Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 116, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 May 1919 — HUN BOOBY TRAPS [ARTICLE]

HUN BOOBY TRAPS

Left When Were Driven From France. Detection of Contrivances Which Had No Part in Civilized Warfare Wu 'Made Work of Special OrQanixation. Detection by British army investigators of German “booby trails" saved the lives of many an officer or man of the British armies during the period when the Germans were retreating from France. “1 am convinced,” says one officer, "that we nipped many .of the Huns favorite plans by capturing near Bray a little factory where he made his 'booby traps.’ When we occupied it we learned much from.the partly completed- traps we found lying about the place. "One of them was an iron plate. This the wily Hun dropped in a roadway so that it would likely be trod upon by soldier or horse- of our advancing troops. The plate was in two parts, with a spring inside, and usually contained a detonator connected with a heavy charge of explosive. When the weight of thejoot was removed tlie spring slipped into place and exploded the detonator, and the damage w as done. "These- spring detonators were the Germans’ specialty. -They consisted ot a tube containing a little spring with a hook at one eml. Attached to the hook was a string or wire connecting with the explosive Any arrangement by which tlie spring could be distended and then suddenly contracted served to jerk the string, and tlie charge was exploded, ‘‘Oim* night 1 received a call from our lieutenant colonel who had spent the day directing movements from a re cently captured German dugout. He told me he was nervous, and believed he was associating with a ‘booby, and asked me to send him a squad of engineers to look it over. 1 went myself. “The colonel sat in the dugout, about ten feet down, on a chair by a table. Directly in front of tlie chair was a petrol can, and it was tlie can lie feared. He had noticed it early in tlie morning when tlie dligout was first occupied, but had no time to examine it until evening. Then he found nothing, but he had a ‘hunch’ that it was -a trap and wanted expert assistance. “1 dug a little trench around the canv but could find no wires, and then tapped it, but received ho sound other than that which might come from any old empty can. There was nothing to do but open it, and, borrowing the colonel’s can opener, I went at it as gingerly as I could. "It was partly filled with about eight pounds of one of the most deadly powder explosives known to science. This I removed very carefully, and in the bottom of the can found tlie spring detonator. It had been fastened to the bottom of the can in such a way that if the cgn had been lifted from the floor of the dugout the charge would have "exploded. and the colonel and his party would have beep blown to bits. “The colonel paled a little when I showed him just what he bad been associating with all day, and very fervently thanked himself for obeying his ‘hunch’ to let that can alone.”