Beyond the burn: Studies on the physiological effects of flamethrowers during World War II

David W. Van Wyck

doi:10.1186/s40779-020-00237-9

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Beyond the burn: Studies on the physiological effects of flamethrowers during World War II

PERSPECTIVE | Updated：2023-06-05

- Beyond the burn: Studies on the physiological effects of flamethrowers during World War II
- Military Medical Research Vol. 7, Issue 3, Pages: 303-311(2020)
- Affiliations：
  
  4/3 SFG (A) Bldg Z-4157 South Post Rd, Fort Bragg, NC 28310, USA
- Author bio：
  
  david.vanwyck@socom.mil
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1186/s40779-020-00237-9
  CLC：
- Published：2020-09
- Accepted：
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Van Wyck: Beyond the burn: Studies on the physiological effects of flamethrowers during World War II. Mil Med Res, 2020, 7: 8
DOI：

Van Wyck: Beyond the burn: Studies on the physiological effects of flamethrowers during World War II. Mil Med Res, 2020, 7: 8 DOI： 10.1186/s40779-020-00237-9.

摘要

Abstract

Flamethrowers are widely considered one of warfare's most controversial weapons and are capable of inflicting gruesome physical injuries and intense psychological trauma. Despite being the last of the major combatants in World War II (WWII) to develop them

the U.S. military quickly became the most frequent and adept operator of portable flamethrowers. This gave the U.S. military ample opportunity to observe the effects of flamethrowers on enemy soldiers. However

while most people in modern times would consider immolation by flamethrower to be an unnecessarily painful and inhumane way to inflict casualties

immolation was

at one point during WWII

referred to as "mercy killing" by the U.S. Chemical Warfare Service (CWS). This mischaracterization arose from a series of first-hand accounts describing what were believed to be quick

painless

and unmarred deaths

as well as from a poor and incomplete understanding of flamethrower lethality. As a result

indirect mechanisms such as hypoxia and carbon monoxide poisoning were generally absent from accounts of the flamethrower's fatal effects. It was not until several years after flamethrowers were introduced to the frontlines that the CWS and National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) conducted a series of tests to better understand the physiological and toxicological effects of flamethrowers. This article examines how the initial absence of scientific data on the physiologic effects of flamethrowers led to an inaccurate understanding of their lethality

and bizarre claims that one of history's most horrific instruments of war was considered one of the more "humane" weapons on the battlefield.

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references

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