The Kingdom of serbia : report upon the atrocities committed by the Austro-Hungarian Army during the first invasion of Serbia

EXPLOSIVE BULLETS 3

hollow brass slide-bar, into which is introduced a steel percussion-cap. If the bullet in its flight encounters an obstacle (bone, wood, etec.), the percussion-cap, being shot forward by the acquired velocity, strikes the priming, and thus causes the explosion of the powder and consequently of the bullet. According to the manner in which the slide-bar is regulated, i.e. according to whether it is more or less tightened, so that the percussioncap has more or less free play, the explosion can be made to take place as soon as the bullet encounters the slightest obstacle, or even if its speed diminishes considerably.

This bullet therefore clearly presents all the features of an explosive bullet, such as has hitherto been employed only in hunting pachyderms.

These bullets have been used by the AustroHungarian troops in firing upon your soldiers. I have often had the opportunity of seeing the wounds caused by them, either in the hospitals, or even on the battlefields in the first line ambulances.

Usually in these wounds the orifice at the entrance of the bullet is small and normal. The orifice at the exit is huge, and the flesh, etec., often thrust outward in mushroom-form. The interior of the wound is lacerated and the bones encountered are broken in small fragments. The bullet, which explodes within the body, is shattered, and the fragments act like a charge of shrapnel. Finally there is the action of the gases which further enlarges the wound and breaks the bones. These wounds are therefore extremely serious. A limb struck by an explosive bullet has nearly always to