dano1917
RIP
We wre just finishing, when Martin gave a yell of warning and threw himself on his face; in a moment the trench wall opposite blew up, filling the dugout with dirt and fumes. Two or three more explosions followed and the servants came tumbling in, choking with dust and laughter. There was quiet for a few seconds, then with a thud a great grey-blue shell landed on the parados, rolled over, and lay still.
Hatwell at once wrote the word "Minnies" on a message pad, speared it with a fork and chucked it down the shaft to the signallers. These shells were 42-inch "Minenwerfers", very destructive projectiles fired from a trench mortar; their efect is so devastating and demoralizing that whenever they are used we inform our artillery who plaster the enemy lines heavily in retaliation. The idea is that their infantry will know that every time the mortars are used, they will catch out for it, so the weapon is most unpopular and its use is becomming rarer.
FROM: SOME DESPERATE GLORY
THE WORLD WAR I DIARY OF A BRITISH OFFICER
BY: EDWIN CAMPION VAUGHAN
Hatwell at once wrote the word "Minnies" on a message pad, speared it with a fork and chucked it down the shaft to the signallers. These shells were 42-inch "Minenwerfers", very destructive projectiles fired from a trench mortar; their efect is so devastating and demoralizing that whenever they are used we inform our artillery who plaster the enemy lines heavily in retaliation. The idea is that their infantry will know that every time the mortars are used, they will catch out for it, so the weapon is most unpopular and its use is becomming rarer.
FROM: SOME DESPERATE GLORY
THE WORLD WAR I DIARY OF A BRITISH OFFICER
BY: EDWIN CAMPION VAUGHAN