18C's and Helpful Fire

[The Reaper]

This is what Flame Fougasse can do for you.

This example is too thin and aimed too high, but I do not doubt that it would be an effective psychological deterrent for attackers.

Best employed when the bad guys are held up by an obstacle like wire or a minefield.

Brought to you by the Special Forces Engineer Committee.

TR

[The Reaper]

Second frame.

TR

[The Reaper]

Third frame.

TR

[The Reaper]

Final, fireball starting to dissipate.

TR

[Solid]

Fougasse apparently means 'contact mine', a term first used by the French Marshal Sebastien Le Prestre de Vauban in his work on Siege Warfare. It was a mine used to blow through tunnels less than 3 meters down from the castle walls.

If you were interested:
From FAS.ORG, on later Fougasse:

Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, stated that "Fougasses formed into a T-like mine, in order to blow up the same place three times, can be added to the entrenchments. Their use is admirable; nothing fortifies a position so strongly nor does more to ward off attackers."34 These fougasses were simple black powder devices first developed for defending permanent fortifications. They were intended to detonate in the face of an enemy assault. A black powder charge was placed in a chamber excavated in the face of a fortification (firing horizontally) or in front of it (firing vertically). The chamber was then packed with a quantity of fragments, normally rocks or scrap iron and called a stone fougasse, or filled with explosive artillery shells and called a shell fougasse. If properly emplaced, a horizontally fired fougasse functioned as a crude claymore mine, while the shell fougasse could function like a bounding antipersonnel (AP) mine or a simple fragmenting mine. Fougasses were command-detonated by manually igniting a powder train from a protected position at the appropriate time. Fougasses had several defects: they were vulnerable to the elements--even moderate dampness rendered them inoperative--and were difficult to detonate at the optimum time. However, in the right circumstances, fougasses caused heavy casualties, as occurred during the sieges of Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, and Santander in the Duke of Wellington's Peninsular Campaign of the Napoleonic Wars.

Fougasses were employed by one of George Washington's engineers, Francois de Fleury (of de Fleury Medal fame), in October 1777 against the Hessians at Fort Mercer, New Jersey, on the east bank of the Delaware River.35 During the War of 1812, an American ammunition chest accidentally exploded during a British attack on Fort Erie, Canada. This caused the attack to collapse, and the fear of additional fougasses prevented further British attacks.36 (The only engineer unit in the American Army during this war--the Company of Sappers, Miners and Bombardiers--fought in this battle). During the Mexican-American War of 1845, the Mexicans attempted to employ fougasses on the approaches to Chapultepec.37 Stone fougasses are still employed occasionally by irregular forces, such as the Viet Cong, Central American guerillas,38 and Bosnians,39 who lack access to modern land mines.

"Liquid Fire" and "Greek Fire" have existed since classical times. However, the first reported flame mine was improvised by Confederate soldiers near Charleston in 1864, possibly from shells containing Greek Fire, which the Union fired into the city and that failed to function.61 During World War II, the Russians used a trip-wire-activated static flamethrower at the Battle of Kursk.62 These devices were quickly copied by the Germans and used in the Atlantic Wall.63 The British also employed improvised flame mines during the First Battle of El Alamein in 1942.64 The United States developed the first modern flame mine, the XM-55, for use in Vietnam. It was a pressure- or trip-wire-activated bounding mine.65 There are no indications that it was ever used in combat. Improvised flame mines, sometimes called flame fougasse, are still occasionally used in combat.
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Solid

[Bill Harsey]

WOW! So that's what happens when they let Reaper play with matches!

[Razor]

Nice new avatar, Mr. Harsey. Of course, you'd score many more points with the People's Medic if it was a Smatchet instead.

[Bill Harsey]

Razor, Sir, Yes scoring points with The Peoples Medic is critical duty but just this once can I may have to disapoint him for a bit longer. has anyone gotten the matches from Reaper yet?

[The Reaper]

Originally posted by Bill Harsey
Razor, Sir, Yes scoring points with The Peoples Medic is critical duty but just this once can I may have to disapoint him for a bit longer. has anyone gotten the matches from Reaper yet?

Too late.

I just got back from the gas station!

TR