Abstract
In this casuistry, two accidents from Germany and Switzerland are presented that happened during the shot of recoilless anti-tank weapons. In both cases, the injuries led to the death of two soldiers: A 22-year-old soldier in Germany was struck by the counter mass of a so-called Davis gun which had been fired by a comrade during a firing exercise; he died from his severe injuries, especially in the abdominal part of the body. As a peculiarity of the wound morphology, it was found to be a thick-layered, metallic, gray material in the wound cavity, which corresponded to the material of the counter mass that was ejected opposite to the shooting direction. The other case took place in Switzerland, where a 24-year-old soldier was seriously injured during an exercise with portable anti-tank rockets. At the time the shot was fired, he stood behind the launcher and was hit by the propulsion jet of the rocket motor. He died as well from his severe injuries, which were located at the chest done by the gas jet and by the very high pressure. In both cases, two different causes of death were present: massive blunt violence in the first case versus a jet of hot gases of very high speed and temperature in the second case.
Highlights
The defense against armored vehicles requires grenades with a weight of several kilograms; due to the large muzzle momentum, it can only be fired from heavy weapons
To ensure that the individual, unprotected soldier can still be equipped with such projectiles, there are so-called portable recoilless anti-tank weapons, in which the muzzle momentum is compensated by an large one opposite the shooting direction
One case with a Davis gun occurred during a Bundeswehr practice shooting, and the other was caused by a rocket tube during a Swiss Army shooting exercise
Summary
The defense against armored vehicles (tanks, armored personnel carrier) requires grenades with a weight of several kilograms; due to the large muzzle momentum (mass times speed), it can only be fired from heavy weapons. To ensure that the individual, unprotected soldier can still be equipped with such projectiles, there are so-called portable recoilless anti-tank weapons, in which the muzzle momentum is compensated by an large one opposite the shooting direction This is achieved with weapons simultaneously firing the grenade and ejecting a heavy mass at a. Due to the course of the channel-like tissue defect, it can be assumed that the corporal was hit by the propulsion jet of the rocket from right to left and from top (cranial) to bottom (caudal) This injury morphology could be explained by standing up in the trench behind the weapon. The victims would be exposed to energies around 30,000 J, in the first case by kinetic energy and in the second by pressure energy of the high-velocity jet associated with a high temperature
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