The Washington herald., 1918-02-19
CHAPTER MI.
Bombing.

The boys in the section welcomed
me back, but there were many
strange 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 billets. The
next day. our captain asked for vol
unteers for bombers' school. / gave
my name and was accepted. 1 had
Joined the Suicide Club, and my trou-
bles commenced. Thirty-two men of
the battalion, including myself were
sent to l. where we went through
course in bombing. Here we were
instructed in the uses, methods of
throwing, and manufacture of vari-
Gus kinds of hand grenades, from the
old Jam tin," now obsolete, to the
present Mills bomb, the standard of
the British army.
1t all depends where you are as to
what you are called In France they
call you a bomber and give you
medals, while in neutral countries
they call you an anarchist and give
you life"
From the very start the Germans
were well equipped with effective
bombs and trained bombers, but the
English army was as little prepared
in this important department of fight
ing as in many others. At bombing
school an old sergeant of the Grena-
der Guards, whom ! had the good
fortune to meet, told me of the dis
couragement this branch of the serv-
ice suffered before they could meet
the Germans on an equal footing.
Pacifists and small army people i'll
the U. S. please read with CaTe) The
first English eXpeditionary force had
no bombs at all but has clicked a lot
of casualties from those thrown by
the Boches. One bright morning
some one higher up had an idea ana
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. Nom
commissioned officers were 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 Jam tins"
Previously an order had been issued
for all ranks to save empty jam tins
for the manufacture of bombs. A
professor 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 a pile of empty
and rusty jam tins, while beside him
on the fire step would be a miscel-
laneous assortment of material used
in the manufacture of lam tins"
Tommy would stoop down, get an
. - Naly f,,I oP
clayey mud from the parapet, and
line the inside of the tin with this
substance. Then he would reach over.
pick up his detonator and explosive,
and insert them in the tin, the fuse
protruding. On the fire step would
be a pile of fragments of shell,
shrapnel balls, bits of iron, nails. etc.
anything that was hard enough to
send over to Fritz; he would scoop
up a handful of this junk and put it
in the bomb. Perhaps 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 ques-
TONER would Immediately pull a but
ton on his tunic and hand it to the
bomb-maker with: "Wen, blime me-.
send this over as a souvenir" or an
other Tommy would volunteer an old
rusty and broken jackknife; 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 his tin and
the bomb was ready to send over to
Fritz with Tommy's compliments.
A piece of wood about four inches
long and two inches wide had been
issued This was to be strapped on
the left forearm by means of two
leather straps and was like the side
Of a match box; it was called "strik-
er." There was a tip like the head of
a match on the fuse of the bomb. To
ignite the fuse, you had to rub it
on the striker" Just the same as
striking 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 ex-
ploding. Back in Blighty tht NUM-
ton workers weren't quite up to