BOOBY TRAPS

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 May 1931, Page 8

BOOBY TRAPS

AN UNSOLVED MYSTERY A Vdry peculiar practice, developed to the status of a fine art by the German during the war, was the unfriendly habit of leaving elaborate booby-traps 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 were 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 'ds to be almost incredible. As a bpmbihg officer, Kennedy had the doubtful privilege of examining many'of these devices with the object, of rendering them harm less. The occupation had the. merit of excitement, and wop, for the bombing fraternity the designation of tire ‘Suicide Club.” One seldom sought election tq the select circle; membership was usually thrust on one. Casualties were frequent, and usually were; of such a nature that burial was unnecessary—indeed, impossible—fori there was rarely enough left of the, victim to permit of identification. On! one occasion in a dim cellar near: Peronne Cathedral the British tfobps! discovered a grim tableau after dis-’ lodging the Germans. At first glance; it appeared to be the body of a pri-; vate soldier who had been brutally murdered. The man had been forced over a table and a bayonet had been' driven through his body. Blood,, afterwards found to be varnish, formed gruesome pools that gave a touch of realism to the scene. The “corpse,” however, proved to 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.

Early in 1918 Captain Kennedy was called upon to investigate an extraordinary incident which was never properly cleared up. On ground which the Germans had taken from the British, and from which they were subsequently forced, a report was inade 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 ing the inscription,. “To the memory of an unknown British officer.” Beside this was another, open and ready for filling. Close to it lay the body of a tall British soldier, lying face down on a stretcher, It was fopnd 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 there by the German advance troops, and for some obscure reason left “in the middle of nowhere.” It is absurd to suggest that sjidh 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 ip, 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 fpr 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.