This excerpt from a magazine, dated 1922:
This from 1933, a German protective suit:
And this from the Nineteen-fifties, a NYPD bomb suit. Note the object behind the operator. This is a “LaGuardia-Pyke Bomb carrier” developed in 1940 and still in use in the 1990s, albeit mounted on a newer truck. The device was for transporting IEDs before in-situ safe disposal techniques were developed. I’m pulling together a blog piece on this equipment for the near future.
The Orsini bomb was a remarkable terrorist IED in the form of a hand grenade used in 1858 by Italian Felix Orsini in an assassination attempt on the French Emperor. The bomb or IED was originally designed by a Hungarian artillery officer.
The IED casing was made by English gun maker Joseph Taylor In Birmingham and tested in Sheffield and Devon. Taylor claimed he thought the the device a genuine piece of ordnance. The grenades were then smuggled into France as “gas machinery” components.
What is important in terms of IED design and explosive history is that the entire fill of the device was primary explosive, mercury fulminate. The protuberances mounted crushable percussion caps, as used on small arms of the time.
In one of those peculiar coincidences of history, Orsini decided to attack the target as he went to the Opera. Readers of this blog will know the story of a previous IED attack on the “original” Napoleon in 1800, while he too was on his way to the opera, some 58 years earlier.
Three of the Orsini bombs were thrown, killing 8 people and wounding 142 (including Orsini himself). But the Emperor Napoleon and his wife were both unhurt. Here’s a description of the plan from a participant:
Here’s another odd thing – an Orsini grenade was dug up in a field in Arkansas in the 1950s – discussed here, which includes a beautiful photo of one of the devices. I know a lot of improvised grenades were used in the American Civil War – perhaps Orsini’s designs were copied?
If you think that improvised grenades have advanced much, technologically, in the 150 years since Orsini, then I suggest you take a look at this from CJ Chivers excellent blog, showing some Syrian improvised grenades.
Update on Sunday, December 30, 2012 at 8:08PM by Roger Davies
There’s an interesting follow up to Orsini’s colleague, De Rudio. (De Rudio is quoted directly in the report above) He was sentenced to jail, not execution. He then escaped, fled to Italy and thence to the US. Eventually he joined the US Army, fought in the Civil War, and then joined the 7th Cavalry under Custer. He fought and survived the battle of Little Big Horn,died in 1910 and is buried in the Praesidio in San Francisco. I kid you not. Perhaps the Orsini grenade found in an Arkansas field in 1953 fell out of his pocket? ; -)
Update on Sunday, December 30, 2012 at 8:19PM by Roger Davies
The William Tell Connection. In the assassination attempt outlined above, the target Emperor Napoleon III was en route to the opera with his wife, to see a performance of Rossini’s “William Tell”.
In Barcelona in 1893, some 35 years later, an anarchist called Santiago Salvador threw two “Orsini bombs” into the audience at the Liceu theater, killing 22 and wounding 30. He threw the grenades during the second act of an Opera – and the name of the Opera was — Rossini’s “William Tell”.
The conviction of a team of radical would-be terrorists who discussed planting IEDs in the lavatories of the British Stock Exchange reminds me that lavatories are a theme in many IED attacks, which I think is curious. Here’s a range of previous “bombs in the bogs””
Only a couple of days ago some sort of apparent explosive device was found in the lavatory of a Libyan plane in Egypt For what its worth I don’t think it was an IED but the story is pretty cloudy for now.
In May 2008 there was the very peculiar incident in Exeter, UK, where a decidedly odd individual detonated a device while he was in the lavatories of a fast food restaurant.
In 1957 an elderly man blew himself up in the lavatory of a passenger aircraft over California. A good investigation report is here The device was constructed by dynamite and blasting caps with the blasting caps initiated by matches and burning paper. Only the perpetrator was killed.
A similar dynamite IED functioned in the lavatory of an aircraft in 1962 over Iowa, this time killing all aboard. http://www.airsafe.com/plane-crash/western-airlines-flight-39-1957.pdf
A Canadian passenger aircraft blew up after a device exploded in the lavatory over British Colombia in 1965. The crime was never solved.
In 1939, as part of a significant Irish terrorist bombing campaign in England a bomb was planted in a public lavatory in Oxford street. Disaster was averted when the lavatory attendant dumped the IED in a bucket of water (not a good response, but a brave man). Several other incidents in this campaign were IEDs left in lavatories. The attendant was awarded £5 for his bravery
In 1884, during another Irish bombing campaign in England, (yes there have been a few) the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, Scotland Yard, was severely damaged in an explosion caused by a large IED being left in a public lavatory next door to the police Headquarters. Here’s a picture.
There’s an interesting aspect to this story. Several months earlier, in 1883, an Irish revolutionary organization , the Irish Republican Brotherhood sent a letter to Scotland Yard threatening to ‘blow Superintendent Williamson off his stool’ and dynamite all the public buildings in London on 30 May 1884. The Met Police largely ignored the warning, and then on the very day promised the explosion at Scotland Yard occurred, as did two other explosions elsewhere in London. The failure of the Met Police to protect their own headquarters, as well as the occurrence of several other IED attacks across London embarrassed the police severely and led indirectly to the formation of Special Branch.
There are numerous other IED attacks on lavatories, too many to list.
