Typhoon (siege method)
Taifun was an experimental attack method on fortresses and underground partisan hideouts that was developed for the German Wehrmacht during World War II . A gas mixture of carbon monoxide and ethene was used , which was let into a hole in the fortress and then ignited electrically. The pressure of the explosion was supposed to incapacitate the crew and fortifications.
In 1942, 500 gas bottles were given to a pioneer unit. The method was used in the east, where it was unsuccessful in Kharkiv due to insufficient gas concentration and where it could do little in Kerch in 1943 .
method
Typhoon consists of two phases:
In the first phase, a raid troop , if necessary with support from the air force and artillery , should attack a base of the besieged object. To do this, it was supposed to advance with flamethrowers and concentrated charges and tear an opening 10 to 20 cm in diameter into the armor with a shaped charge .
In the second phase, the Taifun special squad should advance and introduce the gas into the object. This should mix with oxygen and then be ignited electrically from the outside. The resulting explosion pressure should switch off the crew and push open armored doors. This process should be repeated until the besieged object and its crew would be incapable of fighting.
test
The siege method was tested in 1940 by the third company of the Cologne Pioneer Training Battalion. The occupied Maginot factory in Four à Chaux and the small factory in Lembach in Alsace served as training locations .
The results of the tests at Four à Chaux can still be seen today: the dome of the retractable main gun turret from Stand 1, armed with two 135 mm grenade launchers , was torn from its anchorage during tests. Furthermore, a heavy steel door inside the work was severely deformed. Both areas were left in this condition during the restoration work.
Surviving residents of the village of Lembach, which is about 5 km as the crow flies from the Four à Chaux plant, still remember the vibrations of the explosions, some of which reached an explosion pressure of up to 40 bar .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Bernhard R. Kroener : The German Empire and the Second World War, 5/2. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1999. ISBN 3-421-06499-7 , p. 708.
- ^ A b Fritz Hahn: Weapons and Secret Weapons of the German Army 1933–1945, Volume 1. Bernard & Graefe, 1986. ISBN 3-7637-5830-5 .
- ^ A b Association Fort de Litroz: Ouvrage d'artillerie du Four-à-Chaux Ligne Maginot / Secteur fortifié des Vosges. Retrieved March 18, 2011.