Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XIV. Ways and means
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
WAYS AND MEANS 169
living men soon opened their eyes to the value of
this new weapon as a means of offence. It was,
to them, just like carrying artillery right into the
enemy’s positions for use in hand-to-hand en-
counters where their shell and shrapnel could be
of no assistance. From this time, both sides
used these grenades freely, though I think that,
on the whole, they were of greater
service to the Russians than to
the Japanese, as my tale of
later events will bear out. In
these early fights the fuses fre-
quently burnt too long, and it
often happened that a Russian
bomb thrown in amongst the
Japanese was picked up and
hurled back again amongst the
defenders. This defect was
remedied later.
At first the fuses were lighted
by a match or by an ordinary
rope fuse ;
later, especially on
the Russian side, the fuse was
ignited by an improvised friction-
tube arrangement. To the end
of the Bickford fuse was attached
a rifle cartridge, filled with pow-
der, into which was inserted a
quill containing the priming and a thin wire ;
this
caused the ignition by friction when drawn out.
As the hand grenades proved so efficacious it
was natural that both parties should wish to
extend their sphere of action to longer ranges,
and consequently the Russians first, and the
Japanese shortly afterwards, constructed wooden
mortars, from which the bombs could be thrown
distances up to a couple of hundred yards. The
Japanese mortars were constructed of two half-
A RUSSIAN HAND
GRENADE.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
