BEER BOTTLE BOMBS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 54, 5 July 1940, Page 11

BEER BOTTLE BOMBS

Written for "The Listener" by

RONALD

McINTOSH

> f HE Germans’ use of whistling bombs, no more deadly than the silent variety but calculated to inspire terror in those who hear them, recalls the strange use to which beer bottles were put in the last war by bombing squadrons of the Royal Air Force. The aviators disposed of their "empties" by the simple expedient of taking them aloft and dropping them over the German lines. The empty bottles in their fall emitted a most menacing whistle and our airmen found amusement in watching the Germans scuttling for cover as the harmless missiles hurtled earthward. A "Secret Weapon" On another occasion during the Great War bottles played an even more important role, for they held up a German advance for a whole afternoon. A squadron of British troops, upon receiving orders to retire from the village they held, decided to hoax the incoming German trcops. A number of empty beer bottles were quickly collected, filled with water, corked and placed in a neat row across the main street. Then the Tommies retired to their new position. An advanced reconnoitring party of Germans found the village deserted but the road apparently blocked by a new and secret weapon which they were careful not to approach too closely. Then the main body of the advancing Germans came up, but they too avoided approaching the row of bottles. From the far end of the street a staff conference was held and a plan was evolved to circumvent this new military strategy. The troops withdrew while a crack marksman, from the safe range of a thousand yards, exploded each of the thirty bottles with rifle fire. Beer bottles again played an important part in the Spanish Civil War. The Russian tanks in use in Spain had an Achilles heel in that, while they presented strong armour on all exposed sides, their floors were merely of wood, A beer bottle filled with inflammable liquid, set alight and thrown like a grenade proved a highly efficient antitank weapon,