Deadly injuries through recoilless anti-tank weapons while military shooting practice — two case studies from Germany and Switzerland

Please always quote using this URN: urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-232727
  • In this casuistry, two accidents from Germany and Switzerland are presented that happened during the shot of recoilless anti-tankweapons. In both cases, the injuries led to the death of two soldiers: A 22-year-old soldier in Germany was struck by the countermass 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,In this casuistry, two accidents from Germany and Switzerland are presented that happened during the shot of recoilless anti-tankweapons. In both cases, the injuries led to the death of two soldiers: A 22-year-old soldier in Germany was struck by the countermass 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 tothe shooting direction. The other case took place in Switzerland, where a 24-year-old soldier was seriously injured during anexercise with portable anti-tank rockets. At the time the shot was fired, he stood behind the launcher and was hit by the propulsionjet 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 veryhigh pressure. In both cases, two different causes of death were present: massive blunt violence in the first case versus a jet of hotgases of very high speed and temperature in the second case.show moreshow less

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Metadaten
Author: Katharina Jellinghaus, Charlotte Scherer, Edouard Stauffer, Petra Urban, Michael Bohnert, Beat P. Kneubuehl
URN:urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-232727
Document Type:Journal article
Faculties:Medizinische Fakultät / Institut für Rechtsmedizin
Language:English
Parent Title (English):International Journal of Legal Medicine
ISSN:0937-9827
Year of Completion:2020
Volume:134
Pagenumber:2199–2204
Source:International Journal of Legal Medicine 134, 2199–2204 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-020-02301-4
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-020-02301-4
Dewey Decimal Classification:6 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften / 61 Medizin und Gesundheit / 610 Medizin und Gesundheit
Tag:Anti-tank rocket; Anti-tank weapon; Ballistics; Davis gun; Military shooting
Release Date:2021/05/25
Licence (German):License LogoCC BY: Creative-Commons-Lizenz: Namensnennung 4.0 International