PDF Retrieved from www. The report detailed the effects of gasoline conflagration on several animal models. From their experiments, they noted several key toxicological and physiological findings. Physiological derangements noted in test animals included electrocardiographic changes such as tachycardia, inverted T-waves, a reduction in QRS voltage, and premature ventricular contractions that evolved into ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation.
Blood pressure rose initially with exposure to heat, but a terminal drop usually occurred in conjunction with respiratory failure. Although potassium levels were elevated following liberation from the affected red blood cells and were suspected to be a cause of immediate death, the potassium levels never rose to a level that was considered likely to contribute to death in the animals.
Despite this conclusion, the researchers found an overall poor correlation between cutaneous injury and physiological changes, with some of the most severe physiological derangements noted in animals with minor or no cutaneous injuries. Ultimately, the investigators concluded that rapid elevation in circulating blood temperature leading to the cessation of the cardiac function was likely the cause of immediate death following exposure to heat.
Shock was also noted to be a major contributing factor in animals who did not die immediately. Interestingly, asphyxiation and CO poisoning were believed to be less likely than heat to cause immediate or rapid fatalities. The mean concentration of CO in the atmosphere of an unventilated room after the fires had burned out was 0.
Thus, while CO exposure would likely have killed the animal if it had remained in the room for a long enough period, it was not thought to be a major contributor in these test subjects [ 14 ]. One potential criticism of studies such as those by Henriques and Moritz is that data obtained from animals may not extrapolate well to humans.
Even pig skin, which is considered very similar to human skin from an anatomical perspective, lacks the human cooling mechanism of sweating. Because the amount of caloric input to burn pig skin was between 0. While Henriques and Moritz reported the effects of heat exposure on flamethrower casualties, other investigators presented data at the symposium on contributory factors such as asphyxia, CO poisoning, and hydrocarbon vapors.
Lieutenant JG J. Seronde of the Naval Reserve Medical Corps reported on several corpses examined after flamethrower attacks during the Battle of Saipan in which respiratory injury appeared to play a significant role.
Specifically, he reported that four civilian women who had been found hiding in caves with Japanese soldiers were subjected to flamethrower attacks and had no external burns but appeared to have died as a result of respiratory failure, with postmortem exams showing evidence of inhalational injury caused by irritant substances derived from flamethrower fuels [ 16 ].
This seemed to complement findings of ventricular fibrillation in test animals that appeared secondary to hydrocarbon vapors reported by 1st Lieutenant M.
Further, some investigators reported a rapid and sudden increase in lethal CO levels detected within the bunkers, as well as dangerously low oxygen content. Furthermore, as little as 0. These studies suggested that respiratory factors were a significant contributing cause of death for those in an enclosed space under flame attack.
The findings are generally consistent with what is reported in contemporary medical literature, i. Furthermore, these studies brought attention to the effects of inhaling superheated air and smoke.
Breathing air at these temperatures results in burns of the oropharynx, leading to progressive upper airway edema and, ultimately, asphyxia.
These inhalation injuries and the rapid development of airway edema may explain the brief cries of flamethrower victims noted in the Chemical Warfare Bulletin articles.
Although airway edema and tracheitis would have significantly muffled any sounds made by the casualties, this would not have resulted in the instant, painless death proposed by some researchers.
The use of fuel thickeners, namely, napalm, in later models was also found to have increased the lethality of flamethrowers Fig. From a toxicological perspective, however, the addition of napalm-thickened fuel results in the creation of localized areas of elevated carbon dioxide levels in enclosed spaces. Furthermore, studies presented at the symposium evaluating the effects of thickened fuels showed that, even from short ranges, when compared to a liquid fuel, a larger amount of thickened fuel enters a fortified position [ 27 ].
These studies were important in shaping our modern understanding of asphyxiation, inhalational injury, and CO poisoning. Army flamethrower operator fires his M2—2 into a wall opening in Manila, Luzon, February Note the thin fire stream that indicates that napalm was added to the mixture. Ultimately, the symposium succeeded in identifying factors that were, either alone or in some combination, both known and probable contributors to death following flame attack.
Known contributors included 1 heat acting rapidly via incineration or the induction of hyperthermia or slowly through shock, various toxicities, or infection; 2 asphyxiation or carbon monoxide poisoning; and 3 pulmonary edema. Probable contributors included irritant effects from smoke and ventricular fibrillation from multiple potential sources i.
It also became clear that death, while potentially rapid, was unlikely to be instant or painless in many cases, making it difficult to perpetuate the concept of humane deaths from flame attacks. With the flamethrower reaching the pinnacle of its service life in WWII, scientific evaluation and first-person accounts of its use have allowed for a better understanding of the direct and indirect effects of flame attacks.
The physiological and toxicological effects of flame attacks on human targets are devastating and terrible. In retrospect, it is fair to say that Lt. Experts generally agreed, for example, that mortality among burn victims was variable and related to the extent and degree of burns, the age and physical condition of the victim, and whether comprehensive and rapid medical care was available. Many also believed that burn wounds were more complicated and painful than mechanical wounds considering the repeated medical and surgical interventions often required to treat severe burns.
Likewise, most agreed that asphyxiation and CO poisoning were possible when burning occurred in enclosed spaces and that both were more likely with napalm considering the large amount of oxygen consumed and CO and carbon dioxide produced by burning napalm. In the end, a number of experts at the conference concluded that incendiary weapons, including flamethrowers, cause extreme and unnecessary suffering when compared to other weapons [ 29 ].
Fire is popularly and quite logically held as one of the worst ways to die. It is not quick, the victim taking long seconds or even minutes to succumb, as the flesh, nerve, muscle and eventually organs are charred to destruction. That intelligent human beings have turned their minds to developing instruments specifically to achieve this goal represents another tragic failure in society [ 30 ].
These evolving views on flame warfare were ultimately factors considered in the U. Nevertheless, a number of other nations still stock flamethrowers in their military inventories, and there is no international law specifically banning their use in war [ 31 ]. The gross misunderstandings and mischaracterizations of flamethrowers were likely the result of a number of factors, with one possibly being an effort by the military to assuage the horror young soldiers must have felt upon hearing the screams and seeing the charred remains of enemy soldiers following flame attacks.
However, another reason was quite clear from the lack of scientific data detailing exactly how flamethrower casualties were affected by the weapon. CWS studies flame deaths. Chem Warfare Bull. Terry WK. Japs in a hole: marines mop up with flame thrower.
Google Scholar. Bostick O. Mercy killer: instant death from the flame thrower. Hobson CS. The Illustrated Manual of U. Portable Flamethrowers. Atglen: Schiffer Publishing; Porter W. Opening Remarks.
In: Symposium on the toxicological aspects of the flame hrower; Available at www. An experimental investigation of the physiological mechanisms concerned in the production of casualties by flame thrower attack: Formal progress report to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, Contract NDCrc ; Smith HW.
Opening remarks of the Chairman. The British, intrigued by the possibilities offered by flamethrowers, experimented with their own models. In readiness for the Somme offensive they constructed four sizeable models weighing two tons each , built directly into a forward trench constructed in No Man's Land a mere 60 yards from the German line.
Each was painstakingly constructed piece by piece, although two were destroyed by shellfire prior to 1 July the start of the Somme offensive.
The remaining two, each with a range of 90 yards, were put to use as planned on 1 July. Again highly effective at clearing trenches at a local level, they were of practically no wider benefit. Their use was consequently abandoned. Similarly the French developed their own portable one-man Schilt flamethrower, of a superior build to the German model. It was used in trench attacks during The Germans produced a lightweight modified version of their Flammenwerfer, the Wex , in , which had the benefit of self-igniting.
During the war the Germans launched in excess of flamethrower attacks; no numbers exist for British or French attacks. By the close of the war flamethrower use had been extended to use on tanks , a policy carried forward to World War Two.
Flame-throwing equipment, albeit somewhat refined, continues in use to the present day. Photographs courtesy of Photos of the Great War website. Blood Transfusions. Irish Independence. Guided Missiles. Vegetarian Sausages. Sun Lamps.
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