Show TRAINING MEN IN THE ART OF BOMB THROWING anarchists weapon in warfare has become as respectable as the rifle FINE POINTS OF THE GAME 7 the absentminded absent minded fellow makes trouble bombs well behaved if you treat them right first chuck Is really important by FREDERICK PALMER international news service british headquarters france was at a bombing school on a french farm where chosen soldiers brought back bach from the trenches were being trained in the use of the anarchists weapon which has now become as respectable as the rifle develops as the war goes on there are no al B degres for master bombers yet but that may come any day present was the chief instructor a young scotch subaltern with blue eyes a pleasant smile and a cock of the north spirit he might have been twenty years old though he did not look it on his breast was the purple and white ribbon of the new order of the military cross which one gets tor for doing something in this war which would have won a victoria cross in one of the little wars abc present was the assistant instructor tor a sergeant of regulars and very much of a regular who had three ribbons which he had won in previous campaigns he too had blue eyes bland blue eyes these two understood I 1 der stood each other it if you dont drop it why its all right said the sergeant of course it you do he did not drop it and when you throw it you must lookout and not hit the man behind and knock the bomb out of your hand band that has happened before now to an absentminded absent minded fellow who was about to toss one at the boches and it does not do to be absentminded absent minded when you throw bombs they say that you sometimes pick up the german bombs and chuck them back before they explode it was suggested yes sir ive read things like that in some of the accounts of the reporters who write from somewhere in france ranee you dont happen to know where that is sir all I 1 can say Is that itsou are going to do it you must be quick about it I 1 advise delaying your decision sir air or perhaps when you reach down to pick it up tip neither your hand nor the bomb would be there have gone off together sir must treat them right have you ever been hurt in your handing of bombs one asked surprise in the bland blue eyes oh no sirl bombs are well behaved if you treat them right rig lit its all in being thoughtful and considerate of them meanwhile he was jerking at some kind of a patent fuse set in a shell of high this Is a poor kind sir its been discarded but I 1 thought that you might the like to see it IL never did like it iti always making trouble more distance between the audience and the performer now ive got it sir got get down sir the audience carried out instructions to the letter as army regulations require we got behind the protection tec tion of ono one of the practice trench traverses he flo threw the discard me be vond another wall of earth there was a 01 ti hars arz rep nf a burst of smoke and some fragments of earth were tossed into the air in a small affair of two hundred yards of trench the other day it was estimated that the british and germans together threw about five thousand bombs in this fashion it was enough to sadden any minister of munitions nit ions however the british kept the trench do your men like to become bombers one asked the subaltern 1 I should say so it puts them up in front it gives them a chance to throw something and they don t got much cricket in france you see we had a pupil here last week who broke the throwing record for distance he was pleased as punch with himself A first class bombing detachment has a lot ot of pride of corps to bomb has become as common a verb with the army as to bayonet we bombed them out means a section of trench taken As you know a trench Is dug and built with sand bags in zigzag traverses in following the course of a trench it is as if you followed the sides of the squares of a checker board up and down and across on the same tier of squares the square itself is a bank of earth with the cut on either side and in front of it when a bombing party bombs their way into the possession of a section of german trench there are germans under cover of the traverses on either side of them the german is waiting around the corner to shoot the first british head that shows itself its important that you and not the bodies boches chuck the bombs over first explained the subaltern also that you get them into their traverse or they may be as troublesome to you as to the enemy with the bombs bursting in their faces the germans who are not put out of action are blinded and stunned in the moment when they are thus off guard the aggressors leap around the corner and then stick em cm sir said the matter of fact sergeant yes the cold steel is best and do it first As mr mcpherson said its very important to UV do it first it has been found that something short is handy for this kind of work in such cramped quarters a ditch six feet deep and from two to three feet broad the rifle is an awkward length to permit of prompt and skillful use of the bayonet yes sir you can mix it up better with something handy sir sin to think british soldiers would come to fighting like assassins sir said the sergeant you must bo be spry on such occasions its no time tor for wool gathering 11 not a smile from him or the sub altern all the time they were the kind you would like to have alone in a tight corner whether you had to fight with knives or fists or seventeen inch howitzers howit the sergeant took us into the storehouse where he kept his supply of bombs what if a german shell should strike your storehouse it was suggested then sir I 1 expect that most of the bombs would be exploded bombs are very peculiar in their habits what do you think sir it was no trouble to show stock as the clerks at the stores say ho he brought forth all the different kinds of bombs which british ingenuity has invented but no not all invented these would mount into the thousands every british inventor who knows anything about explosives has jaried tried his hand at a new kind of bomb one means all the kinds which the british war office has considered worth the practice test the spectator was allowed to handle each one as much as he pleased there had been occasions that boyish scotch subaltern told mo me without a twinkle in his eye when the men who were examining the products of british ingenuity well the subaltern had sandy hair too which heightened the effect of his blue eye bombs of all kinds there were yellow and green and blue and black and striped bombs egg shaped barrel shaped conical and concave bombs bombs that were exploded by pulling a string or pressing a button all these to be thrown by hand without mentioning grenades and bigger varieties which were thrown by mechanical means which would have made a chinese warrior of confucius time ora or a roman legionary feel at home this was the first born the subaltern explain the first thing we could lay our hands on when the close quarters trench warfare began it was as out of date now as grandfathers smooth bars the tinlot tinpot which both sides used early in the winter A wick was attacked to the high explosive wrapped in cloth and stuck in an ordinary jam cari can quite homemade as you see sir remarked the sergeant nL used to fix them up ourselves in the trenches in odd hours saved burying your refuse jam tins according to medical corps direction you threw them at the boches have to use a match to light it very old fashioned sir I 1 wonder it if that old fuse has got damp no its going all right and ho he threw the jam pot which made a good explosion later when he began hammering the end of another he looked up in mild surprise at the dignified back stepping of the spectators Is that fuse out someone asked yes sir of course replied its safer but here is the best were discarding the others ho bo went on as he picked up another bomb it was a pleasure to throw this crowning achievement of the experiments it fl fitted your hand nicely it t threw easily it did the business it was foolproof against a man in love or a war poet we saw as soon as this style came out sa said id the sergeant that it was bound to be popular everybody asks tor for it except the boches sir |