Napalm

An Ecuadorian Air Force IAI Kfir airplane drops napalm on a target during "Blue Horizon", a US–Ecuador joint military exercise in 1985.

Napalm is a mixture of a gelling agent and either gasoline (petrol) or a similar fuel. It was initially used as an incendiary device against buildings and later primarily as an anti-personnel weapon, as it sticks to skin and causes severe burns when on fire. Napalm was developed in 1942 in a secret laboratory at Harvard University, by a team led by chemist Louis Fieser under the United States Chemical Warfare Service.^[1] Its first recorded use was in the European theatre of war during World War II. It was used extensively by the US in incendiary attacks on Japanese cities in World War II as well as during the Korean War and Vietnam War as well Iraq War and War in Afghanistan.

"Napalm" is a portmanteau of the names of two of the constituents of the thickening and gelling agent: co-precipitated aluminium salts of naphthenic and palmitic acids.^[2] Napalm B is the more modern version of napalm and, although distinctly different in its chemical composition, is often referred to simply as "napalm".^[3]

Forms[edit]

Napalm was used in flamethrowers, bombs and tanks in World War II. It is believed to have been formulated to burn at a specific rate and to adhere to surfaces to increase its stopping power. During combustion, napalm rapidly deoxygenates the available air and generates large amounts of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide.^[3]

Alternative compositions exist for different uses, e.g. triethylaluminium, a pyrophoric compound that aids ignition.

Development[edit]

Use of fire in warfare has a long history. Greek fire, also described as "sticky fire" (πῦρ κολλητικόν, pýr kolletikón), is believed to have had a petroleum base. The development of napalm was precipitated by the use of jellied gasoline mixtures by the Allied forces during World War II.^[3] Latex, used in these early forms of incendiary devices, became scarce, since natural rubber was almost impossible to obtain after the Japanese army captured the rubber plantations in Malaya, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand.

This shortage of natural rubber prompted chemists at US companies such as DuPont and Standard Oil, and researchers at Harvard University, to develop factory-made alternatives—artificial rubber for all uses, including vehicle tires, tank tracks, gaskets, hoses, medical supplies and rain clothing. A team of chemists led by Louis Fieser at Harvard University was the first to develop synthetic napalm, during 1942.^[4] "The production of napalm was first entrusted to Nuodex Products, and by the middle of April 1942 they had developed a brown, dry powder that was not sticky by itself, but when mixed with gasoline turned into an extremely sticky and inflammable substance." One of Fieser's colleagues suggested adding phosphorus to the mix which increased the "ability to penetrate deeply...into the musculature, where it would continue to burn day after day."^[5]

On 4 July 1942, the first test occurred on the football field near the Harvard Business School.^[5] Tests under operational conditions were carried out at Jefferson Proving Ground on condemned farm buildings, and subsequently at Dugway Proving Ground on buildings designed and constructed to represent those to be found in German and Japanese towns.^[6][7] This new mixture of chemicals was widely used in the Second World War in incendiary bombs and in flamethrowers.

From 1965 to 1969, the Dow Chemical Company manufactured napalm B for the American armed forces.^[8] After news reports of napalm B's deadly and disfiguring effects were published, Dow Chemical experienced boycotts of its products, and its recruiters for new chemists, chemical engineers, etc., graduating from college were subject to campus boycotts and protests^[9][10]. The management of the company decided that its "first obligation was the government." Meanwhile, napalm B became a symbol for the Vietnam War.^[11]

Military use[edit]

Results of a napalm strike by the Aviation navale on suspected Viet Minh positions during the First Indochina War, December 1953.

Napalm was first employed in incendiary bombs and went on to be used as fuel for flamethrowers.^[12]

The first recorded strategic use of napalm incendiary bombs occurred in an attack by the US Army Air Force on Berlin on 6 March 1944, using American AN-M76 incendiary bombs with PT-1 (Pyrogel) filler.^[13][14] The first known tactical use by the USAAF was by the 368th Fighter Group, 9th Air Force Northeast of Compeigne, France 27 May 1944 (368th Fighter Group AFRHA History Documents) and the British De Havilland Mosquito FB Mk.VIs of No. 140 Wing RAF, Second Tactical Air Force on 14 July 1944, which also employed the AN-M76 incendiary in a reprisal attack on the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division „Götz von Berlichingen“ in Bonneuil-Matours. Soldiers of this Waffen SS unit had captured and then killed a British SAS prisoner-of-war, Lt. Tomos Stephens, taking part in Operation Bulbasket, and seven local Resistance fighters. Although it was not known at the time of the air strike, 31 other POWs from the same SAS unit, and an American airman who had joined up with the SAS unit, had also been executed.^[15]

Further use of napalm by American forces occurred in the Pacific theater of operations, where in 1944 and 1945, napalm was used as a tactical weapon against Japanese bunkers, pillboxes, tunnels, and other fortifications, especially on Saipan, Iwo Jima, the Philippines, and Okinawa, where deeply dug-in Japanese troops refused to surrender. Napalm bombs were dropped by aviators of the U.S. Navy, the United States Army Air Forces, and the U.S. Marine Corps in support of ground troops.^{[citation needed]}

Then, when the U.S. Army Air Forces on the Marianas Islands ran out of conventional thermite incendiary bombs for their B-29 Superfortresses to drop on Japanese cities, its top commanders, such as General Curtis LeMay, used napalm bombs to continue fire raids on the large Japanese cities.^[16]

In the European Theater of Operations napalm was used by American forces^[17] in the siege of La Rochelle in April 1945 against German soldiers (and inadvertently French civilians in Royan) – about two weeks before the end of the war.^[18]

Napalm B was also used during the Greek Civil War between the national army of Greece and the Democratic Army of Greece (Greek: Δημοκρατικός Στρατός Ελλάδας, DSE (ΔΣΕ)). During 1949, the last year of the war, the United States increased its military aid to the Greek Government by introducing a new weapon to finish off the war: napalm B. The first napalm attack in Greece took place on the mountain of Grammos, which was the stronghold of DSE.^{[citation needed]}

Riverboat of the U.S. Brown-water navy deploying an ignited napalm mixture from a riverboat-mounted flamethrower in Vietnam.

Napalm was also widely used by the United States during the Korean War.^[3] These ground forces in North Korea were outnumbered at points of defense by Chinese and North Koreans, but the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy naval aviators had control of the air over nearly all of the Korean Peninsula. Hence, close air support of the ground troops along the border between North Korea and South Korea was vital, and the American and other U.N. aviators used napalm B for attacks in North Korea. Napalm was used most notably during the battle "Outpost Harry" in South Korea during the night of June 10–11, 1953.^{[citation needed]} Eighth Army chemical officer Donald Bode reported that on an "average good day" UN pilots used 70,000 gallons of napalm, with approximately 60,000 gallons of this thrown by US forces.^[19] In John Ford's 1951 documentary, This is Korea, footage of napalm deployment is accompanied by a voice-over by John Wayne saying, "Burn 'em out, cook 'em, fry 'em"; the New York Herald Tribune hailed "Napalm, the No. 1 Weapon in Korea".^[20] Winston Churchill, among others, criticized American use of napalm in Korea, calling it "very cruel", as the US/UN forces, he said, were "splashing it all over the civilian population", "tortur[ing] great masses of people". The American official who took this statement declined to publicize it.^[21]

Napalm became an intrinsic element of U.S. military action during the Vietnam War as forces made increasing use of it for its tactical and psychological effects.^{[citation needed]} Reportedly about 388,000 tons of U.S. napalm bombs were dropped in the region between 1963 and 1973, compared to 32,357 tons used over three years in the Korean War, and 16,500 tons dropped on Japan in 1945.^[1] The U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy used napalm with great effect against all kinds of targets, such as troops, tanks, buildings, jungles, and even railroad tunnels. The effect was not always purely physical as napalm had psychological effects on the enemy as well.^[22]

A variant of napalm was produced in Rhodesia for a type of ordnance known as Frantan between 1968 and 1978 and was deployed extensively by the Rhodesian Air Force during that country's bush war.^[23] In May 1978, Herbert Ushewokunze, minister of health for the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) produced photographic evidence of purported civilian victims of Rhodesian napalm strikes, which he circulated during a tour of the US.^[23] The government of Mozambique and the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) also issued claims at around the same time that napalm strikes against guerrilla targets had become a common feature in Rhodesian military operations both at home and abroad.^[23]

The South African Air Force frequently deployed napalm from Atlas Impala strike aircraft during raids on guerrilla bases in Angola during the South African Border War.^[24]

Other instances of napalm's use include by France during the First Indochina War (1946–1954), the Algerian War (1954–1962),^[25] the Portuguese Colonial War (1961–1974), the Six-Day War by Israel (1967), in Nigeria (1969), India and Pakistan (1965 and 1971), Egypt (1973), by Morocco during the Western Sahara War (1975–1991), by Argentina (1982), by Iran (1980–88), by Iraq (1980–88, 1991), by Angola during the Angolan Civil War, and Yugoslavia (1991–1996).^[3][26]

Effects on people[edit]

"Napalm is the most terrible pain you can imagine," said Kim Phúc, a napalm bombing survivor known from a famous Vietnam War photograph. "Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius (212°F). Napalm generates temperatures of 800 to 1,200 degrees Celsius (1,500–2,200°F)."^[27]

When used as a part of an incendiary weapon, napalm can cause severe burns (ranging from superficial to subdermal), asphyxiation, unconsciousness, and death. In this implementation, napalm fires can create an atmosphere of greater than 20% carbon monoxide^[3] and firestorms with self-perpetuating winds of up to 70 miles per hour (110 km/h). One of the main anti-personnel features of napalm is that it sticks to human skin, with no practical method for removal of the burning substance.

Napalm is effective against dug-in enemy personnel. The burning incendiary composition flows into foxholes, trenches and bunkers, and drainage and irrigation ditches and other improvised troop shelters. Even people in undamaged shelters can be killed by hyperthermia, radiant heat, dehydration, asphyxiation, smoke exposure, or carbon monoxide poisoning.^[28]

One firebomb released from a low-flying plane can damage an area of 2,500 square yards (2,100 m²).^[28]

International law[edit]

International law does not specifically prohibit the use of napalm or other incendiaries against military targets,^[27] but use against civilian populations was banned by the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) in 1980.^[29] Protocol III of the CCW restricts the use of all incendiary weapons, but a number of countries have not acceded to all of the protocols of the CCW. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), countries are considered a party to the convention, which entered into force as international law in December 1983, as long as they ratify at least two of the five protocols. Approximately 25 years after the General Assembly adopted it, the United States signed it on January 21, 2009, President Barack Obama's first full day in office.^[30][31] Its ratification, however, is subject to a reservation that says that the treaty can be ignored if it would save civilian lives.^[31]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• Neer, Robert M. (2013). Napalm: An American Biography Belknap Press ISBN 978-0-674-07301-2

External links[edit]

Look up napalm in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Napalm.

• Hawker Tempest WW II testing including Napalm dropping on YouTube