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Concussion Mines And Gas Shells

Heroes Remember - The First World War

Concussion Mines And Gas Shells

Transcript
I'd say it was, the Hindenburg because it was a real heavy, heavy built line, you know, lots of guns and everything like that they had. You didn't know when there was going to be a gun pointed at ya and dugouts, the dugouts was there, quite a bit, a few dugouts and every once in a while you'd see somebody pop up out of the dugout. The Germans, they'd shove a mine down and that would explode, that would bring them out and usually they got out of the dugout alright but they was done, they couldn't do anything else, they'd just come out of the trench, come out of the dugout and drop on the trench and then they would swell right up. This mine would go off, you know, and explode and kill them. But they would get, they would have enough strength to get up out of the dugout and get away from the next one. This was all in that, in this run from the Hindenburg line right through. Long towards the end of it there, the shelling was terrible. That's all you got was shelling and gas, I got an awful mess of gas, you see. They would, a bunch of shells that hit you, gas shells, you didn't know what was gas shells. The first thing you know would be a couple of gas shells and you didn't have your gas mask on. You had to stop, put your gas mask on. You would get a mouth full, three or four mouth fulls of nice, beautiful gas and that wasn't very good.
Description

Mr. McLeod describes two devastating weapons he witnessed at the Hindenburg Line and afterward. The British used concussion mines which caused their German victims to bloat and die. For their part, the Germans delivered mustard gas via artillery shells.

Russell McLeod

Russell McLeod was born on October 9, 1899 in Liverpool, Nova Scotia. His father was a fisherman, and prior to his enlistment, they fished together. Mr. McLeod joined the 219th Battalion in 1916 and trained at Camp Aldershot, Nova Scotia. He was sent overseas that fall, and joined the 25th Battalion in France. He served during Canada's 'Last Hundred Days', seeing action at the Hindenburg Line, Cambrai and Mons. After the armistice, he served as a member of the Occupation Army in Germany.

Meta Data
Medium:
Video
Owner:
Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:
1:53
Person Interviewed:
Russell McLeod
War, Conflict or Mission:
First World War
Battle/Campaign:
Hindenburg Line
Branch:
Army
Occupation:
Signaller

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