Fulminate mercury detonators

[AlexJacobs]

Hello,

 

Quick question but one I can t answer: during the war, in occupied countries, mercury fulminate was salvaged by the resistance from detonators of unexploded air dropped bombs. Thanks to that, they would build ED to sabotage targets (e.g, blowing up trains/train tracks, warehouses, etc.). These very hazardous crystals are solid, but even a but smaller than the quarter of an inch would create a massive explosion if hit or smashed on the ground (as you might have seen in the series Breaking Bad).

 

My question is, can you tell me what air force dropped bombs with this type of detonator? I believe the USAF did, but were they the only ones? Was that type of detonator specific to one country, and what did other nations use?

 

Thanks!

[cardboard_killer]

I don't know, but keep that stuff away from my washing machine.

 

 

[jollyjack]

Allies? https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020EGUGA..2221887G/abstract

Probably US Navy only?

Edited January 11, 2022 by jollyjack

[AlexJacobs]

Then if the Soviets did, they were not the only ones then (the bombs I m referring to were dropped on the Western front)

 

US Navy only, that would mean that US battleships would fire from the Channel and reach as far as a 50 miles. I m not too sure about that. Plus, given the unstable nature of the detonator, I m not sure it would be used differently than by dropping (but that is my 2 cents)

Edited January 11, 2022 by AlexJacobs

[DD_Arthur]

7 hours ago, AlexJacobs said:

Hello,

 

Quick question but one I can t answer: during the war, in occupied countries, mercury fulminate was salvaged by the resistance from detonators of unexploded air dropped bombs. Thanks to that, they would build ED to sabotage targets (e.g, blowing up trains/train tracks, warehouses, etc.). These very hazardous crystals are solid, but even a but smaller than the quarter of an inch would create a massive explosion if hit or smashed on the ground (as you might have seen in the series Breaking Bad).

 

My question is, can you tell me what air force dropped bombs with this type of detonator? I believe the USAF did, but were they the only ones? Was that type of detonator specific to one country, and what did other nations use?

 

Hi Alex, I seem to remember reading something, somewhere about the US Navy changing the specifications of it's air-dropped munitions in the middle of the war to remove fulminate of mercury from bomb detonators.  Apparently the relatively large amounts used as a boost for detonation in air-dropped bombs had a tendancy to break down after fairly short periods and this was becoming a problem in the pacific theatre due to the long transit times from US munitions plants.

I believe it possible the USAAF might have taken the same decision.

 

Since fulminate of mercury has been in use since the nineteenth century for percussion caps and detonators it would seem likely this was a 'mature' technology by WW2 and all combatants used it.  However, other methods of triggering detonation were available!

 

I find it slightly hard to believe the Resistance would defuse unexploded bombs.  This is a highly technical, harzardous process.  The fuse and detonator assembly are extremely dangerous in their own right, especially after being dropped from an aircraft and failing to operate!

Also, if you think about it;  once you've gone to the trouble of opening it up (under the eyes of the Germans presumably) the explosive within the bomb casing would make a much more useful demolition charge than fulminate of mercury! 

The British started parachuting weapons, ammunition and explosives to resistance organisations from 1942 onwards.  By 1943 this had become a major operation in its own right.

 

What jollyjack has posted has nothing to do with either the US Navy or the Soviets.  

[AlexJacobs]

Hello Arthur,

 

Thanks for your message. As for the resistance defusing it, I m adamant about it because my great grandfather actually did it (that s how I know about fulminate by the way), the little extra being receiving eggs from the farmer if the defused unexploded bomb was near a farm? With all due respect and gratitude to the RAF (I know your ties with it) for lending a hand to the resistance and the instrumental role of drops to the resistance (material or Jedburgh teams), I can confirm that in Belgium, the density of population and the relative accuracy of dropping would make proper reception complex (same goes for the Netherlands, notably during Market Garden). More often than not, German troops would benefit from it. True, if that might seem understandably excessive, I can still easily picture that the necessity of the situation justified that kind of desperate work. As for the content of explosive, a 250 or 500 kg bombs being huge: if salvaged, it would be split in smaller packs that can easily be used for other operations rather than retrieved as is with the detonator attached. If left behind, at least you can use the detonator on a smaller charge which is also more easy to carry.

[DD_Arthur]

Hi Alex,

Your great grandfather must have been a man of extraordinary courage to attempt to defuse an unexploded bomb! 

I would not dream of belittling these men of the resistance and - apart from being a Brit - I have no connection with the RAF. 

However, I do have some military experience in the distant past (often involving LOTS of beer drinking with Belgian Paratroopers) and I can tell you fulminate of mercury does not make a great demolition charge

 

These were desperate times indeed!     

[AlexJacobs]

28 minutes ago, DD_Arthur said:

Hi Alex,

Your great grandfather must have been a man of extraordinary courage to attempt to defuse an unexploded bomb! 

I would not dream of belittling these men of the resistance and - apart from being a Brit - I have no connection with the RAF. 

However, I do have some military experience in the distant past (often involving LOTS of beer drinking with Belgian Paratroopers) and I can tell you fulminate of mercury does not make a great demolition charge

 

These were desperate times indeed!     

No worries I read nothing belittling. And yes, the resistance are unsung heroes, and we will never know how hard their situation was and what they had to go through. If they are regarded as civilian heroes who stood up against incredible forces today, they were not necessarily regarded that way in the past. During the war, the British considered in particular that the networks were infiltrated by Nazi spies, and not to be trusted (which proved a costly miscalculation during Market Garden). Also, the most active and effective groups against Nazi forces in the West were unquestionably communist. Not only did they have a structure, training, and the type of resistance they carried out was armed attacks (not to belittle resistants who distributed leaflets or printed clandestine papers). Many resistants, some even Christian or right-wing, would join the communist movements because they wanted to bear arms against the occupying forces. However, after the liberation of the West (and the beginning of the Cold War), the political affiliation of these groups were problematic for the Western allies, and so was the fact that Moscow (and the komintern) coordinated all these movements. Little did we know that France was on the brink of civil unrest when Gaullist forces asked the resistance movement to hand their weapons, and the same situation happened in Belgium. Greece is also a perfect example of that division.

[Jaws2002]

They probably used the fulminate as initiators, since it could set off all kind of, harder to ignite explosives.

[AlexJacobs]

3 hours ago, Jaws2002 said:

They probably used the fulminate as initiators, since it could set off all kind of, harder to ignite explosives.

 

Here we're talking about resistance fighters, right?

 

I know that beside more sophisticated device, they would frequently be well-trained to use "raw" material . A good example was the use of thermite, which could pierce steel through and through. A Polish underground fighter used it against train tracks, and I believe British commandos also used it to disable coastal guns on the Atlantic Wall.

 

But coming back to the use of fulminate by air forces: as Arthur said, fulminate was common as early as the mid XIXth century, and I didn't know it was used in percussion caps like those used in American Civil Ware era rifles (like Springfield and Enfield models). So if I'm not mistaken, detonators of that type could be expected in any type of bomb dropped by any aircraft of any air force and it is impossible to be any the wiser about specifics... Does anybody have anything else to add?