WP vs Vehicles (not the crew)

[Thunderchief]

An ASL mate and I just returned from a battlefield tour of Korea. The group was led by a retired British officer who shared something we had not heard before: WP, if ingested by the engine of a vehicle, can cause serious damage to the engine and set fire to the fuel.

Of course all kinds of crazy ideas and rules changes came to mind, BUT, does anyone have any experience or additional knowledge of this?

 

[Honza]

Well, a WP shell would not be able to enter the engine under battlefield circumstances. It would not be applicable to ASL.

 

[Sparafucil3]

There is the case of a German King Tiger hit with a WP round and the crew bailed out thinking they were on fire. Some of the smoke was ingested into the vehicle. As I recall, it was a panic shot. German doctrine did not allow a crew to abandon unless their tank was on fire. At the point they bailed out, the writing was on the wall and maybe it served as an excuse. -- jim

 

[semenza]

S

Well, a WP shell would not be able to enter the engine under battlefield circumstances. It would not be applicable to ASL.

Sucking the WP agent into the engine through air cleaner, getting through cooling vents, etc. Not the shell itself.
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I read or saw something about this as being used as a tactic against vehicles that were beyond the kill capability of the shooter. How often whether or not it really worked ........................ no idea.

Seth

 

[Thunderchief]

S


Sucking the WP agent into the engine through air cleaner, getting through cooling vents, etc. Not the shell itself.
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I read or saw something about this as being used as a tactic against vehicles that were beyond the kill capability of the shooter. How often whether or not it really worked ........................ no idea.

Seth

Correct, I am talking about the smoke produced (artillery or gunfire), not an individual WP round fired at a vehicle.

 

[PresterJohn]

White phosphorous, when dispersed by a charge, reacts with water in the air to form a few volatile phosphorous compounds including phosphine and acids with different phosphorous oxidations.

Elemental phosphorous is safely stored in hydrocarbons (high schools chemistry pracs in the olden days), but would be much more reactive as the acids. If acid fumes were pulled into the air filter intakes and entered the cylinders, then the undischarged residue could cause premature combustion of the injected fuel on the next stroke and damage the engines. If the fuel injection system was damaged or ruptured in the process and was leaking, then fires could start. Diesel would be safer than petrol.

 

[gorkowskij]

An ASL mate and I just returned from a battlefield tour of Korea. The group was led by a retired British officer who shared something we had not heard before: WP, if ingested by the engine of a vehicle, can cause serious damage to the engine and set fire to the fuel.

Of course all kinds of crazy ideas and rules changes came to mind, BUT, does anyone have any experience or additional knowledge of this?

Molotov Cocktails do the same, so the concept (flammable material entering the engine/exhaust system) is not new even if the method of delivery (a WP round) is something we had not previously considered. In fact, this further justifies the added chance of scoring a kill from the rear, even an AP round could induce the same effect by crashing into the grill, exhaust, or engine. Therefore, this is the sort of thing that should be subsumed/covered by already existing rules for critical hits. No need for additional rules. When your Hail Mary shot actually scores a critical hit for the kill maybe that was a round of WP fired into the engine/exhaust.

 

[Hutch]

From the White Phosphorus Wiki:
US Sherman tanks carried the M64, a 75mm white phosphorus round intended for screening and artillery spotting, but tank crews found it useful against German tanks such as the Panther that their APC ammunition could not penetrate at long range. Smoke from rounds fired directly at German tanks would be used to blind them, allowing the Shermans to close to a range where their armour-piercing rounds were effective. In addition, due to the turret ventilation systems sucking in fumes, German crews would sometimes be forced to abandon their vehicle: this proved particularly effective against inexperienced crews who, on seeing smoke inside the turret, would assume their tank had caught fire.

 

[Yuri0352]

Therefore, this is the sort of thing that should be subsumed/covered by already existing rules for critical hits. No need for additional rules.