The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1918-03-29
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busy teaching their platoons now TO
make siam tins"
Previously an order had been issued
for all ranks to save empty jam 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 a pile Uf empty
and rusty jam tins, while beside him
on the fire step would be q miscella-
neous assortment of material used In
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 q
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-
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 q
button off his tunic and hand it to
the bomb maker with, swell, blame
me, send this over as a souvenir" or
another Tommy would volunteer IN
old rusty and broken tackknife; both
would be accepted and inserted.
Then the professor would take an
other handful of mud and fill the tin,
after which he would punch a hole IN
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
of two leather straps and was like the
side Of a match box; 1t was called q
striker" There was a 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
as striking q 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 a week before
exploding. Back in Blighty the NUM-
ton workers weren't quite up to snuff,
the way they are now. If the fuse took
a notion to burn too quickly they gen.
orally buried the bomb maker next
day. So making bombs could not be
called a "cushy" or safe job.
After making several bombs the pro-
fessor i%nstructs the platoon in throw
ing them. He takes a ":jam tin" from
the fire step, trembling a 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
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 "sizz" you
want to say good-by to it as o o 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 tho liam
tin" would be picked up by the Ger
mans, before it exploded, and thrown
back at Tommy with dire results.
After a 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 hack she came to the further
discomfort of the thrower.
Then another order was issued to
count, zone hundred! two hundred!
three bnIdred!" 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 liam 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
1otor tho Mills bop,h