Evening star., 1946-08-09

oner II hourS.
Mrs. Singers son, Harry. night
worker in garage, found her
wedged in the zinc-lined tub at $50
am. when he returned to their fifth
floor apartment from work.
He got his mother some clothes
and called neighbors for help. Mrs
Singer so, was wedged too firmly
between the sides OF the tub. how
ever, and Harry called police.
Two radio cars answered the
cidents caused by defective AZ am
munition. The first blast, he said,
killed two and wounded several
others, and the second killed two
and wounded four others at Camp
Shelby, Miss. The third prema-
ture blast, he said. occurred in
June, 1945. in a training accident
near Weimar, Germany, when three
men were injured.
In all these cases, he said, eye
witnesses stated that the shells ex-
ploded Immediately after leaving
the barrel of the mortar. He said
he had heard officers say it was
common knowledge that through
out our battalion We were to exer-
else extreme caution in using GER
tain lots of ammunition. namely,
high explosive, as it was considered
not up to specifications
While every mortar was equipped
with a lanyard, which enabled the
crew to fire the weapon with mini
mum danger. the sergeant wrote
that a battalion commander and
an executive officer forbade the use
of lanyards during practice firing,
and a battery officer was severely
reprimanded for suggesting use of
the lanyard.
Impounded Lot Numbers.
Another sergeant, who said he was
in charge of the records of ammuni-
ton for the Chemical Warfare Serv-
ice at LIST Army headquarters, said
two or three gun crews were knocked
out due to barrel bursts during the
Battle of the Bulge. In that period
he said, pproximately 40 different
lot numbers were impounded.
Ammunition was hard to get as
it was" he added, but with all this
being impounded, bsttahons went
with very few firing missions. re-
member one time when in Army
CWS depot we had approximately
81 900 rounds in stock and only 1,5O0
rounds available for firing"
He said the 1st Army tried every
thing it could to find the cause of
the defects. Shells were flown to
Paris to determine the cause, he
said. but nothing was ever heard
Finally, he said, reports came back
that the fuses were bad and that
the ammunition was too cold. but
"it couldn't be that ammunition was
too cold. as no other type of ammu-
milton ever exploded
Another soldier had bitter words
for the colonel in charge of his
battalion, who, he said, should be
asked, What happened to the lives
Of 80 men in Company B tof the
.87th Chemical Mortar Battalion,
when a truckload of ammunition
blew up or what happened to a
couple OF buddies when a box OF
white phosphorus shells exploded in
their hands" Two of his buddies
he added, were blinded.
A Reserve officer wrote that while
he was attending Chemical War
fare School at Edgewood Arsenal
Md, one of the shells exploded dur
ing a field problem, killing two off,
GERS and injuring nine others.
A munitions sergeant with 84th
Chemical Mortar Battalion reported
that AZ shell burst in the barrel
of the gun during the Italian fight
ing, killing three or four men and
severely injuring the rest of the gun
crew.
We were forced to discard count
less rounds due to defective fuses
for the most part and in some cases
because of poor machine work" he
reported. The percentage of duds
even when we We're practicing In
Africa for the invasion of Italy. was
terriflcally high, at which time ]
furnished the lot numbers and the
arsenal to the proper authority in
my battalion"
The committee began its investi-
CATION of the AZ shells during the
Carson munitions Investigation
The Carson plants were among the
manufacturers of this type Of am
munition.