The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1918-03-08

wire around the outside of he tin. and
'he honb was ready 20 send over to
Fritz with Tommy's compliments.
< piece OF weed about fc; inches
vide. had been issued. This was to be
strapped on The left forearm By means
Of Two leather straps and was like the
size of q match box; it was caited q
striker" There was a tip like the
head If match on the fuse Of the
rca.b. To ignite ,he fuse, you had 10
rub it on the Striker" Just the same
IS striking q match The fuse was
ti3EeG 10 five seconds Or longer. Some
of ii:c fuses issued in those days would
burn down in q secoa1 or two, while
Others would "sizz" for week before
exploding. Back in EIchty tie nluri-
Son workers weren't cutie Up to snn@,
tie Way they are row. If the fuse took
2 notion 90 burn 100 quickly they gen.
er&!ly buried the bomb maker next
CAY. So making bombs could not be
called "cusAy" Or safe job.
after making several bombs the pro-
feSsor instructs the platoon in throw
Ing them. He takes q "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 srnoldering fag rises from
il. The platoon splits in two and
Guclzs around the traverse nearest to
them. They don't like the looks and
SQUAD 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
chucis it over the top and crouches
against the parapet, waiting for the
explosion.
Lots Of times in bombing the ''jam
TIM 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:
"I'o all ranks in the British army:
After igniting the fuse and before
throwing the jam-tin bomb, count
slowly one! two! 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 ard back she came to the further
discomfort of the thrower.
Then another order was issued to
count, "one hundred! two hundred!
three huldred!" Bat Tommy didn't
care if the order read to count up to
q thousand by quarters, he was going
to 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-substituting the
'Hlair BRUSH" the "cricket ball." and
later the Mills bomb.
The standard bomb used in the Brit
ish army is the mills" 1t is about the
shape and size of large lemon. Al
though not actually lemon, Fritz in
sists that it is; perhaps he judges it
by the havoc caused by its explosion.
The Mills bomb is made of steel, the
outside of which is corrugated into 4S
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-
fidence of the thrower, in that he
knows it will not explode until re-
leased from his grip.
It is a mechanical device, with a
lever, fitted into slot at the top,
which extends half way around the
circumference and is held in place at
the bottom by a 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
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 in 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