Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1918-03-07

went through course in bom ag.
Here we were instructed in the as,
methods of throwing and manufa re
of various kinds of hand gre es,
from the old Jam tin," now obs te,
to the present Mills bomb, the sta ard
of the British army.
! 1t all depends where you are to
what you are called. In Franc ley
i call you a "bonber'' and give yo d
als, while in neutral countrie icy
call you an anarchist and q Oh
"life'
From the very start the c MS
were we'll equipped with e We
bombs and trained bomb throwe ut
the English army was as litsle re-
pared in this important deparelu Of
lighting as in many others. AT 10
Ing school in old sergeant of The NJ
ndier guards whom l had the I'd
fortune to meet, told HE of the dis IT,
agements this branch of the Sc co
suffered before they could meet he
Germans on an equal footing. q ei-
fists and small army people in ne
U. S. please read with care) The cst
English expeditionnry forces had no
bombs at all, but had clicked a To- Of
casualties from those thrown by lie
Boches One bright morning some ne
higher up had an idea and issued an
order detailing two men from e Oh
platoon to go to bombing school TO
learn the duties of n bomber and how
to manufacture bombs. Noncomn is
stoned officers We're generally selec ed
for this course. After about two
weeks at school they returned TO III air
units in rest billets or in the ire
trench, as the case might be, ana cot
busy teaching their platoons how to
make Clam tins"
Previously an order had been issued
for all ranks to save empty ja!n TINS
for the manufacture of bombs. A pro-
fessor 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 pile of emptyi
md rusty jam tins, while beside him
on the fire step would be miscella-
neous assortment of material used in
the manufacture of the liam 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,
nnd insert them in the tin, fuse pro-
truding. On the fire step would be
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. Per-
maps 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; ne
questioner would Immediately pull
button off his tunic and hand it to
the bomb maker with, "Wcll bla 1e
me, send this over as a souvenir" or
another Tommy would volunteer IN
old rusty and broken jacllkliife; beth
would be accepted and inserted.
AiSAi VIC plolSSSoI WOultl Jake GU-
other handful of mud and fill the tin,
after which he would punch hole in
the lid of the tin and put it over 10
top of the bomb. the fuse sticking it.
Then perhaps he would tightly W Jp
wire around the outside Of the tin, d
the bomb was ready to send ovet 10
Fritz with Tommy's compliments.
A piopa 90 wood about fa,,,,
wide had been issued This was t. 9e
strapped on the left forearm by ne IS
Of two leather straps and was like e
side of a match box; it was c:Ilt a
STRIKER" There was tip lilse e
head of match on the fuse @ Ie
bomb. To ignite the fuse, You J o
rub 1T on the STRIKER" Just the re
MS striking Il match. The fuse s
timed to five seconds or longer. o
Of the fuses issued in those days a
burn down in a second or two }e
others would 'sizz' for week BE .
exploding. Back in Blighty the m i
ton workers weren't quite up to 81 {,
the way they are now. Ii the fuse K
q notion to burn too quickly they L
orally buried the bomb maker It
day. So making bombs could NOT %
called u "cushy'' or safe job.
After making several bombs the T D
fessor instruets the platoon in thr ?
ing them. He takes a jam tin" f Il
the fire step, trembling a little, e.
cause it is nervous work, especia J
when new at it, lights the fuse on IS
striker. The fuse begins to "sizz" : d
sputter and spiral of smoke, ! Q
That from smoldering flag, rises fir Il
1T. The platoon splits in two d
ducks around the traverse nearest %
them. They don't like the looks a d
sound of the burning fuse. When til Il
fuse begins to smoke and "sizz" u
want to say good-by to it as soon 81
possible, so Tommy with all his mig t
chucks it over the top and crouch s.
against the parapet, waiting for tie
explosion.
Lots of times in bombing the "janI
tin" would be picked up by the Ger-|
mans, before it exploded, ard 'throvnl
back at Tommy with dire results.
After lot of men>went West in this
manner an order was issued, readingI
something like this:
ITO all ranks in the British army:,
After igniting the fuse and before
tI,o j,p, 1.