EXPLOSIVE POSSIBILITIES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 181, 17 November 1941, Page 3

EXPLOSIVE POSSIBILITIES

FIRST IN AND LAST OUT

TASK OF THE ENGINEERS

Cairo, Octobcr 11

Sitting astride a Bangalore torpedo as the stockj' little truck lurched round a bend in the road, the New Zealand engineer grasped the metal piping to; hold his balance. As the truck straightened out its course-, the long steel shaft, bung-full of explosives, slipped from its moorings and, rolling swiftly, clattered to the floor, depositing the soldier in a heap on top. Unshaken, bitt a little out of sorts, the sapper scrambled to lios feet and threw the tube into its original position. Sitting across it, he stuck his feet on a large box of gelignite and commenced throwing pebbles at a rifle in the far corncr.

It is that utter indifference to the explosive possibilities of the material they handle every day that always has and always will make, the army engineer an enigma to the layman and even to men in the ranks of more orthodox units. Yet that indifference is probably more apparent than real. Expert training lias given the sapper a knowledge of his engines of destruction that almost eliminates chance. Everything is worked out in feet per second, and when necessary down to the smallest fraction. When the same sapper who appeared so undisturbed about rolling about the fleer of a truck 'lasping a Bangalore torpedo filled with enough explosive to blow the whole vehicle into fragments, rammed the same torpedo into a nest of barbed wire entanglements and lit the fuse, he knew he had exactly two minutes to clear the 250 yards back to the comparatively safety of a slit trench. That was, of course. If nothing went wrong. Happily nothing did. In fact, nothing c\er seems to go wrong with an engineer's plans, which is, of course 1 , just as well. Training operations with Bangalore torpedoes arc common phases of an engineer's life. Generally there arc several platoons of infantry awaiting the signal to charge through the. opening as -the explosion sends n shower of wire and steel flying over the escarpment,. Racing across the desert, they raise a following cloud of sand and rend the air with blood-curdling cries as they sweep towards the breach. These charges are, of course, always successful — and no casualties.

Modern warfare has made the joy of the engineer ever more hazardous than before. '"First in and last out" has assumed a much grimmer meaning in these days of tanks and rapid transport. In the three 1 campaigns which New Zealand engineers have taken part, they have

proved, however, that despite the greatly increased danger, they havu been able to make an indispensable contribution to the general effort, whether advancing or retiring.