Boiling Oil - New Facebook Post
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by
ral104
moderator, scientist
A horrible, yet highly effective weapon - boiling oil.
https://www.facebook.com/OperationWarDiary/posts/713905472026381:0
Thanks to @jacward for tagging this.
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by
DZM
admin
... well isn't that properly medieval. Yikes.
This sent me down a brief Wikipedia rabbit hole wondering if such a tactic would still be considered legitimate today by the laws of war. It seems like it actually might be, as long as white phosphorus is still generally seen as acceptable.
Was it pretty much just the gas that was so horrific that it was permanently banned from war?
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by
HeatherC
moderator
Interesting. I'm certainly no expert on this but the 1925 Geneva Protocol on Chemical Weapons defines them as "asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and all analogous liquids, materials or devices ".
White phosphorous is pretty awful stuff but I suppose as it's not "asphyxiating or Poisonous" it isn't banned by this Protocol. Presumably boiling oil (as you say very medieval!) doesn't count as asphyxiating or poisonous either?
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by
ral104
moderator, scientist
No idea about the legalities of it today, I'm afraid, but at the time it seemed quite favoured for dealing with machine gun positions. Apparently, an Australian attack during 1916 was supported by a barrage of 80 Livens projectors firing these oil drums, and was very successful at knocking out the defensive positions before they got in range of them.
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