Shrapnel Soup Anyone?

[michaeldr]

The following quote is from an account written in 1916 by Col. A. C. Fergusson who commanded the 21 (Kohat) Mountain Battery at Gallipoli [on account of their difficulty in pronouncing his surname his Indian troops referred to him as 'Percussion Sahib'] and which appeared in the Winter 1997 edition no. 85 of 'The Gallipolian.'

"After a bit we made our own How(itzer), first by cutting down full charges for the gun, and later by using Star Shell charges. Of course we had no Range Tables for this and it was all guess work, and like so many makeshifts at the commencement of the War, a disgrace to the nation to send men to do jobs improperly equipped. Another disgrace was that our shrapnel shell broke up so badly that we had to boil them before using. This to my personal knowledge had been represented frequently since the Tirah Show in 1897, but nothing had been done."

i) What does the Colonel mean by "our shrapnel shell broke up so badly"?

ii) What possible benefit could accrue by boiling them?

iii) How do you boil a shell?

Regards

Michael D. R.

[Geoff Parker]

Michael

Just a guess but I would assume that "broke up so badly" means that the

sharpnel balls did not disperse properly upon detonation. The sharpnel balls

are held in situ by a resin compound of some description and as these shells

were likely manufacturered in India it is possible that the incorrect compound

was used and instead of the detonation scattering the balls they broke up in

chunks still attached to the compound, thereby doing less damage.

I would go on to assume that boiling the shells prior to firing liquidised the

compound so that shrapnel balls would disperse correctly on detonation. How

they would go about boiling the shells god only knows, possibly by pouring boiling

water over them, I certainly would not want to be around if they just threw them

into boiling water.

Geoff

[michaeldr]

Thanks for your thoughts on this one Geoff

The idea of standing any where close to a boiling cauldron full of shrapnel shells does not appeal to me either. I think that your idea of pouring boiling water over them sounds more likely. However its still not a comfortable thought to a one-time infantry man, but then what do we know

Thanks again

Michael D.R.