Fougasse
Fougasse
This defensive weapon is a landmine constructed by military engineers and fired by the defenders lighting a fuse. A fougasse consists of a pit, sometimes dug at an angle, with gunpowder packed into the bottom and suitably wrapped to keep it dry. The hole is then backfilled with rubble and stones, taking care not to break the fuse, creating a huge 「canister shot」 weapon. Any enemies caught by the explosion are blown to smithereens by the blast. Damp, of course, will cause the fougasse to misfire, like any other gunpowder weapon.
Historically, a later and nastier, refinement used a flintlock mechanism to fire the charge. As well as making the explosion more reliable, this allowed military engineers to turn the fougasse into a booby trap. A piece of twine tied to the trigger acted as a tripwire:an unfortunate booby then stumbled and fired the device into himself and his nearby comrades.
During the 20th Century, the fougasse was refined into a flamethrower by burying oil drums on top of the explosives. And at the time of writing, the fougasse remains in use, as only one of the IEDs(improvised explosive device) used by insurgents against occupying forces in Iraq
這種防禦性武器是一種簡易的原始地雷，在戰前由工兵埋設並在恰當的時機點燃引信引爆。埋設地雷方法很簡單：在地上挖一個與地面成一定角度的洞，把黑火藥包好（防止火藥受潮）放在洞底，然後把引信牽出來，拉到引爆者手里，最後用碎石塊把洞填上，注意不要損壞引信，就行了。定向地雷的爆炸效果類似於特大號的霰彈：任何處於殺傷半徑內的人都會被猛烈的爆炸和飛濺的碎石撕成碎片。當然，和其他火器一樣，潮濕的天氣經常導致地雷啞火。
後來的改進版定向地雷使用燧發裝置引爆。絆索由合股細線製成，一頭系在燧發裝置的扳機上。只要某個呆頭呆腦的倒霉蛋觸動了絆索，劇烈的爆炸就會把他和他附近的同伴們掀上天。
在寫這篇文章的時候，作為目前唯一仍在使用的IED（簡易爆炸裝置），定向地雷依然活躍在戰場上。聯軍在伊拉克經常遭到恐怖分子埋設的IED的襲擊。實際上，在伊拉克，死於IED的美軍人數占總陣亡人數的40%以上，比死於戰鬥（32%）的還要多。
來自：clanlong 翻譯：oliphaunt
來源：遊民星空
