■:'il
TURNED EVERY CARD
TRAPS AND MINES PLENTIFUL
IN CLOSING DAYS.
Germany played her awful game of
war craft to the last card. Every blt^
of deception and every form of trap’
v.as brought to play in those closing
days when the might of her world-
gathered foes was tearing to pieces
her conquest of forty years making.
“Booby Traps” wore the order of
things when the stubborn warriors of
autocracy were being pushed back,
foot by foot, from, the soil of Belgium
and France. A “booby trap” is an in
fernal machine or concealed mine
which explodes upon the proper move
ment of any of its parts.
Those carefully constructed devices
of death were the order of discussion
among the wounded officers in the
officer’s ward of the base hospital, on
Tuesday morning, when The Caduceus
reporter stole in and took a seat by
the stove.
“The shovel in the ground gag got
two of my men” explained lieutenant
Z. D. Thornburg, Company D, 118th
Infantry, and whose home is in Con
cord, N. o. He was wounded by a
high explosive in one of the late drives
but that was after he had undergone
all the thrills of dodging Teuton death
plans.
“The shovel trick was to place a
spade sticking in the ground as
though it had been used by the Ger
mans before they were forced to ■
evacuate. A movement of the shovel
set off a mine which blew up the
earth for some area about The first
impulse of a soldier would be to take
the spade and dig himself in on the
open field. There were plenty of the
shovels standing about so several of
the men lost their lives by touching
the spades. Two brave boys in my
company went up.”
“The loaded lead' pencil also had to
be contended with in the closing days.
In a pocket of a goodly per cent of
dead German soldiers was to be found
a gold plated lead pencil. It was most
attractive. Many of the soldiers took
the pencils. There was no harm un
til a person started to write with their
new found souvenier. Pressure of the
pencil point caused the pencil to ex
plode with remarkable violence.
Many soldiers had parts of their right
hand blown off by these loaded pen
cils before the intelligence depart
ment had thoroughly convinced all
soldiers that they must touch no
articles left in Teclaimed territory.
“Every village we entered was filled
with these “booby traps” and delayed
mines. After we would enter a city
there would be explosions and fires
for two or three days. It the Ger
mans had not been short of explosives
I imagine they would have blown up
the entire country,” commented Lieu
tenant Thornburg.
“The most harmless appearing ob
jects were to be the most feared dur
ing the reign of the “booby traps,"
the officers explained. “When a house
was entered and was to be used as a
billet it was the natural process of
setting things aright which brought
on the detonation which would wreck
THE CADUCEUS
ARE REAL PILL JUGGLERS
5
—Photo By Toohey.
BASKET BALL SQUAD OF U. S. ARMY BASE HOSPITAL, CAMP'
GREENE
In a certain sort of “pill rolling” these fellows, representing the U. S.
Army Base Hospital, Camp Greene, claim to be as clever as the best. They
are the members of the basket ball team which is starting out to fill a
heavy schedule. , •
Manager Corporal Avery Toohey has arranged games with Davidson
College, Greensbbro Independents, Oteen ®eneral Hospital, and is planning
games with local teams.
The hospital men will meet the Ninetieth Infantry team' at the Y. M.
C. A. tonight at 7 o’clock and one of the scrappiest games of the season is
expected as tiie infantrymen boast a quintet of much experience.
Tfie names of the hospital aggregation, reading the top row from left
to right is Manager Toohey, Private John Hoffman, Private Charles Zecha,
Sergeant Charles Perro.
Seated, from left to right—Private Michael Lynch, Private Leonard
Wyckoff, Sergeant Ralph North (Captain), Sergeant Verlin Harrold and
Private Martin Lampman.
the place and possibly kill several
men. It might be a picture which was
hung unevenly on the wall and whicn
would seem to appeal to any person
to be straightened up and yet whict
was connected with a mine in such a
way that the slightest touch would
cause a terrific explosion.
“There were many cases in which
mines were connected with the pianos
in the French house, which the Ger
mans had been forced to vacate.
When a music loving soldier touched
the keys it was death for all who stood
in the room.
' “The moving of a chair or an article
upon the table was almost sure to
cause a detonation which wrecked
the house.
DELAYED MINES.
Delayed mines were even more viol
ent in their explosions. These mines
were often placed under railroad sta
tions and in roadways. They were
governed by a mechanism which
caused them to explode a day or two
after the Huns had departed.
The detonations were often' so
violent tnat they blowed holes fifty
feet deep and seventy foot across the
mouth of the cavern. In many cases
the exp^sion was so violent that
buildings along the side of the street
fell into the hole. Nearly every street
intersection would be mined In a town
which the Germans evacuated.
Most of the delayed mines were
worked by having a chemical action
on the fuze wires. It required a day
or two for the acid to eat the wire in
to. Few delayed mines were used in
wreeking the railroads as the ways of
commerce were wrecked as the Ger
mans departed.
It was for the engineers to care for
the traps and mines. They were
called when a “booby trap” was sus-
picted. They filled in the craters or
bridged the caveties in the streets.
They worked day and night in order
that the forces of the allies could
move forward upon thg heels'of the
retreating foe.
WE HELPED.
Sergeant Dalquist used to write
some mighty snappy athletic stuff for
The Caduceus. He was transferred
to Newport News with a Medical Sup
ply contingent. W© ran his picture in
The Caduceus explaining that he was
a live wire.
The picture had been in 'Washing
ton but a few days when Dalquist was
ordered transferred to the editorial
staff of Come Back, the paper put out
by the Walter Reed General hospital.