Jump to content
The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

poison darts ?


bingbong

Recommended Posts

i am currently reading " Passchendaele , the story behind the tragic victory " by Phillip Warner and on page 89 he quotes Hugh Quigley ( 12th Royal Scots , 9th Div ) :-

" Besides the shells there were " flying darts ", gaudy red things with a long flanged tail to balance ( the slightest wound from them is deadly , owing to their being poisoned )

i am aware of darts being dropped by aeroplanes but not poison tipped . Can anyone verify this ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i am aware of darts being dropped by aeroplanes but not poison tipped . Can anyone verify this ?

Flechettes had long been out of use by 3rd Ypres. These were in any case either natural metal or painted black

The use of poisoned weapons was a definite no no under various international conventions, had the Germans been using them I'm sure there would have been a substantial outcry and we would see many more accounts than this. I'm also puzzled by "gaudy red things" - if you were going to used poisoned darts you'd presumably want to make them more difficult for your target to see.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

'Poisoned projectile' legends often originate with dirty storage conditions for the weapons during manufacture and distribution, so that wounds introduce infections that were hard to treat before the days of antibiotics.

Nevertheless both sides seem to have managed to justify to themselves the use of gas...

Regards,

MikB

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i am currently reading " Passchendaele , the story behind the tragic victory " by Phillip Warner and on page 89 he quotes Hugh Quigley ( 12th Royal Scots , 9th Div ) :-

" Besides the shells there were " flying darts ", gaudy red things with a long flanged tail to balance ( the slightest wound from them is deadly , owing to their being poisoned )

i am aware of darts being dropped by aeroplanes but not poison tipped . Can anyone verify this ?

Hello - He is referring to Granatenwerfer 16 projectiles, which were referred to as "flying darts" by many British. Some of the projectiles had red paint on them; they were not poisoned. Quigley's book has an illustration of one. I hope that this information helps. Regards, Torrey

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello - He is referring to Granatenwerfer 16 projectiles, which were referred to as "flying darts" by many British. Some of the projectiles had red paint on them; they were not poisoned. Quigley's book has an illustration of one. I hope that this information helps. Regards, Torrey

In fact bombs from the Priestewerfer

post-9885-0-42385400-1320408539.jpg

and the Grenatewerfer 15 and 16

post-9885-0-68886200-1320408461.jpeg

Were often referred to as aerial darts by British soldiers - never seen them called flying darts before although I have seen them called fat darts

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...