The Mena weekly star., 1918-04-11
IContinued from last week }

on the ire SiPp WOulu De fulScella- 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. and insert them in the tin, fuse pro- trudng. 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 a handful of this junk and put 1t 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 or wound any German hit by same: the questioner would immediately pull a button off his tunic and hand it to the bomb maker with, Well. blame me, send this over as a souvenir" or another Tommy would volunteer an old rusty and broken jackknfe; both would be accepted and inserted.
 Then the professor would take an- other handful of mud and All the tin. after which he would punch hole in the lid of tin and put 1t 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 of two leather straps and was like the side of a match box; 1t was called a striker" There was tip like the head of a match on the fuse of the bomb. To ignite the fuse. you had to rub 1t 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 down In a second or two, while others would "sizz" for week before exploding. Back in Blighty the muni- ton workers weren't quite up to snuff, tAN VI uS NiiCN uit hON. II lAC 1uSC lOOh notion to burn too quickly they gen. erally buried the bomb maker next day. So making bombs could not be called 'cushy' or safe job.
 After making several bombs the pro- lessor instructs the platoon in throw ing them. He takes a ''jam tin" from the fire step, trembling little, be- cause it Is nervous work, especially when new at 1t, lights the fuse on his striker. The fuse begins to "sizz" and sputter and spiral of smoke, like that from smoldering flag rises from It. 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 "slzz" 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 the explosion.
 Lots of times In bombing the liam tin would be picked up by the Ger mans, before 1t 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 Onel 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 1t 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, "one hundred two hundred three hundred '" But Tommy didn't care if the order read to count up to thousand by quarters, he was going 70 get rid of that liam tin," because rom experience he had learned not to trust 1t.
 when the powers that be realized .aat they could not change Tommy .ney decided to change the type of pomo and did so-substituting the nair brush" the "ericket ball." and Aater the Mills bomb.
 ihe standard bomb usedln the Brit. isn army Is the Mills" It is about the shape and size of large lemon. Al uougn not actually lemon Fritz ln- sists that it Is; perhaps he judges 1t " " tne havoc caused by it's explosion me Nlills bomb is made of steel, the ou'slde of which is corrugated into is s,naii squares, which, upon the explo- l sion or the bomb, scatter in wide area wounding or killing any Fritz
 Ho IS unfortunate enough to be hit " one of the flying fragments.
 Athough a very destructive and eff acient bomb the Mills" has the con uuence of the thrower, in that he anows it will not explode until re ceased from his grip.
 IL Is mechanical device. with Iever, fitted into slot at the top, mhicn extends half way around the s,rcumference and is held in place at .ne bottom by fixing pin. In this pin s. mere IS small metal ring. for the purpose of extracting the pin when ready to throw.
 1ou oo not throw q bomb the way baseball ia fhrnxvr h<fca,,s., x,-ta,, t,, |