New Britain herald., 1918-04-26

flcers and $50 men were killed.
Shiv-Trench slang for shave"
British army officers consider the dis
cipline that requires every soldier to
shave each morning if at all possible,
is one of the strongest factors In
keeping up the morale Of the troops.
Barrage Alignment-The enemy
trenches are not often parallel to our
own, and it is not, therefore, possible
to cover all parts of a given section,
by giving the artillery one range. Inc
line Of bursting shells must conform
to the shape of the enemy nne so
that the effect is felt with equal V1o-
lence at all points Of attack. TO DO
this, each gun of a battery is given a
specific range, different from any
other gun, and correction is made IN
the same way In a creeping barrage,
unless the alignment conformed with
the contour Of the enemy trenches,
attacking infantry would not be prop
erly protected. In this case, there
fore, the barrage is laid down at a
given range, in a line probably paral-
lei to our trenches, and the range
gradually heightened for each gun to
shape the barrage as it advances to
the contour of the enemy trenches.
Bracket-Distance between ranges
too long and too short for a specific
target For registration of a partic-
ular target at approximately 2,ooo
yards, for instance, a gun would drop
a shell at perhaps 2,7OO yards and
another at say 2,400 yards, or in the
language of the artillery 27-24. The
effect of these shells being reported
by aeroplanes Or observation posts,
the correction may be 26-25. If the
latter scores a direct hit, second
shot is dropped at the same range to
verify the finding, and the target Is
registered. Too long a range is called
plus, and too short a one, minus. so
that bracket, in other words, is the
plus and minus distance, in locating
a target, this is "bracketing In rang
ing
Zero Time-The time set for at
tack. In rehearsing an attack, the
lines of the barrage are worked out
to the minute. so that when artillery
begins fire. all guns are firing at CIV
en- range. Two minutes later the
range is heightened on pre-arranged
schedule etc. To perfect this work,
all watches must be synchron1zed,
and this is done with nicely by Lon
don time, some hours before the at
tack Zero time is the exact Tune
when the attack begins; it may be
any minute of the "a hours, but the
sealed code message giving the time
decided upon is delivered by hand TO
the commanding officer, as for IN
stance 4:O2, or two minutes after
four. When all the synchronized
watches point to 400, the artillery
begins without further orders or car
rving of messages. Any individual
errors in watches may clearly be very
costly.
Angle in Range--Bracketing a tar
get east or west is called the Angle,
instead of the Bracket in ranging,
because in changing the position of
the gun, it is turned through SO many
degrees Of a circle, In contrast to
bracketing when it is raised or low
cred for distance.
r-Tea-Afternoon tea. Probab-
ly derived from the Hindustani term
Cha, meaning tea. Or it may be de-
rived from the Hindustani expression
that might be spelled phonetically
Che-patti. the, name Of a kind of I'M
lesvened doughnut Of flour, water
and salt, fried in fat, which is
common article of diet for Indian
troops and was also used to some
extent in South Africa during the
Boer war.
Mulligan Battery-The cookwagon.
Mulligan-Irish stew; the meat
and vegetable stew served out to the
soldiers in the trenches.
Rooti-Bread. Another Hindustani
word carried over into English by
the British veterans of the Indian
campaigns.
Skilly-A thick soup of meat and
vegetables served out in army ra-
tons.
Gun Fire--A colloquial term re-
ferring to morning tea, purely local
in it's application, soldiers from diff
ferent parts Of the line, not recog-
nizing it at all with that meaning.
Clicked--A local expression for
wounded"
S-O-I-Signaler's alphabet for De
lete,' applied to anything that cannot
be done, or is out of the question.
Tracer Bullet-A bullet leav-
ing a flame or spiral of smoke behind
it which enables the operator OF the
gun to follow it's course and recognize
"hits." Especially used by aviators,
where it is very valuable at close
range as a check on craftsmanship.
Typewriter Another expression
for machine gun" corresponding to
"riveter'' and similar terms aris-
sion for machine Gun" correspond
ing from it's sound in action.
Jerry Steel shrapnel helmet,
also known as "tin hat
Crystallized Asaault-That is, set
tied down in one place, after surging
back and forth, as ground is won or
lost in the attack by succeeding waves
of infantry.
Minnehaha-Name for German
inv, rfa trench mortar