Gunnison news-champion., 1918-03-15

In rest bIlleis. The next day our cop
tain asked for goluuteers for bOmbers
school. | Eay" my nam" and was ac
Crpt"d- had j"lu"d the Suicide club
and my troubles rummencrd. Thirty
TWO men OF the battalion. Including my
self. were sent tc l.. where ",
went through course In bombing
Her" We were instructed In the uses,
methods ~ throwing and manufacture
Of various kinds 0f hand srenades,
Ia the present Mills bomb the standard
OF tn" 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
"llre."
From the very start the Germans
wcr" well equipped with effective
bombs and trained bomb throwers, but
tn" English army was us little pre-
pared In this important department Of
fighting as In many others. At bomb
Ing school an old sergeant OF the Gren-
adler guards, whom | had the good
fortune to meet told me u the dlscOur-
aGemcnts this branch OF the service
suffered before they could meet the
Germans on an equal footing. Paci-
fists and small army people In the
L. s. please read with care.) The first
English e1pedtlonnry forces had no
bombs at ALL but had clicked lot Of
casualties from those thrown by the
Boches. One bright morning someone
higher up had an idea and issued an
order detailing two men from each
platoon to go to bombing school to
learn the duties OF a bomber and how
to manufacture bombs. Noncommls-
stoned officers We're generally selected
for this course. After about two
weeks at school they returned TO their
units In rest billets or In the fire
trench, as the case might be, and got
busy teaching their platoons how to
make "jan tins
Previously an order had been issued
for all ranks to save empty jam tins
for the manufacture Of bombs. A pro-
fessor of bombing would sit on the
fire step in the front trench with the
remainder OF his section crowding
around to see him work.
On his left would be pile Of empty
and rusty Jam tins, while beside him
| on the fire step would be miscella-
neous assortment of material used in
the manufacture Of the liam tins"
Tommy would stoop down. get an
empty lam tin," take II handful of
I clayey mud from the parapet. and line
I the inside Of the tin with this sub
stance Then he would treach over,
[ pick up his detonator and explosive.
/ and insert them in the tin, fuse pro-
| truding. On the fire step would be a
/ pile of fragments of shell, shrapnel
/ halls. bits OF Iron, nails, etc.-anything
| hat wns hard enough to send over to
Fritz; he would scoop up handful of
! this junk and put II In the bomb. Per
haps one of the platoon would ask him
what he did this for. and he would
| explain that when the bomb exploded
these bits would fly about and kill or
wound any German hit by same; the
! questioner would Immediately pull a
button or his tunic and hand It to
/ the bomb maker with, swell, blame
me. send this over as a souvenir" or
| another Tommy would volunteer IN
| old rusty and broken jachknife; both
would be accepted and inserted.
Then the professor would take an.
| other handful OF mud and fill the tin,
after which he would punch a hole In
the lid of the tin and put it over the
| top of the bomb. the fuse sticking out.
| 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.
piece of wood about four inches
wide had been issued. This was to he
strapped on the left forearm by means
of two leather straps and was Ike the
| side of match box; II was called a
striker" There was a tip like the
head Of a match on the fuse of the
bomb. To ignite the fuse, you had to
rub 1t on the STRIKER" just the same
\ as striking a match. The fuse was
timed to five seconds or longer. Some
of the fuses issued in those days would
burn down in a second or two. while
others would "sizz" for a week before
exploding. Back in Blighty the muni-
ton workers weren't quite up to SNUFF,
the way they are now. II the fuse took
a notion to burn too quickly they gen.
orally buried the bomb maker next
day. So making bombs could not be
called a "cushy" or safe job.
After making several bombs the pro
fessOr instructs the platoon in throw
ing them. He takes 'jam tin" from
the IRE step. trembling q little. be-