Napalm burns at temperatures ranging from 800 to 1,200 °C (1,470 to 2,190 °F).[3][4] It burns longer than gasoline, is more easily dispersed, and adheres to its targets. These traits make it both effective and controversial. It has been widely used from the air and from the ground, the largest use having been via airdropped bombs inWorld War II in theincendiary attacks on Japanese cities in 1945. It was used also forclose air support roles by the U.S military in theKorean War, theVietnam War, and various others. Napalm has also fueled most of theflamethrowers (tank-, ship-, and infantry-based) used since World War II, giving them much greater range.
This shortage of natural rubber promptedchemists at US companies such asDuPont andStandard Oil of New Jersey, and researchers atHarvard University, to develop factory-made alternatives:artificial rubber for all uses, including vehicle tires, tank tracks, gaskets, hoses, medical supplies and rain clothing. A team of chemists led byLouis Fieser at Harvard University was the first to develop synthetic napalm during 1942.[6] "The production of napalm was first entrusted to Nuodex Products, and by the middle of April 1942 they had developed a brown, dry powder that was not sticky by itself, but when mixed with gasoline turned into an extremely sticky and flammable substance." One of Fieser's colleagues suggested addingphosphorus to the mix which increased the "ability to penetrate deeply [...] into themusculature, where it would continue to burn day after day."[7]
On 4 July 1942, the first test occurred on the football field near theHarvard Business School.[7] Tests under operational conditions were carried out atJefferson Proving Ground on condemned farm buildings and subsequently atDugway Proving Ground on buildings designed and constructed to represent those to be found inGerman andJapanese villages.[8] This new mixture of chemicals was first approved for use on the front lines in 1943.[9]
The first use of napalm in combat was in August 1943 during theAllied invasion of Sicily, when American troops, using napalm-fueledflamethrowers, burned down a wheat field where German forces were believed to be hiding.[10] Napalm incendiary bombs were first used the following year, although the exact date and battle are disputed.[a]
Two-thirds of napalm bombs produced during WWII were used in thePacific War. Napalm was often deployed against Japanese fortifications onSaipan,Iwo Jima, thePhilippines, andOkinawa, where deeply dug-in Japanese troops refused to surrender.[11] Following a shortage of conventionalthermite bombs, GeneralCurtis LeMay, among other high-ranking servicemen, orderedair raids on Japan to start using napalm instead.[14] A 1946 report by the National Defense Research Council claims that 40,000 tons ofM69s were dropped on Japan throughout the war,[15][16] damaging 64 cities and causing more deaths than theatomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.[17]
Eighth Army chemical officer Donald Bode reported that, on an "average good day," UN pilots used 260,000 liters (70,000 US gal; 58,000 imp gal) of napalm, with approximately 230,000 liters (60,000 US gal; 50,000 imp gal) of this thrown by US forces.[10] TheNew York Herald Tribune hailed "Napalm, the No. 1 Weapon in Korea."[22] British Prime MinisterWinston Churchill privately criticized the use of napalm in Korea, writing that it was "very cruel," as US and UN forces, he wrote, were "splashing it all over the civilian population," "tortur[ing] great masses of people." He conveyed these sentiments to US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of StaffOmar Bradley, who "never published the statement.” Publicly, Churchill allowed Bradley "to issue a statement that confirmed U.K. support for U.S. napalm attacks."[10]
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Napalm became an intrinsic element of US military action during theVietnam War as forces made increasing use of it for its tactical and psychological effects.[9][25] Reportedly about 352,000 tonnes (388,000 short tons; 346,000 long tons) of US napalm bombs were dropped in the region between 1963 and 1973.[10] The US Air Force and US Navy used napalm with great effect against all kinds of targets, such as troops, tanks, buildings, jungles, and evenrailroad tunnels. The effect was not always purely physical as its destructive effects and ability to spread uncontrolled had psychological effects on Vietnamese forces and civilians as well.[26]
Peruvian forces employed napalm throughout the 1960s against both communist insurgents and theMatsés indigenous group; four prominent Matsés villages were bombed during theMatsés massacre in 1964.[34]
International law does not specifically prohibit the use of napalm or other incendiaries against military targets, but use against civilian populations was banned underProtocol III of the United NationsConvention on Certain Conventional Weapons in 1980, which entered into force as international law in December 1983.[9][44][45] As of January 2023,[update] 126 countries have ratified Protocol III.[46]
^De Chant, John A. (1947).Devilbirds: The Story of United States Marine Corps Aviation in World War II. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers. p. 155.OCLC698844424.
^Bauer, E.E.; Bogrow, Alexander; Engisch, G.W.; Haworth, M.D.; Hulse, S.M.; Keevil, C.S.; Knox, W.T.; McMillen, E.L.; Messing, R.F.; Mysels, K.H.; Reed, C.E.; Stanbury, G.R. (1946). Ewell, Raymond H.; Newhall, Robert M. (eds.).Fire Warfare, Incendiaries and Flame Throwers(PDF). Washington D.C.: National Defense Research Council.
^McCue, Paul; Baker, Max (1990).SAS Operation Bulbasket: Behind the Lines in Occupied France, 1944. Barnsley: Pen and Sword Books. p. 104.ISBN978-1-4738-1795-1.
^Fireforce Exposed: Rhodesian Security Forces and Their Role in Defending White Supremacy. London: The Anti-Apartheid Movement. 1979. pp. 39–40.ISBN978-0-900065-04-0.
^Petter-Bowyer, P.J.H (2005).Winds of Destruction: the Autobiography of a Rhodesian Combat Pilot (2nd ed.). Johannesburg: 30° South Publishers.ISBN978-0-9584890-3-4.
^Nortje, Piet (2003).32 Battalion: The Inside Story of South Africa's Elite Fighting Unit. New York: Zebra Press. p. 158.ISBN978-1-86872-914-2.
^Baines, Gary (2012). "Vietnam Analogies and Metaphors: The Cultural Codification of South Africa's Border War".Safundi.12 (1–2):73–90.doi:10.1080/17533171.2011.642591.
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