"MINNIE"

Thames Star, Volume LII, Issue 13819, 8 October 1918, Page 2

"MINNIE"

A MOST EXTRAORDINARY LADY "Tlu-Tr-rofo, t'hr-r-rop; throb, murrupihy." Tliua "Minmie,"^? she , loibs heir lazy- way lo the British trenches and explodes with a dirty outburst of smoke nwl mud. Minjvie is a- 'most objectionable lady, and her on© mission in, life is \ to make things as unpleasant as she can ; forthe Allies.' eoddieira ; She is- a/firose between a shell and a tomb,v amd fe fired from a* MirienWerfer, is a. large trenicb mortar; whieni ishe is coming! towards you through, the stir sih'© resembles a barrel lobbing; alotagl. . The most objectionable thingi about her is the: fact that you can follow her flight all the way from the German lines to where she explodes: You are sitting peaceably writing 1 homiei when suddenly you hear a boom, and thie ominous "tihr-r-rob, tlir-r-roib" breaks apon> your ear. Up you> spring, to gee a black object wobbling slowly upwards. It ' haingpi for a miinutet, arid then begins ' to drop. If it Is thei first one you ' have seen you a.r& held spellbound, ' amd feel you must wait to see whea^ it drops. It grows bigigsea* and big 1- ' ger, and suddenly theire is a deep ' ©rplosion; and you n.re sanothered in mud as Minnie* burst just etiort of your parapet. INext time you are wise? and do'B&fc stop to watch thet end.of the perfoirmance. ■ Minnie crews wear a distinctive unifoa"m and badge 1, and when) we go over and get at olosei quarters with j Janry we: keep our eyes openi for Minniet-men.l. * j At last we se© two standing 1 near aim 'mertiumed moirtai", and with an eagier shout nisih. towards themi. And then;, justoas we air© aibout to exact stem reprisals for ■ our moments of anxiety on tine other sdde, up go, tibeiir hands and they cay, [ "Kainerad! Me no figjht, raei Minetniman.'' Good heavens, thfii itony 8 of it: '"'Me no fight." I Minnie is our 1 greatest annoyance a.t thia front, and many are the nngiht-raiding partiffs whic3i gw out witli the sole objeob of straffing one of these objectionable, ladies. —■ C.H.S., in tlie Daily MajJ.