World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Turkey -- Gallipoli Peninsula; World War, 1914-1918 -- New Zealand
The Anzac factory retorted with several brands, but the most favoured
one was made out of the green fuse tin from the 18-pr. guns. These tins
were stout, and of the size of a condensed milk tin. Two holes were
punched in the bottom for a wire to go through, and three holes in the
lid--two for the wire and a larger one for the fuse. The wire came from
hawsers salved from the wreckage of the trawlers off the beach. Into
the centre of the tin was placed a dry gun-cotton primer or half a
stick of gelignite, the detonator and a five-seconds fuse was fitted,
and the remaining space packed with unexploded Turkish cartridges with
the bullets cut off to let the lid close, after which the whole was
secured across the top by joining the two ends of the wires. So, from
the cast-off tins and wires, captured ammunition, and the engineers'
stores of explosives, these grenades were manufactured to repel the
apparently rejuvenated "Sick Man of Europe."
A time came when the gun-cotton and gelignite got scarce, and a powder
explosive called ammonal had to be used. This presented a difficulty,
as the stuff had to be packeted. But an active brain came to the
rescue with a suggestion that cloth might be used for the packet. It
so happened that about this time a large consignment of shirts had
been opened up, all cut out and in the multitude of parts that go to
make a shirt, but no two parts stitched together! This material was
requisitioned, cut into squares, and the explosive packed like little
bags of washing blue, with the detonator and fuse inside. Another
time, tins ran out. The little mountain battery fuse tin was used as a
stopgap, and then, luckily for Quinn's, another rascally manufacturer
sent a shipment of mildewed tobacco to Anzac. The stuff was condemned,
and before the day was done the empty tins lay in the bin of the bomb
factory. Thus, though they did not intend it, did the careless London
shirt inspector and the bad tobacco specialist help to keep the front
line of the Anzac area.
[Illustration:
[_Lent by Capt. Boxer, N.Z.M.C._
CARRYING STORES UP WALKER'S RIDGE.]
The Scarcity of Building Materials.
It is questionable if any army in the field ever had too many sandbags.
To keep earth walls standing at as steep a slope as possible is the
object of all builders of trenches, for the steeper a wall the safer it
is. "It is difficult to make war safe," says the soldier, who, being
wise, does not attempt the impossible. But the same soldier takes few
chances, and wherever he can build a wall or put on a roof that gives
him real or fancied protection, nothing will stop him from collecting
from somewhere the necessary material.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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