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The Seaforth News, 1942-11-26, Page 6PAGE SIX Engineers Show Skill In Bridge Building (By C. V, Charters) If I liad a job of bridge building to be dime anytime, anywhere, effic- iently and with record speed, I would call on a group of the Royal Canad- ian Engineers, It was my good fortune to see these fellows in action and doing a real construction job overseas, They work like demons. A finer body of keen, physically fit Canadians would be hard to find anywhere, besides preparing for theiropera. tional role when the Canadians go into action, the Royal Canadian En- gineers have done extensive experi- mental construction and development work since their arrival overseas. Aerodromes, camps, roads and buildings have been constructed and will remain for the use of the Imper- ial Army long after the war has been won and the Canadians returned home. Special development work on mineral resources in the 'United Kingdom has been undertaken by the Engineers and in special cases the Tunnelling Company recruited from the hard -rock miners of Northern Ontario and Manitoba—have pierced n ranite mountains to bring addition - TSE SEAFORTII NEWS Infantry,, Tanks, Guns Great Demonstration ,(By 0, VA Charters.) Midst a setting of rare photo- graphic value, but under a sullen ov- ercast sky with a gale blowing, your correspondent, under a veritable hall of 'fire, bullets, shells, mortar bombs and smoke bombs, witnessed a great demonstration of a Canadian Infan- try Brigade, with supporting arms, going into the attack to clear a pass- age for the remainder of the Divi- sion to go through. The infantry regiments of this Brigade are three well known to res- idents of Ontario. This was the Bri- gade that in June 1040 went to France, but due to conditions that prevailed there at that time, were ordered to withdraw without taking part in any engagements with the enemy. These were your boys or your neighbors. They came from London, Stratford, Orangeville,. Brampton, Oakville, Belleville, Picton, Napanee, Oshawa, Toronto, Weston and vari- ous other Ontario towns so familiar to us all, For the past three years, 'these lads have been training and thea fire has been one of his most training hard for what lays before valuable servants, cooking his daily then. And despite the boredom of food, keeping him warm and making waiting, waiting, waiting, and the , power to run his industrial 'works, natural, longing to be with their lov- Since that time, too, man has known the infantry and tanks protective cover from the left flank and to the front, while the RCAF were doing likewise on the right flank, While the forward, battalion of infantry were consolidating' their first objective, the two battalions following through pivoted right and left to reach their respective objectives and so -widen the gap created by the forward unit. During this time, the various aims of the infantry were brought into use, Bren carriers and mortar platoons doing a very effective job with the odd pill -box or machine gun nest that had been overlooked by the tanks, the mortars effectively using H.E. and smoke and the carriers do- ing a nice job with their bren guns, The entire co-ordination was par- ticularly good, but the enthusiasm and knowledge of their task, shown by the infantry, was a revelation to. this writer and to all those privileged. to witness this attack of Canada's Senior Infantry Brigade. WHEN SECONDS COUNT Civilization, it has been claimed, began when man first learned to employ fire to his advantage. Since al waterpower to munition plants, ed ones once again, these men have I fire as one of his most perilous one - The R.C.E. have also been work- steeled themselves for what is to mies, for when out of control it is ing on new, secret methods of war- come and are prepared to meet the quick to ravish his works and threat- fare. Some of their projects include: enemy on any ground, ; en or destroy his life. It has, there - new bridging equipment for river- Many Arms Take Part. I fore, been with keen interest that crossing; camps constructed in re- The infantry were supported in man has studied fire and developed cord time; development of Cornish their task by the entire Divisional ways of controlling and fighting it. tin mines; construction of strategic Artillery, a Tank Battalion, a section I Before fire can exist two conditions f En ins r • roads and by-passes; aerodrome con- o g e s, two Companies of Ma -must must be satisfied. There e struction; special water drversio a Gunners, an Anti -Tank Regi -sufficient of the inflammable .- - tunnelling; Base Ordnance Work- ment, and in theory, a squadron of ha present to allow combustion and, it with water as it does by smother - shop constructed, largest project ever the RCAF. just as important, there must be suf- ing it. undertaken by Army Engineers; Three strongly held positions of ficient air or oxygen present to sup- I It is not always possible, however, training in bomb disposal work; tun- great tactical value gave the enemy port 'combustion, By reducing the to provide running water under pros - netting and construction work in the advantage in this magnificent available amounts of 'either of these' sure for fire protection at necessary Gibraltar. show of endurance and skill by the two pre -requisites below the mini- points. For such places the "soda - The afternoon that the press party Canadian Troops. Despite very heavy mum' amounts required for combus- ' acid" type extinguisher has been de. -were privileged to visit them, a com- going, due to the recent rains and tion; fire will be extinguished. This veloped. This consists primarily of a petition hi bridge building was put the condition of the ground, and the is the., theory underlying all fire- two -gallon, tank containing -a solution on between a Field Company. from fact that several large hills had to be fighting and fire -prevention. The ease of baking soda. At the top of the tank British Columbia, commanded by surmounted, the infantry (the- P.B.I. Major T. H. Jermyn, Vancouver, re- as they were called in the last war). presenting Western Canada, and a successfully gained their objectives Field Company of Quebec command- 'and moved forward at the appointed ed by Major A. S. Rutherford, Mon- times. One haseto take a 'small part treal, representing Eastern Canada. (even as a spectator moving over the The equipment demonstrated in ground) in these manoeuvres, to ap- THURSDAY, NOVEMBER. 26, ?944 ROOM SHORTAGE AFFECTS WAR EFFORT All across Canada young men and women are going to the big industrial centres to work in munitions plants. Above are two Young lads who haven't been able to find a room. Dog-tired, they have gone to the YMCA, Already with all its rooms occupied, all its chesterfields taken„ all its mattresses used up, it offers only bench accommod- ation. "No room' here" is the reply workers like this have been getting from householder after householder as they go up and down the streets of Canada's congested areas. Yet rooms are available in many private homes and 'so the people of Canada are being asked to make accommodation available to men and who desperately need it. In congested areas today householders are urged to register voluntarily their .unoccupied rooms in order that workers may lie able to get proper sleep at night and live in decent, Comfortable surroundings. n chinmater with which a fire can be extinguished as it stands ready for use is a small depends to a great extent on how hose and suspended from the inside soon measures are taken against it. of the top is a small bottle of stu- ff a fire is caught in its initial stages phuric acid. When the. extinguisher it can usually be brought under con= is inverted, the acid and soda solu- trol with little difficulty but if there tions mix and a chemical reaction is any delay it will continue to grow, takes place liberating large quantities the bridging operations was the FBE predate just what amount of Stam- becoming increasingly difficult to of carbon dioxide gas. Trapped above (folding boat equipment, SBG i(smell ina and spirit is required to over-' check and doing greater damage: the liquid. in the tank, this gas builds box girder) pontoon equipment and come natural and man-made hazards. another new type of bridge still. on Co-ordinatdd Effort.— the secret list. The efficiency and co-ordination of Each company fielded three teams. all arms was remarkably good. Inter^ The equipment and sites were select- communication with the various units ed by draw and the race was on. was of a high calibre. Companies of The FBE bridge to be constructed the Infantry being in constant com- was 120 ft. Stores had to be laid out munication with their battalion head - with boats on shore. The bridge was quarters and the battalion headquar- judged completed when one vehicle ters in turn being in communication had crossed it. The time was taken with the Brigade Headquarters who at this point. The judges now inspec- controlled the whole effort. From ted the bridge. Tien the group which brigade headquarters via various had shown' such skill and alacrity in means, the supporting arms were di - creating this sizeable structure im- iected by the Brigadier. mediately proceeded to tear it down. Directly on the stroke of the zero The dismantling was done in the hour, the Artillery opened up a ter - same orderly and efficient manner as rifle barrage on the initial objective, the erection. When this work was to allow a troop of tanks to shepherd completed and the stores all neatly the mine clearance party of Engin- and properly laid out, the officer in eers, in two sections of carriers to charged reported to the judges. The carry out their task of clearing the total obtainable for this particular mine fields for the follow-up of tanks item on the programme was 115 and infantry. points. Churchills In Action. sight It was agrand to witness In the other event, two gaps of 64 ft. and 48 ft. Were ` successively from our vantage point. The huge bridged with SBG. Here also the two rumbling. Churchills sprayed every teams worked with clock -like preci- thing in front of them to give cover sion and accuracy. It was a great to the engineer party. The job com- show—a marvellous feat of engineer pleted, the engineers placed tapes to ing brains and physical strength. The make a safety lane for the following Eastern group from Montreal tanks and infantry. Then they Me triumphed by the narrow margin of turned to a rear position under the ten points, so the judges declared, protective care of the tanks. By now although to us laymen it looked like the next wave of tanks .(which in the a draw, so evenly did the two crews distance looked like ants crawling' finish, about) were proceeding at tank Lt. Col. D. H. Storms, M.C., of speed on to their objectives, to clear Toronto, was in charge of the Bridge out machine gun nests and any inf- building competition. Formerly with anti, obstacle that might be in the the Storms Construction Company, way. They manoeuvred about, racing he seems right at home at this type thither and yon until they reached of work. His son is Lt. Peter, also with the Engineers overseas, and his daughter, Mrs. Scandreth, is in Eng- land as a M.T.C. driver. During this very interesting after- noon with the Engineers, we were treated to other demonstrations of technical skill and physical endur- ance, It was made abundantly clear to u5 that here is a group applying brain and brawn to the task in hand, determined not to be outdone by anything the enemy may devise, but on the contrary, to outdistance him whenever and wherever possible. The spirit and sparkle of these men' was grand to behold. They fully real- ize the importance of their task. It was during this afternoon with the Engineers that our Ontario press men were privileged to meet and re- new acquaintance with Lt. Colin Campbell, R.C.E., former Ontarie Minister of Public Werks. He had just come back fromservice in Gib- raltar. While there,' he was engaged in tunnelling and providing a hospi- tal in the underground rock. the crest of the first objective. Right on their heels were the first wave of infantry,with bayonets fixed, runn- ing towards the enemy and taking cover as the necessity arose, then rising and advancing several hundred more yards. infantry Plays Its Part. During this advance of the infan try, the mortars came into play, sett ing down the smoke screens to give' •r7p r r K S C nN For many years water and inert up sufficient pressure to force out materials such as sand were man's the liquid through a hose direbtly Only weapons in.'the fight 'against onto .the,flre. This liquid acts in the fire. Because of its' abundance and same way as water to extinguish the ease of handling, water has long been fire. In some extinguishers a foaming regarded as the antidote for fire. In liquid is used in place of the soda many a town the fire brigade was solution and it is a foam which is and still is a water bucket brigade. squirted from the hose nozzle. The In recent years, however, much pro- foam composed of small bubbles of gress has been made in developing air will float on burning liquids and methods for applying greater quan- can, therefore, be used effectively on titres of water to fire. First came the oil fires. However, it is not suitable old boiler wagon, then the well-known for use on liquids, such as alcohol, hose reel used in conjunction with which are miscible with water and the street hydrants. One of the most will destroy the foam. recent developments is the "fog While water is still the most com- nozzle" which applies water not as a mon weapon for lighting fires because strong stream but as a mist_of 'very it is cheap, readily available, effic- fine droplets. This mist does not ex- fent, safe and easily handled, it has tinguish the fire as much by flooding certain disadvantages. In cold wea- ther, water fire extinguishers and water mains may freeze and so be- come useless. Frequently the dam- age caused by water used to put out a fire is greater than that caused by the fire. Also, water cannot be used on certain types of fires, For example, any attempt to pour water on a fire involving electric equipment endan- gers the operator because water is a good conductor of electricity and cases are on record where men have been electrocuted while spraying wa- ter on burning electrical equipment. For such purposes the extinguishing agent must be some material, such as carbon tetrachloride, which will not conduct electricity. So far we have dealt only with me- thods of extinguishing fires by mak- ing the burning material noninflam- mable such as by soaking it with water. In fighting certain fires this procedure cannot be followed. Burn- ing liquids, such as gasoline, cannot be extinguished by water for the li- quid may float ,on the water, con- tinuing to burn and thus spreading. the fire. There are also the vapours from the liquid to be considered. If these are present in the air in suffi- cient quantities, even if the fire is extinguished, there may be sufficient heat remaining to cause the vapors to re -ignite. Fires of this type require special treatment to reduce the sup- ply of air below the level necessary for combustion. This can be accomp- lished in two ways. The,fire may be smothered directly by covering it with inert layer of some material, which insulates it' from the atmo- sphere, such as a blanket of foam which will not be destroyed by the fire—carbon dioxide foams for ex- ample, , The second method consists of filling the atmosphere about the lire with enough gas, which will not support combustion, to dilute the ox- ygen concentration below that nec- essary for burning to continue. Car- bon dioxide, nitrogen, and even steam are used for this purpose. Many of Canada's industrial plants are prot- ected by a system of devices which will flood the atmosphere withwne of these inert gases at the first sign of fire, Extinguishers of this type are installed in all aircraft over the en- gines and in the cabin space and op- erate either automatically or by re- mote control from the nii1ot'sinstrum- ent board. Very much attracted by a bright youngster, a dear old lady said to him: "I'd give a thousand pounds to have a little boy like you for my own." "That's a lot of money, isn't it?" "Yes, but I have lots of money and no little boy." ` "Mother wouldn't let you have me for good," said the boy. Then he thought for a minute and added brightly: "But you can hold my hand for sixpence." csunter Check Books We Are Selling Quality -Books Books are Well Made,' Carbon is Clean and Copies Readily. All styles, Carbon Leaf and Black Back. Prices as Low as You Can Get Anywhere. Get our Quotation on Your Next Order. The Seaforth News SEAFORTH, ONTARIO, 'dit,fd' " ahei fi ,iwt "1411”,