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Anyone have good references on World War One munitions ?

I'm interested in the bursting charges used in the high explosive shells of that war. I can find projectile weights without too much trouble on the internet, but bursting charges seem little mentioned.

Cheers

Update.

"Handbook of Ordnance Data", from 1919, has bursting charge weights for several projectiles.

Cheers

Working on a WWI database/scenario ? ?

Then there is the matter of just what that charge is. Black powder isn't as powerful as TNT. And then get into the modern stuff. And napalm.

sPzAbt653 wrote: Sat Dec 31, 2022 3:22 pm Working on a WWI database/scenario ? ?

Looking at AP ratings for artillery pieces in the equipment DB.

Cheers

Curtis Lemay wrote: Sat Dec 31, 2022 3:44 pm Then there is the matter of just what that charge is. Black powder isn't as powerful as TNT. And then get into the modern stuff. And napalm.

Most of what I've seen was filled with TNT or TNT/Amatol mixture. The older stuff has fill like picric acid.

Napalm, heh. I guess that is rolled into the AP ratings for aircraft. WP shells, that would take some research.

I looked a bit at "modern" (by which I mean ICM). Best I can tell, the only way to relate its effect to that of conventional munitions is to compare the areas affected by an ICM shell and standard shell. IIRC, the equipment file depiction of "modern" munitions is to (roughly) multiply the AP rating by 1.5 or so.

Cheers

IIRC, the equipment file depiction of "modern" munitions is to (roughly) multiply the AP rating by 1.5 or so.

I was mistaken in this statement.

For self-propelled artillery pieces, some of them have an AP rating multiplied by 1.5

What that represents is equipment with semi-automatic loading gear or magazine arrangements.

Unsure if modern munitions like cannister is what drives the increase in AP rating for things like the 105mm cannon on an M60 tank. As it stands, there is a group of tank/antitank guns (mostly postwar) that have a boosted AP rating. Maybe represents cannister, maybe not. It could be a factor of some kind representing aimed fire with better optical gear.

Cheers

I am very late to the party but looking at Michael Freemantle's book "Gas! Gas! Quick, Boys!, How Chemistry Changed the First World War" that back powder was used quite a lot for in shells including for bursting charges. I also understand the German 15cm SFH corps gun was even referred to by British troops as a "Jack Johnson" or "Coalboxer" (a will known boxer of colour at the time) because of its black powder bursting charge. Also I think that a lot of shrapnel shells |(and certainly British ones) used it as well. Not seen this said explicitly in any of the sources that mention this but wonder if part of the rationally for this was that when these shells were used in a creeping barrage the the resulting smoke and helped to conceal the infantry that were or perhaps were not advancing behind it. As false barrages were a regular feature from 1916 I think.

This also ties in with the suggestions made in A J Baker's "IRAQ WAR" that one of advantages shrapnel shells fired into desert terrain in Mesopotamia was that dust kicked up by the pellets also helped to what was or was not going on those behind the barrage.

I suspect that there is a very interesting book yet to be written on the role of black powder in WW1.

Kind regards
Ian

The data on WW1 munitions is spotty. There is some detailed info, a lot of general info, and too much missing info. I suspect some of what I'm looking for would have to come from military publications of the era.

Cheers