bingbong Posted 4 November , 2011 Share Posted 4 November , 2011 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 More sharing options...
centurion Posted 4 November , 2011 Share Posted 4 November , 2011 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 More sharing options...
MikB Posted 4 November , 2011 Share Posted 4 November , 2011 '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 More sharing options...
Torrey McLean Posted 4 November , 2011 Share Posted 4 November , 2011 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 More sharing options...
centurion Posted 4 November , 2011 Share Posted 4 November , 2011 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 and the Grenatewerfer 15 and 16 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 More sharing options...
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