Show I 1 I 1 11 to q 4 ak e 1 1 41 I 1 e 4 A I 1 4 al I 1 to va I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 ltd 0 ANT L bno WT WN I 1 ft 9 iby fl 1 0 Y f MACHINE M I 1 I 1 14 j 1917 BY Y 7 EMPEY JOINS THE SUICIDE CLUB AS THE BOMBING SQUAD IS CALLED synopsis fired ailred by the sinking or of the lusitania with the loss of Arhe american rican lives arthur guy empey an american living in jersey city goes to england and enlists as a private in the british army after a short experience as a recruiting officer in london he Is sent to train ing quarters in france where he first hears the sound of big guns and makes the acquaintance of booties cooties co oties ottes 11 after a brief period of training Him empens company Is sent into the front line trenches where he takes his first turn on the fire step w while ahlie the bullets whiz overhead empey learns as comrade falls that death lurks always in the trenches empey goes over the top for the first time and has a desperate fight I 1 CHAPTER XII 8 bombing the boys in the section welcomed me back but there were many strange faces several of our men had gone west in th that at charge and were lying somewhere in france with a little wooden cross at their heads we were in rest billets the next nest day our captain asked for volunteers for bombers school I 1 gave my name and was wa s accepted I 1 had joined the suicide club and my t troubles rouble q commenced thirty two men of the battalion including myself were sent to I 1 L where we went through a course in bombing bom LIng here we were instructed in the uses methods of throwing and manufacture of various kinds of df hand band grenades from the old jam tin now obsolete to the present mills bomb the standard of the british army it all depends where you are as to what you are called in france they call you a bomber and give you medals while in neutral countries they call you an anarchist and give you life from tile very start the germans were wen well equipped with effective bombs and trained bomb throwers th rowers but the english army was as little prepared in this important department of fighting as in many others at bombing school nn an old sergeant of the grenadier guards whom I 1 had the good fortune to meet told me of the disco ur age ments this branch of the service suffered before they could meet the germans on an equal footing pact paci fists and small army people in the U S please read with care the first english expeditionary forces had no bombs at all but had clicked a lot of casualties from thrown by the doches 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 a bomber and how to manufacture bombs noncommissioned officers were generally selected for this course after about two 1 weeks at school they returned to t their e 1 r units in rest billets or in the fire trench as aa the case might be and got gat busy teaching their platoons how to make jam tins previously an order had been issued for all ranks to save empty jam tins for the manufacture of bombs A professor of bombing would sit on t the he fire step in the front trench with the remainder of his section rowling crowding c around to see him work on his left would be a pile of empty and rusty jam tins fins while beside him blin on the fire step would be a ciscell a leous assortment of material used in the manufacture of the jam tins tommy would stoop blown own get nn an empty jam tin take a handful 0 of f clayey mud from the parapet and line the inside of the tin with this su substance b then lie would reach over pick up his deton detonator and explosive and insert them in the tin fuse use protruding on the fire step would be a pile of fragments of shell shrapnel bells balls bits of iron nails ete anything that was hard bard enough to send over to aritz vritz he be would scoop up a handful of this junk and put it in the bomb perhaps 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 mil kill or aou wound any german hit i by same the questioner would immediately pull it a button oft 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 nn an ulu old rusty und and broken jackknife both would be accepted and inserted then thed the professor would take nn other handful of mud and fill the tin otter after which he hel would punch a hole in th the e lid ild of the tin and put it over the the bomb the fuse use sticking out then perhaps be liti would tightly lightly wrap wire around the outside of the ti tin n aud and the bomb was ready to tend fiend over I 1 to fritz with tommys tommas compliments A piece of wood about four inches keldo had been issued tills this was wa s to bo be strapped on the left forearm by means of two leather straps and was like the side of a match box it was called a striker there was a up tip like the baa of a match oa cia the fuse of the I 1 bomb to ignite the fuse you had to rub it on the striker just the same ITs striking a match the fuse was timed to five seconds or longer some of the fuses issued in those days would burn buria down in a second or two while others would for a week before exploding back in blighty the workers quite up tip to snuff the way way they are now if the fuse took a notion to burn too quickly they generally buried the bomb maker next day so making bombs could not be called a cushy or safe job after making several bombs the professor instructs the platoon lu in throwing them he tak takes ces a jam tin from the fire step trembling a little because it Is nervous work especially when new at it lights tho the fuse on his striker the fuse begins to 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 dont like the looks and sound round of the fuse when that eliat fuse begins to smoke and you w want ant to say goodby good by to it as soon as possible so tommy with all his might chucks it over the top and crouches against the parapet waiting for the explosion lots of times in bombing the jam tin would be picked up by the germans before it exploded and thrown back at tommy with dire results after a lot of men went west in this in manner anner an order was issued reading something like this to all ranks in the british army after igniting the fuse and before I 1 I 1 I 1 i I 1 Y i I 1 V jul f 4 14 11 es I 1 t na V 5 13 b f tl J e i k k J i t 1 1 k al M if I 1 11 k 1 t 1 1 A I 1 I 1 kl 1 I 1 V I 1 t 1 i A I 1 I 1 A 1 ta 1 11 ia I 1 JI 1 Z 4 i 1 I 1 4 1 Z an t 1 I 1 ages I 1 I 1 L 1 I 1 11 A V 4 i I 1 S K I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 1 I 14 aa 11 1 i 2 I 1 throwing hand grenades throwing the jam tin bomb count slowly onet onel two three 1 this in order to give the fuse time enough to burn down so that tile the bomb would explode before the germans could throw it back tommy read the order he be rends ren ds 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 I 1 two hundred I 1 three hund hundred redl but tommy care if the order read to count up to a thousand by quarters he was got going ng to get rid of that jam tin been because use from experience lie he had learned not to trust it it when the powers that be realized that they could not change tommy they decided to change the type of bomb and did so BO substituting the hidir brush brash the cricket ball and later the mills bomb the standard bomb used in the british army Is the mills fills it Is about tile the shape and size of a large lemon although not actually a lemon fritz in it Is perhaps he judges it by the havoc oc caused byrts by its explosion the mills bomb Is made of steel the I 1 outside of which Is corrugated into 48 small squares which upon the explosion sion of the bomb scatter in a wide ared area wounding oi or killing tiny any fritz who Is unfortunate enough to be hit by one of the flying fragments although a very destructive and efficient bomb tho the mills has baa the c COB I 1 10 a I 1 I 1 of the thrower in that 1 ba 1 knows it will not explode ddn until ro re loused leased front from ills his grip 1 I 1 it la Is a i device with fl lever icier fitted into a slot at the top ill OP which extends halt half way around tile the ch and la Is held in place at tile 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 I 1 y you do not throw a bomb thew the wayn ayta baseball Is thrown bec because apse when in ift a narrow trench your hand 14 s liable to strike against the parn dos ir traverse averso or 0 r parapet and then down goes goca tile the hond and in a couple rf f seconds or so up goes tommy in in throwing the bomb lind and lever ara are rak L 1 I in the right hand the left foot fo 0 t Is advanced knee stiff about one it and id it a half IN 1 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 45 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 aim is s extended downward then rou ou hurt hurl the bomb front from you with an over overhead hend bowling motion the same as in n 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 explodes x and gives the germans no time to scamper out or of its range or to return it As the bomb leaves your hand the lever eberby by in means cans of a spring Is projected into tile the air and falls harmlessly to the ground a few feet in front of the bomber bo rober when the lever flies off it re releases lenses a strong spring which forces the firing pin into a percussion cap this ignites the fuse which burns down and sets oft off the detonator charged with fulminate or of mercury which explodes the main charge of ammonal the average british soldier Is not an expert at throwing it Is a new panie game to him therefore the canadians and americans who have played baseball from the kindergarten up take naturally to bomb throwing and excel in this act A six foot english bomber wilt will stand in awed silence when he sees a little alve toot foot nothing canadian outdistance his throw by several yards I 1 lauve read a few war stories of bombing where baseball pitchers curved their bombs when throwing them but a pitcher who can do thi this 8 would make aln christy asty mathewson look like a piker and Is losing valuable time playing in the european E european war bush league when lie ile would be able to set tho big league on fire we had a cushy time while at this school in fact to us it was a regular vacation and we were very sorry when one morning the adjutant ordered us to report at headquarters for transportation por tation and rations to return to our units up the line arriving at our section the boys once again tendered 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 man could be such a blinking idiot as to join tile the suicide club I 1 was beginning to feel sorry that I 1 had become a member of said club and to me appeared doubly precious I 1 now that I 1 was a sure enough bomber I 1 was praying for peace and hoping that my services as such would not be required CHAPTER XIII my first official bath right behind our rest billet was a large creek about ten feet deep and twenty feet across and it was a matilt of the company to avail themselves of an opportunity to take a swim and nt at the same time thoroughly ehly wash themselves and their underwear when on their own we wore having a spell of hot weather and these baths to us were a luxury the commies tommies would splash around in the water and then come out and sit in the sun and have what they termed a shirt hunt bunt at first we tried to drown the cloties cooties co oties otles 1 but they also seemed to enjoy the bath one sunday morning the whole section wits was in the creek and we were having a gay time when the servant major appeared on the scene ile he came to the edge of the creek and ordered come out of it get your equipment on drill order and fall in for bath parade look lively my he hearties artles you have only got fifteen minutes A howl of indignation fr from m the creek greeted this order but out we came discipline Is discipline we lined up in front or of our billet with rifles and bayonets why you need rifles and bayonets to take a bath gets roe me a full quota of ammunition and our tin hats each man had a piece of soap and a towel after an eight kilo march along a dusty road with an occasional shell whistling overhead we arrived fit at a little squat frame building upon the bank of a creek nailed over the door of this building was as a large sign which rend read divisional baths in a wooden saied in the rear we could hear a wheezy old engino pumping water the joys of the bath are de picter by empey in the t he next installment 1 TO BE CONTINI TED |