![]() ![]() ![]() It was the advances of the industrial age, however, that saw the flame-thrower mature into a mass-produced weapon with accuracy, range, reliability and a high degree of operator safety. The Byzantine Empire of the early medieval period similarly combined a mysterious mix of liquids to produce ‘Greek fire’, a composition that was reputed to be inextinguishable, and greatly feared in naval battles. The blast passed into the vessel which contained burning coals and sulphur and pitch these made a huge flame, and set fire to the rampart, so that no one could remain upon it. They sawed in two and hollowed out a great beam, which they joined together again very exactly, like a flute, and hung a cauldron at one extremity by chains … inserted huge bellows into their end of the beam and blew through it. The 5th century BC Greek historian Thucydides, for example, described an elaborate device being successfully used by the Boetions to blast flames against the timber ramparts of the city walls of Deleon: Termed Flammenwerfer by the Germans, or lance-flammes by the French, the concept of hosing liquid flame onto an enemy was as old as warfare itself. So wrote Louis Barthas in his memoir of the First World War. The Germans had just fired some sort of incendiary liquid on us. And in the trench everything is on fire: blankets, tents, sandbags. At my feet two miserable creatures are rolling on the ground, their clothes, their hands, their faces on fire like human torches. I hear hissing, pattering, and alas yes, the cries of pain. The trench fills with flames, sparks, acrid smoke, it's impossible to breathe. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |