THE GERMAN SNIPER

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 249, 9 July 1918, Page 6

THE GERMAN SNIPER

A LESSON FROM A BULLET FOUL PLAY IN TRENCH WARFARE . (By Lieutenant i\ J. Sloalh.) (Published by authority of the War Office, per favour of the Koyal Colonial Institute.) Tho subaltern sat down on the fircstep and scraped tho dirt out of his eyes. Ho did it mechanically, conscious only of tho irritation which tho dirt caused him, his muscles involuntarily reacting in response.. But once ho had cleared nvrav the smarting particles, his mind at onco" became cognisant of the situation, and he found himself quivering .ill over with the prickling sensation down the spine which comes from shock or sudden fear. He had l»eu looking over the parapet through his poriscopo at tho German lines. Being new to the trenches, he had exposed too groat a length of the periscope, with consequences easily understood by anyone with a knowledge of the extent lo which observation is carried out to-day by both sides. "Phut!" had come a bullet. A sandbag shook as though deal'c a blow by a hammer. Ituui a point four inches above his head a torrent of earth deluged into his face, sending him blinded and dazed to the firestep, oblivious to everything save the pain of his eyes and ruffled skin. In a few seconds he recovered himself, and he looked up at the parapet to sec what had happened The top sandbag above his head was missing. It lay at his feet in the bottom of the trench. There was something curious about that sandbag. He knew that a bullet had struck it. But no cleanly drilled hole was showing in its texture. The sandbag was split in halves, a huge gout of earth and fabric being lorn bodily out of its centre. The 'gout lay the other side of the trench awav from the two nain portions. He" picked it up ana examined it carefully. Ilia fingers scraped against a jagged pie-? 3 of, metal—the bullet- But such' a bullet! He recognised it .only by tho broken nickel casing. / It had flattened out into thin ragged splinters radiating from a central point, which had then been crumpled'*and pressed and twisted into every sort of curve and angle, as though'a child had taken a many-bladed toy propeller, and vented his childish spleen by bending and stamp* ing on its tiny blades. "Pretty specimen, isn't it?" Looking up, the subaltern saw the battalion sniper officer who had come up unnoticed while ho had been immersed in his investigations. The newcomer had been a sniper officer almost from tho time when such beings became recognised in the British Army.- Humour whispered that he had steadfastly refused to leave his unit to take either a company command, or the adjutancy of the battalion, though tho latter had been pressed on bin: .more than once. It also added more vaguely a hint that his brother _had been sniped under particularly brutal circumstances. Certainly tho'basiness l; ko zeal with which he pursued his vocation lent colour to the report, and the quiet dignity of his manner also bespoko the man who had suf- | fered. His face wore a still graver look as ho addressed the subaltern. "Never put a periscope more than a clear inch or two. above the parapet," he said. "If you hold it up further a Boche sniper may see it, and try a shot at you through the parapet. You had your head only'just under cover just now. An inch or so higher, and ho would have got you. One is apt to forgot at first that the top layer of a parapef' is not bullet proof to a bullet striking ''own on it in a slanting direction." Ho picked up the splintered bullet and examined it with the casual air of ono to whom the sight is quito familiar. "Had that sandbag been your head, what do you think you would bo looking like now?'-' he queried grimly. "But how did the bullet .break up in such a fashion P" asked the subaltern. "Don't you know? Cpmo down to the supports and .1 will show you. It will be a lesson which I don't think you will forget very easily." The supports lay in a wood-screened hollow, and here tho sniping officer had built himself a dug-out. Hence ho produced a captured German sniping riflo and some loose German cartridges. The subaltern examined the6e cartridges with a growing comprehension. In each one of them the bullet hud been taken out and replaced point inwards, leaving only a/quarter of an inch of tho butt showabove the cartridge case rim. Across the hollow butt surface wore cut several diametrical indentations. "These are hand converted," said the sniper officer. "It is only/one method of producing tho same result. This has the advantage of giving (ho bullet j 6tream-line forma'.ion. But not everyone can do it properly. It requires skill and a fair amount of practice to make the change without reducing too greatly the initio,): propulsive efficiency of. thf bullet. I always think that the mer ■who do this have been at the gam© foi a very long time. Watch what hap pens." Ho loaded tho rifle and aimed at a sandbag bring loosely on top of a pari of the support line. With the repor of the shot the subaltern saw the targe 1 leap into the air amid a spurt of soil a; though' struok a blow by a mighty ham mer. He started eagerly forward t( examine the result. A couplo of yards away from its former position laj the sandbag, split in halves, a huge goul of earth and fabric torn bodily out of its centre. And in amongst the earth o the gout his fingers came in contac with a jagged piece of metal, with raged splinter's radiating from a central point crumpled and pressed and twisted int( everv sort of curve and angle.