The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1918-04-11
OVER THE TOP.
Continued from page 3, column S.C
neous assortment of material used in

ineOuS assortment or material eSed ID
the manufacture Of the "jam tins"
Tommy would stoop down, get an
empty "jam tin," take a handful of
clayey mud from the parapet, and line
the inside of the tin with this sub
stance. Then he would reach 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
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-
shaps one of the platoon would ask him
;what he did this for, and he would
Iexplain that when the bomb exploded
these bits would fly about and kill or
wound any German hit by same; the
Iquestioner would Immediately pull q
Ibutton off his tunic and hand it to
the bomb maker with, "Well, blame
me, send this over as souvenir" or
fanother Tommy would volunteer an
lwould be accepted and inserted.
Then the professor would take an
Fother handful Of mud and fill the tin,
latter which he would punch a hole in
1.-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.
A piece of wood about four inches
wide had been issued. This was to be
strapped on the left forearm by means
tof two leather straps and was like the
Iside Of a match box; it was called
l"striker." There was 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
las striking a match. The fuse was
himed to five seconds or longer. Some
sof the fuses issued in those days would
burn down in a second or two, while
iothers would "sizz"' for week before
fexploding. Back in Blighty the muni-
Ition workers weren't quite up to snuff,
the way they are now. If the fuse took
IL notion to burn too quickly they gen.
serally buried the bomb maker next
day. So making bombs could not be
called "cushy" or safe job.
After making several bombs the pro-
fessor instructs the platoon in throw
ing them. He takes "jam tin" from
the fire step, trembling 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 a smoldering fag, rises from
dt. The platoon splits in two and
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 it over the top and crouches
against the parapet, waiting for the
explosion.
Lots of times in bombing the "jam
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:
"To 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 and back she came to the further
discomfort of the thrower.
; Then another order was issued to
count, zone hundred! two hundred!
three hurdred" But Tommy didn't
care if the order read to count up to
4 thousand by quarters. he was going
Ito 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
,"hair brush" the "cricket ball." and
later the Mills bomb.
The standard bomb used in the Brit
lish army is the mills" 1t is about the
shape and size of a large lemon. Al
though not actually lemon, Fritz In
sists that it is: perhaps he Judges 1t
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 q wide
'area, wounding or killing any Frz
who is unfortunate enough to be MT
by one of the flying fragments.
Although a very destructive and ef-
n