Of Ratsch-Bum and Whizz Bangs

Last week was the anniversary of the start of Loos Offensive of  World War I. Notable for the death of Rudyard Kipling’s only son - one of the many casualties on that field of battle, and the extensive use of shrapnel across the Loos valley, particularly on crossroads and communications trenches to prevent enemy movement.  On a lighter note, Kaiser Bill was also captured. Unfortunately, this was not Queen Victoria's malignant, moustachioed, grandson Willy, but rather a forlorn German army mule.

Hearing about the anniversary of Loos, renewed an old interest in artillery.

A gun of B Btry, 65th AAA Bn,1958

When I was young, my fathers' first command after OCS was a battery of 120mm anti-aircraft guns.  The battery was just outside a Marine base, near Naha, on Okinawa.  The 120's were the penultimate development in anti-aircraft artillery, soon to be made obsolete by missiles. The gun tube was about 24 feet long and capable of firing a shell at 3100 ft/sec to an altitude of 60,000 feet.

On firing, the guns report was a deafening CRACK!!! that hurt the ears and sounded like a monstrous high velocity rifle. The firing of the battery frequently shattered windows on the Marine base.  On one occasion when Dad took me out to watch his battery fire, he gave me the opportunity to fire a Quad-50 machine gun, two of which were part of the battery.

Back to the shrapnel shell - The Germans can rightfully claim invention and first use of the shrapnel shell.  In the 17th century, they developed a projectile called the Hagelkugel, or "hail shell".  It was a lead cylinder with a fuse and bursting charge at one end, the other end was sealed.  Behind the bursting charge was the "hail" - metal fragments, bullets, or pebbles. When loaded into the cannon, the fused end of the projectile faced the cannons charge.  On firing, the bursting charge of the Hagelkugel released the "hail" at about 100 yards from the gun.

The Hagelkugel was used during the 1641 siege of Gennep, in the Netherlands.  Unfortunately for German bragging rights, artillery was an art and early artllerists were extremely secretive.  This caused the Hagelkugel to sink into obscurity, allowing an Englishman to claim invention and have his name forever linked to the Shrapnel Shell.

Henry Shrapnel developed his version of the Hagelkugel around 1784.  Originally known as “spherical iron cased shot,” it used a primitive wooden fuse - a wood plug through which a gunpowder fuse ran.  The interior of the iron case was filled with black powder and lead balls.  On bursting, the shrapnel was projected across an area of about 150 yards. The advantage of the shrapnel shell over grape or canister is that instead of being a short-range antipersonnel projectile, it could be fired at longer distances as determined by the fuse and bursting charge. 

It was first employed in 1804 against settlers in Dutch Guiana, now Suriname. Officially adopted by the English in 1808, the Duke of Wellesley wrote that he considered it an important invention and that it should be kept secret.  Despite being widely available to British gunners during the Napoleonic Wars, correct use of the shrapnel shell was poorly understood and it was thought generally unreliable, largely due to its quirky fuse and the risk of premature explosion.

While modern writers seem fond of stating the Iron Duke thought it decisive at Waterloo, I find no credible evidence of that and believe it apocryphal or politically  motivated since the government officially adopted the round.  Accounts at the time describe it bursting short amongst friendly troops, others described it as being indifferent or ineffective.  A Lt. Col. Frith of the Madras Artillery wrote in 1818 that he had seen it fired into "large bodies of horse, among whom they were seen to burst, but cannot call to mind a single man killed by them." While there were battles, like the battle of Vimiero where the English claimed shrapnel shells contributed to the victory, reports from the receiving side were mixed ranging from their effect being terrible to no worse than that of round shot.  Others said the effect varied from round to round.  The truth probably lies in some middle ground.

Despite slow acceptance (according to books of the early-mid 1800's,) Henry Shrapnel received a stipend for his invention when it was officially adopted and the British government made Shrapnel Shell the official name of the "spherical cased shot" projectile in 1854 after his family petitioned for the name change to honor the inventor.

Improvements in the fuse, particularly by Col. E.M. Boxer, and case design continued.

According to Bormann in "The Shrapnel Shell in England and in Belgium," 1862, the most notable use of the shrapnel shell to date was during the Crimean War on the last day of the siege of Sebastopol, 8 September 1855.  Officers in a gun position manned by men of the Royal Naval Brigade, decided to utilize shrapnel shells found in the battery stores.   Eyewitness accounts reported these 8-inch shells "mowed down...whole lines of Russian troops as they sprang to the breast works."

A mere 60 years passed from the siege of Sebastopol to the start of the Loos offensive.  During this period much effort was put forth to improve the shrapnel shell. Fuses were vastly improved.  The cases for shrapnel projectiles were designed, refined, redesigned and further refined making the shrapnel delivery pattern increasingly effective.

While originally an anti-personnel weapon, usage changed during the Great War. The shrapnel shell was found useful in barrages for cutting barbed wire prior to assaults, and as an early anti-aircraft shell. Shrapnel shells spurred the development and use of modern helmets and aircraft armor.

Typically delivered by high velocity guns like the British 18 pounder, the French 75mm, and the German 10cm, the shells would give little notice of their arrival. There would be a quick "whizzzz" followed by a sharp "bang!" The German slang for these rounds was "Ratsch-bum," the Brits called them "Whizz-bangs."

Fortunately, for my blog, someone around the time of the War to End All Wars was kind enough to invent a cocktail named for that high velocity shrapnel shell---the "Whizz Bang." Sadly, since the winners write the histories, there is no Hagelkugel or Ratsch-bum to savor, though the Germans paid homage indirectly to old Henry by creating a "Schrapnel-Aufschlag" or "Shrapnel Charge." As the Hagelkugel predated the Shrapnel Shell, the Schrapnel-Aufschlag predates the Whizz Bang by several years. 

Unfortunately, the Schrapnel-Aufschlag is not nearly as good a drink as the Whizz Bang and, like the Hagelkugel, condemned to oblivion.