The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1918-04-18
CHAPTER XII.
Bombing.

Bombing.
The boys In the section welcomed me
hack, but there were many strange
faces. Several of our men had gone
West in that charge, and were lying
somewhere in France" with little
wooden cross at their heads. We were
IN rest billets. The next day our cap
tain asked for volunteers for bOmbers'
school. I gave my name and was &C
cented, I had joined the Suicide club,
and nv troubles commenced. Thirty
two men of the battalion, including my
self. were sent to L, where we
went through a course In bombing.
Here we we're instructed in the uses,
methods Of throwing and manufacture
Of various kinds of hand grenades,
from the old liam TIM" now obsolete.
to the present Mills bomb, the standard
of the British army.
1t all depends where you are as to
what you are called. In France they
call you "bOmber" and give you med
ais, while in neutral countries they
call you an anarchist and give you
'Iife."
From the very start the Germans
were we'll equipped with effective
bombs and trained bomb thrOwers, but
the English army was as little pre-
pared in this important department of
fighting as in many others. At bomb
ing school an old sergeant of the Gren-
adler guards, whom I had the good
fortune to meet, told me of the discOur-
agements this branch of the. service
suffered before they could meet the
Germans on an equal footing. (Pac1-
fists and small army people in the
Q. S. please read with care.) The first
English expeditionary forces had no
bombs at all, but had clicked a lot of
casualties from those thrown by the
Boches. One bright morning someone
higher up had an idea and issued an
order detailing two men from each
platoon to go to bombing school to
learn the duties of bomber and how
to manufacture bombs. NOncOmmiS-
stoned officers were generally selected
for this course. After about two
weeks at school they returned to their
units in rest billets or in the fire
trench, as the case might be, and got
busy teaching their platoOns how to
make liam tins"
Previously an order had been issued
10r all ranks to save empty jam tins
l"r the manufacture Of bombs. A pro-
fessor of bombing would sit on the
Ire step in the front trench with the
remainder Of his section crOwding
around to see him work.
On his left would be a pile Of empty
and rusty jam tins, while beside him
90 the fire step would be a 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
cIayey mud from the parapet, and line
he inside of the tin with this sub
stance. Then he would reach over,
PICK up his detonatOr and explosive,
4no insert them in the tin, fuse pro-
uuding. On the fire step would be a
pde Of fragments of shell, shrapnel
oalls, bits Of iron, nails, etc.-anything
u'at was hard enough to send over TO
rrltz; he would scoop up handful OF
,lls junk and put it in the bomb. Per
maps one of the platoon would ask him |
"nat he did this for, and he would |
explain that when the bomb exploded |
uleSe bits would fly about and kill or |
wound any German hit by same; the |
quesuoner would Immediately pull a |
uutton off his tunic and hand it to |
Tue bomb maker with, "Well, blame |
me- send this over as a souvenir" or
0nother Tommy would volunteer an
O'u rusty and broken jackknife; both
WOULD be accepted And inserted.
Ihen the professor would take an
O.ner handful of mud and fill the tin,
U1'er which he would punch hole in
t we 10 OF the tin and put it over the
M mp OF the bomb, the fuse sticking out.
ny nnen perhaps he would tightly wrap
w. 1'e around the outside Of the tin, and
nc. Oomb was ready to send over to
az with Tommy's compliments.
nj, "a piece Of wood about four inches
s sue mad been issued. This was to be
~ "pped on the left forearm by means
siao e"o leather straps and was like the
"sts,, VI match box; it was called a
h.aa sAer There was a tip like the
u match ON the fuse Of the