The Arizona copper camp., 1918-06-15
~GiN7 BY |
IARThuR GUY EnpEYI

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 handful OF
this junk. and put it 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 OF
wound any German hit by same; thS
questrOner would 1mmeulae.y pun d
button off his tunic and hand it tc
the bomb maker with, "Well, blame
me, send this over as souvenir" OF
another Tommy would volunteer an
iold 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 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 wraL
wire around the outside Of the tin, and
the bomb was ready to send over to
Fritz with Tommy's compliments.
"A piece Of wood about four 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 q
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 it, 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 downs in q second or two, while
others would "sizz'' for week before
exploding. Back. in Blighty the m11ni.
ton workers weren't Quite up I'd snuff
the way they are now. If thetfuse TOOK
ia notion to burn tod quickly they gen.
orally buried the bomb maker next
day. So making bombs could not be
called a "cnshy'' or safe job.
After making several bombs the pro
fessor instfuctsl the platoon in throw;
ing them. y He takes "jam tin" from
the fire step, trembling a little, be
cause it is nervous work.. especially
when new at it. lights the fuse on his
striker. The fuse begins to "sizz" and
sputter and a spiral OF smoke, like
that from q. smolderings fag, rises from
it. The platoon splits in two ana
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 it as soon as
possible, so Tommy with all his might
chucks. 1t over the top and crouches
against the parapet, waiting for tht
/ explosion. VI ~
Lots of times in. bombing the siam
tin" would be picked up by the Ger.
mans, before it. 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
j throwing the jam-tin bomb, count
4 slowly one! two! threel"
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 wert
forgotten, and away she went in record
time and back she came to the further
discomfort Of the thrower.
Then another order was issued tc
count, zone hundred! two hundred
three hundredl'' But Tommy didn't
care If. the order read to count up td
a thousand by quarters, he was going
to get rid, of that ""iam tin" because
from experience ne 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-substituting the
"hair brush," the "cricket ball." and
later the Mills bomb.
Ihe 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 1t is; perhaps he judges it
E by the havoc caused. by it's 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 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 ef-
ficient bomb the mills" has the con-
f1dence of the thrower in that he
knows it will not explode until re-
leased from his grip.
1t is a mechanical device, with o
lever, fitted into a 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
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