Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1918-03-20

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 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 tone hundred! two hundred
three hundred!" But Tommy didn't
care if the order read to count up to
a 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
chair 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 it's 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-
| f1dence Of the thrower, in that he
knows it will not explode until re-
| leased from his grip.
| 1t is q mechanical device, with a
| lever, fitted into a 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 q
! baseball is thrown, because, when in
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
| graSDed in the right hand, the left foot
| is advanced, knee stiff, about one and
a 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 10 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
overhead bowling motion, the same as
in cricket, throwing it fairly high in
the air, this in order to give the fuse
a chance to burn down so that when
! the bomb lands, it Immediately ex-
| DlOdeS and gives the Germans no time
to scamper out Of its range or to re-
| turn it.
AS the bomb leaves your hand, the
| lever, by means Of spring, is projected
! into the air and falls harmlessly to
| the ground a few feet in front of the
! bomber.
When the lever flies off it releases
a strong spring, which forces the firing
! pin into percussion cap. This ignites
| the fuse, which burns down and sets
off the detonator, charged with fulmi
nate of mercury, which eXplodes the
| main charge of ammonia.
The average British soldier is not an
expert at throwing; it is a new game
to him, therefore the Canadians and
Americans, who have played baseball
from the kindergarten up, take natu
rally to bomb throwing and excel in
this act. A six-fOOt English bomber
will stand in awed silence when he
sees little Notwithstanding Canadian
Outdistance his throw by several yards
/ have read few war stories Of bomb
ing, where baseball pitchers curved
! their bombs when throwing them, but
pitcher who can do this would make
"Christy" Mathewson look like piker
and is losing valuable time playing in
the European War bush league, when
he would be able to set the "big
| league on fire.
We had cushy time while at this
school. In fact, to us it was regular
vacation, and we were very sorry when
one morning the adjutant ordered us
to report at headquarters for trans
portatiOn and ratiOns to return to our
units up the lire.
Arriving at our section, the boys
once again rendered us the glad mitt
but looked askance at us out OF the
corners of their eyes. They could not
conceive, as they expressed it, how a