1916 Grenade Jam Tin Londres
English Translation
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When the ANZACs landed there on 25 April 1915, they expected a quick advance to Constantinople [Istanbul] so did not carry the equipment or supplies they needed for trench warfare. Although supplies were brought in throughout the campaign by boat, these could be delayed or destroyed through bad weather or Turkish shelling, so the soldiers at Gallipoli had to be industrious and inventive. They made weapons, equipment, board games and stationary from the items they found around them.[Two soldiers sit beside a pile of empty tins cutting up barbed wire for jam tin bombs.] Two soldiers sit beside a pile of empty tins cutting up barbed wire for jam tin bombs.
The most famous example of improvisation at Gallipoli was the ‘jam tin’ bomb. The Gallipoli campaign was regarded as a ‘sideshow’ and did not receive the number of grenades, or ‘bombs’, needed. The soldiers turned to the piles of tin cans and shrapnel around them to create the weapons they needed.
A ‘bomb factory’ was established above ANZAC Beach in May, by June it was producing over 200 bombs a day. On 7 August alone, 54 men worked to make the hundreds of bombs for the fighting at Lone Pine.Old tins were filled with explosives and pieces of shrapnel; including nails, small pieces of shells and cut up scraps of barbed wire. The more elaborate versions used a second, smaller, tin to create a separate inner chamber that held the explosives with the shrapnel placed around it.
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