Molotov cocktail

Molotov cocktail and handmade grenades used during the Warsaw Uprising.

A Molotov cocktail (or Molotov cocktail) is a homemade incendiary bomb whose purpose, more than the lack of explosion, is to expand the flammable liquids that contains. This contraption is made of a mixture of certain flammable products (for example gasoline) with motor oil or sawdust in a glass container. It is classified as a low intensity thermobaric bomb.

Origin of name

Although it was first used in the Spanish civil war, the name of this explosive device has its origin in the Winter War of 1939. At that time Viacheslav Molotov (Soviet Union People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs) communicated radioed to the Finnish population during the war that the Red Army Air Force was not bombing them, but was supplying them with food by air. Sarcastically, the Finns began calling Soviet cluster bombs "Molotov bread baskets" and the fuel-filled bottles they hurled at Soviet tanks "Molotov cocktails", as a pun on a drink and the alleged food thrown by the Russians.

Different models and use

Original Finnish Molotov cocktail model.

In the classic models, a rag or piece of cloth in the mouth of a glass bottle, (originally alcohol bottles were used), serves as a wick. The fuse is lit and launched. When the glass breaks, the content spreads as it comes into contact with the flame and catches fire, thus generating a small explosion. Motor oil makes gasoline stick to any surface.

In impact cocktails, instead of a wick, sulfuric acid and potassium chlorate are used. When the bomb is released, the glass breaks and the acid comes into contact with the potassium chlorate, generating a strong exothermic reaction (sudden increase in temperature), which ignites the fuel. In addition to fire damage, corrosive acid damage is added. Another characteristic of the acid bomb is that in night engagements it does not reveal the position of the thrower.

It has been used mainly in urban conflicts, given its easy preparation and low cost. It has also been used in violent demonstrations or riots in numerous countries against riot police. It was very successful as an anti-tank weapon, initially being used during the Spanish Civil War by the rebels, given the scarcity of means they had at first, against the T-26 light tanks with which the Soviets provided the army of the side. Republican for the defense of Madrid.

An ancestor of this concept, the "Domínguez cocktail" can be found in a description of an attack on the coast of Calahonda, Granada on July 10, 1831 in which an attempt was made to prevent maritime smuggling, "the skipper threw several jars of fire to the smuggler."

Development and use in warfare

Spanish Civil War

Monarchists during the Spanish Civil War with a bottle of fire.

Improvised incendiary devices of this type were first used in warfare in the Spanish Civil War between July 1936 and April 1939, before they became known as "Molotov cocktails". In 1936, General Francisco Franco ordered the Spanish Nationalist Forces to use the weapon against Soviet T-26 tanks supporting the Spanish Republics in an unsuccessful assault on the Nationalist stronghold of Seseña, near Toledo, 40 km (24.9 mi) south of Madrid. After that, both sides used simple gasoline bombs ignited with toxic gas or gasoline-soaked blankets with some success. Tom Wintringham, a veteran of the International Brigades, later published his recommended method of using them:

" We used the "fuel pumps" as follows: grab a 2-pound glass jam. Get him out of gas. Take a heavy curtain, half a blanket, or some other heavy material. Wrap it over the jar's mouth, tie it around the neck with a rope and leave the ends of the hanging material. When you want to use it, have someone nearby with a light [i.e., a source of ignition]. Put a corner of the material in front of you, turn the bottle around so that the gasoline comes out through the mouth of the bottle and drop over this corner of the material. Turn the bottle back up, hold it with the right hand, with most of the blanket grouped under the bottle, with the left hand grab the blanket near the corner that is wet with gasoline. Wait till your tank. When I'm close enough, your companion [or arms comrade] turns on the soaked corner of gasoline from the blanket. Drop the bottle and blanket as soon as this corner is lit. (You can't throw it away.) Make sure it falls in front of the tank. The blanket should be hooked on the tracks or on a dented wheel, or rolled around a shaft. The bottle will be broken, but the gasoline must pack the blanket enough to make a really healthy fire that will burn the rubber wheels on which the tank track runs, set fire to the carburetor or encrespay the crew. Don't play with these things. They're very dangerous."

Khalkhin Goal

The Battle of Khalkhin Gol, a 1939 border conflict ostensibly between Mongolia and Manchukuo, saw heavy fighting between the Imperial Japanese Army and Soviet forces. The Japanese infantry, lacking anti-tank equipment, attacked the Soviet tanks with full bottles of gasoline. Japanese infantrymen claimed that several hundred Soviet tanks had been destroyed in this way, although Soviet loss records do not support this assessment.

World War II

Finland

Finnish soldiers in the Winter War. The tanks were destroyed with satchel loads and Molotov cocktails. The bottle has storm matches instead of a rag like a fuse.

On November 30, 1939, the Soviet Union attacked Finland, starting what became known as the Winter War. The Finn perfected the design and tactical use of the gasoline pump. The fuel for the Molotov cocktail was refined to a slightly sticky mixture of alcohol, kerosene, tar, and potassium chlorate. Other refinements included the fitting of windproof matches or an ampoule of chemicals that would ignite when broken, thus eliminating the need to pre-light the bottle, and leaving the bottle about a third empty was found to make it more likely to break.

A British War Office report dated June 1940 noted that: "The Finns' policy was to allow Russian tanks to penetrate their defences, even inducing them to do so by "channeling them" through gaps and concentrating their small arms fire on the following infantry. The penetrating tanks were met by cannon fire in the open field and by small groups of men armed with explosive charges and petrol bombs in the woods and villages... The essence of the policy was the separation of the AFVs from the infantry, since once alone the tank has many blind spots and once stopped it can be eliminated at will.

Molotov cocktails were eventually mass-produced by the Alko corporation at their Rajamäki distillery, packaged with matches to light them. Production reached 450,000 during the Winter War. The original recipe for the Molotov cocktail was a mixture of ethanol, tar and gasoline in a 750 ml bottle. The bottle had two long pyrotechnic storm matches attached to each side. Before using them, one or both matches were lit; when the bottle broke on impact, the mixture would ignite. Storm matches were found to be safer to use than a burning rag in the mouth of the bottle.

Great Britain

A squadron of National Guard soldiers trained to defend a street with Molotov bombs.

In the early 1940s, with the British anti-invasion preparations for World War II, the possibilities of the petrol pump captured the imagination of the British public. For laymen, the gasoline pump had the advantage of using entirely familiar and readily available materials, and they were quickly improvised in large numbers, with the intention of using them against enemy tanks.

The Finns had found that they were effective when used correctly and in sufficient numbers. Although the experience of the Spanish Civil War received more publicity, the more sophisticated oil warfare tactics of the Finns did not go unnoticed by British commanders. In his June 5 address to the LDV leadership, General Ironside said:

"I want to develop this thing that they developed in Finland, called "Molotov cocktail", a bottle full of resin, gasoline and tar that if it is thrown on top of a tank it will turn on, and if you throw half a dozen or more on it you have cooked them. It's a pretty effective thing. If you can use your wit, I give you a photo of a block [road] with two houses near the block, overlooking it. There are many people like that. Over the top windows is the place to drop these things over the tank when it passes by the block. It may only stop for two minutes there, but it will be quite effective."

Wintringham realized that a tank cut off from supporting infantry was potentially vulnerable to men who had the determination and cunning to get close. Rifles or even a shotgun would be enough to persuade the crew to close all the hatches, and then the view from the tank is very limited; a turret-mounted machine gun has very slow travel and cannot hope to repel attackers coming from all directions. Once you're close enough, it's possible to hide where the tank gunner can't see: "The most dangerous distance from a tank is 200 yards; the safest distance is six inches" Petrol bombs will soon produce a blinding cloud of smoke, and a well-placed explosive package or even a stout iron bar on the tracks can immobilize the vehicle, leaving it at the mercy of more petrol bombs - which will choke the engine and possibly a the crew - either an explosive charge or an anti-tank mine.

In August 1940, the War Office produced training instructions for the creation and use of Molotov cocktails. The instructions suggested marking the bottles vertically with a diamond to ensure breakage and providing a fuel-soaked rag, windproof matches, or a piece of movie film (then composed of highly flammable nitrocellulose) as an ignition source.

On July 29, 1940, manufacturers Albright & Wilson of Oldbury demonstrated to the RAF how their white phosphorous could be used to light firebombs. The demonstration consisted of throwing glass bottles containing a mixture of gasoline and phosphorus at pieces of wood and a cabin. Breaking, the match was exposed to air and ignited spontaneously; the gasoline also burned, starting a fierce fire. For safety reasons, the RAF was not interested in white phosphorus munitions as an ignition source, but the idea of a self-igniting petrol bomb caught on. Initially known as the A.W. bomb, it was officially named the No. 76 grenade, but is more commonly known as the SIP (Self-Igniting Phosphorus) grenade. The honed list of ingredients was white phosphorus, benzene, water, and a two-inch strip of raw rubber; all in a half-pint bottle sealed with a crown stopper. Over time, the rubber would slowly dissolve, making the contents slightly sticky, and the mixture would separate into two layers. This was intentional, and the grenade was not it had to be shaken to mix the layers, as this would only retard ignition. When thrown against a hard surface, the glass would shatter and the contents ignite instantly, releasing asphyxiating fumes of phosphorus pentoxide and sulfur dioxide, as well as producing a large amount of heat. Strict instructions were given to store the grenades safely, preferably underwater and certainly never in a home. Issued primarily to the Home Guard as an anti-tank weapon, it was produced in large numbers; by August 1941 over 6,000,000 had been made.

There were many who were skeptical about the effectiveness of Molotov cocktails and SIP grenades against more modern German tanks. Weapons designer Stuart Macrae witnessed a test of the SIPs grenade on the Farnborough: 'There was some concern that if the tank drivers couldn't stop fast enough and jump they were likely to die in a tumble, but after seeing the bottles they said they'd be glad to take the chance'. The drivers were proven right, as tests on modern British tanks confirmed that Molotov and SIP grenades did not cause the tank occupants "any inconvenience".

Wintringham, while enthusiastic about improvised weapons, cautioned against reliance on Molotov cocktails and repeatedly stressed the importance of using explosive charges.

United States

The US military designated Molotov cocktails as frangible grenades. They presented a notable number of variants, from those that used fine fuel with various ignition systems, to those that used obscurants and chemical weapons. Various frangible grenade designs were developed, with those investigated by the NDRC being the most technologically advanced. These incendiary devices used the most technologically advanced fillers in the conflict.

The M1 Frangible Grenade was the standard device for the US, but each division of the army could come up with their own. Two non-industrial models of these grenades were developed and produced in some quantity. In all, some 5,000 were manufactured. The frangible grenades featured standardized chemical igniters, some were specific to each flammable filler.

Most frangible artifacts were made on the fly, with no standardization of bottle and filler. Frangible grenades were eventually declared obsolete, due to their very limited destructive effect.

1,107 frangibles, type M1, NP were issued to the Navy and its units for use in the field on Iwo Jima.

Other fronts of World War II

The Polish Home Army developed a version that ignited on impact without the need for a fuse. Ignition was caused by a reaction between concentrated sulfuric acid mixed with the fuel and a mixture of potassium chlorate and sugar that crystallized out of solution on a rag attached to the bottle.

During the Norwegian campaign of 1940, the Norwegian army, lacking adequate anti-tank weaponry, had to resort to petrol bombs and other improvised weapons to fight German armor. Instructions sent to army units in April 1940 by the Norwegian High Command encouraged soldiers to start the ad hoc production of 'Hitler cocktails' for the first time. (a different version of the Finnish nickname for the weapon) to fight against tanks and armored cars. During the campaign there were instances where these petrol bombs were quite effective against the lighter tanks used in Norway by Germany, such as the Panzer I and the Panzer II.

The United States Marine Corps developed a version during World War II that used a tube of nitric acid and a piece of metallic sodium to ignite a mixture of gasoline and diesel.

Modern Warfare

Civils in Kiev preparing Molotov cocktails for use during the Russian invasion of Ukraine of 2022.

During the Second Battle of Fallujah in 2004, the United States Marines used Molotov cocktails made from "one part liquid laundry detergent, two parts gas" while clearing houses "when contact is made in a house and the enemy has to be burned". The tactic "developed in response to the tactics of the enemy" of guerrilla warfare and, in particular, the martyrdom tactics that often resulted in casualties among US Marines. The cocktail was a less expedient alternative to white phosphorous mortar rounds or C4-fired propane tanks (nicknamed 'House Guest'), all of which proved effective in burning engaged enemy combatants.

During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense told civilians to make Molotov cocktails, locally called 'Flag shakes', to fight Russian troops. Defense distributed a recipe for producing Molotov cocktails to civilians on Ukrainian television, which included the use of Styrofoam as a thickening agent to help the burning liquid stick to vehicles or other targets. Pravda Brewery in Lviv, went from brewing beer to Molotov cocktails. " Russian media watchdog organization Roskomnadzor sued Twitter for failing to withdraw instructions on how to prepare and use Molotov cocktails, for which Twitter had to pay a 3 million ruble ($41,000) fine...