Deadly injuries through recoilless anti-tank weapons while military shooting practice—two case studies from Germany and Switzerland

• Published in: International journal of legal medicine Vol. 134; no. 6; pp. 2199 - 2204
• Main Authors: Jellinghaus, Katharina, Scherer, Charlotte, Stauffer, Edouard, Urban, Petra, Bohnert, Michael, Kneubuehl, Beat P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.11.2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Case Report; Case reports; Fatalities; Forensic Medicine; Gas jets; Injuries; Medical Law; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Military medicine; Military weapons; Morphology; Mortality; Rocket engines; Rocket firing; Rockets; Shootings; Weapons; Switzerland; Germany; Anti-tank weapon; Anti-tank rocket; Ballistics; Davis gun; Military shooting
• ISSN: 0937-9827; 1437-1596
• DOI: 10.1007/s00414-020-02301-4

In this casuistry, two accidents from Germany and Switzerland are presented that happened during the shot of recoilless anti-tank weapons. In both cases, the injuries led to the death of two soldiers: A 22-year-old soldier in Germany was struck by the counter mass of a so-called Davis gun which had been fired by a comrade during a firing exercise; he died from his severe injuries, especially in the abdominal part of the body. As a peculiarity of the wound morphology, it was found to be a thick-layered, metallic, gray material in the wound cavity, which corresponded to the material of the counter mass that was ejected opposite to the shooting direction. The other case took place in Switzerland, where a 24-year-old soldier was seriously injured during an exercise with portable anti-tank rockets. At the time the shot was fired, he stood behind the launcher and was hit by the propulsion jet of the rocket motor. He died as well from his severe injuries, which were located at the chest done by the gas jet and by the very high pressure. In both cases, two different causes of death were present: massive blunt violence in the first case versus a jet of hot gases of very high speed and temperature in the second case.