SANDBAGS BY THE MILLION

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2523, 31 July 1915, Page 3

SANDBAGS BY THE MILLION

WOMAN'S WAR-WORK. 5n -urgent need of the hour —indeed, of all tho hours to come, so long as this trench warfare lasts—is sandbags, (wrote the London correspondent of the Sydney "Daily Telegraph" recently). People on the other sifle of tho world, who feel that it is not worth while setting to work on things like respirators, because of tlie constantly changing conditions and requirements of the war, will ,be quito safe in making sandbags. It is doubtful whether, even over here, anyone not actually in tho field, can realise at all what tho word sandbag means to the soldier in the firing line, or how urgently millions and yet more millions of sandbags aro needed to stem the casualty lists. Unfortunately tho enthusiasm of many workers' hero has been damped by the .restrictions of the War Office, which, being flooded wtih innumerable little parcels of sandbags,' was obliged'to refuse' them. The_ thing to do is to send them to the official receiver, Mrs. M. L. Tyler, Linden Houso, Hjghgate Road, London W., who has an arrangement with the War Office which allows of any number of, sandbags being forwarded to tho front daily. And thousands are being 6ent daily, but not .nearly enough. Mrs. Tyler has tried 'sending out a circular letter, in Which she quotes letters of officers at . tho front. Here are a few extracts that interested mo particularly. _ An infantry lieutenant writes: —"We want a tremendous lot of sandbags. Our division alono Has been using a million a 1 month. For our battalion alono we usually require. about 2000 a day for fheir present trenches,'but-weihave not been able to get them in sufficient quantities lately. • If you saw a shell burst on a parapet with sandbags and on one. without you would see how many lives they save, and if it is to be a war of attrition .wo want to take every, possible means of avoidiug loss of'men in the trenches." : i : -

.. A colonel commanding a brigade of Royal Field Artillery writes:—"lt isquite mild spring .weather now. Now, we. do not want aiiy more'mufflers'.or caps for warmth, but we always want sandbags by tho million, and if the kind people who helped us so great-' ly during the .winter with warm knitted things wanted to help still, they could not do better than make sandbags for our protection. "Wo must'havo hundreds of millions,of sandbags in use, and.we always' want 1 thom. To make a nice commodious house for a few officers in their gun-position, for instance, .will require some 2000 sandbags, and the number wanted for a single battery, for protection for the guns, men, officers, and telephone operators, will run-into tens of thousands. A mile of trenches mil require perhaps 100,000, and each little post, observation station, or shelter of any kind behind those trenches, requires many more. Then, every house,-' barn, or other locality occupied in the area in which shells fall for a depth of two or thrco miles boliind our trenches, ought to havo its own dug-out for use when necessary, into , the making of which tho sandbag enters, and when wo advance we havo not time to empty our old sandbags, and carry, them on. We requiro fresh ones." A captain of the R.F.A. describes the way in which the infantry advance:. "Each man takes ten empty bags-under his arm as he runs out. When fired at he drops, and fills a bag as he lies, for cover. Then he dashes on .again with his nine remaining bags, , to repeat tho manoeuvre again and again, always leaving the filled bag to cover 6ome man behind him. In this way the whole line advances with temporary-cover, till they can dig themselves in. We aro told that 'the mon will do .almost anything if only they can havo enough sandbags. 1 "■ ' ' . i ' ' ' 1 have looked out tlio official regulations with regard to size, etc., andgivo thom for tho sako of convenience, though,' 110 doubt, Australia has them alioacly. The sandbags' should be made of juto Hessian; not too heavy, because they havo .to be carried miles to tho tienohes at night,- under tire. They must be strong to stand wet and weight. When complete they should [pleasure 33in. by 14m,; and lin. tnrn-

ing should be allowed for seams, or they will burst, however well sewn. Seams must be "strongly over-sewn,, with double thread of fine, strong string, or machined with thread in two rows of stitching close together (chain-stitch. is no good). . The mouth must be left open, and'a piece of stout string,. 2ft. long must be tied on 3in. below the mouth, I'pady. to close .the bag when filled.