
enough to burn down, so that the bomb
would explode before the Germans
could throw it back.
Tommy read the order-he reads
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, zone hundred! two hundred I
three hundredl" But Tommy didn't
care If the order read to count up to
q thousand by quarters, he was going
10 get rid Of that '.jam tin," because;
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 type of
bomb and did so-subsituting the.
later the Mills bomb
(, The standard bomb used in the Brit,
ish army is the Mills" 1t is about the
shape and size of a large lemon. AL:
though not actually lemon, Fritz in,
sists that it is; perhaps he judges 1t,
by the havoc caused by its explosion.
The Mills bomb is made Of steel, the.
outside Of which is corrugated into 48
small squares, which, upon the explo!
sion of the bomb, scatter in a wide,
area. wounding or killing any Fritz
who is unfortunate enough to be hit,
by one of the flying fragments.
Although, a very destructive and eff
ficient bomb the Mills has the con-
Rdence of the thrower, in that he
knows it will not explode until re-
leased from his grip.
1t is a mechanical device, with
lever, fitted into 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 liable
to strike against the parados, traverse
or parapet, and then down goes the
bomb, and, in a couple Of seconds or
so, up goes Tommy.
In throwing, the bomb and lever are
grasped III the right hand, the left foot
is advanced, knee stiff, about one and
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 45 degrees,
pointing IN the direction the bomb is to
be thrown. This position is similar
to that of shot putting, only that the
right arm is extended downward. Then
you hurl the bomb from you with an
overhead bowling motion, the same as
in cricket, throwing it fairly high in
the air, this in order to give the fuse
a chance to burn down so that when
the bomb lands, it Immediately ex-
plodes and gives the Germans no time
to scamper out of it's range or to re-
turn 1t.
AS. the bomb leaves your hand, the
lever, by means Of spring, is projected
into the air and falls harmlessly to
the ground a'few feet in front Of the
bomber.
When the lever flies off 1t releases
strong spring, which forces the firing
pin into percussion cap. This ignites
the fuse, which burns down and sets
off the detonator, charged with fulmi-
nate of mercury, which explodes the
main charge Of ammonia.
The average British soldier is not an
expert at throwing; 1t is a new game
to him, therefore the Canadians and
Americans. who have played baseball
from the kindergarten up, take natu-
rally to bomb throwing and excel in
this act. A six-foot English bomber
will stand in awed silence when he
sees little five-foot-nothing Canadian
outdistance his throw by several yards.