MAN-TRAPS IK WARTIME

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 109, 4 November 1939, Page 20

MAN-TRAPS IK WARTIME

T\7"AR, cables nave comalned numer> ous: references to "booby traps" set by retreating Germans to catch unwary enemies; explosives placed; in the grave of a dead French airman, or behind the doors of innocentlooking cottages, among other tricks, writes Harold Mercer in the "Sydney Morning Herald." ;

There was considerable experience of these contrivances in the Great; War, and it is heartening to recall that it was only when the Germans felt themselves beaten and knew they would have to retreat, that they came into evidence, the desire being to test the nerves, and take confidence out of a pursuing enemy.

It was not long before our soldiers acquired a distrust of practically everything they found undamaged in their line of advance. My own poignant personal experience concerns the death of a smart young corporal named Anderson. A "dope"-had picked up a child's mechanical toy lying beside the doorstep of an abandoned cottage. He was exhibiting it when Anderson, finding that he disregarded his shouts, "Throw it away, you fool!" approached him.

"Look, Corp., you can see how it works. This way," the "dope" said.

As he touched the mechanism there was an explosion. Both the corporal and the "dope" were killed instantly—blown to pieces, literally.

The Germans paid dearly in the next day's attacks for that , snide bit of work. . ,

Scores of tales of booby traps were known to. everybody in the army. An advancing brigade passed through a village in which a fine-looking chateau stood untouched, a standing invitation for a temporary headquarters. Evidently it was regarded as too good to be true, for it was passed.by probably with the idea that the German, gunners knew the position, and shells would soon pour in. Three Diggers decided, however, that the neglected chateau would provide a comfortable resting place until morning. One of them noticed a piece of cord hanging from behind a picture. String, which has its uses everywhere, had a special value with soldiers, and this Digger decided upon securing the prize. He gave a tug—and an explosion l-ocked and wrecked the building. The trap had been intended for the "brains" of a brigade or division, but it had.caught merely x three stray Diggers, one of whom managed to escape alive.

.Settling into bivouacs in another broken village, a group of our men found a * fire ready for lighting, as though it had been made ready when the previous occupants had been forced to leave. Rain had been falling, and a sudden cold had come; a fire was just .the thing, and a Digger had actually put a match to the material, when a prudent sergeant dashed forward, beat out the flames, and took the fire material apart. In the centre was a nice nest of bombs, sufficient to have blown up the whole place, and caused death to all within it.

A dead mule, only half buried, and creating a bad stench, turned out to be another booby trap. The surmise had evidently been that soldiers would be set to the work of making a deeper burial; however, instead, a big fire was built over the offensive carcass. The explosives that had been placed within it went off with a startling explosion, but quite harmlessly.

What looked like a harmless bottle of "Boch," abandoned by some German soldier in the corner of a dug-out, killed three unwary men who. pounced upon it. When the Germans were in retreat there was not a thing they had left that could be regarded .with anything but suspicion. But, considering the ingenuity of the traps, there were surprisingly few casualties.