AN AMI:
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MHUIM
MACHINE
EMPEY JOINS THE "SUICIDE
SQUAD IS
Synopsis. Fired by the sinking of the Lusitanla, with the loss of
American 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 "cooties." After a brief period of training
Empey's company is sent into the front-line trenches, where he takes
his first turn on the fire step while 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
CHAPTER XII.
Bombing.
The boys in the section welcomed me
back, but there were many strange
faces. Several of our men had gone
West in that charge, and were lying
"somewhere in France" with a little
wooden cross at their heads. We were
in rest billets. The next day our cap
tain asked for volunteers for bombers'
school. I gave my name and was ac
cepted. I had joined the Suicide club,
and my troubles commenced. Thirty
two men of the battalion, including my
self,, were sent to L , where we
went through a course in bombing.
Here we were instructed in the uses,
methods of throwing and manufacture,
of various kinds of hand 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 med
als, while in neutral countries they
call you an anarchist and give you
"life."
From the very start the Germans
were well equipped with effective
bombs and trained bomb throwers, but
the English army was as little pre
pared in this important department of
fighting as in many others. At bomb
ing school an old sergeant of the Gren
adier guards, whom I had the good
fortune to meet, told me of the discour
agements this branch of the service
suffered before they could meet the
Germans on an equal footing. (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, those thrown by the
Boches. 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. Noncommis
sioned officers were generally selected
for this course. After about two
weeks at school they returned to their
units in rest billets or in the fire
trench, as the case might be, and got
busy teaching their platoons how to
make "jam tins."
Previously an order had been issued
for all ranks to save empty Jaaa tins
ff 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 of empty
and rusty jam tins, while beside him
on the fire step wouldbe a 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 a
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
wourfd any German hit by. same; the
questioner woutd immediately pull a
button 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 an
old rusty and broken jackknife; both
would be accepted and inserted.
Then the professor would take an
other handful of mud and fill the tin,
after which he wruld 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 th outside of the tin, and
the bomb ws. ready to tend over to
Fritz with Tommy's compliments.
A. piece Of wood about four inches
wide had been issued. Tills was to be
strapped on the left forearm by means
of two leather straps and was like the
a match box; it was called a
striker.- There was a tip like the
Head of a match on the fuse of the
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SI .
iUYEI
OJHMERERYING IN fPLWfCF
1517 BY
ARTHUR WtttVTf
CLUB," AS THE BOMBING
CALLED.
bomb. To ignite the fuse, you had to
rub ft on the "striker," Just the same
as striking a 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 muni
tion workers weren't quite up to snuff,
the way they are now. If the fuse took
a notion to burn too quickly they gen
erally 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 instructs 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. Wh'en that
fuse begins to smoke and "sizz" you
want to say goodby 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 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 Hand Grenades.
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 back she came to the further
discomfort of the thrower.
Then another order was issued to
count, "one hundred! two hundred!
three hundred!"' 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 "jam tin," because
from experience he had learned not
to trust It.
When the powers that be realized
that they conld not change Tommy
they decided to change the type of
bomb and did so substituting the
"hair brush," the "cricket ball," and
later the Mills bomb, '
The standard bomb used In the Brit
ish army is the "Mills." It is about the
shape and size of a large lemon. Al
though not actually a lemon, Fritz in
sists that it is ; perhaps he Judges it
by the havog caused by its explosion.
The Mills bomb is made of steel, the
outside of which is corrugated into 48
small squares, vwhlch, upon the explo
sion of the bomb, scatter in a wide
area, wounding or killing any Fritz
who Is unfortunate enough to be hit
by one of the flying fragments.
Although a very destmfiv nni o.
fident bomb the "MUla" has the con-1
Wl 1
fidence of the thrower, in that he
knows it will not explode nntli re
leased from his grip.
V It Is -a mechanical device, with
lever, fitted into a slot at' the top,
which 4 extends half - way - around the'
circumference and is held in place at
the bottom by a fixing pin. In this pin
there Is a small metal ring, for the
purpose of extracting 4 the pin ; when
ready to throw. :
You do not throw a bomb the way -a
baseball is thrown, because, when in
a narrow trench, your hand is liable
to strike against the parados, traverse
or parapet, and then down goes the
bomb, and, in a couple of. seconds or
so, up goes Tommy.
In throwing, the bomb and lever are
grasped in the right hand, the left foot
Js advanced, knee stiff, about one and
a half its length to the front, while
the right leg, knee bent, is carried
slightly to the right. The feft 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 is extended downward. Then
you hurl the bomb from you with an
overhead bowling motion, the same as
in 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 ex
plodes and gives the Germans no time
to scamper out of its range or to re
turn it.
As the bomb leaves your hand, the
lever, by means of a spring, is projected
into the air and falls harmlessly to
the ground a few feet in front of the
bomber.
When the lever flies off it releases
a strong spring, which forces the firing
pin into a percussion cap. This ignites
the fuse, vftifct, burns down and sets
off the detonator,, charged with fulmi
nate of mercury, which explodes the
main charge of ammonal.
The average British soldier is not an
expert at throwing ; it Is a new game
to him, therefore the Canadians and
Americans, who have played baseball
from the kindergarten up, take nutu
rally to bomb throwing and excel in
this act. A six-foot English bornber
will stand in awed silence when fie
sees a nttle five-foot-nothing Canadian
outdistance his throw by several yards.
I have read a few war stories of boms
ing, where baseball pitchers curved
their bombs when throwing them, but
a pitcher who can do this would make
"Christy" Mathewson look like a piker,
.and is losing valuable time playing in
the European War bush league, when
he would be able to set the "bia
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 trans
portation 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 the Suicide club. I was begin
ning to feel sorry that I had become
a. member of said club, and my life to
me appeared doubly precious.
Now that I was a surerenough
bomber I 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 habit
of the company to avail themselves of
an opportunity to take a swim and at
the same time thoroughly wash them
selves and their underwear when on
their own. We were having a spell of
hot weather, and these baths to us
were a luxury. The Tommies would
splash around in the water and then
come but and sit in the sun and have
what they termed a "shirt hunt." At
first we tried to drown the "cooties,"
but they also seemed to enjoy the bath.
One Sunday morning the whole sec
tion was in the creek and we were hav
ing a gay time, when the sergeant ma
jor appeared on the scene. 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 hearties. You
have only got fifteen minutes." A howl
of indignation from the creek greeted
this order, but out we came. Disci
pline is discipline. We lined up In
front of our billet with rifles and bay
onets (why you need rifles and bayo
nets to take a bath gets me), a full
quota of ammunition, and our t?nvhats
Each man had a piece .of soap and a
towel. After an eigLt-kilo march along
a dusty road, with an occasional shell
whistling overhead, w arrived at a
little squat frame building upon the
bank of a creek. Nailed over the door
of this building was a large sign which
read "Divisional Baths." In a wooden
shed in the rear we could hear a
wheezy old eagine pumping water.
9
The joys of the bath are de
picted by Empey in the next in
stallment. (TO BE CONTINUED.)
Great Writers Lazy.
Shelley had an indolent vein. He
was very 6rid of the water, and many
of his finest poems were composed as
he idled at his ease in a boat. He
made the best of his short life, how
ever, and that cannot be said for Cole-.
ridge, who seemed to be afflicted with-
that lack of will to work which some
people call laziness. He had one of
the greatest minds, but he left even
his finest poems mert fragwts.
CAMOUFLAGED QUARTERS OF MARINES IN FRANCE
' Wealern Newspaper Union
The huts of the American marines now training behind the lines in
to keep them from being seen by enemy flyers.
FRENCH
s " v. s s
TJe inhabitants or tne villages
across the seas spreads through the
every station on the trip from the
PLENTY OF BREAD IN NAVY
4 . k
SSWSS ..Photo bC S5Swi
etern Newspaper Union
A plentitude of everything is one of
the rules of the navy. This fellow is
hustling an armful of bread from the
ovens.
Puts His Ship First.
In the moment of ''anger the first
thought that comes to the real sailor
man is to save his ship. Personal safe
ty is always a matter of secondary
consideration. One morning when the
bottom blow valve of a boiler -was car
ried away on a man-of-war, Christo
pher Smith, a machinist's mate, imme
diately realized the danger and knew
what' to do. He was on duty in the
engine room, when the accident oc
curred. The room quickly filled with
escaping steam. Unheeding this,
Smith fought his way through the hot
clond and, reaching the fire room,
hauled the fires and kept the boiler
from bursting. His gallantry saved
his ship from serious damage and the
navy department commended his ac
tion. Smith enlisted In the navy in
April, 1903, at Erie, Pa.
Mower That Cuts Neglected Lawns.
A lawn mower having horizontal
knives that will cut grrss or weeds, re
gardless of length, is described and
illustrated in the February Popular
Mechaalcs Magazine. A "completely
denuded path Is secured with one op
eration. The position of the cutting
members permits the cutflng of a lawn
flush with trees or other obstructions.
AH stems and grass are thrown to the
rear of the knives, where a basket
may be attached.
Asttsa it ''S y ,, , "j, ' ' ' "U ni L.. . . J. '' ' '
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VILLAGERS GREET OUR
ot France turn out m lull forop when
town and crowds of enthusiastic men,
seaport to their training cauips.
JAPANESE WOMEN AID RED CROSS
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U' WeiternNew.papw Union . '
Forty-two Japanese women of
nuA,"ni. mis country win
THIS MORTAR SHOOTS BARBED WIRE
hrhoH r? nd 0f a n,ortar- Instead of throwing shells it throws
barbed wire. It can throw five rolls of barbed wire into enemy trenches or m
front of advancing troops without being recharged
France have been covered with br
usnwooij
SOLDIERS
news of the arrival or our troops rrora
women, and children greet our boys at
" V J, UJ
New York have formed a Red Cross
the war.