Loading and fitting electrical leads to a battery of Livens projectors.

The Livens Projector was a type of mortar that was used by the Allies in World War I for chemical warfare. It was created by the British army officer Captain William H. Livens, Royal Engineers, ^[1] also the inventor of the British version of the flamethrower. ^[2] British soldiers loading a battery of Livens gas projectors during the First World War. ... British soldiers loading a battery of Livens gas projectors during the First World War. ... In military science, a battery is a group of artillery guns or rockets, so grouped in order to facilitate battlefield communication and command and control, as well as to provide dispersion. ... Mortar has several meanings: A mortar is a military weapon into which is dropped a mortar shell, which is then fired in a high ballistic trajectory. ... Combatants Allied Powers: British Empire French Empire Italy Russian Empire Kingdom of Serbia United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary Bulgaria German Empire Ottoman Empire Commanders Douglas Haig Sir John Jellicoe Ferdinand Foch Nikolay II Nikolay Yudenich Radomir Putnik Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Wilhelm II Reinhard Scheer Franz Josef I Oskar... Chemical warfare is warfare (and associated military operations) using the toxic properties of chemical substances to kill, injure or incapacitate an enemy. ...

Prior to the invention of the Livens Projector, chemical weapons had been delivered either by "cloud attacks" or chemical-filled shells fired from howitzers. Cloud attacks were made by burying gas filled cylinder tanks just beyond the parapet of the attacker's trenches, and then opening valves on the tanks when the wind was right. This allowed a significant amount of gas to be released, but there was a significant danger that the wind would change and the gas would drift back over the attacker's own troops. Chemical shells were much easier to direct at the enemy, but could not deliver nearly as much gas as could be contained in a cylinder tank. The Livens Projector was designed combine the advantages of both types of gas attack by firing an actual cylinder tank at the enemy.^[3]

The Livens Projector was a simple metal pipe that was set in a ground at a 45 degree angle. A 14 kilogram drum of gas was shot out with an electrical charge and could go about 1 and a half kilometers. The drum would then blast open thanks to a charge and would cover the area with gas.^[4] It was a cheap and extremely effective chemical weapon.

The Livins Projector was first employed at the Battle of the Somme.^[5] See Battle of the Somme (disambiguation) for other battles and meanings Battle of the Somme Conflict First World War Date 1 July 1916 – 18 November 1916 Place Somme, Picardy, France Result Stalemate The 1916 Battle of the Somme was one of the largest battles of the First World War, with...

Notes

References

• LeFebure, Victor. The Riddle of the Rhine. The Chemical Foundation, Inc, 1923.
• Palazzo, Albert. Seeking Victory on the Western Front: The British Army and Chemical Warfare in World War I. University of Nebraska Press, 2002 ISBN 0803287747.
• United States Department of War. (1942) Livens Projector M1 TM 3-325

External links

• http://www.vectorsite.net/twgas1.html#m3
• Royal Engineers Museum First World War - Livens Projector