THE SUICIDE CLUB

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 114, 16 May 1931, Page 22

THE SUICIDE CLUB

'A very peculiar practice, developed to the' status of a fine art by the German during the war, was the unfriondly hab.it of leaving elaborate boobytraps as .tokens of his regard when he was compelled to evacuate some position., Writing in " Chambers's Journal'" for March, Captain Nigel V. Kennedy recalls how stick bombs wer.e left hanging by cords attached to their safety-pin so as to become entangled with the rifle of some passing soldier. This device was well known,; but some others were so grotesque as to bo almost incredible. /

As a bombing officer Captain: Kennedy had the doubtful privilege of examining many ;of these devices with the object of rendering them-harmless. The occupation had the merit.of excitement, and -won for the bombing .fraternity the designation of'the "Suicide Club." One seldom sought election to the select circle; membership 'was usually thrust on one. Casualties were frequent, and usually were of such a nature that bjirial was unnecessary —indeed, impossible^-for there was rarely enought left of the victim to permit of identification. On one occasion in a dim cellar near Peronne. Cathedral the British troops discovered a grim tableau after dislodging the ' Germans. At first /glance.it appeared to be the body of a/private soldier who'had been brutally murdered. The man had been foroedI'Over- a',table and a bayonet had been-driyeh his body. Blood, aft?i'wards found to be varnish, formed gruesome pools that gave a touch of realism to the- scene, ; The "corpse," however, proved ]fco be a dummy, and the bayonet was attached to a mine; which; would have exploded on its removal.• Fortunately the discovery was reported to headquarters before "anyone interfered with the trap, and its dangerous nature was discovered, so that the device- was rendered' harmless. -

Gfi&!^'pKE§ : ;^Jp^

called upon to ; investigate an extraordinary incident which was never properly cleared up. On ground which tho Germans \had taken from the British, and from which they were subsequently forced, a report was made that a "dud" corpse had been found at a.place known as Tykes Dump. Examination proved the spot to be a small cemetery that had been made by the Germans during, the period of their brief occupation. In it. were two graves. One had a small cross bearing the inscription, " To; tho memory of an unknown British officer." Besido this was another, open and ready for filling. Close to'it lay the body of a tall British soldier, lying face" down oh a stretcher. It was found that the "corpse" was made of papiermache on a wooden framework. The head was covered with apparently-real hair, and the face, though averted, was evidently the work of a skilled craftsman.- The finger nails of each hand and part of the face appeared to be finished in wax, and both features and hands were perfect in detail.

The reason for the effigy being in the cemetery, was inexplicable. It had doubtless been brought .thcro by the German advance troops, and for some obscure reason left "in the middle of nowhere." It.is absurd to'suggest that such an elaborate figure .would have been made to 'effect the destruction of any two unfortunate soldiers who might have been detailed to bury it, when a simpler device would have worked equally well.. There. was, too, no reason for the laying of a large mine anywhere in the locality. Captain Kennedy sought permission to dig round the stretcher in the hope of finding a hidden wire, but headquarters, with a vast respect for the ingenuity of the Germans, decided that the exhibit should be left severely alone. The spot was fenced in and marked dangerous. So far as he knows, the mystery -was never solved. .. .