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would ineffectually fire its contents only a few feet into the air in a cone-shaped pattern (while the casing itself remained intact). However, the reduced area of effect of shrapnel shells can be exploited, such as in the creeping barrage tactics of World War I, where shrapnel shells were able to be used much closer to friendly infantry than HE shells could.
204:, chin chih, scallion juice, and heat them so as to coat a lot of iron pellets and bits of broken porcelain. Then fill in (with a gunpowder core) to a case of cast iron making a fragmentation bomb. When it bursts, it breaks into pieces that wound the skin and break the bones (of enemy soldiers) and blinds their eyes.
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One easy comparison between fragmenting HE and shrapnel shells would be to imagine a shell of each type standing stationary and base-first on the ground; a high-explosive shell would be equally lethal if detonated in this state vs. detonating on impact after being fired, whereas a shrapnel shell
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that shatters the entire shell casing into many fragments that fly in all directions. The use of high explosives with a fragmenting case improves efficiency as well as propelling a larger number of fragments at a higher velocity over a much wider area (40 to 60 times the diameter of the shell),
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was the first major conflict in which HE shells were the dominant form of artillery; the failure to adapt infantry tactics to the massive increase in lethality they produced was a major element in producing the ghastly subterranean
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for these pieces is "fragments” (nicknamed “splinters” or “shards”). Preformed fragments can be of various shapes (spheres, cubes, rods, etc.) and sizes, and are normally held rigidly within some form of matrix or body until the
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In contrast, a high-explosive shell contains a relatively large and energetic secondary charge of high explosive (known as a burster charge) which, when ignited by the fuse, produces a powerful supersonic
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This article is about casing fragmentation of explosive weaponry. For the internally held projectiles delivered by anti-personnel artillery, see
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matrix, with a small explosive charge at the base of the shell. When the projectile is fired, it travels a pre-set distance along a
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The term "shrapnel" is commonly, although incorrectly from a technical standpoint, used to refer to fragments produced by
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giving high-explosive shells a vastly superior battlefield lethality that was largely impossible before the
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The New
Weapons of the World Encyclopedia: An International Encyclopedia from 5000 B.C. to the 21st Century
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U.S. War
Department Technical Manual 9-1900 ‘'Ammunition, General'’. 18 June 1945. p. 106. Available:
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Grenade fragments in the soft tissue of the lower leg (along with an old fracture of the fibula)
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A shrapnel shell consists of a shell casing filled with steel or lead balls suspended in a
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The use of fragmentation in bombs dates to the 14th century, and appears in the
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An illustration of a fragmentation bomb from the 14th century Ming
Dynasty text
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What forensic conclusions can be drawn from the analysis of shell fragments:
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These casing pieces are often incorrectly referred to as "
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Explosive weapon that inflicts injury through fragments
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Difference between fragmentation and shrapnel shells
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580:Gunpowder
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456:Archived
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367:Gulf War
207:—
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166:History
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102:, or
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