SANDBAGS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 225, 11 June 1918, Page 6

SANDBAGS

. 9 THEIR UNOFFICIAL UTILITY. "Two sandbags," say the Engineers, "will revet one square foot." Having tho infantryman's heathenish outlook and disrespect, I would rather say "Two sandbags keep two feet warm." * 1 have carried bundles of sandbags. I lave lugged filled ones along mino shrifts; I have thrown wet, slippery ones on parapets; I have filled and laid them, and taught others tho mysteries of filling and' laying them (writes "H" in the ".Daily Mail"). I have curbed them—but more often I have blessed them. For of all the stores that an army possesses none is more variously useful to the infantryman—nor, thank goodness, more übiquitous—than tho sandbag. Their official' use, of course, is to be built—holding earth—into ramparts, barricades, or for revetting trenches—that is, making earth 6tand at. a steeper slope than it will stand at uYiaided in this way. Not often in Flanders afe they filled with sand. Rather do they hold clay, chalk, soil, or muddy concoctions of them all. But their unofficial .uses aro legion. Maybe I do not know them all, for when I mention that the sandbags are nearly a yard long and more than a foot widp when empty, with a string at the toji to tie them, you will readily imagine what divers roles they may play in the hands of that inventive soul, the infantryman.

First of all, he carries and stores his' rations in them, and consequently bacon and tea, both flavoured with sandbag, are not infrequent delicacies in the frontline.

"Rations" must be held to include water (lor commonly jars* arc put one in each bag and slung back and front over a lad's shoulder) and tho mail, both tunaller parcels and letters. Secondly Tommy uses the bags for warmth and clothing. They make excellent gaiters tied round his puttees j they are cosy mufflers—a bit rough, maybe; they will cover tin hats to prevent reflection, and they are sometimes us n d as rifle covets. As lining for the bottom or sides of a shelter or dug-out, or as curtains over entrances to deceive tho inquisitive eyes of prying sergeants and subalterns tney are also excellent.

Personally, I always carried two sandbags in my pack to pull over my socks to keep my feet and legs warm when going to bed in billets—in other words, Tommy's pyjamas! The way they restore warmth to chilled feet when pulled over wet boots and pattees is astonishing. Sandbags aro also useful for muffling mallets and stakes when wiring, and they have been used for carrying; Lewis gun magazines. No self-respecting fire-bay would deem itself complote without a sandbag hung up for the receipt of old tins and scraps of food. Tho war will be over, a wit has said,, when all Belgium and France has been put into sandbags. Over it assuredly will be when sandbags loso their popularity with Tommy.