Standing Well Back - Page 52 of 58 - IED & EOD Evolutions

standingwellback 9th September 2011 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.)

standingwellback 5th September 2011 16th Century

Historical use of IEDs

Some of you will know that I have an interest in the historical use of IEDs, (there’s a book being written, very slowly!) and for many of my presentations and seminars I use some interesting aspects of the historical use of IEDs to illustrate that these aren’t new problems. My definition of an IED excludes the use of gunpowder to “mine” castle walls. Aside from some interesting Chinese historical use of explosives, until now the earliest use of an IED that I could find in records was at the siege of Pskov in 1581. The city of Pskov was being besieged by Stephan Bathory, who had been elected King of Poland. Bathory’s troops were Polish, German, Hungarian and Scottish. Bathory had an IED made in the form of a jeweled casket, by an IED maker called Johann Ostromecki that was sent to the Russian defender Ivan Petrovich Shujski. The casket was sent to Shujksi ostensibly by a freed Russian prisoner. The casket, “booby-trapped”, exploded when opened by some of Shujski’s companions ,killing them but not its intended target.

Other historical use of IEDs from around the same time include roadside IEDs being used to ambush invading Spanish troops in Holland (I have a copy of great engraving showing a multiple IED attack from around the 1580s) and English use of “exploding” fire ships also against the Spanish… and evidence of an Italian engineer who seemed to be designing a range of innovative explosive devices for the English around this time.

However, my research over the past few days has uncovered perhaps earlier use of IEDs. The key technological development within the confines of my definition, is the invention, around 1500, perhaps by Leonardo da Vinci, of the flintlock/wheelock mechanism. Such a mechanism was actually first made somewhere around 1510-1520. This invention provides the opportunity to initiate gunpowder charges at a distance by means of a spring to release the mechanism, by pulling a string. Using a clock to initiate the flintlock also developed about this time and again I have found an interesting diagram from some time in the 1500s allegedly showing a clock initiated IED.

The recent finds I have made include a book written by Samuel Zimmermann of Augsberg in 1573. Most of the book discusses firework design, but sections also discuss initiation of explosive devices by means of “hidden springs” and “hidden string”. Zimmermann discusses “booby trapping” a chair that will initiate a device when sat on, and booby trapping a “purse of gold” left lying in the street.

It is possible too that a collection of explosive recipes offered for sale to Queen Elisabeth in 1574, which makes reference to “hollow tronckes” could be a reference to IEDs

Another book discussing a range of IEDs from this period is by Austrian Wulf von Senfftenberg, who discusses in some detail IEDs such as the Pskov device. Von Senfftenberg advocates using explosive letters against Turks, but suggests the letters must only be carried by Jews!

More to follow and I’ll try and post some of the historical diagrams if people are interested…

standingwellback 19th August 2011 1990-2000

Collar Bombs and the Media

The recent collar bomb incident in Australia (link here; (a hoax) highlights to me the role that modern media can play in designing both IEDs and indeed in designing the criminal operations associated with them. I’m treading a fine line here between discussing my concerns and avoiding adding to them. But I’m working on the basis that even the most stupid terrorist has access to a TV and the internet and has worked out the joys of google. And I’m not going to discuss much at all about the technicalities of construction or render-safe. My discussion focuses on the widespread coverage of such events and the ideas they give miscreants.

For background, collar bombs are not new, and normally associated with extortion or hostage situations. In 2000 there was a well-documented case in Colombia, that resulted in the death of a victim and a bomb disposal operator. Less well reported was an earlier case in Venezuela that I suspect was indirectly linked. The Colombian case was unusual for the complexity of the device and surprisingly small amount of money being extorted – if I recall correctly about $6000.

In 2003 there were more cases in Colombia and perhaps Venezuela again.

In 2003 a well publicized case of a collar bomb occurred in Erie, Pennsylvania.

The concept has been used frequently and often by TV producers. The movie “Miami Vice” in 2006 featured one and the TV show CSI Miami also used such a story in 2002, An episode of Hawaii five 0 (season 1 episode 12) used a similar story. One episode of (“1000 ways to die”) also featured a device of this nature.

A film released 2011, called 30 minutes or less featured a neck bomb.

Other films featuring collar bombs include:

Swordfish
The Running Man
SAW 3
Battlefield Earth

Other TV shows that featured the concept include:

NCIS
Nikita
Flashpoint
MacGyver
Torchwood
Criminal Minds
Law and Order: Criminal Intent
The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Alias

A short drama film was made called PVC1 received widespread attention which featured a collar bomb.

The video game SAW also featured a collar bomb detonating.

The concept also fascinates documentary makers… The following have featured examination of the Erie device:

- America’s Most Wanted have featured the case three times

Anderson Cooper 360

Fox News Channel “In the line up”
The 99 most Bizarre Crimes

I think significantly, a very detailed analysis of the Erie case was published in Wired magazine 8 months ago.

So in truth, there is no shortage if inspiration for evil people….but perhaps TV and movie script writers do lack imagination and like copying each others ideas more than terrorists do.

standingwellback 2nd August 2011 20th Century

Ah, the gentry….

While researching another project I came across the fascinating story of the Earl of Suffolk GC, killed defusing a German bomb – and an interesting back story about his role in WW2.

Here’s a quick summary:

Charles Howard, the 20th Earl of Suffolk was born in 1906. He was a “wild young man”, entering Dartmouth naval college as a naval cadet, but quit to sail around the world in a windjammer. On his return he was persuaded to join the Scots Guards as an officer but was shortly asked to resign for some misdemeanour or other. I think it didn’t help that he was by then covered with all the tattoos that a windjammer seaman would expect to have. So he hopped on a ship again and worked as a jackeroo in Australia for six years between 1928 and 1934.

He 1934 he married a dancing girl (as you do…..), before remarkably enrolling to study Chemistry at Edinburgh University. He passed with a first class honours degree and took a job at the Nuffield laboratory in Oxford working on “explosives and poisons”. At the start of WW2 he became a Liaison officer for the British with the French Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. His first job involved charging around France, as the Germans invaded to recover:

Rare machine tools
$10 Million worth of diamonds ($400 million at today’s value)
Fifty key French scientists
And a few bottles of heavy water that the Germans desperately wanted…

Not a bad shopping list, but he had to personally berate Marshal Petain himself to get his way. It is said he visited all the diamond merchants in Paris, ahead of the German’s arriving, persuading them to pass over the diamonds for the good of the war effort. Apparently he carried two revolvers on his person, named “Oscar” and “Genevieve” – which must have helped his argument.

He commandeered a truck and then a ship to recover the heavy water to Bordeaux. Whilst still loading in Bordeaux a Belgian banker named Paul Timbral arrived having been sent there by the British Embassy. Timbral brought two cases of industrial diamonds and found Lord Suffolk stripped to the waist, covered in tattoos from his time as a crewman on a sailing ship, looking like a pirate and speaking fluent French to give orders and crack jokes to keep everyone hard at work. As the Germans passed through France the steamer left for England, with Suffolk eventually arriving at Paddington station, unshaven, wearing a trenchcoat with his revolvers and 12 jerry cans of “special fluid”.

On his return to Britain, he worked as a researcher for the ministry of supply working on bomb disposal techniques, In a manner that only the English gentry could carry off he then assigned himself to bomb disposal units in London during the blitz, accompanied by his chauffeur and female assistant. His assistant would either stand next to him taking notes or run a wire to his limousine parked around the corner while the Earl discussed his bomb disposal techniques as he worked on the bomb over a field telephone. He successfully defused 34 German bombs but the 35th detonated and killed him.

The bomb that killed him had in fact been dropped 6 month earlier and recovered to Romney marshes. He was attempting to recover the fuses for research and training purposes. Suffolk was posthumously awarded the George Cross.

standingwellback 23rd May 2011 2010-2020

Plata o plomo

In a previous post I detailed the use of remarkably sophisticated submarines used by South American narco gangs to smuggle cocaine. Here below are some recent images of a different range of narco developed equipment – this time “tanks” or more accurately armoured personnel carriers. All of these from Mexico where things are are pretty bad. The war between the individual cartels sometimes makes the conflict between the cartels and the police and military seem like a side show. Government officials are being cowed by the concept of “plata o plomo” – silver or lead…… they are offered both and have to make the choice. Some people suggest that 40,000 people have been killed or “disappeared” since 2006… that’s a pretty big number and easily exceeds Iraq and Afghanistan.

As is usual , this ain’t a first, and I recall other terrorist groups improvising such things in the past. and in response cartels are now obtaining anti-tank weapons.