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Shrapnel was less hazardous to the assaulting British infantry than high-explosives – as long as their own shrapnel burst above or ahead of them, attackers were safe from its effects, whereas high-explosive shells bursting short are potentially lethal within 100 yards or more in any direction. Shrapnel was also useful against counter-attacks, working parties and any other troops in the open.
ammunition. shrapnel, originally a type of antipersonnel projectile named for its inventor, Henry Shrapnel (1761–1842), an English artillery officer. Shrapnel projectiles contained small shot or spherical bullets, usually of lead, along with an explosive charge to scatter the shot as well as fragments of the shell casing.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Henry Shrapnel was the youngest of nine children born to Mr. and Mrs. Zachariah Shrapnel on June 3, 1761 at Midnay Manor House, Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, England. Apparently his brothers died childless, so what little money existed passed on down to him. With this he was able, by living carefully, to have just enough to finance the numerous ...
The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans Under the Command of Titus, A.D. 70, by David Roberts (1850), shows the city burning. Early thermal weapons, which used heat or burning action to destroy or damage enemy personnel, fortifications or territories, were employed in warfare during the classical and medieval periods (approximately the 8th century BC until the mid-16th century AD).
Apr 19, 2018 · Developed at the end of the 18th century by Henry Shrapnel, a serving officer of the Royal Artillery, it combined features of the three garden-variety munitions of the day. Like round shot, it was a means of inflicting casualties at distances between 500 yards and 1,500 yards. Like common shell, it carried both a gunpowder charge and a simple ...
During the initial stages of the First World War, shrapnel was widely used by all sides as an anti-personnel weapon. It was the only type of shell available for British field guns (13-pounder, 15 pounder and 18-pounder) until October 1914. Shrapnel was effective against troops in the open, particularly massed infantry (advancing or withdrawing).
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Henry Scrope Shrapnel was an English soldier and inventor of the anti-personnel weapon known by his name - the Shrapnel artillery shell - designed to explode, widely spreading its content of small lead musket balls to injure enemy soldiers. Exploded fragments from the metal casing of modern artillery, bombs or mines are still known as shrapnel.
