Carcass (bullet)

Carcass cage from Hans Georg Schirvatt's art and artillery book from 1622

Carcass (reconstruction)

A carcass ( French carcasse ) is a modern type of ammunition the muzzle loader - artillery , which in its main parts from strip iron or is cast iron and of black powder - cannons were fired to enemy targets and flammable objects on fire.

The carcasses consist of a mostly forged potash-sized cage made of steel band with a dome-shaped bottom. This was filled with a sack containing a more or less aggressive incendiary material made of black powder , saltpeter , sulfur , tree resins and other substances. This fire mixture was either pulped dry or, after prior melting, poured in liquid. After this melt had cooled, the fire mixture solidified again and formed a very homogeneous filling of the fire agent bag. To protect against moisture during longer storage, the entire construction was then covered with another canvas and "baptized" (impregnated) in a mixture of liquid pitch, resin, paraffin and wax. Only the ignition tube had to be used for firing. Carcasses were shot or thrown with mortars , smaller calibers also from howitzers .

The first carcasses were used in Europe in the first half of the 16th century or as early as the late 15th century.

The so-called "sticky fire" was a smaller type of ammunition that was comparable in structure and mode of operation. These were objects that consisted of two spherically riveted iron bands and had a small incendiary bag inside. In addition, the iron bands were provided with spikes (with or without barbs) on the outside. These structures, roughly the size of a hand grenade, were ignited by means of a fuse or wooden ignition tube and hurled at the enemy. The sticky fires stuck to suitable surfaces ("stick") with their spikes and were able to set them on fire effectively.

Reconstruction of a so-called "sticky fire" with carcass-like metal bands and spikes

Another type of ammunition that was closely related in its effect was the fire ball .

literature

• Alfred Geibig: carcasses . In: The power of fire - serious fireworks of the 15th - 17th centuries in the mirror of its neuter tradition . Art collections of the Veste Coburg, Coburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-87472-089-2 , p. 121-134 .
• Hans Georg Schirvatt: Art and artillery book . Southern Germany 1622, p. 3r ( online [accessed on February 6, 2016] Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München, BSB-Hss Cod.icon. 232. Images of storm spikes).

Individual evidence

1. ^ Alfred Geibig: Carcasses . In: The power of fire - serious fireworks of the 15th - 17th centuries in the mirror of its neuter tradition . Art collections of the Veste Coburg, Coburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-87472-089-2 , p. 121-134 .