On the Syrian battlefield, due to the variety of armed forces, the weapons they use are often varied. Sometimes, due to the shortage of standard military equipment, militants from all walks of life have to use the materials at hand to find ways to DIY various weapons for use. Among them, a kind of homemade artillery nicknamed "Hell Cannon" is particularly eye-catching.
A firing "Hell Cannon"
This weapon, which first appeared in the Idlib area, is composed of seamless steel pipes, gas tanks and some other parts. Its structure is extremely simple. Although it looks funny and has shortcomings such as "short range and slow reloading", it is quite powerful and is especially effective in urban areas, so it was quickly promoted in other areas.
"Hell Cannon" uses shells modified from gas tanks
Generally, the shells used by this kind of artillery are modified from gas tanks or similar metal tanks. The inside of the gas tank body is filled with explosives, and at the tail There is a long rod with a tail fin welded to ensure the stability of the cannonball during flight. On the front of some well-made artillery shells, there are also more sophisticated fuze devices. A cannonball's charge, like the rest of its components, varies depending on the limitations of the materials the manufacturer has at hand. However, because the charge of and is particularly large, no matter what kind of charge is used, the lethality of this shell when it explodes is amazing.
A "hell cannon" being loaded uses an "interpolated" loading method
In terms of firing methods, there are two common styles so far: one is to stuff the entire shell into a large-caliber cannon In the barrel made of seamless steel tubes; the other is when the caliber of the barrel is small, only the long rod at the rear of the cannon is inserted into the muzzle to fix it, and the tail fins and other components are placed around the outside of the barrel on the tail bracket of the cannonball. Before firing, you need to put the propellant into the barrel and compact it, and then carefully and slowly slide the shell body in from the muzzle. Because this kind of weapon generally has a relatively fixed firing angle, when loading cannonballs, the cannonballs need to be raised to the muzzle height first.
A four-unit self-propelled "Hell Cannon" modified from a bulldozer.
Depending on the resources and technologies at hand, the gun mounts of the "Hell Cannon" are also diverse: the simplest launcher is only made of a few angle steels. , poor mobility, and it is often necessary to use heavy objects such as stones or sandbags to hold down the gun mount when firing. A slightly more sophisticated "Hell Cannon" will be equipped with wheels for the gun mount. The wheels are often derived from other civilian equipment, or the gun mount may simply be a modified civilian equipment. In this way, the artillery has the ability to tow and maneuver. The most exaggerated modification simply combines the barrel body with various engineering vehicles to form a homemade " self-propelled artillery ", which is even more effective.
Seeing this kind of daily utensils and civilian equipment entering the battlefield one after another, while lamenting the infinite wisdom of "human beings", I can't help but feel a little sad. These people chanted the slogans provided by the Western world and turned what was once a peaceful and stable country into a broken battlefield. Only they know the taste of it.
Author: Sharp Blade/Integration of Knowledge and Action (Contributions are welcome, please contact us via private message)
