White phosphorus weapon: Encyclopedia II - White phosphorus weapon - History

White phosphorus weapon - History

WP is believed to have been first used by Fenian arsonists in the 19th century in the form of a solution of WP in carbon disulfide. When the carbon disulfide evaporated, the WP would burst into flames, and probably also ignite the highly flammable carbon disulfide fumes. This mixture was known as "Fenian fire" and allegedly was also used by I.W.W. activists in the early 20th century.

Britain's army introduced its first factory-built WP grenades in late 1916. In World War II, white phosphorus mortar bombs, shells, rockets and grenades were used extensively by American, Commonwealth, and to a lesser extent Japanese forces, as well, in both the smoke-generating and antipersonnel roles. At the start of the Normandy campaign, 20% of American 81mm mortar rounds were WP. At least five American Medal of Honor citations mention their recipients using white phosphorus grenades to clear enemy positions. In the 1944 liberation of Cherbourg alone, a single U.S. mortar battalion, the 87th, fired 11,899 white phosphorus rounds into the city.

In 1940, when the invasion of Britain seemed imminent, the phosphorus firm of Albright and Wilson suggested that the British government use a material similar to Fenian fire in several expedient incendiary weapons. The only one fielded was the Grenade, No. 76 or Special Incendiary Phosphorus grenade, which consisted of a glass bottle filled with a mixture similar to Fenian fire, plus some latex (c.f. Molotov cocktail, Greek fire). It came in two versions, one with a red cap intended to be thrown by hand, and a slightly stronger bottle with a green cap, intended to be launched from the Northover projector (a crude 2.5 inch blackpowder grenade launcher). Instructions on each crate of SIP grenades included the observations, inter alia:

It was generally regarded as overly dangerous to its own operators.

WP munitions were also used extensively by both sides in the Korean War and again in Vietnam. According to GlobalSecurity.org, "In the December 1994 battle for Grozny in Chechnya, every fourth or fifth Russian artillery or mortar round fired was a smoke or white phosphorus round."

White phosphorus weapon - Disposal at sea

Following World War II, the United States disposed of tons of white phosphorus munitions by dumping them into the ocean. In 1989, the Army Chemical Materials Agency prepared a report entitled Summary of Some Chemical Munitions Sea Dumps by the United States which detailed the history of dumping incidents for weapons that included mustard gas, lewisite, cyanide and white phosphorus.^{[citation needed]} In 2001, another report, entitled Offshore disposal of chemical agents and weapons conducted by the United States, corroborated the dumping.^{[citation needed]} Other countries have also dumped white phosphorus at sea.^{[citation needed]}

White phosphorus weapon - Use in Iraq

There are at least four cases in which white phosphorus (WP) has reportedly been used as an antipersonnel weapon in Iraq:

• March 1988: According to an undated ANSA article quoted by the RAI documentary, White phosphorus was used by Saddam Hussein during the Halabja poison gas attack: (transl.) "On the morning of March 16, 1988, the Iraqi aerial forces bombed several times the city with a chemical cocktail of nerve agents: yperite, tabun, VX, napalm and white phosphorus." WP use had not been previously mentioned in other reports on Halabja. [18]

• February 1991: The Iraqi military itself was accused of using WP as a chemical weapon against both combatants and non-combatants.

• April 2004: In the first major US assault on Fallujah after the fall of Saddam Hussein's government, Darrin Mortenson of the North County Times in California reported that WP was used as a weapon. Embedded with the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, Mortenson described one marine, a Cpl. Bogert, and his mortar team in action:

London's Guardian newspaper among others, reported that the US military refused to allow many civilians to flee the city before the assault:

• November 2004: During Operation Phantom Fury (the second major assault on Fallujah), Washington Post reporters embedded with Task Force 2-2, Regimental Combat Team 7, wrote on November 9 2004 that "Some artillery guns fired white phosphorous rounds that create a screen of fire that cannot be extinguished with water." ^[21]

This claim was also confirmed by members of the US military itself in the March-April 2005 issue of Field Artillery, a journal published by the US Department of Defense. The article, titled "TF 2-2 in FSE AAR: Indirect Fires in the Battle for Fallujah":

Fallujah: The Hidden Massacre, a film documentary by Sigfrido Ranucci diffused on Italy's RaiNews24 on November 8, 2005, claimed that the US military killed civilians in Fallujah using WP and MK-77 (modernized napalm) The documentary included numerous photographs of bodies claiming they showed fatal wounds caused by WP. It also quoted journalist Giuliana Sgrena, who had been in Fallujah, as a testimony^[23].

The Guardian newspaper of London reported on November 14 2005 that some 30,000 - 50,000 civilians remained in the city as the assault commenced:

On November 15 2005, Dept. of Defense spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Barry Venable confirmed to the BBC that WP had been used as an antipersonnel weapon in Fallujah:

On November 30, 2005, General Peter Pace justified use of WP, declaring that WP munitions were a "legitimate tool of the military", used to illuminate targets and create smokescreens, adding: "It is not a chemical weapon. It is an incendiary. And it is well within the law of war to use those weapons as they're being used, for marking and for screening". Peter Pace then made the point that conventional weapons can be more dangerous than non-conventional weapons: "A bullet goes through skin even faster than white phosphorus does" ^[26].

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki