Standing Well Back
19th Century

IEDs in the American Civil War

I’m enjoying a fascinating book about improvised munitions from the American Civil War. The book is a new edition of two period documents, firstly the “Rains Torpedo Book” written by an innovative Confederate officer , General Gabriel Rains and describing a significant number of ingenous IEDs that he designed and deployed.  At the time both land mines and sea/river mines were all known as “torpedoes”.  The second document, included in the book, is from the Federal perspective  “Notes Explaining Rebel Torpedoes and Ordnance” by Captain Peter S Michie. I’d recommend the book to anyone interested in Counter-IED for the unusual perspective it gives. Here’s a link to Amazon: Confederate Torpedoes

As an example there is a description of a triple IED attack mounted by Rains in  the aftermath of the Battle of Williamsburg in 1862.

Title – Sub –Terra Shell “ 115,000 men turned by 4 of these”

The day after the Battle of Willamsburg, Va, my brigade formed the rearguard of Genl. Johnston’s army, and we were employed at very hard work, in getting over a mud slosh in about 3 miles from that city toward Richmond our own artillery, and that taken from the enemy. Afterward I discovered that such was the nature of the place , from woods and the tortuous road, we could not bring a single piece of artillery to bear, and the enemy were coming on pursuing and shelling the road as they came. Not knowing how to protect our good soldiers, the sick and disabled, , which usually bring up the rear of an army in retreat, I involuntarily fell back and found in the road, in a mud hole a broken down caisson. On opening this, nothing was within except 5 shells of this size and shape., which I put in the hands of 5 soldiers, and proceeded with them to the rear , where our Confederate cavalry guard was stationed and under their supervision, the colonel being present we planted 4 of the shells in the road a little beyond a fallen tree, the first obstacle the enemy would find on their route. I put the three together about a yard part in a triangular form, and one a little to the left in a basket and with some sensitive primers, which I happened to have, after they were buried to their tops, I primed them, covering lightly with soil out of view, and then withdrew.  As the enemy approached the cavalry retired also.

There were twp explosions as the enemy’s cavalry came upon them, so the 3 shells planted near each other must have exploded as one , and the other separately.

 Lawyer’s A ‘s statement – “I was in Williamsburg at the time in the possession of the enemy, and such was the demoralizing effect, that for 3 days and nights they stopped and never moved a peg after hearing the reports” So these 4 shells checkmated the advance of 115,000 men under Gen McClellan and turned them from their line of march, for they never used the road afterward, supposing it thus armed though they advanced by the York River road finally.

 Other devices used are fascinating including the first electrical command wire initiated IEDs I have found – more to follow in future blogs.

19th Century

Copycat IED attacks – 100 years apart

One of the reasons I study historical IED attacks is the parallels with current IED attacks. Sometimes the parallels need a bit of analysis to see; sometimes the parallels are frankly startling.  He’s some specific UK examples.  It is often forgotten that the Irish terrorists have been planting IEDs in England since the late 19th century.  There were then subsequent campaigns in 1939 (the “S Plan”) and later in the 20th century. It is interesting that sometimes the exact same targets were attacked.

The IRA’s “S Plan” in particular, although largely unsuccessful, posed an intriguing terrorist threat worthy of study because the IRA in the early months of 1939 attacked the national electrical power supply infrastructure in the UK. Not with much success, I admit, but nonetheless with clear strategic intent.  There are a few other terrorist campaigns where specific aspects of infrastructure have been targeted but this is an interesting one. Details of the quite broad ranging S Plan attacks are here.

Below is a list of attacks that match or replicate IED attacks from earlier campaigns. In particular I would highlight the repeat attacks on Victoria Station (three times), and Hammersmith Bridge

Prisons:

1. 1867 – A “fenian” device used to breach a prison wall at Clerkenwell

2. 1939 IRA device blew up against the wall of Walton Gaol in Liverpool

London Train/ Tube stations

1. 1883/1884/1885 IEDs exploded at Gower St Station (now Euston Square) and Victoria Station left luggage office. Device defused at Charing Cross Station. Other devices exploded in tunnels

2. In 1939/1940 Devices exploded at Tottenham Court Road, Leicester Square, Kings Cross and Victoria Station left luggage office then in 1940 Euston station. IRA two devices defused at Baker Street

3. 1991, 1992 IEDs at Paddington station, Hammersmith and Victoria Station, London Bridge station, other devices on trains and near stations

Hammersmith Bridge

1. March 1939 Hammersmith Bridge attacked with two IEDs

2. June 2000 Hammersmith Bridge attacked with one IED

Houses of Parliament

1. 1884 Fenian devices exploded in the Houses of Parliament

2. 1974 IRA device exploded at the Houses of Parliament

Department stores

1. 1939 department stores attacked with incendiaries

2. 1991/1992 department stores and shops attacked with inendiaries

Scotland Yard

1. In 1884 a device exploded next to Scotland Yard, headquarters of the Metropolitan Police

2. In 1973, Police defused a bomb outside New Scotland Yard

Tower of London

1. 1885 An explosion at the Tower of London

2. 1974  An explosion at the Tower of London

Gasworks

1. 1883  A gas works was attacked with an IED in Glasgow

2. In 1939 gasworks were on the intended strategy of the IRA’s S Plan

3. In 1993 A gas works was attacked in Warrington

19th Century

History Repeating Itself

The post below on historical IEDs clearly was of interest…thanks for all the comments on and offline. So I’ll plan to update an interesting historical example every week or so, where possible drawing a link to modern IED attacks…. I’ve got a fair library of these, from all over the world including a surprising number in the USA. In amongst my usual posts of course. As ever, comments, additions, arguments, points of fact etc are welcome.

So, not related to anything particular at the moment, here’s a comparison of two VBIED attacks, one in history, one in the modern era. (some of you will have seen this example before in my gigs). This comparison works well with some “story telling”, so forgive me its structure which is based on a verbal presentation and hence in a narrative mode.

In 1800, Napoleon was ruler of France. A short stockily built Artillery officer (aren’t they all?) and the son of a diplomat, he had seized power in a military coup some years earlier. On Christmas Eve he and his wife, the lovely Josephine, were off to the theatre to see an opera. They were running late, as Josephine “powdered her nose”. Grumpily because he was late he and Josephine got into their carriage, and he shouted to the carriage driver to drive fast, make haste. His route and his attendance at the event was predictable. On the route, on the Rue St Nicaise in Paris, a cart full of barrels of gunpowder (a VBIED ) had been left, with a terrorist set to light the fuse on it when the Emperor’s carriage turned into the street, with the fuze length set to explode the VBIED as the emperors carriage passed by, escorted by bodyguards on horseback.

However, the speed of the carriage, running late, meant it passed the VBIED and had turned the corner, before it exploded.

As a result of the explosion, numerous bystanders were killed along with two of Napoleon’s escorts, according to some reports. He survived but the window of his carriage was broken in the blast. There’s quite an interesting back story about various culprits, and the ensuing investigation, but I have no space here to go into detail. I’ve only sketched the detail here

So, wind the clock forward to Christmas Day, 2002, 202 years and one day later. President Musharraf is ruler of Pakistan. A short, stockily built Artillery officer (aren’t they all?) and the son of a diplomat, he had seized power in a military coup some few years earlier. He sets off in his vehicle convoy on a predictable route, with an armed escort, through the Garrison town of Rawalpindi. Along the route, two suicide terrorists driving pick-up trucks (the modern equivalent of a cart, surely?) attacked the convoy, front and rear. Musharraf escaped but two of his escort were killed and the window of his Mercedes is broken…

 

And the moral of the story….? Never trust an artillery officer….they are short and fat and tend to seize power in a military coup…

(next week…. A clockwork timed IED that killed 800 people in 1585… constructed in the most remarkable way. I kid you not.)

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