Napalm consequences. Napalm and dioxin in the Vietnam War. Napalm in the Vietnam War
Characteristics of incendiary substances: napalm, pyrogel, thermite, white phosphorus, gasoline, oil, etc.
1. Characteristics and properties of incendiary substances
Incendiary weapons are incendiary substances and means of their combat use.
Incendiary weapons are designed to defeat enemy personnel, destroy their weapons and military equipment, supplies of material resources, as well as for creating fires in combat areas.
Incendiary substances are special chemical compositions(mixtures) capable of developing high temperatures during combustion. All modern US Army incendiaries are divided into three groups: petroleum-based incendiaries, metallized incendiaries, thermites and thermite compounds. A special group of incendiary substances consists of ordinary and plasticized phosphorus, alkali metals, as well as a self-igniting mixture based on triethylaluminum (TEA).
The main damaging factor of incendiary weapons is the release of thermal energy and combustion products toxic to humans.
The most important properties of incendiary substances: high temperature (1000-3000 ° C), combustion stability, physico-chemical resistance and safety in handling.
2. a brief description of incendiary substances: napalm, pyrogel, thermite, white phosphorus, gasoline, oil, etc.
Incendiary mixtures based on petroleum products (napalm)
Incendiary mixtures based on petroleum products (napalm) can be unthickened or thickened (viscous). This is the most mass appearance incendiary mixtures with burn and incendiary effects.
Unthickened incendiary mixtures are prepared from gasoline, diesel fuel or lubricating oils.
Thickened mixtures are viscous, gelatinous substances consisting of gasoline or other liquid hydrocarbon fuel mixed in certain proportions with various thickeners (both flammable and non-flammable).
Napalms are classified as incendiary substances that do not contain an oxidizer and burn when combined with oxygen in the air. They are jelly-like, viscous substances with strong adhesion and a high combustion temperature.
The first sample of napalm was synthesized in the USA in early 1912. Napalm is obtained by adding a special thickening powder to liquid fuel, usually gasoline. During the Second World War, the thickening powder consisted of aluminum salts of three acids: naphthenic, palmetic and oleic (the word “napalm” is derived from initial letters names of the first and second acids). Currently, napalm includes incendiary mixtures consisting of liquid fuel and the addition of one or more organic thickeners. Typically napalm contains 3-10% thickening powder and up to 97% gasoline. In the US Army, thickener powders are available in several brands. The most common: M1, M2, M4, polystyrene and polyisobutene.
Napalms prepared on the basis of gasoline have a density of 0.8-0.9 g/cm. They have the ability to easily ignite and develop temperatures up to 1000-1200°C. The burning time of napalm is 5-10 minutes. They stick well to the surface of various objects and are difficult to extinguish.
The most effective fire mixture is considered to be napalm B, adopted by the US Army in 1966. It is characterized by good flammability, increased adhesion even to wet surfaces, and is capable of creating a high-temperature (1000-1200°C) fire with a burning duration of 5-10 minutes. Napalm B is lighter than water, so it floats on the surface while retaining the ability to burn. Napalm B burns with a smoking flame, saturating the air with caustic hot gases. When heated, it liquefies and acquires the ability to penetrate shelters and equipment.
Metallized incendiary mixtures (pyrogels)
Metallized incendiary mixtures (pyrogels) consist of petroleum products with the addition of powdered or shavings of magnesium or aluminum, oxidizing agents, liquid asphalt and heavy oils.
If you add powdered or in the form of magnesium shavings, aluminum, as well as coal, asphalt, saltpeter and other substances to napalm, you get a mixture called “pyrogel”. The combustion temperature of pyrogens reaches 1600°C; they are a pasty, sticky mass of gray color. Unlike ordinary napalm, pyrogens are heavier than water and burn for only 1-3 minutes.
The introduction of combustible metals into the composition of pyrogels increases the combustion temperature and imparts burning ability to these mixtures.
Napalms and pyrogels have the following basic properties:
- adhere well to various surfaces of weapons, military equipment, uniforms and the human body;
- are easily flammable and difficult to remove and extinguish;
- when burning, they develop a temperature of 1000-1200ºС for napalms and 1600-1800°С for pyrgels.
Napalms burn due to oxygen in the air; combustion of pyrgels occurs both due to oxygen in the air and due to the oxidizing agent included in their composition (most often salts of nitric acid).
Napalms are used to equip tank, mechanized and backpack flamethrowers, aircraft bombs and tanks, as well as various types of fire mines.
Pyrogels are used to equip incendiary aviation ammunition of small and medium caliber.
Napalms and pyrogens are capable of causing severe burns to personnel, setting fire to equipment, and also creating fires in the area, in buildings and structures. Pyrogels, in addition, are capable of burning through thin sheets of steel and duralumin.
Termites and termite compounds
Thermite compounds have been used for a relatively long time. Their action is based on the “aluminothermic” reaction discovered by the Russian scientist P.N. Beketov back in 1865. The essence of this reaction is that crushed aluminum combines with the oxides of refractory metals to release large quantity heat.
For military purposes, the thermite mixture powder (usually aluminum and iron oxides) is pressed. Burning thermite flares up to a temperature of 3000°C. At this temperature, concrete and brick crack, iron and steel burn.
As an incendiary agent, thermite has the disadvantage that when it burns, no flame is formed, so 40-50% of powdered magnesium, drying oil, rosin and various oxygen-rich compounds are added to thermite and thermite compositions are obtained.
Thermite incendiary mixtures in service with the US Army include compositions of the TN2 and TN3 grades and the new thermite composition TN4; they can burn through metal and parts of military equipment and disable it. These thermite compounds are used in small-caliber aviation incendiary bombs, artillery shells, grenades and cartridges.
White phosphorus and plasticized white phosphorus
White phosphorus is a translucent wax-like solid. It is capable of self-ignition by combining with oxygen in the air. Burns with a bright flame and produces abundant white smoke. The ignition temperature of powdered phosphorus is 34°C, the flame temperature is 900-1200°C.
White phosphorus is used as a smoke-forming agent and also as an igniter for napalm and pyrogel in incendiary ammunition.
Plasticized phosphorus is a mixture of white phosphorus with a viscous solution of synthetic rubber. As a result, the mixture acquires the ability to stick to vertical surfaces and burn through them. This allows the use of plasticized phosphorus for loading bombs, mines, and shells. Unlike ordinary phosphorus, it is more stable during storage; when ruptured, it is crushed into large, slowly burning pieces.
Burning phosphorus causes severe, painful burns that take a long time to heal. It is used in artillery shells and mines, aircraft bombs, and hand grenades. As a rule, incendiary-smoke-producing ammunition is filled with white phosphorus and plasticized white phosphorus.
Gasoline, oil and other petroleum products
Unthickened fire mixtures are low-viscosity liquids consisting of a mixture of gasoline with heavy motor fuels of all types, diesel fuel and lubricating oils. To prepare unthickened mixtures, gasoline and liquid fuel are usually taken in equal proportions. Unthickened mixtures are used only with backpack flamethrowers. Their use for tank flamethrowers and aircraft ammunition (bombs and tanks) is not recommended.
Foundations of Hottentot morality
Since ancient times, people who invented weapons had only one thought in their heads - it should kill the enemy as efficiently as possible. Shoot further, carry more explosives, kill faster. It is no secret that it is military developments that stand at the forefront of scientific progress and pull other civilian technologies forward with them. Any new invention is first meticulously examined by the military: “Hmmm, an iron, can it kill? What if you throw it? What if you make a hundred small ones? What if you throw it a hundred times harder or fill it with an explosive?”
As a rule, at the sight of the latest military developments, civilians turn pale, but clap joyfully, imagining how much stronger they will now become than their troublesome neighbors. Or civilians loudly outrage the invention, while simultaneously demanding that military engineers from their country create the same weapon, or something even stronger and worse. It is clear that this happens when another country announces the creation of new weapons.
But sometimes weapons created in secret laboratories turn out to be so effective and creepy that even those who will have to use them loudly declare that this is too cruel and that its further development should be prohibited, or better yet, forget about it altogether out of harm’s way.
There seems to be no logic to this. Any weapon used by the military, as a rule, aims to lead the enemy to death. Wounds make the enemy suffer and suffer. But is there really a difference - to be killed in the prime of life by an ordinary bullet, permitted and ratified by all conventions, or to die from some kind of prohibited weapon?
Actually there is. And big. Soldiers, seeing what napalm does to the enemy, making their way through the trenches, where everything was burning at a temperature of 1200 degrees, understand crystal clear that tomorrow it may be their turn to be flooded from the sky with oxygen-burning gas that causes terrible pain when it hits the skin and burns for up to half an hour. liquid. And this understanding does not bring moral strength and perseverance.
Steel flowers of death
One of the first documents restricting the use of weapons was signed in 1899 in The Hague " Declaration on the use of bullets that easily expand or collapse in the human body", otherwise - expansion bullets.
The technologies for creating rifles and ammunition for them had reached the point that a rifle bullet passed through the target’s body at enormous speed, often leaving only two neat holes indicating to the field doctor the place of entry and exit of the ammunition. Often, after bandaging, the wounded remained in the ranks and continued to fight, which categorically did not suit the military.
The method for solving this issue belongs to the British captain Clay, who served in the Dum-Dum arsenal of colonized India, where he experimented a lot with changing ammunition. Experimentally, he made a semi-shell from an ordinary lead bullet with a brass or cupronickel shell, simply sawing off the front part of the ammunition. As a result, when it hit the enemy’s body, such a bullet turned outwards from the impact, which made it look like a beautiful metal flower, extremely difficult for doctors to remove.
As a result, almost any wound from a “dum-dum” bullet led to prolonged hospitalization, disability, or even death. Contrary to popular legends, Clay did not file the bullets crosswise; this was invented later as the easiest way to make hollow-point ammunition.
When the question of banning this type of ammunition was raised in The Hague in 1899, many states raised their hands, but not at all because they dreamed of ridding the world of such terrible weapons, but only because these bullets were unsuitable for use in the army. Due to the changed geometry, they could not gain greater speed, and therefore a greater range, starting to stop within the first hundred meters.
However, the ammunition banned by the military has taken root well in civilian life and is still used by hunters and police in some countries. The former love him because he does not leave wounded victims - victims who need to be followed for many kilometers until they fall from loss of blood, and the latter - because such bullets have a much lower chance of jumping out of the criminal’s body from the other side and injure or kill a bystander. In addition, they have a very high stopping power, which is useful in short-range firefights.
Shadow of Death
One of the first targeted uses of chemical weapons in their modern form was the Crimean War. During the bombing of Odessa, the British used two “stinking bombs” that did not cause any significant casualties. One way or another, article 23 of the Hague Convention of 1899 prohibited the use of ammunition whose sole purpose is to poison enemy personnel.
However, this did not prevent the massive use of chemical weapons on the fronts of the First World War just 15 years later. The Geneva Protocol of 1925 again banned its use, and chemical weapons fell silent for several years, only to return again in World War II and then in Vietnam. The last ban of 1993 seemed to put an end to this issue, but the cheapness and ease of production contribute to new triumphant returns of chemical weapons here and there.
The most famous case of the use of toxic substances was On April 22, 1915, near the city of Ypres, when on a front six kilometers wide, German troops, waiting for the desired wind direction, released 168 tons of chlorine towards the French trenches. The chemical attack resulted in 15,000 people being poisoned, of which 5,000 died.
All types of toxic substances are divided into two main categories:
- lethal - nerve paralytic, blister, general poisonous and asphyxiating
- non-lethal - psychotomimetics and irritants
The last two are used mainly in police operations and contribute to the short-term incapacitation of opponents. All military substances were included in the first category. In addition to the actual application, the second very serious problem was the production and storage of these gases. That is why the 1993 convention clearly states not only the prohibition of such weapons, but also their production, long-term storage and disposal. Any accident in such a production chain can lead to serious casualties among civilians.
The military agreed to sign the convention for several reasons. Firstly, chemical weapons do not provide maximum effect through the use of modern means of protection. Secondly, it is very capricious and requires suitable conditions for attack (the desired wind direction, absence of rain or, conversely, sun).
At the moment, Russia continues to reduce its stockpiles of chemical weapons and has already destroyed more than 92 percent of all stockpiles. The greatest difficulty is the disposal of sarin and soman, which requires increased caution. According to the plan, there will be no lethal toxic substances left in our country by 2019.
“Napalm, son. You can’t confuse this smell with anything else.”
At Harvard University in 1942–1943, under the leadership of Professor Louis F. Fieser, a combustible mixture was developed based on gasoline and aluminum salts of two acids - naphthenic and palmitic, which had the consistency of soap. The resulting substance looked like a viscous and sticky brown substance.
After World War II, chemists moved on, and the next substance, Napalm-B, no longer included any acids - only benzene, gasoline and polystyrene dissolved in their mixture. The combustion temperature, combustion time and adhesion of the substance have increased. Napalm that got on the body or uniform could no longer be removed; it burned for up to 10 minutes, reaching a burning temperature of 1200 degrees, which caused hellish pain.
In addition, when burning, napalm burned out all the oxygen, which led to the death of people who had taken refuge from the fiery rain in dugouts. Truly a weapon of the devil. The Japanese were among the first to feel the power of napalm during World War II. Several Japanese bases in the Pacific Islands were simply filled with napalm.
In February 1945, during the bombing of Dresden, the use of napalm helped create a “fire tornado” - a huge fire whirlwind formed during massive fires. It sucks in oxygen and works like a huge furnace, burning everything in its path.
But Vietnam suffered the most from napalm. The United States did not stand on ceremony, pouring fire from the sky onto entire villages of non-surrendering Viet Cong. It is no coincidence that the most terrible and creepy photo it was made there, and there is no napalm on it. This is not necessary to convey all the pain and horror from using this weapon.
In 1983, the countries signed an agreement UN International Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons. Protocol III clearly prohibited the use of napalm, and only about a hundred states in the world agreed to this. The United States also signed the protocol, however, with the condition that if the attack does not cause large casualties among civilians, then they will continue to pour liquid fire on their opponents.
Death from underground
Got into the same agreement UN International Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons and anti-personnel mines. They began to be actively used only during the Second World War, as a means of stopping the enemy’s advance. And even despite the fact that, according to statistics, there were not so many deaths from passing through the minefield (5–10 percent depending on the method of deployment), the psychological effect was terrifying.
What’s worse is that it was the mines that became the very echo of the war, giving its full harvest to death many years after the end of hostilities. Children suffer the most from them. Anti-personnel mines are sweeping through the lives of innocent boys from all over the world. Korea, Vietnam, Africa, Yugoslavia, Syria.
The mine trail remains everywhere, and everywhere people who were not involved in the hostilities suffer from it, who were often asked after the warring countries had signed all the documents and forgot to think about the past war.
The 1983 Convention came to nothing, so the Ottawa Treaty, also known as the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, was signed in 1997. It was signed by 133 states, among which, however, there are not the largest and most serious manufacturers of these weapons. The USA, China, India, Israel and Finland flatly refused to abandon this invention. Russia also did not sign this agreement, and in many ways our country holds a leading position in the development of anti-personnel mining technologies.
The best is certainly yet to come
In fact, with each new convention, the position of the UN, which seeks to separate non-combatants (civilians) and combat operations, becomes more and more clear. The position of weapons being prohibited due to cruelty (as with expanding ammunition) is becoming a thing of the past; after all, once you have been killed, it is no longer particularly important with what.
The question is different - try to limit the use of weapons that can hit civilians the hardest. That is why the convention prohibits biological weapons, cluster bombs and much more, which were invented to clarify relations between the armies of two countries, but bring suffering to women and children who are not involved in this.
Perhaps in the near future, the UN, thoroughly bureaucratic and torn in all directions, will eventually be able to convey the main truth - if wars are inevitable, then let only those who agreed to this by signing the contract and reading the oath participate in them.
If you look from this side, a lot has already been done, but there is still a lot of work ahead. It is difficult to believe in a world without wars, but in a world where only the military is engaged in war, it is much easier. This is their job, let them use either prohibited or exclusively permitted, but equally deadly weapons.
Many Soviet people learned about what napalm was only in the sixties, watching television reports from warring Vietnam. Terrible burns, injured and dead children, burning cities and villages caused justifiable indignation. Even filmed from afar, the airstrike looked terrible. Over the jungle, a Phantom or Skyhawk would enter a combat course, at some point a large cigar-shaped tank, similar to an additional fuel tank, would separate from its belly, it would tumble randomly until it touched the ground, then burst, and a real sea of fire spread across it, from which there was no escape... In general, napalm is a terrible weapon.
Idea and implementation
In everything that concerns methods of destroying their own kind, people show ingenuity that clearly deserves better use. The first step towards increasing the efficiency of killing, in addition to rapid-fire small arms and artillery weapons, was flamethrowers, backpack-mounted, stationary and mounted on special tanks. The idea is simple: a flammable liquid, like water from a hose, should be directed at the enemy. But even in this simple matter there was a catch. Firstly, you need to hit it, and secondly, make the extinguishing process as difficult as possible. Gasoline is good for everyone, but it burns with lightning speed. Try setting fire to diesel fuel. You need some kind of substance that, when ignited easily, releases a lot of heat over a long period of time. By 1942 this task was in general outline solved by specialists working in the group of Dr. L. Fizer on the instructions of the USACC (Chemical Corps) Soon the Japanese who held the defense of Tinian learned what napalm was. True, not all of them were able to talk about it.
Cooking technology
The general technological idea was to add ingredients to the main combustible substance that retard combustion, increase viscosity and increase the ability to stick. Rubber is very suitable for these purposes: it is sticky and viscous, and dissolves perfectly, and burns, but it is painfully expensive. The mixture of salts of palmitic and naphtheic acids turned out to be very successful. The composition of napalm gave it its name; it has nothing to do with the Russian word “to burn”, but is formed from the first letters of chemical additives that make ordinary gasoline much more deadly.
The result of the developers' efforts was a certain substance, more or less thick in consistency, even jelly-like. The combustion temperature reached eight hundred degrees Celsius. Additives accounted for approximately a tenth of the total volume. It was successfully used in Europe, in battles with German troops and their allies, and in the Pacific theater of operations against the Japanese.
What is Napalm-B
Progress cannot be stopped, especially in the field of weapons. In education and medicine... But that’s not about that now.
Already by the beginning of the Korean War, the composition of napalm was supplemented with new components that significantly improved its effectiveness. Firstly, chemical stability has been increased during long-term storage, and the possibility of separation into fractions has been eliminated. Secondly, it began to burn much brighter and hotter (up to 1500 °C). And thirdly, and most importantly, this product can stick to everything in the world. If you pour water on an object or sprinkle it with snow, then this is even better (that is, worse for the object). The composition of napalm includes which, as you know from a school chemistry course, they simply explode when exposed to moisture. Napalm-B uses ordinary polystyrene dissolved in benzene as a thickener. This whole infernal mixture, along with sodium or potassium, is added to gasoline, stirred, and everything is ready. It even burns through steel. By the way, it’s also inexpensive.
Common sense and prohibition
Against the so-called Viet Cong (National Liberation Front), the US Army used almost its entire arsenal, with the exception of weapons of mass destruction. However, knowing and understanding what napalm is, it is difficult to abandon the idea that it can easily be classified in this category. For this substance it is completely indifferent whether there are a hundred, a thousand or more living beings in the area of its application; it will burn everything it touches. It is for this reason that in 1980 the UN approved a convention banning napalm. The use of incendiary weapons was considered a barbaric method of warfare. But not everyone heeded the quiet voice of reason. But to do this, you just had to imagine yourself or one of your relatives under a napalm shower. Probably not everyone has enough imagination...
After 1980
The Convention banning the use of napalm was adopted by 99 states of the world, more than half of all those represented in the UN. Among them are Russia (then RSFSR), Ukraine (Ukrainian SSR), Belarus (BSSR) and all of Europe (San Marino and Andorra do not have armies, so they did not participate in the process of limiting lethal means). Countries that were at war or awaiting war refrained from signing or ratifying. These include the USA, Israel, Turkey, the Republic of Korea, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Sudan, Nigeria and some others. After the collapse of the USSR, four former republics (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan) also did not join the convention (third protocol).
Napalm was used by the Salvadoran army (civil war, 1984), Argentina (Falklands, 1982), Iraq (against Iranian troops, 1980), as well as the UK and the USA (during Desert Storm 1991). As often happens in war, the strikes were not always accurate enough, causing civilians to suffer.
Another napalm
Looking for a lucky one trademark Manufacturers of goods sometimes use words that are well known to ordinary people, but in a different context. For example, a remedy for fighting cockroaches was once called “Koba” (the party nickname of J.V. Stalin), obviously meaning his mercilessness towards his enemies. Among other samples of household chemicals you can find “Napalm” for weeds. This, according to the advertising blurb, is an effective herbicide, a real godsend for agricultural producers and owners of summer cottages. Its main advantage, like that of real napalm, is its strong retention of the substance on the surface of plants and resistance to precipitation. How ethical is this name? It is up to consumers to judge. Perhaps not everyone already remembers
What distinguishes it from other local wars is wide application US Army chemical weapons against the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (NSLF). Americans with help chemical substances, namely the defoliant “Agent Orange”, they destroyed foliage in the jungle to identify units of the National Front of South Ossetia, and with napalm - the manpower of their enemy. As a result, Vietnam suffered more from the use of chemical weapons than any other country in the world.
Dioxin in the Vietnam War
Jungle spraying with Agent Orange by American aircraft during the Vietnam War
Agent Orange defoliant is a mixture of chemicals. The most poisonous ingredient is dioxin TCDD. “Agent Orange” was delivered to Vietnam in containers marked with an orange stripe, hence the name “Agent Orange”, that is, “orange agent” (in English language, especially in the American version, the term “agent” is applied to chemicals). The Americans used it in South Vietnam from 1961 to 1971. According to the US Department of Defense, during the war, the Americans sprayed 72 million liters of Agent Orange on 10% of the territory of South Vietnam, including 44 million liters containing dioxin. 10% was sprayed on the ground and from watercraft, the remaining 90% from C123 aircraft and helicopters.
The Vietnamese had to sit in shelters for weeks due to American bombing. When they went outside, the trees around were already without leaves. Penetrating into the body and accumulating in it, dioxin causes skin diseases, and also causes tumor enlargement in cancer cases. Dioxin alone does not cause cancer. There are approximately 4.8 million victims of this toxic substance in Vietnam, including three million directly affected by the so-called “orange rain”. There are still a large number of people registered who became disabled due to the fact that their parents and grandparents were exposed to dioxin. Tens of thousands of the “post-war” victims of Agent Orange have died, and hundreds of thousands more, including many children, suffer from illness. Vietnamese victims of dioxin first sued American chemical companies in early 2004, but on March 10, 2005, a federal judge in Brooklyn, USA, dismissed the claim due to a “lack of direct evidence.” On February 22, 2008, the US Federal Court of Appeals rejected claims by Vietnamese Agent Orange victims against chemical firms Dow Chemical and Monsanto, which produced chemical weapons during the Vietnam War. So far, only American Vietnam veterans who suffered from their own chemical weapons have been able to obtain compensation from chemical corporations. In 1984, following the adopted American laws, Dow Chemical and Monsanto contributed $180 million to the fund for dioxin victims, but did not admit their guilt.
The governments of Australia and New Zealand, whose contingents were in South Vietnam as US allies, also provided compensation to their Vietnam War veterans. Agent Orange and other defoliants caused genetic changes in New Zealand Vietnam veterans, according to data published in the journal Cytogenetic and Genome Research.
In January 2006, the Court of Appeals of the Republic of Korea ordered Monsanto and Dow to pay $62 million in compensation to about 7 thousand citizens of this country who were also sent to Vietnam by the South Korean government, which supported the United States at the time.
In December 2006, the US Congress recognized the responsibility of the US authorities for the consequences of the use of defoliants in Vietnam. Congress expressed its intention to work with the Vietnamese government and American organizations to provide further assistance to Vietnam. In 2007, the United States allocated a $400,000 grant to Vietnam to train specialists in removing dioxin from soil at a former US military base in Da Nang. From time to time, the US government and various foundations, as well as US Navy ships paying friendly visits to Vietnam, provide monetary and financial assistance victims of dioxin.
Several rehabilitation centers have been built in Vietnam for victims of dioxin. France, Germany, Canada, Japan and the USA took part in their construction. The largest is Tu Du Hospital. West of Hanoi, in Ha Tay province, there is a "Friendship Village". This boarding house is for those born with serious defects due to Agent Orange and war veterans in need of neurological treatment. The boarding house is funded primarily by donations from the United States, including from American Vietnam War veterans.
However, the solution to the issue of real large-scale compensation from the United States to Vietnam is most likely ahead. So far, the aid is not commensurate with the damage caused to the Vietnamese. This is repeatedly stated by the Vietnamese government and public. But this is a reproach not towards the American people, but towards the US administration.
Scientific research to overcome the consequences of dioxin use is carried out by the Joint Russian-Vietnamese Scientific Tropical Center, founded in 1988 and located in Hanoi. A team of authors consisting of Poznyakov S.P., Rumak V.S., Sofronov G.A. and Umnova N.V. the book “Dioxins and Human Health” was written and published (Nauka Publishing House, St. Petersburg, 2006 - 274 pp.).
In Vietnam, there is The Agent Orange Relief Fund, located at 11 Tran Hung Dao, Hanoi, Vietnam, e-mail: [email protected], tel. 8-10-84-4-9332326, contact person Tran Dang Son.
Napalm in the Vietnam War
Napalm, or jelly-like gasoline, was used by the Americans to destroy enemy personnel, that is, fighters of the NLF. Many civilians also suffered from napalm. This happened because, having received information that Viet Cong fighters were hiding in a certain village, the Americans and the South Vietnamese army dropped napalm on it, often without checking whether there were civilians there or not. A few years after the end of the Vietnam War, in 1980. international convention the use of napalm in conditions where civilians could be harmed was prohibited.
In 1972, US photographer Nick Ut (Huynh Cong Ut) secretly filmed American bombers dropping napalm on a village. His lens captured a group of running children from the side of the children and soldiers walking nearby. Nick Ut's brother was also a US media photographer who died in Vietnam, and Nick Ut himself was wounded three times. Nick Ut got the photo published in the newspaper, although this worked against the US Army and its allies. Subsequently he received for the photo Pulitzer Prize. There is a belief that this photo stopped the Vietnam War. Then they began to call it “The Horror of War.”
Among the running children was a girl, Kim Phuc Phan Thi, who threw off her burning dress. Then most of the girl's skin was transplanted and she cannot breathe. She was quickly taken to the hospital by car by the same Nick Ut. However, few are so “lucky”. Most died from their burns. Kim Phuc Phan Thi now lives in Canada, works in a foundation named after her, which helps children victims of war.
Regarding this episode, the Americans claim that the napalm was dropped not by them, but by their allies - from a South Vietnamese plane, and the pilot of this plane at the end of the war, along with many other South Vietnamese, fled to the United States, where he currently lives. Indeed, in the picture, not far from the running children and the burning girl, most likely South Vietnamese soldiers are calmly walking, carrying out a ground operation to “clean up” the NLF fighters. It's unclear about planes.
This photograph was published in American and other publications. With the advent of the Internet, it was on many sites, including Facebook. 44 years passed, and in September 2016, the Facebook administration deleted all these photos from the social network for moral reasons. This caused criticism and the photo was returned to the network. The critics' argument was that normal people believe that such photographs should be published so that people can clearly understand the horrors of war.
This picture was also on this page, but it was removed while the issue is controversial.
Similar disputes can arise (and probably did arise) over photographs from fascist concentration camps, which show mountains of corpses of the tortured different ways of people. After all, they can say that necrophiles like such pictures, which means they should be deleted. On the other hand, if this goes on, then the picture of history will look good and disorient people who have not seen the horrors of wars.
Second World War set the task for scientists to find a fuel that is easily flammable and burns for a long time. Gasoline was not suitable, since its effect is insignificant: it quickly spreads over a wide area and burns out just as quickly. The reason for this unsuitability was the low viscosity of gasoline. In 1942, researchers at Harvard University found a solution to this problem.
Origin story
Dr. Louis Fizer and the US Army Chemical Service, under his strict leadership, researching fuel issues, were able to find a thickening component, which today we know as napalm. This significant moment, as mentioned above, occurred in 1942. To understand what napalm is, you need to consider its composition.
The development of jelly-like fuel, which was carried out in the pre-war period, boiled down to the fact that rubber was needed as a thickener. At that time it was a very scarce commodity. After Harvard research, it became clear that aluminum naphthenates and palmitates can be used as a thickener. When mixed with gasoline, the now famous flammable napalm is obtained.
What kind of fuel is this?
In principle, every military man knows what napalm is and how to use it. But this fuel was banned. The UN adopted a convention in 1980 prohibiting the use of certain weapons and incendiary mixtures, which include attacks, against civilians. By 2005, 99 countries had signed this Convention. These included all European countries, with the exception of Andorra and San Marino. Russia and Ukraine also signed the Convention.
Convention and Protocol on prohibited incendiary mixtures
Understanding what napalm and other flammable mixtures used in military operations are, there are countries that have signed the Convention, but have not signed Protocol III, in which we're talking about just about fuel. These are 6 countries: Monaco, Israel, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, South Korea and the USA. Another 6 countries have not ratified the Convention, but have signed the Protocol. These are Sudan, Nigeria, Iceland, Egypt, Vietnam, Afghanistan. Among the countries that are part of the CIS, there are those that have not acceded to the Convention and have not signed Protocol III. These are Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
Knowing what napalm was, the United States widely used it in combat. They used this fuel in fire mines, aerial bombs, flamethrowers (backpack and mechanized), and incendiary cartridges that hit manpower. This fuel was used to create fires in other military equipment.
First use
The United States first used napalm for weapons in 1942. But it was widely used on July 17, 1944. This was a raid by US fighters (bombers) on a German fuel depot in France (Coutense). After using napalm, scorched earth remains, and all living things around are incinerated. This fuel was also used by Israel and Iraq. The consequences of using napalm are impossible to predict. It affects the entire surrounding area uncontrollably. That is why the Convention and the corresponding Protocol on flammable mixtures were adopted. There are a sufficient number of cases where, after the use of napalm, not only scorched earth remains, but also civilians die or suffer greatly.
Thickener
The fuel is named napalm from the first letters of the names of the acids: naphthenic and palmitic. The percentage composition of the mixture is as follows: from 89 to 93% gasoline and from 7 to 11% thickener (aluminum salts of acids).
The composition of the aluminum acid thickener includes:
- naphthenic acid - 25%;
- palmitic acid (from coconut oil) - 50%;
- oleic acid - 25%;
The finished thickener looks like a grayish or pinkish powder. It will have a soapy consistency to the touch. Metal hermetically sealed jars are used to store thickeners.
Types of thickeners available in the USA
The United States produces several brands of this substance, which contain salts of organic acids:
- M2 - dehydrated silica gel (5%) and thickener from a mixture of aluminum salts of organic acids (95%);
- M4 - dibasic aluminum soap of isooctanoic acid (98%) and anti-caking agent (2%).
The main standard thickener used by the American ground forces is M4: 98% aluminum salt and 2% silica gel. As a backup option, use the more expensive Ml. It is classified as a reserve service document because it is prepared from natural material considered to be in short supply.
Types of stamps
The fuel that the Americans use for incendiary bombs is grade 1. The composition of napalm includes: 92-96% gasoline and 4-8% Ml-thickener. Ordinary napalm containing 89-93% gasoline and 7-11% thickener, the consistency is a viscous liquid, up to a state that resembles flowing jelly. The density of napalm mixtures is 0.8-0.9 g/cm³. The combustion temperature of such fuel is 900-1200°C, and the burning time is from 5 to 10 minutes. The more viscous the napalm, the slower it burns.
In military operations, there is such a thing as “burning with napalm,” which means advancing with fire that destroys all living things in its path. Vietnam especially felt this. On the land through which this deadly weapon passed, nothing grew for a long time.
This thickened gasoline, depending on the thickener and brand of fuel, can have a different color: from transparent and completely colorless to pink and even brown. Weapon creators went further and developed supernapalm. This is a mixture to which light metals or phosphorus are added. This substance is very active on wet surfaces and is capable of self-ignition. That is why this fuel is especially effective when used in the jungle and in the north. Supernapalm cannot be extinguished with water.
There is a type of napalm called pyrogel. It is obtained by adding powdered (shavings can be) magnesium, aluminum, as well as coal, saltpeter, asphalt, an inorganic oxidizing agent and other substances. This is a sticky mass that has grey colour. It's doughy. The combustion temperature of pyrogels reaches a value of 1600°C. These substances differ in that they are heavier than water. The combustion process lasts only 1 to 3 minutes.
Special properties
A flamethrower mixture such as attack has increased stickiness. The composition sticks to the affected object, even if it is a vertical surface. Thus, this fuel provides excellent ignition. Brand “B” napalm has the highest degree of adhesion to various surfaces (including wet ones). Its composition: gasoline (25%), benzene (25%) and polystyrene thickener (50%). Isobutyl methacrylate and organic salts of di- and trivalent metals can also act as a thickener.
The rate at which such fuel burns is controlled by adding wood flour, asphalt and various resins. Individual clumps of the flamethrower mixture burn for up to 4-5 minutes. After the combustion temperature reaches its maximum, it begins to decrease. During the combustion process, a lot of heat is released, and oxygen is absorbed from the air with high intensity. Such processes have the effect of significantly increasing the concentration of carbon monoxide within the bomb's radius. As is known, this substance is highly toxic.
Military technology experts note that viscous mixtures best suit the specific needs of flamethrowing. But they have a drawback: instability. Viscous mixtures change their properties depending on temperature environment(air temperature) and time of year. Because of this, equipment with napalm can be used for 10 days, with the exception of grade “B” napalm.
